Page 84 of Roses Are Dead
“Are you going to blow up again?”
“I might. I might not. Was that the worst of it?”
She tilted her head from one side to the other, releasing tension. Then thought about my question. “Probably.”
I motioned to the chairs. “Okay. Let’s hash this out.”
A few minutes later, I interrupted again. “What kind of spell did you cast?”
Roishin stared at her half-eaten plate. “A curse. I called on the Gods to avenge the deaths of its creatures and banish his evil intent from your land. I used a mirror so, it would, in theory, return the harm he intended for us back on him.”
Sevenfold. Something whispered in my thoughts. Another whisper, this one I recognized as my own sarcastic and paranoid self reminded me that Carl getting in trouble could be awful for the club.
“You shouldn’t do that shit.”
“Are you telling me or ordering me?”
“Would you listen either way?”
“No.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “I can’t fucking win.” This was exactly why I was single. No pussy is good enough to deal with the bullshit.
“At least this way you won’t be targeted by a fucking lunatic.”
“We.”
“You,” she fired back.
“No, woman. We. We’re in this together. Whatever game Carl’s playing, he’s targeting both of us. You know that, right?”
Her mouth clamped shut.
“My yard, your woo-woo, and Carl’s seeded a little crop of distrust. And I wonder why that is? Hum?”
Rose’s face was blank.
“Don’t you know why?”
She blinked. “No. If I knew… well, he wouldn’t be doing it anymore.”
I laughed, hard. “Woman?—”
“Stop calling me that. My name is Roishin.”
I licked my lips. “No, it ain’t. It’s Rose. Technically, Mary-Rose.” Skinner did a lot of digging for me in the last couple of days. And I never even had to ask. He was so paranoid that Rose was selling us out, he practically moved into second-floor office space we all dubbed “the geek lodge.”
Through gritted teeth she hissed, “Never call me that.”
“Why?”
That face was back.
“Fine. But when your jealous ex-boyfriend escalates his bullshit, we are in this together.”
“He’s not my jealous ex-boyfriend.”
Her chin didn’t go down. Huh. But Skinner had photo proof. “Ex-lover?”
