Page 90 of Fresh Old Bounties

The way she said that made me wonder how many of Brooks’s exes she and Dru had spied on together. Preston really knew how to push all of Dru’s buttons simply by existing, someone who was usually the calmest and most collected person I had ever known. That was its own kind of power. Too bad Preston had chosen to use it for evil.

Sure, he might not be evil right now no matter how much Dru wanted to believe he was up to no good, but taking Dru’s job then dumping her then coming after her dream shop, intentionally or not, wasn’t good, cosmically speaking.

The shop’s door opened and a young man entered with a laptop under his arm. I pointed at the Wi-Fi password taped to the shelf and asked for his order. By the time I had served him at the table by the window and was back behind the counter, Dru had returned to her phone, the devil’s own smile stretching her lips.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“My mother gave me the bastard’s number.”

“You’re trying to see where he is?” That didn’t sound possible unless she hacked into his account.

She chuckled. A distinctly evil sound. “Nah. I’m signing him up for spam.”

And that’s when I knew I never, ever wanted to be on Dru’s bad side, even if it cost me my soul.

The thought had just come to mind when Dru suddenly spoke. “Hope, did you ever answer that text about the potion delivery?”

“I didn’t. I completely forgot about that.”

“Let’s set a trap.”

I leaned in. “You think it’s related to whatever is happening? To Preston? Stupid question. Don’t answer that.” But even if she was wrong and the anonymous texter had nothing to do with it, it was yet another coincidence. And it wasn’t like we had any other leads.

In fact, the idea was pure genius. If it was related to Dru’s ex-boyfriend, that’d clear the way for us to kick him out of Olmeda. If it was someone else, it’d allow us to track another dark magic user. And there was the slight possibility that Mystery Man had run out of glamour potions and had ordered one from outside town. After all, he hadn’t used one last night. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?

I brought up the text conversation on my phone.

Heard you were looking for deliveries.

What kind of deliveries?

The special kind. Willing to lose this one for the correct price.

I began typing, but Dru’s hand shot out to stop me. “Don’t mess it up.”

“Hey, I can do this much.”

She didn’t appear convinced, but allowed me to continue.

Still available?

We had to cool our heels for about twenty minutes before we got an answer, during which it was my turn to stop Dru from growling at Hannah for daring to enter the shop.

The price just doubled.

I’d take that as a yes.

Original price, I wrote back. It never paid to be too eager or accept too easily.

Double.

Original plus 50%.

Agreed.

Excellent. Time and location for the drop?

I said I’d lose the delivery. I don’t kiss and tell.

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