Page 4 of My Blind Date is a Warlock

“That’s a good girl. Now that you’ve calmed down, I want you to put your skateboard and bag in the shop and come clean this mess up and water the flowers.” She nodded somberly, the helmet falling over her eyes again. “Luce?” I called out before she disappeared into the shop. “If you want to talk about whatever is bothering you, I’ve got big ears.” I flicked the shell of my ear, earning a shaky smile from her.

We worked in silence for almost an hour, Lucy unpacking the new arrivals while I worked the counter, helping customers and placing calls to suppliers in search of special orders that had been placed by my grandmother. Every now and then, I would feel a phantom twinge on my right hand or feel like I was being zapped by tiny bolts of lightning, but there was nothing physically wrong with me, except lingering exhaustion from last night.

Today was one of the slower days. We’d had only two customers since I opened up shop. I was waving goodbye to Mrs. Abernathy after she’d picked up her monthly gardening magazine when Lucy sidled up to the counter and leaned on it. “It’s Bruce,” she started abruptly.

“What about Bruce?” I asked when she didn’t continue, never taking my eyes off the computer screen or letting my fingers stop typing out the order form I was filling up.

“I am not going to tell you anything while you’re distracted. Big ears or not, I need you to listen ‘cause I could really use your advice right now,” she pleaded. Stifling a sigh, I minimized the tab on the computer and gave her my full attention. I could already guess where this was going, and while I did tell her she could talk to me about anything, I should have specified that giving romance and love advice was not my forte. The longest my relationships lasted were a few weeks before I got bored or weary and moved on. But this was sweet, adorable Lucy, whose eyes sparkled at the idea of working in a bookstore during the summer because there was nothing she loved more than being surrounded by books and getting a special discount for her favorite book series.

“Hit me,” I told her.

“I don’t know what’s up with him, he’s been all over the place since summer vacation started.” She groaned, playing with the ends of her purple-tipped dark hair. “He’s been ignoring me for weeks now, flaking out on all the plans we made for the summer just because Savannah finally decided he’s worth her time. Seriously! I could show you all the text message threads of him canceling on me last minute just so he can stick his tongue down her stupid mouth and god knows what else!” Lucy huffed in frustration but failed in hiding the green monster peeking out during her rant.

She and Bruce had been joined at the hip since they were in middle school, and my grandmother, who fancied herself the best matchmaker in the world, had put it into Lucy’s head that the two of them were fated mates. I didn’t dispute the fact that such a thing existed, but I felt like she shouldn’t have said that to a sixteen-year-old who’d barely entered the dating world or come into her own sexuality yet. Lucy had been fixated on this entire fated mates issue since Gran told her she and Bruce were “It” for each other and pushing for her best friend to move past their friendship and into something more.

“I mean, I know he was sending me a clear message. I know I’ve been acting crazy the last couple of months and pushing into something he wasn't ready for.”

“Oh, really, I haven’t noticed at all.” I smirked at her, recalling all her numerous failed attempts to seduce Bruce.

She tossed a dusting rag she’d been holding in my face. “Oh, shut up, you. As if you haven’t been through a boy crazy phase before.”

“Well, most, if not all, the warlocks I went to school with were massive jerks, so…” I shrugged. “Unless simping over Harry Styles counts.”

“Anyway, I finally gave him the space he so desperately begged for. And then after weeks of avoiding me like I had the bubonic plague, I finally saw him at a beach party last night—”

“A party on a Monday night?” I cut in again. Lucy gave me a narrow glare that had me raising my hands in surrender. “It’s summer vacation, Snow White. What else are we going to do with our weeknights? Anyway, I met this really cute guy, an out-of-towner renting one of the beach houses for the summer. College guy, uber-rich, super handsome… I’m talking Captain America levels of handsome here, Sophia,” she tells me. And like the boring adult she claims I am, I point out that she’s too young to be partying with college boys, much less flirting with them. If her brothers found out, they’d lock her up for life and proceed to beat said boy to a pulp. When I started talking about how those boys could have drugged her or something, she rolled her eyes and waved my concerns off.

“I’m a wolf. I can smell date rape drugs in my drink from a mile away. Not that I was drinking any booze. I am sixteen after all,” she backtracked quickly, as if I would believe any of that. “Where was I? Oh, yeah. So Jeremy and I—that’s the Chris Evans look-alike—we were flirting like crazy and I could tell that we were about to move into smooching territory. He took me to his room so that we could get away from the crowd, and I swear he was being a perfect gentleman, so you can get that disgusted look off your face right now.” She circled her finger around my face. Still keeping silent, I ironed out my expression and kept a blank but pleasantly interested expression.

“You’ll never believe who burst into Jeremy’s room while the two of us were quietly chilling. Bruce freaking Anderson, acting all alpha male and going off at Jeremy for no reason at all. I have never been more embarrassed in my life. He dragged me out of there for everyone to see! And then he has the audacity to be mad at me for flirting with another guy when he’s the one who’s been running after stick legs Savannah with his tongue dragging on the ground. Can you believe him?”

“The nerve!” I mock gasped and went back to filling out the order form.

Lucy propped her hands on her hips and glowered at me. “What is with the dry reaction? Did you not hear a word I said? Bruce basically acted as if I belonged to him in front of a guy I was really starting to like. What right does he have to get angry when I decide I want to see other people when he’s basically been doing the same thing?”

“He has none at all. What he did was pretty rude, but let’s not pretend that you and this Jeremy guy were going to be anything more than a hookup. And, hey, your plan worked. Flirting with an older and hotter guy helped Bruce get his head out of his butt, right?” I arched my brows, smirking when she flushed deep red.

“Plan? What plan—”

“I’m going to stop you right there. You don’t party, Luce. You abhor any form of social gatherings, especially when there’s a bunch of drunk teens involved. That’s more Savannah’s thing, and you knew she was going to be at that beach party, and you knew that Bruce was going to be with her. You went there to make him jealous, and it worked. So why are you so bent out of shape?”

I watched the teen wilt before my eyes, her bottom lip in a petulant pout. “You’re right. Bruce stopped acting like an idiot. But the fight we had last night, the things we said to each other were pretty horrible. And I’m so angry at him for everything he’s put me through. How do I get past that?”

“Easy peasy. Communication, communication, and more communication. Talk to each other and air out your feelings like mature wolves instead of resorting to childish tactics. He’s your mate, right?” She nodded. “That means you don’t give up on each other so easily. You fight for each other and you fight for your relationship. Being mates doesn’t mean you automatically fall head over heels for each other. You need to work on it like every other couple. With that said, there are more boxes in the storeroom that need packing up. Now git.” I flicked my head in the direction of the storeroom.

CHAPTER 4

I dismissed Lucy around two o'clock, seeing as how she was distracted and there was nothing much to do anyway. I was seated cross-legged on the couch, staring out the window as cars whizzed by and pedestrians walked up and down the street, tapping my pencil on the half-done sketch of a bohemian-style headpiece design that had been dancing around in my head. Scraps of balled-up paper littered the coffee table from all the scrapped ideas. I wasn’t feeling it today. Not since I got a text from Piper, another attempt at convincing me to attend the solstice ritual.

I felt him before he even walked through the door. The back of my neck prickled, a sixth-sense warning I’d learned never to ignore. So when he pushed open the door to the shop, my eyes were already zeroed in on him. A warlock, no doubt about it. And a powerful one at that, the kind whose magic seeped off him in waves. Not because he didn’t know how to reel it back, but because he was so powerful there was no way to hide it. Something inside me, something dormant, started to stir awake. It reminded me of the way Chairman Meow would wake from his naps without any provocation. Slow, sluggish, and watchful. Waiting.

Unconsciously, my hand went to my sleeve tattoo. It was actually a collection of sigils, runes, and sacred geometry done for my protection in case another witch or warlock tried to attack me with magic. They weren’t foolproof, of course, but I slept better at night knowing that no one would ever get the jump on me again, especially not a warlock. I had another tattoo on my sternum depicting the three phases of the moon associated with the triple goddess.

The wind chimes above the door rang as he closed it behind him and shot a megawatt smile my way. I don’t know what annoyed me more—that he was a warlock and obviously not from around here, or that he was so bloody gorgeous.

“Can I help you?” I scowled, failing to hide my immediate dislike of him from my voice and expression. His smile dropped, brows dipping in a frown at my cold welcome. I had to grit my teeth to stop from snapping at him when I saw the predatory gleam in his eyes, taking me in from head to toe when I stood up, snagging on the length of my legs and his lips curling up in a smirk I was all too familiar with.

Perhaps I was more annoyed at myself because I felt something in me respond in kind. My heart kicked against my ribs and my stomach fluttered.

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