Page 35 of Signed in Incubus

Moving in with Penny…

I mean, why not? She needed a place, and so did I. Plus, I’d get to wake up with her in my arms every morning. I pictured her moving in with that haughty wizard from the club, and the thought had steam coming out of my ears.

Nope! Not happening. I was going to throw his claim that Penny would never want me for anything more than some fun back in his face. Penny would move in with me, or no one at all.

I thought of all the cool things I wanted to experience. Technically, I could do all of that with Penny at my side. Actually, that sounded like a whole lot of fun.

Maybe that spell really was onto something.

Chapter 17

Penny

I collapsed onto Griselda’scouch next to Lily. We’d just moved what we could from my place to hers through a three-witch portal, and we were all exhausted.

I’d felt safe at the house as long as Prax had been there, but the second he’d left, an unsettling, sinking feeling set in. Also, the idea that Dwayne had a set of keys didn’t sit well with me. I’d always gotten a sleazy, used car salesman vibe from him. So, I called Gigi and asked if I could stay at her place for a few days.

Even with all the boxes and suitcases lined up by the portal opening, ready to go, and the three of us holding it open, we’d only managed two trips through and back before we had to call it quits. Normally, we only had to keep the portal open just long enough for one or two people to step through.

It was fine. I only needed to bring my most important things, like all my magic-related paraphernalia, my filming equipment for making tutorials, my laptop and tablet, a few changes of clothes, and my enchanted side table. I didn’t want to have to connect another one to my purse.

“This would’ve been easier if your incubus friend had stuck around,” Lily grumbled. “He could have made a bunch of arms and used his superhuman strength to carry everything over in one go.”

The mention of his ability to shape-shift into anything he wanted and grow extra appendages had me thinking of his unique form of interrogation and how he’d made good on his promise to fuck me good if I told him what he wanted to know. But of course, he did. He was an incubus.

My dirty thoughts didn’t go unnoticed.

“Your face is red, Penny,” Griselda said.

“She must be thinking about Prax’s manyarms…or maybe his superhuman strength. Or is it both?”

“A little of both, yeah,” I said cryptically.

“You know, of all the weirdos this spell has sent you, Prax is the best option by far,” Griselda said.

“Gigi, the spell sent me a deranged shifter, a wizard with gross goblin friends, and a troll. It’s not hard to be the best option compared to those. Besides, Prax is an incubus. It’s in his nature to roam and be free to sample every flavor of sexual energy out there. And he just got his freedom. It isn’t fair to either of us. I need someone who’ll be happy to stick around and never stray. And he needs to be himself.”

How could I explain to her that I’d seen firsthand what infidelity and betrayal did to a family? I didn’t want to become my mother. Not that I needed to worry about that; I’d never become her because if anyone cheated on me, I’d leave. There were no second chances there with me.

Instead of going down that dark alley, I focused on my own dilemma. “Prax didn’t answer the call to be my perfect man. He didn’t read the spell’s fine print and got stuck. He doesn’treallywant to be here.”

“I don’t know… If he wanted to be done with the spell, he could have just tossed you at the wizard or the troll last night and let them claim you. Instead, he fought tooth and nail for you. His actions really aren’t those of someone who doesn’t want to be here.”

“Yeah. It was all sorts of heroic.” Lily looked ready to swoon. “Maybe I should try this spell out, and it’ll send me an incubus of my own.”

“Yeah, or a troll!” I reminded her.

She pouted. “Party pooper.”

My phone notified me of an email from the bank.

“Thank you for reporting your card lost or stolen,” I read out loud. “Your card has now been deactivated. A new card will be mailed to the address listed on your account.”

“I bet they froze the account too,” Lily said. “Like last time.”

“Yeah, well, joke’s on them. I already removed my name from the account.” I’d done it right after depositing the bank draft into my new account.

That had been a suggestion made by the lady at the bank. Just because I couldn’t removethemfrom the account, it didn’t mean I couldn’t remove myself. I’d just forgotten to change the email address attached to it.

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