Page 54 of Signed in Incubus

Framing it like that made it easier. And I realized that perhaps I’d matured a bit in the last two weeks as well.

I went over and picked up the crumpled letter, straightened it back out, and put it into the envelope. Then I tucked the envelope into the very back of my top dresser drawer. Next, I sent a message to our little group chat, explaining to Gigi and Lily what had happened and asking them when they were free to help me nullify the love-finder spell.

Lily, who was working from home again today, called me back immediately. She was initially pissed off that Prax had left me, but I told her not to be. I explained that I didn’t want anything negative to taint the last two weeks. I wanted to preserve thehappy memories of coming to Darlington, getting over an ex, and having an exciting fling with a new man who, along with my friends, had helped me break away from my family and set out on my own. That was the narrative I wanted to keep.

“Okay. I understand,” Lily said after I’d finished my explanation. “That does sound like a very mature way to look at it.”

“I’m still going to miss him, of course,” I admitted. “But I guess I should have seen it coming. He is an incubus, after all. I don’t know what I thought would happen.”

“It’s not your fault. He sure fooled us. He emulated caring about you very well. I guess that’s what they do, isn’t it? Emulate human behavior?”

“I guess. Listen, once we get this done and dusted, and he forgets about me, if we ever bump into him, we have to be civil about it. Remember, he won’t remember me. So no giving him the stink eye. And absolutely no hexes.”

“Got it on the hexes,” Lily agreed. “I can’t promise about the stink eye. What if he comes on to you again? You said he invited you to call him for a good time. Are you going to do it?”

Easy answer. “No. I’m not sure I can keep it strictly friends with benefits, not after what happened between us. And I’m not a masochist. No, I think it’s best if I don’t see him at all.”

I knew that might be difficult since we both lived in Darlington, and he knew the owner of the building as well as our upstairs neighbors. We might well end up bumping into each other. But if he didn’t remember me, I wouldn’t try to approach him.

There was a beep on the line. I checked the screen quickly.

“It’s Gigi.”

“Let’s do a three-way!” Lily sing-songed.

I chuckled, then took a deep breath and got ready to explain things all over again.

The three of usnullified the love-finder spell that very evening. Just as not_a_wizard had said, it was a magic-intensive but simple procedure. Just in case it didn’t work, we alerted both Daryl and my gargoyle neighbor Griff upstairs.

When no one came to bother me for three whole days—except for Emily, Griff’s mate, who came downstairs with ice cream and wine when she found out about Prax leaving—we called the operation a success.

In an attempt to keep my mind off Prax, I dove into my work.

Emily introduced me to a local dressmaker named Shelby, who was a total whiz at social media marketing. She gave me some tips, and we helped each other create a few posts. I saw a slight uptick in the sales of my tutorials immediately.

I filmed not just one or two new tutorials but a whole new series, and it all needed to be edited. I didn’t want to do it at home since everything there reminded me of Prax, so I took my laptop over to The Witch’s Brew.

The boost in new business Gigi had been experiencing, thanks to the news coverage of the fight, was just tailing off. She’d been right about not worrying about bad publicity.

Every time the bell on the door jingled, signaling a new customer, I couldn’t help but look up, hoping it was a certain incubus. It never was. He never called, either.

It was here, at Griselda’s bustling little magical haven, that Travis found me on a blustery Wednesday afternoon.

Griselda caught my eye immediately and started coming around the counter, her intent to kick the asshole out plain on her face. I shook my head, curious to see what this idiot wanted.

“You are a very difficult woman to find,” Travis said, fixing his windblown hair in the reflection of a nearby mirror. He moved my bag over without bothering to ask if he could and sat down next to me.

“Maybe you just suck at looking.”

“Oh no. I looked hard. I even hired a wizard to find you when your parents told me you’d moved out and weren’t answering their calls.”

Interesting. The concealment spell must have stopped his wizard from finding me.

I shrugged dismissively. “They had people coming in looking to rent the place, so I assumed that I wasn’t welcome anymore. Why are you here, Travis?” I kept my voice soft and monotone.

“I wanted to apologize in person. I’m sorry for ditching you.”

“Thank you. Apology accepted. Now you can leave.” Accepting his apology didn’t mean we were together again. There was no way that would happen. He must know that…right?

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