Page 15 of Grave Curse

Considering Audrey died the next day,safetywas the one thing I hadn’t given her. “You know what was a mistake on H’s part? Forgetting Ginger still had the razor.”

Romeo’s shocked face was oddly satisfying to see. “Oh, fuck.”

“Didn’t turn out to be a big deal, because unlike my uncle,Ididn’t forget. I saw her eyeing his throat as she and her mother made their way out, but I stepped in and took the razor from her just as she started to raise her hand.”

“Why? I mean, did you want to save your uncle, or…?”

“Fuck, no. Blood loss and adrenaline had taken its toll on Ginger, and she was shaking like a leaf. She could barely stand. There’s no way she could have done any actual damage to H, but attacking him would’ve gotten her dead double-quick—something I doubt she believes to this day. I know I made the right call in stopping her, but I don’t think she’s ever really forgiven me for it.”

Romeo chewed on that for a minute. “Did Hades even realize what she was going to do to him?”

I couldn’t have stopped a derisive snort if I’d tried. “You kidding? A merewomanposing an actual physical threat? That asshole is so deep into his own mythology I doubt the idea of Ginger jumping him even crossed his mind. If it had, he wouldn’t have armed her with a straight razor in the first place.”

“So the only time Ginger does enter his mind is to use her as leverage against you?”

“I guess.” I shrugged, aiming for an air of detached indifference. Ever since that nightmare of a night, I’d done everything in my power to make sure the world believed I viewed Ginger as the one element that constantly fucked up my life. And since that was basically true, no one questioned me about it. “That’s how it was when we were kids growing up together. Hades hasn’t been around us in nearly a decade, so he doesn’t know we barely speak to each other anymore. But he's a lazy shithead, so I can see him getting up to his old tricks by targeting her. That’s why I need every aspect of her life under a microscope. Got it?”

“Got it.” Romeo nodded and made one last notation. “You never answered the question, though.”

“What question?”

“Does Ginger make you vulnerable?”

I shot him a sharp look, only to find him waiting for my reply. With great deliberation I locked my expression until it felt like a frozen mask. “I’m the president of the fucking Gravediggers, Romeo. As far as the world is concerned, this club and my brothers are the only things that matter to me. That means there isn’t anything on this earth that can be allowed to be seen as making me vulnerable, least of all Ginger Sisko.”

Chapter Four

Our Little Secret

Ginger

“I can’t fuckingbelievethis!”

Startled, I looked up from logging in to the cash register’s point-of-sale system to find my next-door-neighbor, Draco, bursting through the door I’d unlocked not three minutes earlier. Forty-eight hours had passed since I’d sliced open my hand and Tyr had kissed me—no, no, I wasn’t going to think about that, I reminded myself for the millionth time. That subject was forbidden.

What wasn’t forbidden was thinking about other things, like Olive. Her disabled car was now gone from the front of Vixen’s Den, which meant someone—probably her brother—had come along and fixed it for her. So that was one small thing that had turned out okay from that morning’s misadventures. Unfortunately, my hand still throbbed when I let it hang by my side, so I had to keep it elevated in a kind of weirdly frozen Queen’s wave. And Tyr had actually kissed me, on the lips, about this same time just two mornings ago…

Nope.

Not thinking about that.

Not. At. All.

“Draco, slow down.” Brows raised, I watched him blaze a path deeper into the shop, then waved my bandaged hand at Roxie as she pushed through the door right behind him, holding a lovely green and white box of forbidden fruit, A.K.A., Krispy Kreme donuts. “Where’s the fire?”

“Here. Right here.” Wildly he waved a paper in my face. “This is the fire.”

“Okay, I believe you.” I moved a carousel display case of sparkly body piercings out of the way before he sent it flying, then plucked the paper out of his hand as it nearly clipped my nose. “What exactly is this?”

“An eviction notice!”

Both Roxie and I gasped before Roxie put the donuts on the counter and opened the top. In an instant the sinful scents of sweet, sugary glaze and warm, yeasty goodness wafted into the atmosphere. “Honey, have a donut. You need it more than we do.”

“An eviction notice?” I stared at the paper. Sure enough, the wordevictionstood out in all caps. “But, what…? I mean, how…?”

“I have no idea! I mean, I just got here a couple weeks ago, and I’m already being evicted! I found that taped to the door just now for all the world to see. Can you believe it?” Clearly upset, he ignored Roxie’s napkin-wrapped offering of a donut so he could pace the length of my shop. “According to that fucking paper, I have twenty-four hours to clear out my stuff and find another place. Jesus, I can’t fucking believe this.”

“Neither can I,” Roxie offered sympathetically, then took a bite out of the donut she held. “You haven’t even been here long enough to miss paying rent, so that obviously wasn’t the problem.”

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