Page 55 of Grave Curse

“Mister, I need you to do me a favor and go outside,” came Ginger’s quivering voice. Quivering, but not with fear. No, if she’d been afraid, she would have gone mute. What I heard waspure, redheaded, pretend-goddess fury.Uh-oh. “If I don’t come out of this shop to tell you everything’s okay in one minute, I need you to call LEO.”

“L-Leo? Lady, I-I don’t know you, I don’t know anyone named Leo—”

“Law enforcement officers—the cops. Just put that delivery box down, go outside and get ready to call for help in one minute if I don’t tell you otherwise. Either way, a big tip is waiting for you at the end of this. Nowmove.”

Damn, my woman could bark like a drill sergeant when she wanted to.

The sound of the door shutting reached my ears, and that was when I realized my opponent and I had both come to a halt. As if by telepathic agreement, the man called Red Flag and I dragged ourselves to our feet, only to find Ginger, in all her pretend-goddess glory, approaching us through the shocking carnage that used to be her shop, a Louisville Slugger gripped in her hands. Unholy fire danced in her eyes as she looked from the two of us, before she oh, so gently put the fat end of the bat against the center of Red Flag’s chest.

“Get. Out.”

Very slowly he spread his massive mitts out, palms up, probably to show her how harmless he was. Yeah, good luck with that. “Listen—”

With remarkable control and no hesitation, the head of the bat flew up, cuffed him lightly under the chin, but still hard enough to make his teeth click together.

Whoa.

“Get out.” She sucked in a massive breath. “Nowwww!”

Red Flag got out double-quick, but not before giving me one last look that promised this wasn’t over.

No shit, dumbass.

This obviously was just the beginning.

Next, Ginger turned and pointed the bat at me. Hastily I closed my mouth before she could click my teeth shut the way she did Red Flag’s. “You. Don’t you fucking move.”

I nodded once, watched her plonk the bat on one shoulder before she turned and grabbed some cash out of her purse. Then she was out the door, and I took the chance to glance around the ruined front room.

Oh, shit.

Roxie, still behind the glass counter—which now somehow had a crack in it—hugged her phone to her chest while staring at me like I was Godzilla’s uglier cousin. We regarded each other for a long moment while all my aches and pains began to let themselves be known.

Generally speaking, fighting had always been a kickass good time. But I was getting too old for this shit.

“Well, then.” Roxie’s voice seemed abnormally loud in the silence. “You’re our landlord?”

I nodded. A feather fell out of my hair. “Yep.”

“So… that means we’re not going to be made to pay for any damages. Right?”

“Right.”

“Good.”

We stared at each other some more.

The electronic bell went off as Ginger swung back through, still carrying her trusty bat. Barely sparing me a glance, she zeroed in on Roxie with a kind smile. “Honey, I’m so sorry about this. Go ahead and head on home, okay? I promise you’ll get full pay for today, because you shouldn’t be penalized for whatever is going on in my crazy life.”

Oh, hell. Last thing I wanted to do was cost Ginger an out-of-pocket expense. I probably should have thought this through better than I did.

“I feel this is all my fault.” Roxie, clearly shaken, gathered up her purse, came around the counter and tiptoed her way through the debris to give Ginger a hug. “I’m the one who brought Red Flag to meet you. I thought you needed a little spice in your life, but… oh, girlfriend. I had no idea that kind of spice would blow the roof off the place.”

“Roof’s still intact. Everything else is fixable. I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can talk about planning for my birthday party.”

“Oh.” Roxie blinked at her in a dazed kind of way. Clearly Ginger’s friend was not built for the Gravedigger way of life. Then again, few people were. “So… you’re going to go ahead and have a party, after all?”

“Absolutely. You only turn twenty-nine once, right? I think I should start off the last year of my twenties with a bang. Drive carefully, now.” Walking her friend to the door, Ginger waved farewell, shut and locked the front door, turned off the neon “OPEN” sign… then turned to face me.

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