Page 39 of The Most Wanted Witch

When Hawk had locked me into a contract with no way out, I didn’t speak to him—for the most part, unless it was really important.

I walked into the building, trying to not slam the door.

“Why do you look mad?” Zab asked.

“I’m fine.” And the lies just kept coming.

I headed straight for my room before I screamed.

17

Bibbi looked up from her breakfast, her eyes big and round.

“I like your outfit,” she said, eyeing up my new leggings and boots. Xazier had never returned my last pair of boots and left me with an unusable pair of sandals. “Did you get them at Bewitching?”

“Thanks. I did. You should go there.” She was staring at my clothes with that longing look that made me want to go change. I wasn’t used to being on the other side of this kind of reaction. I was the giver of those looks. I’d never been the one with an enviable wardrobe.

“They don’t like my kind in that store,” Bibbi said, going back to her breakfast.

“What do you mean?”

There was something definitely wrong about that statement. Zab and Musso kept going about their business, as if this were commonplace.

“The owners of the nicer places don’t like Whimsys. It’s too high-end for us.”

“Why don’t we go shopping?” I didn’t wait for Bibbi to agree before I looked at Musso and Zab. “You can handle things without us, right?”

“You mean the two people that might come in? Yeah. I think we can manage,” Musso said, in his gruff way.

“You two go. We’ll hold back the horde,” Zab said, laughing.

“Bibbi, get your jacket.” I could’ve told her to drop and give me twenty in the same tone.

“I almost want to go shopping with you. Not quite, but close,” Zab said, laughing some more.

I waited at the door, watching Bibbi move around the room, grabbing her jacket in slow motion as if trying to figure out a way around going with me.

“You know, I’m not sure today is a good day. I’ve got an awful big stack of—”

“We’re going.”

The pretext of cooperation died and the jacket in her hand drooped.

“What if I don’t want to?” She glanced around the room, weighing possible support if she tried to avoid me.

Zab and Musso were feigning interest in their paperwork. Good move on their part, because I was dragging her with me if she put up a fight. Bibbi was too high up on my list of people I cared for, and my tolerance for the caste system in Xest was zilch. I’d fix this place single-handedly if that was what it took. And this was something Icouldfix, at least in this one instance.

“You’re going if I have to drag you there.”

Bibbi shot me a dirty look but put on her jacket. Even a block away, she kept looking back over her shoulder, toward the office.

“I had your job and know it pays well,” I said. “Maybe the Whimsy witches at the factory can’t afford this place, but you can, and we are going to shop there. And if you don’t want to spend the coin, I’ll do it, but no one is telling you that you can’t.”

“That’s not the only problem,” she said, looking back again. “I don’t like leaving Gillian alone without someone supervising what she’s up to. Why do you think I keep going in for teas, even though she’s in that back room? Someone has to try to keep her on the straight and narrow, even if you’ve given up the ship to her.”

“That’s your problem?”

“Mostly, yes. I hate leaving her alone there. She’s sneaky. But if you’re that set on me going broke on clothes, who am I to say no? It’s not like I don’t want to get away from her for a little while.”

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