Page 16 of Forced Knocked-Up Mate

“Are we going?”

“Yes! Sorry,” I say, grabbing my keys.

He shakes his head and follows me through the house. As we get into the car, I try to break the uneasy silence.

“So, you must be excited to see your brother again, huh?”

“Excited isn’t the word,” he says sullenly.

“But… at least the spell did some good, don’t you think? It brought you here.”

He turns very slowly and glares at me. “I don’t see it that way. The spell brought me here by force, and it didn’t even take me to Rider. It brought me toyou, and I don’t fucking know you.”

My heart sinks. “I’m sorry.”

“You keep saying that, but I don’t know if you are.”

“What? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“How the hell should I know? It was your crazy spell!”

“I did the spell, yes, but I didn’t ask for an arrogant jerk to appear in my backyard!”

“Arrogant?” he echoes. “You act like you know me. Trust me, lady, you really don’t.”

“Why would I even want to?” I hiss, pulling into the parking lot at Shelley’s. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find a solution. The others should be here by now.”

When we enter the back door, I see Bailey and Gina with Carson at the long table. Kyle and Leslie are standing nearby. Both of them hurry over.

“The others aren’t here yet?” I ask.

Kyle shakes his head. “No,” he answers, then turns to Peter. “Hey, you must be Peter! Good to meet you, buddy.”

“Pleasure,” Peter mutters.

“What’s going on?” Leslie asks. “Fiona didn’t really tell us everything.”

“Just a bit of magic gone awry,” I answer, trying to smile. “No big deal.”

I pull out my phone to see if any of the local witches have messaged back. My heart sinks when I see all of them have messaged back that they have no idea how to break the spell.

As a long shot, I also emailed my old mentor, Amanda. She replied that she might know a solution, but can’t make it to Silver Meadows for a few weeks.

Before I can update Peter with this news, Rider and Fiona come through the back doors.

Peter almost jumps out of his skin. “It really is you!” he says to Rider.

“Yeah, buddy,” Rider answers, smiling at his brother. “Wow. It’s like looking in a mirror.”

“Except for this.” Peter grins, running a finger down his right cheek. “Looks like we won’t be able to play our old game of pretending to be each other anymore.”

“You suck at being me, anyway,” Rider jokes, hurrying across the room. Peter meets him halfway, and they throw their arms around each other, squeezing hard enough to bruise.

“Let’s get a beer,” Rider suggests. “I know it’s fairly early, but I’ve waited a long time to have a beer with my baby brother.”

“We’re the same age!” Peter pointed out, exasperated.

“I’m older by four minutes,” Rider says, ruffling his brother’s hair. “Don’t you forget it.”

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