Page 61 of Roaring Flames

“I know,” I agree.

Silas gapes at us in disbelief, seemingly unable to understand what we mean. But then that disbelief turns to shock, the shock transitions into anger, and the anger shifts into grim understanding. He absently scratches at the eyepatch on his face.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

I turn towards Reid expectantly. “So your ex is a witch?”

“She’s not my ex,” Reid snaps, scowling.

“Tell that to her,” Silas murmurs.

Reid tosses him a frosty look before returning his attention to me. “Look, what happened with Michelle is a long story, but the gist of it is—you don’t want to get on her bad side. And you especially don’t want to meet her brother.”

“It appears to me as if Izzy is already on her bad side,” Silas interjects. He narrows his eyes on Reid. “How did you allow that to happen?”

Reid’s hands fist by his sides. “I didn’t allow anything to happen.”

“I don’t know what went down between you and Michelle?—”

“Nothing!”

“But I won’t allow her to?—”

“I’ll handle it.”

“You can’t just?—”

“I said I’ll handle it.”

As the two of them continue to bicker, I allow my mind to drift.

Michelle is a witch, apparently, and a dangerous one.

Somehow, I made an enemy out of her.

A smile unfurls on my lips before I can suppress it.

I may have made her hate me, but I don’t regret what I did. If I see her lift her hands to Reid one more time, I won’t just punch her in the face.

I’ll bury the bitch.

Twenty-Four

IZZY

To say the next few hours of my shift are awkward is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.

Silas hovers around me as if he thinks I’m going to break apart at any moment, and Reid? He ignores my existence, finding every excuse possible not to come near me. When I’m behind the counter, he’s cleaning out one of the theaters. When I’m in the cleaning closet, he’s in the bathroom. When I’m in Silas’s office, he’s wiping the windows in the lobby.

It’s infuriating.

When my shift finally ends for the night, and the sky turns a murky metallic gray, I clock out and wave goodbye to Silas. I feel awkward as shit around him now, knowing what I do, but I’m not mad. Unlike the others in my life, he was under no obligation to tell me the truth.

“You have a ride home, kid?” Silas asks gruffly as he wipes down the countertop.

Ansel dropped me off after school, but Grayson said he’ll pick me up.

“Yeah.”

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