Page 101 of Bad Luck Club

Maisie, she realized, had slid into Lee’s empty chair, which would remain empty—there was no way Remy was going to let him escape his grasp until the last possible moment. If he knew Lee’s name, he’d know the specifics about Adalia’s show. He’d know when it was supposed to start.

“Hey,” Maisie said, nudging her. “Is the plane food acting up on you? I told you not to buy plane food. The thought of that stuff sitting there…” She gave a dramatic full-body shake. “I wouldn’t go for the Dog Chow either, between you and me. It looks like something I’d feed the canines.”

For a moment, Blue couldn’t find words. Her eyes darted to Adalia, at the other end of the table. She was looking at her, eyes questioning, a glint of fear in them. Whether for Lee or for the opening, she wasn’t sure.

One thing she did know was that she couldn’t tell them.

She couldn’t tell them before she told him.

At first she’d been startled, horrified, but as she thought about it, about what Jeremy had tried to do, rage filled her to bursting, like too much stuffing in one of her creations. He must have known she’d find out, at some point. Had he assumed Lee would be happy enough to have a job in commercial real estate that he wouldn’t care who’d hired him or why? That he’d leave Blue in the gutter as soon as a better offer came along? Or maybe, and this was the part that made her want to tear him to pieces like a sheet of paper, maybe he had thought she’d stay silent. Maybe he had assumed she would step aside, let him do his worst, and not attempt to change things. That she would accept this fate he had chosen for her, for Lee, without intervening.

Well, he would find that he was very mistaken indeed.

“Blue?” Maisie prompted. Dottie had tightened her hold again, almost enough to hurt. “Blue, you just went from looking like you were about to hurl to making me very nervous about that knife by your plate. While murderous rage is, like everything else, a very good look for you, I feel like I should ask you what the hell’s going on.”

She glanced up and realized they were all staring at her—Adalia and Finn, River and Georgie, Maisie and Jack. Dottie.

“I’ve got to go,” she said, pulling away from Dottie and pushing her chair back with enough force it nearly fell over. “I’ll be back in time for the show.” She met Adalia’s eyes—her wide, dazed eyes, which were now definitely full of concern. At least she’d gotten her mind off the show. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be back. And I’ll bring Lee with me. We’ll explain everything later.”

If he didn’t turn his back on her once he knew.

“You go get your man!” Maisie said, then shrugged in reaction to her questioning look. “I’ve been wanting to say that to someone else ever since Dustin said it to me.”

“Thanks,” she said, squeezing her shoulder on the way out.

Adalia stood to intercept her, but she didn’t ask any questions. She didn’t do anything but pull her into a hug.

“Is it going to be okay?” she finally asked in a whisper.

“It will be,” Blue said.

But she knew it was a lie.

As she walked out, their waitress passed by her, her tray piled with unappetizing food.

“Great!” she heard Finn say with false ebullience. “This Poodle Pasta is exactly what we need. Can you please get another glass of wine for my lady? Maybe two so she doesn’t run low?”

Smart man.

No sooner had she stepped outside than someone behind her pressed something hard and cold into her hand. She jumped, terrified, but when she looked back, it was just Dottie, passing her a crystal necklace that had an obsidian crystal as the largest stone.

“I got one for each of you girls,” Dottie said. “I was going to give them to you later, after the show, but you need this now. Obsidian. For strength against dark forces.”

Probably because of all those owls and snakes they’d seen in her tea.

“Thank you, Dottie,” she said, pausing to slide it around her neck. Because if she’d ever needed strength it was now. “But maybe don’t slide mystery things into people’s hands in the city, unless they can see you.”

Dottie just inclined her head. “I understand that you’re going for Lee, but dare I ask if you knowwhereto find him?”

Blue’s surging emotions, her protectiveness of Lee, her fury at Remy, her anger at herself—it all sunk in like an underbaked cake.

“Oh. I guess I better text him.”

But there was a good chance he wouldn’t answer if he was in the middle of what he thought was an important meeting.

“No need for that,” Dottie said, waving away the idea. She stepped up to the curb and lifted a hand to hail a cab. One approached the curb seconds later, as if by witchcraft.

Dottie slid inside, only peeking out when Blue failed to follow her. “Coming?”

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