Page 48 of Handcuffs and Hexes

“If you’re saying that the teasing is going to be exponentially worse because it’s you, then yes! Yes, it is! What the fuck did you expect? You come in purposefully, trying to irritate as many of us as possible. You don’t take anything seriously. You don’t follow anyone else’s rules but your own. You stole my fuckingcruiser. Remember that? Did you expect me to lie and tell you otherwise?” My face was so heated I could swear it was bright red.

“Hey, let’s not fight,” Liam said.

“Not take anything seriously?” Seth scoffed. “I take everything seriously. That’s why I’m good for the job; I get shit done. The only ones who care about how professional I look doing it are idiots. And it’s not my fault so many of you stuffy cops are so easy to rile up. At least Hayes has a sense of humor. And in case you haven’t realized, the EA has completely different rules from the police, and half the time you see me, I’m not even there for the EA; I’m there for Desmon. You know, the fuckingdragonof Darlington. He wants results. He doesn’t fucking care about your stupid little human rules and bullshit!”

“Ah, great. I’m a stupid little human now!”

“I don’t think that’s what he means,” Liam said placatingly.

“Shut up!” Seth and I both yelled in unison.

I regretted the outburst the second it happened. I knew that logically Liam was right, but I was so freaking angry that I was latching onto anything to stay angry; call it a defense mechanism I’d learned from watching my parents fight.

Fuck! This shit was unacceptable. It was part of the reason why I didn’t do relationships. I’d never witnessed a healthy one before in my life. I had no business being here. I had to get out. Now.

So I did. I turned without a single word and marched my ass back up the stairs to pack my bag.

Chapter 24

Liam

“You!”Ipointedafinger at Seth. “You put a barrier around Hazel, so I couldn’t even talk to her!”

Seth leaned back against the highback leather chair of his home office setup, a neutral mask on his face.

I’d gone to her house to try to either calm her down, cheer her up, explain that Seth could be a major cunt sometimes, or whatever, but found myself stuck on her lawn. So, instead ofbeing a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear, I’d come off as a creepy stalker until she drew her blinds closed after my second attempt at sign language. And by sign language, I literally meant turning into a sign with words on it.

“This is not a fair use of your magic, and you know it.”

“She’s not worth our time.”

“Bullshit! You’re just saying that because you’re so used to getting your way that you couldn’t handle someone telling you no! Well, listen up, Mr. Big Shot Wizard, you can’t fix all of life’s problems by being more powerful or richer than everyone else.”

“She is embarrassed to be seen with us. That should tell you what she thinks of us. She doesn’t care. We are just some fun for her.”

“When the fuck did she say that? She said she wasn’t looking for a relationship. Okay, that sucks because we are. But that doesn’t mean we should just throw it all away and stop trying. She likes us. We’re good together. We could convince her over time. It’s been what? A week? What if I’d given up on you after only a week?”

“This is different.”

“How the fuck so?”

“I was never embarrassed of you.”

“But you still hid what we had for years!”

“To keepyousafe!” he hollered. “Not because of any stupid-ass teasing.”

“You forced that out of her. And so what if it’s true? You think her life on the force is easy. You think Tommy rags on you? I bet he rags on her too.”

Seth wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, but most of the time, I just had to pout and I got my way eventually. I couldn’t see Hazel doing that, not even if her life depended on it. They really were more alike than they thought.

“Tommy’s a jerk. She shouldn’t care about what he thinks.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to work with him every day. And I’m sure he’s not the only one you’ve vexed. It’s not like you haven’t been purposefully acting like a menace every time you have to deal with the police. Do you know how much extra paperwork they’ve had to do on account of you? Oh wait, you do, because you did it on purpose. Come on, what the fuck did you think would happen? And would it kill you to follow some of their rules some of the time?”

I wasn’t sure I was being completely fair here because I knew that his outrageous behavior was a distraction so that his magic could rifle through the crime scene undetected.

Seth set his jaw in that stubborn way that I found both adorable and infuriating.

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