Page 16 of The Trouble With Spells
“About that,” Callum ran a hand through his hair, and pushed his glasses back up his nose. The man really needed to get his glasses adjusted. The way they constantly slid down his nose was ridiculous. But also, his constant pushing them back up was super adorable. “Daphne, our mom, and our Gran are out of town for another week and half, and they can’t be reached.”
His words had my world crashing down around me, and I felt dizzy. “I need this spell broken now. I can’t even believe I’m saying this, because I don’t even believe in any of this. The last few days have been hell, absolute hell, and I’m afraid of what could happen if this goes on much longer.”
Callum stared at me behind his glasses, then wrinkled his nose. “Tell me what’s happened. Most things can be attributed to mere coincidence and your own mind playing into your fear. This spell is not that strong, I’m telling you. It’s barely there, so I have a hard time believing it’s done anything that drastic. So, let’s talk this out.”
I heaved a sigh of relief, sure that once I explained to Callum all the things that had happened to me the last few days, he would understand that whatever this spell was, it was bad news and much more powerful than he thought it was. “Where do you want me to start?”
He ran a hand over Hex’s fur, stroking the cat but totally focused on me. Again, I was struck with a need to find out what those hands of his would feel like stroking over my skin. “Gran usually says starting at the beginning is the best place to start. So start there.”
“I picked up this guy at a club. We went back to my place, and–” I hesitated, because for some unknown reason I didn’t want Callum to think badly of me. Or that I was the type of person who routinely picked up random people at clubs, took them home, fucked them, then sent them on their way, with no intentions of ever seeing them again. Even if that was exactly what I usually did. “Later, when I asked him to leave, he got mad and started mumbling under his breath and then he said he had cursed me.”
Both Callum’s black brows rose in unison above his pretty green eyes, and the black frames of his glasses. “Yeah, okay, I think there’s a lot missing from that explanation.”
Waving a hand, he motioned for me to continue.
“The next day–yesterday–I lost all my court cases. Every single one of them.”
Callum shrugged, “Lawyers lose cases all the time. I mean, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance, right?”
Scowling, I huffed, “I have never lost a case I’ve prosecuted in two years.” Holding up two fingers, I reiterated sharply, “Two years. Even the ones where we were setting up bonds, or preliminary hearings, something went wrong. Two cases were tossed on technicalities that hadn’t been discovered before yesterday.” Almost like they hadn’t been there before yesterday.
Dial back the paranoia, Michael.
“Bound to happen, though. So far, it sounds like you were just having a bad day.” His voice wasn’t unsympathetic, but I could tell he was just trying to placate my feelings.
My shoulders slumped dejectedly. “It’s just never happened to me before. And to lose them all that day...” my voice trailed off and I tried to not sound like a pouty child, who had lost at a game.
“What else you got?”
Searching my memory, so that I didn’t forget one tiny thing, I said, “I tripped on the curb, fell into traffic, and nearly got run over after leaving the office.”
Callum’s green eyes grew wide with concern hearing that. “Were you hurt?”
Holding up my hands, I showed him my still red palms. “Some road rash, but nothing serious.”
Callum looked slightly troubled now, less dismissive, but it was hard for me to read him. He kept his face pretty expressionless, and it was distracting and annoying. I wasused to reading people’s faces. Clients, defendants, and most of all, juries. “My condo building caught on fire last night.”
His eyes widened comically with shock at hearing that, and he straightened from where he’d been leaning against the counter. “Was anyone hurt?”
“Some smoke inhalation, but that was it. My condo got a lot of smoke. The fire started in an empty unit on the first floor. I’m on the penthouse floor and the firefighters were able to contain it before it reached that far.”
Callum rolled his eyes. “Of course you are.”
Not really liking what he was implying, I ignored his slightly sarcastic tone. “I won’t know actual damage for a few days. We’re not allowed back in yet.”
Which was a pain in the ass. Luckily, since I’d grabbed my wallet, I wasn’t without resources, but I really didn’t want to replace my entire wardrobe while I waited for them to let us back inside.
“I’m glad no one was hurt,” Callum’s tone was gentle now. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt. But Michael, all of this is honestly nothing more than just a very bad day.”
“Look I get that this sounds like I’m being paranoid, believe me,” I ran a hand through my hair, something I had been doing a ridiculous amount of lately. “But never in my life have I had this much bad luck at one time. When I got to work this morning, I found all my pending casesfor the next two weeks had been reassigned, and I was told I needed to take two weeks off. To clear my head.”
“Michael, look, this is more than likely just nothing more than a run of really, really bad luck,” Callum repeated, and shrugged, “maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something.”
Pursing my lips, I asked, “Is it? Seems like something you would probably know.” Not that I believed in astrology and signs any more than I believed in witches, but at this point I was willing to believe in just about anything to make my life go back to the way it had been. Charmed and filled with good luck
“It wasn’t, no, and before you ask, it wasn’t a full moon either. But none of this means your bad luck has been caused by this spell. Most spells are harmless.”
Panic rose up inside me, like a hand tightening around my throat. How could I tell Callum it was more than just all the extremely bad luck that had my nerves on edge. That it was a feeling, a tickling along my nerve endings, my spine, that told me something bad was happening to me. Or was going to happen to me.
