Page 28 of Love's a Witch
“It should be back on by now.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and reaching down with one hand, I pulled it out and swiped it open.
“All good?” I asked without preamble.
“Yup, power’s back on. No need to go on a murdering spree.”
“But you know how much I like to sell organs on the black market.”
Knox grinned up at me, clearly not threatened by my words in the slightest.
“I do at that,” Lyra said, cluing in to what must be going on. “But you might want to keep his organs all intact. Particularly one, likely very large organ—”
I hung up before she could say any more.
“You could have put Broca in jeopardy,” I said, easing back, trying to stay focused on why I was so mad to begin with.
“I’m serious about you leaving town, Sloane. But I’m also not an awful person. I’d never hurt Broca.” Knox seemed sincerely upset at the prospect, and I stood, looking down as he propped himself up in the snow.
I refused to offer him a hand.
“She’s just had surgery, Knox. You have no idea what she needs the electrics for. It was poor form.”
“I’m sorry.” Knox met my eyes, his tone sincere. “You’re right. It was poor form, even if it was for a short bit of time.”
“Come for me all you want,” I said, pointing a finger at his face. “But my family is off-limits.”
“Oh, make no mistake about it, witchling. I amabsolutelycoming for you. This is only the beginning. I can make your life incredibly uncomfortable. And I plan to.”
“We need time to break the curse.” I almost shouted it, but brought my tone down just in time as a group of tourists left a shop. Instead, I kicked a pile of snow by his shoulder.
“At the cost of everyone else in Briarhaven, Sloane? We’re all supposed to deal with endless snow that is increasing in severity, whichcould potentially become catastrophic for our homes and businesses, while you just take your sweet time figuring out some ancient curse?”
Knox stood and brushed the snow from his trousers, his face set in hard lines.
Shame now mixed with fury, and I didn’t like it. It had always been this way. The catch-22 of my life. If I stayed in one spot, people got hurt. But the only way to fix this mess was to stay in one damn spot—the origin of the very curse—and that meant Briarhaven would just have to freaking deal with it.
“You pride yourself on being Scotland’s most magickal town. Well?Youfix it, then.” I lifted my hand and waved at the snow cascading down around us.
With that, I turned, needing to get away from him. Knox had stirred up too many emotions, and I needed to walk them off before I could think straight again.
“Oh, and Sloane?”
I glanced over my shoulder to where Knox stood, the snow swirling around him but never really landing on him.
“I forgot to wish you a happy birthday. I look forward to celebrating with you tonight.” Even though frustration simmered in his eyes, he smirked.
“Absolutely not. You’re not invited,” I said, and he grinned, that same grin he’d shown me the first night when I tried to tell him no.
“Let me guess. You own the pub.” Resignation hung low in my gut.
“Nope. My best mate does, though.” Knox shot me a cheeky grin before sauntering to his Land Rover.
I looked at the Silver Quill and sighed, turning toward home. There weren’t enough books in the world to soothe my turmoil today. Annoyed that my calm had been ruined by one very frustrating man, I brushed the snow from my pants and stomped toward home.
A car pulled up next to me, and I glanced over to see Knox, a smug expression on his face.
“Nice and warm in here.”
