Page 7 of Love's a Witch
“Ladies, while I can appreciate you want to be home to help Broca, having you here is bad for tourism. It’s been a while since the MacGregors have lived in town, and things have changed since your family left. We’ve worked tirelessly to build up our reputation, to design a careful, thoughtful, and well-planned town with a theme that allows people like us to live here safely as well as to entice humans to spend tourist money. It’s a win-win for everyone that has been hard fought for. The last thing I need, or want, is a trio of messy witches screwing things up for us.”
“Messy?” I arched a brow at him, pushing Lyra out of the way and getting in his face. Vaguely recalling something from childhood, I poked Knox in the chest. “You’re no longer welcome in this home.”
To my absolute delight, the magick in the old house held strong. Knox was sucked backward onto the front porch, and the door slammed resoundingly in his face.
“Well, now, that’s a neat little party trick,” Nova decided.
“Is he a vampire? Doesn’t that only work on vampires?” Lyra turned to me, shock on her pretty face.
“It’s a protection spell,” Broca said, waddling forward. “I recharged the wards when I returned, and I have to admit I’m quite chuffed with myself. That worked nicely. Well done, Sloane.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“Go away!” we all shouted at once.
“Ladies, we have to talk about this. Your curse is going to destroy this town. I can’t allow that to happen. How much will it cost?”
At that we looked at each other.
“He’s trying to buy us off?” I gasped.
“I wonder how much. I did have my eye on a new stand mixer.” Lyra tapped a manicured nail against her lips. A natural-born influencer, her talents lay in the kitchen, and she ran a successful cooking YouTube channel that could more than pay for as many stand mixers as she’d like.
“Enough to open a tattoo shop?” Nova considered.
“We don’t need his money,” Broca reminded them. Being a witch had its benefits, and one was that our family had been incredibly goodwith timing particular investments through the years. I wouldn’t say they dealt in insider tradingspecifically. But I also wouldn’t say their investments didn’t have an added boost of a magickal inclination here and there.
The knocking continued.
“I’m not leaving.”
I pictured him, sitting on our porch and getting covered in snow, and my heart thawed slightly. Sighing, I cracked the door open and looked out. The snowfall continued, fat fluffy flakes dancing in the light from the streetlamp, dusting across Knox’s perfect jawline.
“One would surmise that it would be stupid of you to sit on a porch and freeze to death in a snowstorm, so I would like to think that you have enough self-preservation to see yourself home.”
“I’ll leave once you leave.” Knox lifted his chin, a stubborn look in his eyes.
“What are you, twelve?I’ll go if you go?” I threw up my hands. “It’s true, isn’t it? People never tell you no, do they?”
Knox blinked at me as frustration flashed in his eyes.
“As I believe I mentioned, it is not a common practice around here.”
“Consider this a lesson in growth, then.” I had the gall to reach through the door and pat Knox’s cheek in the most condescending manner I could. Frustration shifted to annoyance on his handsome face, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with myself. “For your information, we’re here to break the curse. We’ll get it sorted soon enough, and your precious town will be none the worse. In the meantime, might I suggest you pull out your ice skates and enjoy an early winter?”
His eyes narrowed. “Cute.” The word dripped with sarcasm. “Though I much prefer the easier solution—you leaving.”
“We can’t always get what we want, can we?”
“Again, not a problem I usually have.”
“Arrogant, aren’t you?” Was he seriously not going to leave us alone? This was moving past annoying to infuriating.
“No, I don’t think so.” Knox crossed his arms, considering my words. Like,actuallyconsidering them, not just pretending to in order to blow me off. “Things just usually go my way.”
I didn’t doubt it, what with his charm and good looks.
“I totally get that,” Lyra agreed from behind me.
