Page 26 of Hot in Witch City
At lunch time,I was making a roast beef sandwich with all the fixings when Lucas entered the house.
“Hey, how was your night?” I asked.
“Amazing.” He nodded wide a wide smile. “I went home with a beauty. Hot damn, that’s a great club. Plenty of hot, single women wanting to play. I’m definitely going back.”
While Lucas continued with the highlights, my mind wandered back to Gianna’s situation. Why would her mother abandon Gianna and then come back into her life after so many years? No wonder she was distressed.
“Sebastian, you with me?” Lucas grabbed a pickle spear from the open jar on the counter and took a bite.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, I answered, “Yeah, why?”
“I asked you a question, but you were off in la-la land.” He pointed down at my sandwich. “You’ve been spreading mayo on that bread long enough for it to pass through to the other side.”
I blinked and put the knife down. This wasn’t like me. Lucas and I loved to share stories of our conquests. But instead of sharing mine, I admitted, “I’m a little rattled.”
“About what?”
“I was with Gianna last night.”
“Nice.” He nodded with approval.
I exhaled. “I thought one night would get this compulsion out of my system. No dice. Not yet at least.”
Lucas pulled out a plate and placed two slices of the whole wheat bread on it. “What do you mean—you want to be with her again?”
“Worse.” I grunted. “I sense what my wolf has been telling me might be true—that Gianna is my mate.”
“Eek.” Lucas put his fingers in the sign of a cross and backed up as if warding off a vampire in the movies.
“It’s not a death sentence.”
“It might as well be,” he scoffed. “You need an exorcism or something to get rid of that shit. It’s a curse.”
“You know, you’re part shifter, too,” I noted. “This could happen to you one day.”
“Oh, hell no.” He squeezed some mustard onto his bread. “I’ll fly away before I let some mate curse bind me.”
I exhaled. “I don’t know what to do. She doesn’t want it. I don’t want it. You’re right, it does seem like a curse.”
“Sorry about that, man. If neither of you wants it, it’s bound to fade away, right?”
The cat sauntered into the kitchen. “Hey Shadow, want a treat?” Lucas pulled out the bag of treats and tossed a few. Then he finished piling roast beef, tomato, and lettuce onto his sandwich, closed it, and took a massive bite.
Although I’d been going through the motions of making my own lunch, I didn’t have an appetite—an absolute rarity. “I hope you’re right and that in a day or two, I’ll be back to my normal self.”
“Fingers crossed, man,” Lucas declared. “I mean, she’s hot, but no woman is worth that stranglehold that comes with being chained to a mate for life.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” I rolled my shoulders. “I just need to shake it off.”
Lucas shook his hips and sang Taylor Swift’s song of the same name.
I laughed. The break in the tension that had imprisoned me lately took some weight off my shoulders.
Diego descended the stairs that moment and blinked at us from sleepy eyes. He groaned. “I’ve woken up in vampire purgatory.”
Lucas bumped Diego’s hip. “Loosen up, my dead-hearted friend. Seb needs some cheering up.” Then he resumed singing, adding more shimmy to his shake.
“Save it for work,” Diego begged but cracked a smile.
