Page 9 of Witch Upon a Star
“Isn’t it a little early for that?”
I turned, seeing Grumpy hop up on a stool next to me. Grumpy and Papaw were the only members who didn’t live on club property. When Grumpy had moved to Mount Grove, he’d bought a house in town and had lived there since, despite having a free apartment available to him here at the clubhouse. Papaw had moved out as soon as his prospecting time was up, moving himself and Louisa into a little cabin on the outskirts of town. I’d been there, and it was quaint. Perfect for the older couple who wanted to downsize without living in an apartment.
I ignored the comment about my beer. Without responding to the message, I put my phone facedown on the wooden bar. “What are you doing here so early?”
The man grunted. “Looking for you, actually. I have a project in the garage I wanted to work on and didn’t know if you had any plans to be filming today.”He once again gestured to the glass bottle in my hand. “I can see you’re not, though.”
The club’s property had two buildings besides the residential houses the club members lived in with their families. The clubhouse where we were now and the garage where we stored our bikes during the winter. Grumpy used it as a secondary workshop too. Over a year ago, we’d transformed half of the space into a gym, which was now where I filmed most of my content for my TikTok channel. We tended to have to be cognizant of each other’s schedules in there, because both of us could be noisy in our own right.
I grunted back at him. “I’m caught up for a few days. Probably won’t be back in there other than a standard workout until Wednesday or Thursday.”
I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye. “Want to tell me why you’re drinking at eight in the morning?”
After taking another swallow, I put the bottle back on the bar. “Nope.”
Every member of the club had a key to the alcohol cabinets behind and under the bar except Jumper. He’d heavily abused alcohol and drugs to cover his PTSD symptoms years ago. He hadn’t touched either in over a decade, but also did not trust himself to be around either unattended.
Everything at the bar and in the kitchen was a free-for-all for the club members. Each apartment had a small kitchenette, which was where we had to keep anything personal or that we didn’t want to share. Only reason I wasn’t drinking in there was because my cat, Cuppa Joe, was sending me even judge-ier looks than Grumpy was.
I wasn’t an alcoholic, nor did I have a drinking problem. I liked the taste of beer, and normally didn’t have my first untilafter five in the afternoon. Later, depending on my schedule. But this morning, I was still feeling put off by the events of the day before so I grabbed a beer. It wasn’t a big deal, and I wasn’t planning on having more than one.
The fact that both my cat and Grumpy were judging me so harshly was grating on my nerves.
“Does it have to do with the auction yesterday?”
Grumpy had no room to question me.Hiswinner was a fifty-something divorcee who had a reputation for being a cougar and going after men a lot younger than Grumpy. Yet Grumpy didn’t see me asking him if he had plans of putting out. Wasn’t my business, and what I was feeling now wasn’t any of his.
I slept like crap the night before. I couldn’t figure out why I had turned down Kora for sex. It was just so odd for me, and then I couldn’t figure out why it rankled me so much that I had. It was just sex. I could get that anywhere.
Realizing I hadn’t answered Grumpy’s question, I said shortly, “Nope.”
At that moment, my phone buzzed. Putting my beer down, I picked it up. I wasnotexpecting the message to be from Calliope. I hadn’t yet repliedto her first.
Witchy Woman: I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings by declining the date. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m opening a new store in town. It’s a New Age store, and I’ve practically been doing all the work myself. My parents are older and can only help but so much. So I’m behind on a good amount of what needs to be done, and my Grand Opening is Samhain (your Halloween). I just wanted to take advantage of the extra pair of hands for a few hours since you were agreeable.
I stared down at the phone for a long moment. Holy fucking shit. I was butt hurt.Thatwas what was wrong with me. For fuck’s sake! I was sitting here, alone, on a Sunday morning drinking a cold beer because a woman, whom I wasn’t even interested in, had declined a date with me. Motherfucker!
I pushed the beer away, disgusted with myself. Jesus Christ. Quickly, I typed out my response.
Me: 1 is fine. Let me know if you need me to bring any supplies so we’re not wasting time going to the hardware store.
Then I stood up, pocketed my phone, and said to Grumpy, “Changed my mind. I’m going to go work out.”
Better to work whatever this was off in the gym than nursing a cold one. Fucking hell, I was pathetic. So what if a woman had turned me down for a date? It wasn’t likeI’dbeen the one to ask her on one. Jesus. I’d become too complacent. When had sex become easy? Where had the thrill of the challenge gone?
Shaking my head, I headed back to my apartment tochange and get my cat. Joe usually came with me when I went to the gym. She had a following of her own online. Ever since I’d been doing a tutorial on proper pushup technique and she’d climbed on top of my back. It was common knowledge that if a cat chooses you as their perch, you’re not allowed to move. Camera rolling, I’d had to hold the plank position for over an hour before Joe woke up from her nap, stretched, and sauntered off like she hadn’t just nearly killed me.
It had been my first viral video.
But I had no plans of filming today. Just working myself to exhaustion. Clearly, I had to get over myself. When had my ego become so fucking fragile?
Lucky calleda meeting early Monday morning. It was a little unorthodox, since most of the members had nine-to-five jobs. Keys, Bones, and I were laughing as we headed out of the hallway into the clubhouse’s main room. Or really,Bonesand I were laughing. Though Keys was walking with us, he had his head down in his phone and didn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation.
“Oh, come on!” I shot back at Bones. He was still ragging on me after finding me sweat-soaked in the gym yesterday. “It’s not like I wanted to go on a date with someone like her anyway.”
I spotted Pumpkin standing at the bottom of the stairsthat led up to Chapel. He was leaning heavily on his cane and looking at the staircase like it had betrayed him.
“Oh really? So you weren’t trying to kill yourself in the gym yesterday because you failed to get a date?”
