Page 19 of Hooked on a Witch
Shannon’s face scorched. She ducked her head and scooted around Merck’s SUV.
He removed his tactical vest and threw it into the backseat. “You think I’m hot?”
“I might’ve had a crush on you in high school, but I’m long over that. He was spewing crap to get back at me for not telling him exactly which road you’d taken.” She clicked the seatbelt.
“Uh-huh.”
Shannon cleared her throat, jittery with need to clarify shewasn’tinto him.Even though you are.“Chad totally freaked out. You shouldn’t have invited him here.”
“I didn’t. He must’ve gotten our location out of Danny.”
“I’m surprised Chad works for you. He needs target practice. He didn’t handle the zombies very well. He squealed until I hugged him. ”
“He squealed?” A snort of laughter shot from him. He wiped the corners of his eyes.
“I find it hard to believe this is the first time he’s seen something magically weird, if he works for you.”
“I’ve kept him out of the heavy situations. He’s solid. He’ll get over it and do great next time. You didn’t freak out, did you?”
She emitted a harshas-ifgrunt. “I’ve seen bizarre things my entire life. Freaking out never helps. There’s plenty of time to freak afterward. I’ll admit I had to phone a friend to get the right protective spell. But I took care of it.”
“You did.” His gaze didn’t deviate from the road, but his tone was filled with respect. Pride bloomed inside her at earning his approval.
“Are you okay?” She pointed at a scratch on his right shoulder, which peeked through a tear in his T-shirt. More scratches littered his lower arm. The way he held it stiffly against his thigh suggested it hurt. The scratches, although deep, had already stopped bleeding. Maybe had some sort of speedy healing ability.
“Side effect of the job. Nothing new. I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t look okay, but…all right. What happened inside?”
“Standard warlock shit.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
His lips curved into a smile that was part evil joy at whatever he’d done to destroy the warlock and part humor. “I took care of it.”
His expression grew serious. “He’s not the only one down here after you.”
