Page 20 of Hooked on a Witch
Chapter Four
She thought he was hot.
Hot damn.
Not that he would be taking whatever pinged between them to the next level. The kiss had been a mistake.
Her hugging Chad...nope, not jealous of Chad. The guy adored his wife, who’d cut Chad’s nuts off if he cheated.
Merck’s priority needed to be to figure out why magic-wielding deviants like the warlock he’d just deep-sixed wanted her. If he tried to ask her, she’d want to discuss what happened with the warlock. He didn’t want her knowing about that or the death stench inside the house. He wanted her to remain innocent of the filth he dealt with as a part of being the Enforcer.
There’d been no question the warlock had caused more than a handful of deaths over the past few days. This was an unfortunate and common sight when dealing with those who practiced black magic, but he wished he could forget visions of the bloody aftermath of the death rituals. The demented being hadn’t been interested in explanations, and Merck hadn’t the time to wrangle from him what his presence here had to do with Shannon, not with a child’s life on the line. He worried the warlock kidnapping Chad’s daughter from school wasn’t a random coincidence. The warlock might’ve known he had Shannon and knew Chad’s connection to Merck.
Several miles down the road, he asked, “What’s rolling around in your head?”
“Nothing.” She clenched her hands together, but he hadn’t missed their trembling.
“It’s over. The warlock is dead and gone.”
Her gaze darted to his. “Maybe I’m not asokayas I thought I was. It’d be nice to forget rotting dead things trying to touch me. I’ve seen weird stuff, but that was disgusting.”
Not as disgusting as what was inside the house.“I find the best way to deal with this kind of thing is to force my brain to move on. I dealt with it and now it’s over.”
“Aren’t I supposed to think happy thoughts like teddy bears and rainbows?”
“That’s bullshit. If rejecting it doesn’t work, try pot.”
She giggled. “Seriously? Getting high is the ultimate temporary out.”
“Worked for me in high school.”Before I got used to it.
“You have some here?”
“Nah. I haven’t smoked in years. I know a guy, though, if you want me to give him a call...”
She shook her head. “You’re a badass. Hunting warlocks, saving kids, getting tattoos...” She grinned at him. “You were a badass in high school. I’d never seen anyone our age smoke anything, but you were always lighting up.”
A smile nudged his lips, but didn’t quite happen. “I’d just started this type of stuff—the chasing black-magic people—in high school. Drugs and smoking helped me handle things.” Back then when they’d ridden the bus together, she’d been a gangly teen much too young for him and too easy to shock. They’d waited for the bus on the porch of an abandoned house at the end of what used to be a dirt road between their properties. He’d been riveted by her from the first moment he met her because beyond any drug or alcoholic drink, onlyshemade him forget the vileness he’d been forced to contend with.
“I didn’t realize you were doing this kind of thing. I knew you had some sort of after-school job, but never imagined… That must’ve been awful. Back then I was worried about school and clothes, whereas you were dealing with all this?” She touched his arm. “I’m sorry. It’s no wonder you were always cramming homework before school and studying on the bus.”
He shrugged. “It was what it was. My life didn’t hinge on my ability to graduate high school, although I did. Barely. I appreciated your help.”
“No kid should have to deal with this sort of thing. I wished you’d told me. I would’ve… I don’t know what I would’ve done, but maybe try to make your life better.”
Her smile killed him. Shannon had always been a do-gooder for anyone in need. She would’ve tried to help him, if she’d known. And gotten in big trouble. Her father had forbidden her to speak with him, an edict she violated at the bus stop and on the bus. He wondered if she told her father they rode the same bus. Probably not.
She asked, “What about your mom? Didn’t she care what you were up to and why you were smoking?”
He snorted out a sarcastic laugh. “That woman only cared that I was scarce when she brought over a boyfriend or had one of her pot parties. Me gone to do whatever…well, it worked for her. I always wondered why your parents let you ride the bus with me.”
“I never thought about it. Not sure they knew. There was a good-sized group of kids. Maybe they figured it was safe. I pitched a fit about how uncool it was to have a bodyguard on my tail at all times in high school. That’s probably the only time in my life someone wasn’t looming behind me, ready to take a bullet or kill a witch hunter.”
“They were overprotective.”
“There’s always someone trying to kill us. It’s understandable, but my parents compromised and placed a teacher at the school who was an undercover druid. He had cameras on me at all times. So, still under lockdown and highly annoying. My only free time was the bus. I’m sure someone put a spell on the stop to guarantee its safety.”
He pulled down the quarter-mile dirt drive to her family house. “You’re really visiting down here alone?”
