Page 99 of Witch Please

“You get hints that maybe he’s not, but he doesn’t know any other way to be after so long? It’s hard to pick yourself up when you hit bottom. Sometimes you need your friends to speak the hard truths, then offer a hand up. Have you ever done that for him?”

Guilt percolated through him. “I have not. Mostly I slip him odd jobs and avoid the subject. I should be a hard-ass, huh?”

“Maybe. I’ll be able to judge better once I’ve met him.”

“We’ll set something up soon,” Titus promised.

“Wow, this is weird. We just spent the weekend together, but I literally can’t stop talking to you. I know damn well you need to get to sleep, but—”

“I feel like I could talk to you forever,” he whispered.

“Oh, compliments like that willsoget you in my pants, mister.”

“Promise?”

“No revving the engine when I have to drive home alone,” Danica muttered.

Titus grinned, hardly able to believe this was his freaking life.I am the luckiest guy in the world.“Noted. Sorry for teasing you, beautiful.”

“Mmm, liking that too. Er, right, how’s Lucy settling in?”

“I think she’ll be fine. So far, so good. And on that note—”

“You need to sleep. Dream of me?”

“Only if I’m lucky.”

Chapter 29

Danica didn’t see Clem until the next day.

She got up before dawn and drove back to St. Claire, only to find that Clem still wasn’t home.Holy shit.She parked it on the couch to make sure she wouldn’t miss her cousin. At 7:57 a.m. she heard the key in the lock. They had a lot to talk about. She straightened as Clem walked by, maybe thinking Danica was still at her mom’s place.

When Clem reached the stairs, Danica spoke. “Busted!”

Her cousin started way more than she thought the moment called for, fumbling her purse so much she dropped it. But she spun in an aggro move, folding her arms to show she was in no mood. “Okay, let’s go. You’re innoposition to comment on anything I do. You fuckingleft the statewithout talking to me about it. You disregarded our promise like it was nothing and didn’t even have the courtesy to text me. And you left me minding the shop forhowlong? Cousins who are like sisters, my ass.”

“You’re absolutely right,” she said. “I’m pleading temporary insanity. And scientifically speaking, falling in love creates a similar—”

“Oh no, you don’t. If you make me laugh, I have to forgive you, and I’m not ready to do that yet.”

Danica sat forward on the couch, pressing her palms together in a penitent posture. “I’m so sorry. The way I handled everything was shit. In hindsight, I’d have done so many things differently. But I have something important to tell you, and I think it might affect your commitment to the pact when you hear it.”

Clem dropped into an armchair with a tired sigh. “Start talking.”

Quickly she summarized what she’d learned from the journals and the subsequent talk with her mom, ending with all of Gram’s egregious lies. “And that’s it. There’s no Waterhouse curse. I’m not losing my magic. Gram made the whole thing up.”

“Holy fucking shit,” her cousin breathed.

“My thoughts exactly. It was a way to control us, to keep us fearful and from going against her wishes.”

Clem snarled another curse. “Aunt Min really said she’d take Gram on.”

“Shit’s about to get heated.”

Her cousin laughed. “I mean…it’s summer, so it’s already—oh crap. I laughed.”

“Yes! Does that mean I’m forgiven?”

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