Page 65 of Witch Please

Probably she should meet Gram and try to sweeten her up. Their last call had ended on a sour note with what she took as a threat.I can’t let anything bad happen to Titus.But she couldn’t make herself reach out because her grandmother would ask if she had resolved the situation, and in truth, she hadn’t. She’d never been able to lie to Gram either.

In the end, she took a long bath and went to bed early. The next morning, she woke up to Goliath crying on her front porch. Danica leaned her head against the inside of the front door as Clem laughed at her. She didn’t know what time her cousin had gotten in, and she didn’t ask either.

“That cat really loves you. Maybe you should see a doctor, get some pills for the allergic reaction, and just adopt him. Hazel won’t live forever.”

“Clementine Waterhouse!”

Her cousin made an innocent face. “What? Is it too early for me to say true things?”

“It would serve you right if I took him in and taught him to pee in your shoes.”

Muttering darkly, she went out onto the porch and called Hazel. The fool ginger jumped up on the porch swing, making it sway, and promptly fell over, waving all four paws in invitation. His belly was white and fluffy, and unlike most cats, this wasn’t an adorable trap. Goliath would hug her hand, but he didn’t bite. Sometimes she gave in to temptation and rubbed his tummy until he practically purred himself into pudding.

“Why do you love me so much, huh? Why?”

Goliath regarded her with devoted, unblinking eyes as if to say,You already know.She sighed, noticing that he’d somehow gotten his camera collar off. Ten minutes later, the old woman finally showed to reclaim her cat, making all the usual complaints. She propped one arm on her hip, the other cradling Goliath over her shoulder.

“I don’t believe for one minute that you aren’t doing something to cause this,” Hazel snapped. “There’s no other explanation. This just isn’t…normal.”

Shit, that’s the last thing I want her saying around town with a hunter sniffing about.

“Maybe it’s not me. I’ve read that cats get attached to places. They start feeling territorial, so maybe Goliath thinks the whole zone around your house is his to patrol?”

Did that sound plausible?

Hazel stared at Goliath for a few seconds, and then she squashed his furry face between her palms, baby talking on full auto. “Huh. Is that true, wookums? Does the whole neighborhood belong to you? Is that what you think, my little king?”

“Did you ever figure out how he’s getting out?”

“Goliath only wore that expensive piece of junk for an hour. Then he squirmed out of it and hid it somewhere. David looked at the footage, but it’s just Goliath prancing around the house. That was a complete waste of time and money.” Hazel scowled and flounced away, as if that was Danica’s fault too somehow.

Goliath gave an anguished look over Hazel’s shoulder, but Danica didn’t intervene. Instead, she dashed inside feeling like she’d dodged a bullet. She didn’t have to work until later, and Clem had left at some point while she was dealing with Goliath and Hazel. Exercise might clear her head, so she decided to go for a leisurely bike ride before her shift.

The weather was perfect for it, not too hot yet, only the problem with pedaling on automatic was that her course took her right to the bakery. Which was thankfully closed while Titus and Maya were in Arizona. A sign on the front door read CLOSED THIS WEEKEND FOR PERSONAL REASONS. They weren’t open on Sunday anyway, so they’d only lose today and Saturday.And why am I thinking about this? It’s not my business.

Movement registered in her peripheral vision, and she caught someone hurrying away down the alley. Chasing them would be suspicious; just as well she didn’t need to. Because she couldfeelthe energy rippling over the shop, a powerful hex designed to drive away customers. She hadn’tseenthe witch, but this had Gram written all over it. Though she was in town, it wasn’t her style to do such things personally, even if she’d still had sufficient power. No, she preferred calling in favors.

Glancing around to make sure nobody was paying attention, Danica quickly purged the spell. Then she worked a cleansing to strip away any signs of the working from her person. This was risky as fuck, but she couldn’t leave that hex in place to dig into Titus’s business and erode his customer base for no good reason. Hexes were like burrs; the deeper they sunk in, the more difficult it was to root them out.

Danica spun and nearly slammed into the witch hunter, Gavin Rhys.No, I’m not supposed to know his name. Dammit, I hope I didn’t screw up again.Her heart pounded like a drum in the middle of a Wagner symphony.

She forced a friendly smile, tipping her head back to meet his intent, silver-gray gaze. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Looks like the bakery is closed.”

The curve of his lips didn’t reach his eyes. “So it is. But I found what I’m looking for, and it wasn’t cinnamon rolls.”

***

“This is hell on earth,” Titus whispered to Maya.

His sister nodded, her smile so plastic that it might have been melted into her face. “The weather certainly supports that theory.”

No joke, the temperature spiked over a hundred early on with the heat index even higher, and stepping outside felt like immersing themselves in a dry-heat sauna. It was weird to live like that, running from air con to air con. If he couldn’t go outside to play with Doris… Titus winced, thinking of how sad his dog had been when he’d left. At least Trevor had agreed to hang out at their place, give the dog her food, and play with her in the backyard.

They had been saying all the right things all day. They’d arrived at five in the morning, local time, and were functioning on precious little sleep. The damned house was overflowing with people they didn’t know, and Susan had been so busy opening presents and beaming at anyone who spoke to her that she didn’t even seem to realize they were there.

To make matters worse, Dad was casual about the whole thing. He’d even said, “Oh, I’m so glad you decided to come after all,” like he hadn’t issued an ultimatum.

Like it was our choice.

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