Page 48 of Rock and a Hard Place

The forget spell had struck again. I reminded her what had happened last weekend.

“Oh yeah, I remember now. Or rather, I remember telling everyone. Not it actually happening. But I think I want to say… Yes, the feeling is similiar.” She huddled a little closer to me.

I wrapped an arm around her protectively and stood a little taller, as if to block whatever was spying on her from seeing her. This didn’t feel like Dr. Shen or The White Claws. This was something else.

I recalled when Grayson had accidentally painted a target on Shelby’s back simply by showing interest in her. At the time, the WEC had been kidnapping women with magic who couldn’t control or wield it properly in their crazy efforts to reestablish The Wall. The wizard council had used The Wall to hide their meddling in things like politics and corporate affairs.

Could this be their doing? I made a note to check with my contact at the EA to see if they’d caught wind of another crazy plot to re-cast history’s largest and most complex spell.

We grabbed our food and hurried back to the car. I didn’t fully relax until we were back in the safety of my penthouse.

Chapter 25

Lillian

Ireachedoverandsnatched the gossip mag straight out from under Tansy’s purse. She’d picked it up, seen the headline, made a face, then tried to hide it from me. I couldn’t believe that in a world full of online gossip, the print version still existed. But here we were.

“Bad-Boy Redrock Can’t Shake The Golddiggers”, screamed the headline in bold font. Under it was a photo of me and Gunnar, my face blocked by his shoulder. According to the horribly written piece, I was actively trying to get pregnant because I didn’t want to go back to work. The source? Holly, mygood friendof many years, who also happened to work at my old workplace.

She was quoted as saying, “Her dream has always been to marry rich and quit her job. I’m so happy for her.”

I made a hiss that sounded very much like a snow leopard, and Tansy raised her eyebrows at me.

“Wow, spicy kitty! That’s why I was trying to hide it from you. Don’t worry about it. You know how these gossip rags talk out of their asses.”

Sure, I’d known Holly from school, but that didn’t make us friends. Probably the rest of the article was just as inaccurate.

That didn’t stop me from continuing to read it, of course. According to the piece, my old workplace had reached out to offer me a job, but I’d refused. That was a lie as well: I hadn’t gotten any other calls or emails from anyone else at work. But the thing that pissed me off most was the fact that they’d called me a masseuse!!!

There was nothing wrong with being a massage therapist, and as a physio, I worked closely with one, since both aided in healing. But the article heavily implied that I did the rub and tug type of massage.

I was fuming. This was literally my worst nightmare come true. I hated being the center of attention at the best of times, but this was so much worse. Not only was it negative attention, but all the facts were wrong, and there was no way for me to fix it. There was absolutely jack shit I could do about this.

I tried to keep reading, but I was so angry that I couldn’t even see the words anymore. Suddenly, I felt very much like that angry kid who had just been sent to her room, irrational and inconsolable. Then my murder mittens sprang out, and the gossip mag was being violently shredded into a billion pieces.

When I looked up, Tansy and Shelby were gawking at me. Shit. I’d made a scene. I looked around the café nervously, but no one else had noticed my little outburst other than the two of them, thank goodness.

“I cast a look-awayspell,” Tansy murmured as she dug in her purse.

Now it was my turn to gawk, because she reached so impossibly far into her purse that most of her arm disappeared into it. Then she brought Nugget out.

“You need an emotional support animal.” She shoved the bird at me the moment I had my claws under control.

“You think giving a bird to a pissed-off cat is a good idea how?” But I was already cuddling the little cutie. It really was hard to stay angry with Nugget in my arms. “And please tell me how you managed to pull a bird out of your purse.”

“Oh, it’s enchanted. I have one purse that leads to the inside of a cupboard at home and another that opens to Nugget’s cage. Today, I decided I needed Nugget close.” She opened her purse wide and showed me the colorful toys that lined Nugget’s cage back at the penthouse.

“Cool. That’s so convenient.” I gave the little parrot a quick scritch on the neck.

Thanks to the look-away spell, no one noticed a parrot in the café.

It was the Darlington birthday parade today, which meant we had to avoid Main Street, but it meant that the rest of Darlington was pretty quiet, so Shelby, Tansy and I had planned a quick day out away from the festivities.

The general consensus was that The White Claws weren’t going to snatch me off the streets now that they knew someone would be looking for me. They believed what Dr. Shen had said about me having a choice now. But it was still best if I only left the penthouse with a friend in tow.

I was glad they were here. Otherwise, everyone would’ve witnessed me making a scene at that stupid article.

“The people who matter know better,” Shelby said comfortingly. “Don’t pay any attention to that shit.”

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