Page 27 of Booked for Murder

I scowled at that, considering his potential options. From tear gas grenades loaded with various chemicals meant to disrupt magical abilities to disruptors in the shape of cuffs or jewelry, there were plenty of ways someone could make certain I couldn’t exsanguinate someone. The testing bracelets were technically a form of disruptor designed to rate abilities.

Dealing with Beatrice’s nut allergies would buy me some time to think about how he might be armed. “You’re allergic to nuts? I’ve been making you buy me your version of poison? Tell me no next time, Beatrice.”

“While I’m allergic to nuts, I am not that allergic to nuts, and buying you a coffee or two will not kill me, I promise. I see you’ve done your homework, Bradley.”

“It’s necessary. Well, Janette? Are you going to test me?”

“No. I’m going to drink my coffee, and if you did anything to it, I’ll consider it.”

Bradley pulled out three prescription bottles from his jacket pocket and gave them a rattle. “I lost almost an hour of my day getting you these.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are they, how did you get them, and why?”

“Two are painkillers. The other is a modified beta blocker. In the dose you’ll be taking, it serves as an anti-anxiety medication. I expect my presence in your apartment is going to induce all sorts of fun anxiety, or so I was warned when I spoke to the doc about the situation. You have it as a prescription because it also reverses damage done to magical abilities due to unnecessary disruption, injury, or disuse. It will help your body heal both physically and magically. It will, hopefully, allow you to be in the same room with me for extended periods of time without wanting to kill me because of the anxiety problems the doctor seemed convinced you’ll suffer through for a few weeks.”

Well, after I got over my severe case of irritated, it wouldn’t surprise me if I did develop anxiety of some form, as I had a lot to lose and nothing to gain. “Fair.”

“You will be on the beta blocker for three weeks, after which you will go in for a proper evaluation to see if you have done any lasting damage to yourself being an idiot. While on the beta blocker, you will be expected to practice for one hour a day to help revitalize your ability. I’ll provide the supplies for your use, but you’ll want to start slowly. I’ve already called a butcher for excessive blood for you to work with, and I’ll bring it over each morning. The doctor I spoke with recommended you do your exercises first thing after you wake up. We’re starting you with a pint tomorrow morning, then we’ll increase the volume by a pint daily.”

I took a sip of the coffee and glared at him. “I was going to try to learn some other type of damned magic trick.”

“You can still do that, although your aptitude is limited. What type do you want to study?”

Beatrice sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

I shot a glare at her, wondering what the woman had thought up.

“What’s on your mind, Beatrice?” Bradley asked, and his pleasant tone hid a sharp edge.

Someone needed to tell him he couldn’t be a jackass all the damned time, especially not to my sometimes friend and best enemy. I’d get around to it, but I wanted to hear what she had to say, too.

“Janette’s pretty pacifistic.”

I choked on my coffee, and a laugh bubbled out of me. I set it down so I wouldn’t spill it, and I beat my leg with my fist. “You’re killing me here, Beatrice. I am not a pacifist. I’m about as far from pacifist as I can get without actually punching assholes whenever they annoy me. Trust me on this, I think about it often.”

“Well, you act like you are. Take Ajani for example.”

Huh. Maybe I’d been better at masking my feelings than I’d thought.

At the sound of her name, my cat came running. She jumped onto my lap, settled in, and purred. I reached over, grabbed her brush, and began my duties to my feline goddess. “All right, so maybe it was a little excessive I took her to my job interview, but I couldn’t just leave her out there to die in the storm. Look at her. You couldn’t ditch her, either.”

“She is wickedly cute, I will give you that. I would not have been able to say no to her in mostly drowned kitten format. Anyone with a grain of compassion wouldn’t have left her out there.”

Bradley considered my cat, and he shrugged. “I couldn’t leave her, either. I made Ren stop and pick up a stray dog the other week when we were coming back from a trip. I ruined a suit with that stunt, too. But admittedly, I took the animal to the shelter and paid for its vet bills rather than keeping it.”

Since when would he have done such a thing? “Did you contract rabies? That sounds like a good way to contract rabies.”

“Says the woman who brought home a possibly rabid animal,” he countered.

“Are you rabid, Ajani?” I cooed to my cat, rewarding her with more brushing. “You’re a most vicious and rabid beast, and I love you very much.”

My most vicious and rabid beast writhed from joy on my lap and tried to cuddle with the brush, one of her many tactics to make certain it took me longer to attend to her needs. As always, I caved to her ploy, wiggling the brush for her so she’d hunt it before resuming my sacred duties.

Beatrice laughed. “You’re something else, Janette. Bradley, the first thing she did after her interview was take her kitten to the vet, and Ajani has all of her vaccinations. It was a requirement for her to be in the library. Ajani is in perfect health. Her owner? Not so much.”

“Thanks, Beatrice,” I muttered.

“Well, it’s true. You work hard, and you give your best, but we all know you haven’t been able to get proper treatments for your foot.”