Page 140 of Flirty Fall Fling

The beaded curtain clicks, and the bell over the front door rings once.

I place my palm flat on the desk, nearly gasping for air. My stomach hurts, and I feel lightheaded.

The love spell I cast all those years ago has taken an evil turn, and I have to undo it.

Tonight.

Winter is at the register when I come through the curtain, and whatever is on my face stops her mid-count.

“Everything okay?”

“No.”

“Blaire.”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow after I take care of it,” I tell her. “I made a horrible mistake when I was twenty-one, and today, it came back to haunt me.”

She studies me for three seconds. “Why don’t you go now? We can close up. You look pale, like …”

“I’ve seen a ghost? I have.” I grab my coat and shrug it on.

There are at least twenty people in the shop, and I try to keep my chin up as I leave. But if I’m being truthful, I’m spooked, and I have no one to talk to about it.

When I leave, a few people follow behind me, and cameras snap, but I put my hand in front of my face. I take the side street that connects to the one that runs behind the manor. It’s not as traveled as Main Street. As soon as I pass a building, I see Jamie walking toward me. I instantly smile, and so does he.

“Hi, friend.”

“Hi, friend,” he says back to me. “Did you leave work early?”

“Yeah. I-I, uh … sorry.”

“Something happen?” he asks and turns, walking toward the manor with me.

I look around at people in the distance, wondering if any of them are taking pictures of us right now. He matches my fast pace.

“I need your help,” I mutter.

“Okay. Anything.”

“I have to break a spell. Tonight, while the moon is still in its waning phase. I can’t wait another day.” I make myself say the rest of it. “It’s the spell I told you about at the cabin. The one that found Teddy. It never let go of him.”

He stops walking. “He came to see you.”

“Yes.” The manor’s back porch light glows in the fading sun. Josie passes the kitchen window, and I swear she’s singing. “What I saw today isn’t heartbreak, Jamie. It’s my spell. It’s shifted into something else. Obsession.”

He slows down for a brief second. “What do you need?”

“Your blood,” I whisper.

32

JAMIE

She wants a drop of my blood.

Of all the things she could have asked for on a dark alley back street, she picked the one I never leave home without.

“Not my kidney?” I ask, smiling.