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Purple Hair's smile doesn't move, but something behind her eyes does. She looks amused, and unbothered. “Your friend's smarter than you.”

“Yeah, she's told me,” I say.

“Often,” Mariah adds, still gripping my wrist like she's afraid I'll try again the second she lets go.

I roll my eyes, snatch my hand away from her and grab Purple Hair’s hand. “Do your worst.”

Purple Hair’s grip tightens. “Oh, I will.”

“Oh shit,” Mariah whispers.

Val just grins widely. “This night just got way more interesting.”

3

WITCH BITCH ?

“...and that’s how I pissed off a witch.” I finish my story and the last bite of the sandwich with a sigh. “Now, I am cursed to find my soulmate before Halloween. The problem is the only way for me to know they are my true love is by having sex with them. If I have sex with them and they are not my soulmate, then I die for a short period of time. And if I do not find my soulmate by the end of Halloween, I will die permanently.”

His brows furrow. “It’s like a fucked-up version of the sleeping beauty curse.”

“Exactly!” I shout. “She is fucking sick in the head. All because her man flirted with me.”

“You could’ve just walked away.”

I give him a dirty look, arms crossed tight over my chest. “I did nothing wrong.”

He shrugs, infuriatingly unbothered. “You wouldn’t have ended up here if you did.”

I know he’s right, but I don’t care. I was not going to get bullied by that Purple Hair Heffer.

I stick my nose in the air. “I stand by my decision.”

“I hope so. Cause you might die from it.” He narrows his eyes at me. “I do have a question though. How do you know about the spell? Like the specifics?”

“Well, I didn’t realize it until the first time I died after sex. Obviously, I freaked out and the person I was with freaked out too. Then I checked my phone and saw a text message from an unknown number saying ‘You have one year to find your soulmate. You sleep with someone who is not your soulmate, you die temporarily. If you do not find them by the end of Halloween, kiss your life goodbye. Wishing you the worst’.”

“So not only are you dealing with a witch, but a crazy one.”

“Yup,” I pop.

“And how have you been going about this?”

“Plan A was compiling a list of men in my life that I thought could be my soulmate.”

“And how many was that?”

“Zero. Zilch.” I curl my lips then shiver in disgust at just the thought of them touching me. “They all disgust me.”

“So what was Plan B?”

“Dating apps. I tried all of them, even this newer one called Cupid’s Heart since I heard it’s one of the best. But it did not work.” I gesture to myself and the metal table. “Obviously, since I ended up here. Now I am at Plan C. Finding that damn witch and making her undo the curse which is why I am in New Orleans.”

His eyebrow arches. “You waited a bit late for Plan C, don’t you think?”

“I’ve been in New Orleans for a week.”

“I would’ve been here for a year looking for this witch.”