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Asher stared down at Remy’s name, wishing he could scrub it off that list. He considered what he heard, reaching for his coffee again. He took a sip, letting the hazelnut flavor sit on his tongue. While Boone and Rhett had done the legwork, Asher would follow up on this report for the rest of the day, making sure every line was crossed and no detail was overlooked. He couldn’t risk that somehow Remy would find herself in more trouble. “So, from what you’ve seen so far, this all ends here with Fanning and Remy is safe.”
“Well, she’s safe from Fanning,” Rhett said with a smirk, leaning his chair back on two legs. “But from you? That’s another story altogether.”
Asher snorted and threw the coffee tray at him, sending Rhett falling backward with a loud laugh.
Chapter 7
Hours had gone by since Asher left this morning. Long hours. Excruciating hours. Remy paced her living room after tying together a piece of palo santo wood and a selenite crystal and placing it on her glass coffee table. The bundle was basically a spiritual punch that cleared away lingering negativity and safeguarded against bad vibes,
but the bundle did nothing to calm Remy down after she finally went looking for the thing that Damon had left at her house. Desperate to clear her head, she pulled out the big guns, and within minutes, smoke billowed up from a ceramic bowl, the burning amber infusing musk and floral into the air for wisdom. Salem had been watching her pace back and forth for the last half hour while he sat on the windowsill. Remy nibbled on the side of her nail, her heart racing and beating hard in her chest when finally, there was a knock at the door. Before she could even get there, the door whisked open and Kinsley strode in wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with WHISKEY BLUES written across her chest. Peyton wore a dark purple dress and black tights with a black cardigan. It occurred to Remy then that she’d been so worried to talk to them about what happened with Asher last night, and now, sex with Asher seemed miniscule in comparison to the reason she’d called them.
“Thank God you’re here.” Remy grasped their hands and pulled them inside quickly, having called them minutes ago after finally gathering her courage.
Kinsley rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, because the two seconds it took us to get here from downstairs was brutally long.”
Yes, Kinsley owned the bar next door. Yes, Peyton owned the lingerie shop. But that was precisely why Remy called them here. She needed wisdom since her spells were doing nothing to help her. “It was forever,” Remy drawled, hands plastered to the door behind her.
Peyton gave Kinsley a long look, then asked, “Has something happened?”
“Okay, first, did you close your shop for me?” Remy asked, suddenly feeling not only wildly on edge but also a hot burn of guilt. Kinsley managed her bar, sometimes worked the bar for fun. She could leave whenever she wanted. Peyton, on the other hand, couldn’t. “Do you need to get back soon?”
Peyton smiled and moved to lean on the back of the couch. “My new employee is doing great on her own. Coming here was a good excuse to give her some time by herself in the shop.” Peyton had worked the lingerie shop herself since she’d moved to town, but now she and Boone spent more time in bed than out of it. Remy figured a baby wouldn’t be too far off in their future once they got married. “Stop stalling. What’s going on?”
God, where to start? Remy sighed and then resumed her pacing, nibbling on her nail again. Kinsley and Peyton watched her closely. She finally stopped and huffed. “I have no idea how to begin, so I’ll start at the beginning. After Asher left this morning—”
“Whoa.” Kinsley held up her hand. “Stop right there. Asher stayed the night?”
Remy’s entire body, right down to her toes, flushed red hot. She waved off the question. “That is not why I called you here.”
“Um, excuse me,” Kinsley countered, moving closer until she had Remy by the hand and led her to the couch. “That’s the reason you should have called us here. Did you sleep with him?”
Peyton took the chair across from them as Remy explained quickly, “Yes, we slept together, but there was a curse breaking involved where I might have added too much booze.” She was no fool. She’d complicated an already complicated situation, but there it was, in all its complicated glory. “Please, let’s not make this out to be a bigger deal than it has to be.” Both Kinsley’s and Peyton’s mouths dropped open, and Remy itched to grab her shirt and pull it over her head. Instead, seeing no way out, she forced herself to face the situation. “Yes, that happened with Asher. Yes, we did things that would make my nana roll over in her grave. No, it’s never going to happen again.”
Kinsley blinked rapidly, her gaze flicking between Remy and Peyton. “Dude. I think this is a pretty big deal.”
Peyton picked her mouth up off the floor and nodded firmly. “Like, a really, really big deal.”
“Well, it’s not,” Remy countered, not even wanting to go there. Hell, maybe she wasn’t even prepared to go there. Last night happened. Whatever. “We got drunk and did something stupid. And now we’re forgetting all about it.” Or at least she was. “Let’s not lose focus. There is an even bigger reason I called you here.”
Kinsley didn’t even miss a beat. “You’ve murdered Asher and need us to help you bury him.”
Remy rolled her eyes. “No.”
“You want us to help you burn Damon’s stuff?” Peyton asked.
“No.” Remy sighed.
“Just a minute,” Kinsley said, waving her hand in the air like she had the biggest question of the day. “There is a reason bigger than you not calling us here because you slept with your ex-boyfriend who shattered your heart ten years ago, then objected at your wedding and arrested your fiancé.” Her expression got serious, real serious. “What in the hell has happened? It’s got to be bad.”
“It’s not bad…but not good…or maybe it is.” Seeing she was getting nowhere still, Remy huffed and hurried up the stairs to her bedroom, coming back downstairs carrying the black duffel bag she’d found an hour after Asher left. She dropped it onto the coffee table, and the bag feel open, wads of bills spilling out.
“Holy shit,” Peyton exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
Kinsley gasped, wide-eyed. “Oh my God, one of your crazy-ass spells worked!”
Remy burst out laughing. “Yeah, sure, just call me Harry Potter.” Then she put her hands on her hips. “And what the hell, Kinsley? My spells aren’t crazy.”
Kinsley gave a blank stare at the money and then slid her gaze to Remy’s, eyes suddenly intense. “Explain how you got this money.” Her dad was a cop, and so was her brother, and being around cops her whole life, Kinsley had the hard cop look and voice nailed down.
