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“I’ll be done here in twenty, so if you wanna sip that drink slowly, I can walk you home,” she offers, breath tickling my ear.
She already knows from small talk that I’m staying in the HoJo motel about fifteen paces away. She doesn’t know me; she’s new to town so hasn’t seen me around. Most locals who know me do so because of Savage Construction. Despite the way she fills out that blouse and those skintight low-rider jeans, my cock hasn’t even stirred.
I give her a lazy smile and I’m about to agree, had already decided I was doin’ this tonight, shaking the seven years’ worth of cobwebs off my game, but something hits my nose and makes my gaze snap to the right.
My eyes meet the piercing gray eyes of a woman at the far end of the bar. She has red hair and a familiar mouth. I take a deeper pull of the air and over the scent of beer, the bowls of peanuts all along the bar top and the scents of the patrons in here, I know she’s related to the witch. She’s leveling me with a look of disapproval. Her hair is almost the same, though hers is straight, not as long, and she has bangs where Rikki’s is curly and one length.
“Riley?” the bartender tries to get my attention and for the first time, touches me.
And her hand on my forearm feels wrong.
I pull back while I force my eyes forward. “Excuse me, darlin’.” I down my drink as her expression drops. She looks toward the redhead as it’s obvious she and I were in an eye lock. I drop cash to cover my tab and a tip before I jerk my chin toward the door with my eyes on the redhead.
She hops down off the barstool and follows me outside.
As soon as the night air hits, I spin around for a face-off, knowing my glare shows her just what I think about her showing up here.
“Who are you and what the fuck are you doin’ here?”
“I’m Jessica. Erica’s sister. I have some records for your library, as requested by Bailey Blackwood.”
“Excuse me?”
“My sister called this afternoon and asked me to send them over for your librarian. She requested I not visit your village, so I had planned to leave them with Kathleen.”
“Kathleen?”
“Brennan, or now Oakes, I suppose. Ivy and Amelia’s mother. She was renting the apartment above our-”
“Right.”
“She’ll be back tomorrow to pack, so she said she’d bring what I’ve photocopied to Bailey Blackwood.”
“Why were you in there gunnin’ me?” I’m not stupid enough to believe she just happened to come into the same bar as me at the same time.
“Because I know who you are. I know what you’re about to do. Furthermore, I know who waits for you at home.”
I scoff.
She reaches for my shoulder. I step back, not wanting her hands on me. She drops her hand.
“But bigger question, Riley. Why were you in there getting ready to leave with a woman who isn’t yours? I thought people of your…” She looks around before continuing, “upbringing didn’t flirt in bars with women when your unclaimed mate sits right now in your village waiting for you.”
I grind my teeth. The nerve of this bitch.
“Nothing I do is any of your business. Or your sister’s.”
“You do this, you won’t be able to take it back.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Meaning?”
“I’m assuming you haven’t heard my sister’s side of things.”
“So? I owe her nothing. Less than that after what she did to me.”
“If you knew the whole story, maybe you’d have no need of being in bars trying to make up for lost time with women who won’t matter to you.”
“I don’t need to answer to you or anyone else about who I choose to fuck.”
“If you do this, you’ll regret it.”
“Are you threatening me, witch?”
She shakes her head. There’s no animosity coming at me from this woman. Sadness, maybe. Concern, definitely. Not that I give a shit.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m educating you before you do something you’ll regret. It’ll sicken you to your core if you do this once you have all the answers. When you realize what you’ve done. So please, don’t do this tonight. Talk to Erica. Give her a chance to explain.”
I sear her with a glare. “After what she’s done to me, what makes you think I have any desire to hear a thing she has to say?”
“I shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m going to anyway.”
She takes a big breath, then says, “Erica hasn’t let anyone lay a hand on her. Ever. If you catch my drift.”
I flinch; I’m knocked for six.
Jessica goes on, “She’s saved herself. For you. She’s not going to tell you that with the state of things between you right now, so I’m telling you. I’m telling you so you have that information before you go giving something to someone that you can’t take away when it should be for just my sister. Whatever you’ve done before knowing she was alive and that you belong together doesn’t count. But if you do it now while she waits there for you, believe me, it’ll count. Maybe not to her as she’ll forgive you for anything, but you might not be able to forgive yourself.”
