AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He let out a hard sigh. “You are singularly the most insufferable woman I have ever met.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Listen, I give you my word, I have no intention of molesting you.”
Willow threw him a sassy glare. “Sure. You just stopped by to do my dishes.”
“Miss Ravensong…”
“How do I know you don’t have a gun?”
“I’m going to turn around now, and you’re going to hit me.”
“I mean who does that? What kind of weirdo breaks into a closed bookshop-slash-bar to… clean it?”
“Hit me, woman. I won’t ask again.”
“Seriously. The sheer cheek!”
A stormy growl permeated from the depths of Montgomery’s throat. His features paled, and if possible, his eyes seemed to glow even greener.
“I wouldn’t have to clean if you didn’t make such an unruly mess,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Listen here, buddy. Thisunruly messis my business, not yours. I happen to like my mess. I plan on making more messes. If you don’t like it, don’t come here.”
“Unbelievable. Over a hundred and ten years, not a soul to talk to, andyou’rethe one I’m stuck with.”
“You’re a neat freak, aren’t you? Some kind of vigilante? Righting the wrongs of the world’s dirt?” With the broom still in one hand, Willow shuffled sideways to the refrigerator, took out a container of Bloody Mary mix, and tilted it just enough so the liquid barely touched the mouth of the bottle. “I’ll do it.”
He stretched out his hand. “No!”
“Nah, ah, ah!” Willow stepped just out of his reach. “Take your funky mustache out of this place or the floor gets it.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would. And I’ll bet it drives you soooo crazy.”
“That would be a waste of perfectly sellable tomato juice.” His voice lowered to a sinister tone. “Your profit margin would go down.”
Willow raised one eyebrow—in the same way Ivy did but without the ability to use it for magic—and tilted the bottle in her hand, spilling a small amount of mix onto the floor.
Montgomery gasped, which encouraged Willow to do it again—this time, a longer pour and with a sinister grin spread across her features. Montgomery’s mouth dropped and his eyes practically bulged out of his head.
“You’re mad,” he said incredulously. “Certifiably mad.”
Willow’s smile grew wider, wickedly devilish, and she tipped the container dramatically, sploshing peppery red juice all over the floor, making an enormous puddle. Montgomery lunged, probably trying to get to a mop, but his sudden movement alarmed Willow, and out of reflex, she threw the bottle at him. But it didn’t bounce off his chest as it should have. It went right through him as if he weren’t even there.
“What the…?”
Montgomery didn’t appear to be surprised. In fact, he tossed up his arms in disappointment and sighed when he said, “Oh well.”
But Willow wasn’t so calm. At first, she stared at him in cold shock, and then once she registered what happened, let out a delayed scream.
The screaming was accompanied with finger flexing as she tried to conjure some magic. Any magic. And when nothing sparked from her efforts, she resorted to wild swings of her broom. But every single swoosh and swish that should have smacked the daylights out of Montgomery the cleaning bandit, didn’t make contact with him at all.
“You might as well stop trying,” said Montgomery with a note of resignation.
Willow, still in a manic state, gripped the broom handle to her chest. On the verge of hyperventilating, she stuttered, “You’re a… you’re a…”
