A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(2)

Sam snorted. Angela Parker was definitely a looker. Her naturally dirty-blonde hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, but even her loose-fitting shirt and dress pants couldn’t hide her considerable curves. And, really, super-hot was the only acceptable way to describe Derek Pierce. He was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome, and his perpetual five o’clock shadow just made him hotter to her. But was she really threatened by him spending so much time with Angela Parker?

“Watch this.” Sam walked toward Derek and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Claire and I are going to head out.”

He held up a finger to signal that he’d be back with Parker in a second and then he closed the distance between him and Sam, taking her mouth with his in a devastating, soul-searing kiss. Her eyes were just drifting closed when he pulled away. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asked.

She nodded wordlessly as she tried to get her bearings back.

“See you later, Derek.” Claire trapped Sam’s arm and started to pull her away. “Angela,” she said with a nod.

Sam gave a weak wave good-bye as she and Claire both made their way to the elevator.

As soon as they were a few steps down the hall, Claire asked, “What the hell was that?”

Sam shrugged innocently. “Hey, ever since we killed Jackson, Derek has been like that.”

“Hot and horny?”

Well, as far as she knew, that was just Derek’s default setting. “No. Every time we touch, it’s like he’s never going to see me again.” They reached the elevator and Sam hit the button for the lobby.

“So... not threatened by Angela then.”

Sam shook her head as she checked her phone. Angela could be the most famous swimsuit model in the world and Sam wouldn’t care whether Derek was working with her twenty-four hours a day. Which was good, because she already had a thousand things to worry about. She didn’t need to add an unfaithful boyfriend to the list.

“Want to grab lunch?” asked Sam as they stepped into the lobby of the police precinct and made their way to the streets of Manhattan.

“No. I need to get back to work,” said Claire, not sounding nearly as depressed as she should be about going back to work at the DMV.

But Sam knew exactly why Claire was more than happy to go there. “And is Dante working today?”

Claire tightened her lips as she tried to prevent a smile. “Why, yes, Dante is working today.”

“Fine. Abandon me for your boyfriend and respectable job.” At that moment, Sam’s phone, which was still in her hand, chirped, alerting her to a text message. She quickly read it and cursed. “It’s Garrett. He wants me to check on Abigail.”

Claire winced. “How’s your mom doing?”

Well, there was no easy way to answer that. “Her mother just used her one daughter’s boyfriend to shoot her other daughter in the head. So I think ‘bad’ would be an understatement.”

“Ugh, that’s so rough.” Then Claire frowned. “Want me to go with you?”

“No. Abigail is old-fashioned. She’d want family business to stay in the family.”

“I hate to say it, but it’s nice to know that with you around I’m not the most messed-up person in the room.”

Sam raised her brows. “Well, I live to serve. Can you get to work okay?”

Claire nodded. “I’ll call a cab.” She was quiet for a second before she added, “And what about you? How are you doing?”

Now that was a loaded question. Sam looked out at the street where people were going around as if everything were normal. As if they hadn’t so narrowly avoided utter destruction. As if Sam hadn’t just seen Heather’s life flare out right in front of her face.... She blinked away the thoughts and looked at Claire. “I’m getting there. I have Derek.” Which helped more than anything, really. He was such a strong, steady presence. Despite their murky past, she didn’t know what she’d do without him. “And I have you. Everything else will... work itself out eventually, for better or worse.” She could see the sympathy cross over Claire’s face and Sam quickly changed the subject. “Claudia said the families are starting to arrive, so soon enough we’ll have a better idea of what’s going to happen.”

Sam didn’t even want to think about it. She already knew that the Collinses would be there, and considering Sam herself had gunned down Tommy Collins, they were going to be going after Claudia with a vengeance. If they could get enough people to support them, Claudia wouldn’t be able to stay on as the matriarch of the families.

But Claudia wasn’t there because she was appointed. She was there because she was the strongest. It wasn’t as though they could just politely ask her to step down. But every time Sam started to become worried about Claudia’s fate, she remembered the bullet hole in Heather’s head. A bullet hole that Heather had more than earned, but Claudia had put there. Fuck, she needed to get out of town. She wasn’t equipped to deal with all this. Was anyone really equipped to deal with all this?

Sam took a few steps back before Claire could see how much things were getting to. “I have to take care of this.” She held up her phone as some sort of strange evidence. “I’ll text you later tonight.”

Claire didn’t look comfortable at all, but she gave a forced smile and waved good-bye.