Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(18)
“No. He’s been clean five years.” And yet every time they came together, disaster struck. “We’re probably better off without each other.”
A man with short black hair raised his hand. “I dated a woman who was like that.” He grinned. “That was the best sex I’ve had in my life.”
“It does tend to be that,” Jeremy said softly. Sitting in a room where he had spun the events of last year into chaos, his strongest instinct at that moment was to go to Desmond. Show up on his doorstep and combine their magics while fucking each other unconscious. After everything that happened, his feet would guide him to his lover the moment he gave in.
Many in the group whispered among themselves about past drug-influenced relationships of their own. Zach stared at him with those big doe brown eyes and leaned close to Jeremy’s ear. “Are you sure you can’t work it out someday?”
Ribs stretched as far back as they could go and half-liquefied organs surrounding the cavity where the victim’s heart once lay appeared in his mind. A body had been the first harbinger of bad things to come a year ago, and it seemed true now too. “No. Fate is a most unkind mistress.”
PERFECT SOUND quality, even though they were in nosebleed seats, plush chairs that felt like she was sitting on a fuzzy bear massaging her butt, but the jerkass next to her was crunching away on four boxes of candy. After a day of filling out witness statements at the Council’s local office, Witches for Hire was in the clear of any culpability in Dead Dude’s demise. Why Jeremy couldn’t enjoy their cushy surveillance job at Desmond’s magic show with all expenses paid by Clive was beyond her. Simone poked Jeremy with her elbow. “Come on, admit it. That trick with the intersecting fireballs was awesome.”
“Ah yes. Quite impressive. If the energy vamps mean to kill him, we’re lucky that we got to see one of his last shows.”
I’m the one who has the right to be pissy, and yet he’s been a buzzkill since the moment we got here. “Do you think of the worst-case scenario for every situation you’re in? What do you do if you’re in the dessert line at a buffet? Do you imagine how you can choke to death on ice cream and then move on to the cake?”
“Only a Desmond groupie would be mad that I dare to suggest he’s not indestructible. And why does his probable death matter to you?”
“I don’t care about him, per se. I care about how much of a deal everyone makes about having a black aura. Not everyone with one is evil or committed evil acts their entire life. One fuckup can taint your aura forever, so I don’t give any credence to it.” Maybe she was sort of biased because of her abuela’s nearly black aura. She rode the line of neutrality for equal standing with the other coven heads, but family was everything to her. If there was a threat to the brujos that civil justice couldn’t handle, her abuela would cross that line gladly. “For once in your life, live in the moment and just shut up.”
Jeremy’s head tilted in a perfect roll that matched his eyes. “It’s hard to watch when your high horse is blocking my view.”
“If my horse wasn’t metaphorical, I would make him kick you.”
Discontented with his inability to ruin everyone’s night, the sour puss pointed at the stage. “Does every assistant up there have to act like they’re having an orgasm when he touches them?”
Onstage, Desmond walked from assistant to assistant like a dancer switching partners as they moved long white walls into weird geometric shapes. With just the slightest touch of their fingers, the mundane act somehow took on a sensual tone. Simone fanned herself. “I don’t think they’re acting.” It was thanks to Desmond that Atlanta was being called the Las Vegas of the South, and only someone dead on the inside would complain.
“That’s gross.”
“I swear to God, you are the killer of all things fun.”
“Shhhhh!” someone from behind complained.
Jeremy turned around. “Pipe down. He’ll do the same shit tomorrow.”
Simone sank down, wishing she could disappear. Some people did not need to go out in public. “Why do I have to be here with you?”
“Because the great knight told you to do it.”
She leaned in closer to hiss in his ear, “He’s done more to earn my trust than you’ve ever done in the past five years.”
“There was slight evidence to suggest the killer was an energy vamp. Anyways, murderers are the Council’s domain. You wanting to know more means that you want to do more.” Jeremy crossed his arms. “For someone who threw a revenant at me for the ordeal of your children being in danger, you certainly are trying to hit another bees’ nest.”
“Burying our heads in the sand only works if Gulley was working alone.”
Jeremy turned away from her with his jaw set and watched the rest of the show quietly.
Simone wasn’t going to admit the asshole had a point. What do I want to do with this case? If it’s not just about my pack troubles and involves Levi’s murder, can I let the Council take over after knowing they never solved his death or the killings that led up to it? She didn’t know what that answer was yet, so she did her job as an audience member and set her mind free to watch Desmond perform magic in a way that looked new to the oldest spell caster.