The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)(30)

Elaine and Rhys both took that in before Rhys nodded and said, “Right. Of course he does.”

Reaching down to pet the cat, Elaine looked over at Vivi.

“Why are you all dressed up?” she asked, and Vivi looked down her body, frowning, too.

“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just going to work.”

“At the college?” Aunt Elaine’s eyebrows disappeared beneath her shaggy bangs. “Today?”

“Yes, today,” Vivi said, standing up and straightening her jacket. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“We have important things to do today.” Aunt Elaine placed one hand on her hip, the other holding a wooden spoon. “Witch business.”

“And I have a nine a.m. class,” Vivi countered. “Which I can’t just cancel. We talked about this last night.”

“We talked about Gwyn reopening the store as though everything were normal,” Elaine countered, “not about you going to teach class. This”—she tapped the book in front of her—“is more important right now.”

“I can do both,” Vivi said, standing up. “Penhaven is also a witchy college, remember? I can teach class, then go to the library, see if there are any more useful books there.”

She only barely managed to keep from frowning as she said it. Vivi had worked hard to keep her work life and her witch life separate, which meant she very rarely dealt with anything involving Penhaven’s more secretive classes. But when you had a witchy problem, it seemed stupid not to use that resource.

Even if that resource tended to smell like patchouli.

Rhys was already grabbing his own jacket from the back of his chair. “I’ll come with.”

Vivi stared. “To the college?”

He gave a shrug. “Why not? I am an alum, after all.”

“You came for one summer course, which I don’t think you actually attended more than, what? Five classes of?”

Rhys winked at her. “And whose fault was that?”

Okay, they were heading into dangerous territory now, and Vivi turned away to pull her keys out of her purse, breaking eye contact before she did something embarrassing like blush.

Again.

“Besides,” Rhys said, “it’s clearly not safe for me to be out on my own now, all cursed and what have you, so might as well stick close to the one that did the cursing.”

“I am never living this down, am I?”

“It’s certainly going to be the subject of conversation for a while, yes.”

Vivi looked up at him then, scowling, and was about to remind him that there wouldn’t even be a curse had he not been such an asshole nine years ago, but before she could, she noticed the shadows underneath his own eyes, the tension in his smile even as he attempted to give her his usual rakish grin. As horrible as it sounded, that was actually kind of comforting, knowing that Rhys was freaked out about this.

All this quippiness and pastry eating were just a cover.

Had he always done that?

She couldn’t remember.

Of course, she’d only known him for a few months nearly a decade ago. Weird to think that someone who had loomed so large over her romantic life for so long was basically a stranger.

Shaking off that thought, Vivi stepped back from him. “Fine. Come with. I’ll go teach, and you can go check out the Special Collections at the college library.”

“Is that a euphemism?” Rhys asked. “I really hope it’s a euphemism.”

“Nope,” Vivi replied, already pulling out her phone to send an email to the director of Penhaven’s library. “It’s exactly what it sounds like.”





Chapter 13




Penhaven College was smaller than Rhys remembered.

And, as he and Vivi made their way across campus, it dawned on him that it was very strange a place named after his gloomy and depressing home could be this light, this cheerful, all redbrick buildings with white trim, bright lawns and autumn leaves in bold colors everywhere he looked.

“Nice place to work,” he commented to Vivienne, who was about two steps ahead of him, her low heels clicking on the brick walkway.

“It is,” she replied, but she was obviously distracted, looking around with these quick, darting glances, and Rhys jogged a little to catch up with her.

“What is it?” he asked in a low voice. “Something amiss?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing I can see right now, but . . .”

“But you’re keeping an eye out.”

“Exactly.”

Rhys looked around, too, although he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. There were no statues to fall on him, no cars to suddenly come careening his way. But who was to say a sudden sinkhole wouldn’t open up in the ground or that a stray tree limb might not come winging down from the heavens?

The sooner they got this fixed, the better.

Besides, once he wasn’t cursed anymore, maybe he would stop feeling like such an utter bastard.

He knew Vivienne had been angry with him, furious even, and he’d deserved every bit of it. But that he’d hurt her badly enough that she’d done this . . .

Fuck, that bothered him.

There was a set of concrete steps just ahead of them, leading down to a white building at the base of the small hill, and Vivienne stopped just on the top step, turning back to look at him.