Chapter 3
CALLIE
What do you do with yourself after a discovery like this?
I’d changed into sweats, I’d managed that much. The tattered remnants of my cheerleader outfit were in the trash. When I’d put it on, I’d imagined Maddox tearing it off me in a passionate frenzy. Instead, I had ripped it off myself in a sobbing fit of humiliation and rage.
There would never be another use for the seduction costume I was wearing when I learned my husband was a serial cheater. I couldn’t get it off fast enough.
Somehow, I had then decided to torture myself by learning every little detail.
While visions of Maddox on his way to his mistress’s house danced through my mind, I sat at the desk in his home office, where I had logged into his messages via his laptop.
It was even worse than it had looked at first glance.
Gwen and Chelsea were just the tip of the infidelity iceberg. It had been one woman after another.
I was so thankful that the coven’s healer had placed the standard protection enchantment on me as a teen, which would have blocked me from contracting any STDs Maddox may have picked up. At least I was spared that one source of stress.
Scrolling through the conversations, it was infuriating to discover I couldn’t even be mad at most of the other women.
Big surprise, Maddox had been lying to all of them and presenting himself as single.
The pattern was clear. He hooked up with these women a handful of times, then ghosted them the minute they proposed an actual date.
Or expressed any thoughts or feelings more substantial than a wish for another no-strings-attached hookup.
The sole exception to this pattern was Gwen. Unlike the quick flash-in-the-pan of all the others, his texts with Gwen went back almost two years. She seemed to be the only one who knew Maddox was married. And not only did she know about me, she mentioned me in texts all the time.
Where does the wife think you’ll be tonight?
Can’t you send the wife out of town for a weekend? I want to do it in your bed.
He’d never sent me out of town. That was what passed for good news.
And he didn’t talk badly about me back. He didn’t mimic Gwen’s cruelty toward me. Just let it sit there, unchallenged and unremarked upon.
How was this the man I’d married? He used to be so protective of me.
He’d kept his arm around me everywhere we went, like he had to guard me always.
And gods forbid anyone ever tried to make trouble or speak badly to me.
Maddox would always handle the situation.
If it was a creep at the bar, he’d physically throw them out.
If it was another woman coming at me, he’d shut them down.
I viscerally recalled our housewarming party, when his friend’s girlfriend had “joked” about how lucky I was that Maddox didn’t hold out for someone more impressive.
Maddox’s expression immediately went cold, and he ordered them both out of the house that moment.
They tried to laugh it off and say she was just kidding around, but he walked them to the door and never spoke to either of them again.
And he’d known that friend since grade school! I’d felt so cherished and chosen.
The text thread with Gwen continued to scroll back. More of her nudes appeared, many in impossibly acrobatic positions. She must have had a dedicated yoga routine.
Can the wife do any positions other than missionary?
And worst of all, a pic of her holding up… some kind of BDSM gear?
I bet the wife wouldn’t even know what this was
I had to admit that was true. She had my number, and we’d never even met. Gwen was flexible, adventurous, and skilled with sex toys I couldn’t even identify.
So what was I? The sad, boring, predictable wife. The only special thing about me was how oblivious I was.
How could I not have known what was going on?
What were these women giving him that I didn’t?
Why hadn’t he asked me for the things he wanted sexually?
How could I have trusted him so completely?
I wanted to focus entirely on how angry I was at him, but I was also furious at myself for being so blind.
I didn’t know it was possible to feel this hurt and this pissed off at the same time. You would have thought the intensity of one would have blunted the other, but no.
I hated to admit it, but on one level I was still hoping this was a horrible nightmare. Let me just wake up and find a faithful husband in bed next to me.
What a pitiful thing to wish for, given the reality.
Of course, on another level, my main desire was to cast a spell and turn him into a sewer rat. Or a maggot. Or a tapeworm. There were many options. My magic was rusty, but in this case, would it be so bad if I botched the transformation spell?
The thought of spells suddenly reminded me of my loss of control earlier. I had no idea where that magic had gone, or who it had affected.
The most likely target was obviously Maddox, but he had seemed maddeningly unaffected when he got out of the shower. His smooth ease as he lied to my face…
The second most likely target was the other women, and now I knew that all but one of them were additional victims of my husband. They didn’t deserve to be blasted with some vengeance magic just because they slept with a man who deceived them. Gwen would deserve it, but seemingly none of the rest.
Maybe it was good to have something to focus on other than Maddox’s texts with Gwen, Chelsea, Jana, Courtney—stop. Focus. I had to track down the magic I’d lost control of, and make sure I hadn’t accidentally unleashed something on innocent bystanders that now needed undoing.
But tracking a magical eruption like that required an extraordinarily clear and focused mind, which I certainly did not have.
I needed help. And I knew exactly who to call. Someone who wouldn’t judge me for the mess I’d made of everything. Someone whose tracking magic was without peer.
Brielle.
Shame hit me as I realized it had been six months since we last spoke.
It hadn’t been total silence. We had been texting a little and liking each other’s social media posts.
But I didn’t think we’d ever gone this long without speaking properly before.
I’d been so busy twisting myself into knots for my unworthy husband that I was letting my oldest friendship drift.
What kind of person ignores her best friend for a man who’s cheating on her this much?
The guilt hit me almost as hard as the betrayal had. Brie had always been there for me growing up. She’d never left the coven, or our hometown of Nightshade Cove. She’d stayed true to our witch life, while I’d tossed it all away for… Maddox.
I took a shaky breath and typed out a text to her.
Brie, I’m so sorry I’ve been out of touch. I lost control of my magic tonight and I need your help tracking what I cast. I’m so sorry, I’ve been a terrible friend.
I hit send before I second-guessed myself.
Her response pinged back before I even set the phone down.
Do you want me to come over?
Could you?
Seconds later I heard the whoosh of displaced air from downstairs as Brie teleported herself into my living room. Her warm voice echoed up the stairway. “I’m here! Should I come up or are you coming down?”
After we hadn’t spoken for months, she had zapped herself over the very second I told her I needed help. I opened my mouth intending to say “I’m up here,” but instead I burst into tears again.
Brie clearly heard me, because I immediately heard her footsteps charging up the stairs.
The moment she appeared in the office doorway and saw me, her face filled with sympathy. “Tell me everything.” She wrapped me in a hug, and I could smell on her the scent of pine and sea salt I always associated with Nightshade Cove. It triggered such an incredible yearning for home.
Which reduced me to even more of a sobbing mess, but as Brie calmed me, I was able to collect myself and fill her in on the last few months.
Every hideous detail. Maddox’s growing disinterest, all my pathetic efforts to regain his attention, tonight’s cheerleader disaster, seeing the sexts, my magic erupting out of me, my deep dive on Maddox’s communications with all these women.
Brie listened, her hand squeezing mine periodically.
“So I don’t know what I cast or where it went,” I finished miserably. “And I can’t track it myself. I’m way too much of a mess.”
“Leave it to me. I’ve got this.” She paused, looking around the room with a frown. “I need something with lunar essence for the tracking spell. Do you have any moon water?”
I shook my head. “I don’t.”
“Any willow or jasmine growing?”
“I don’t have any supplies.” I felt like such a disappointment as a witch.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this. Permission to go through your medicine cabinet?”
I nodded my assent, and she charged purposefully into the bathroom.
After a few moments of hearing her shuffle everything around, she emerged proudly bearing my most expensive moisturizer.
“I knew you’d have something with pearl powder,” Brie said triumphantly.
“That’s all I need, one element that’s lunar aligned. ”
“You are so impressive.”
Brie shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve had to whip up a scrying medium from a cabinet of human beauty products.”
I reflected that I’d probably have the wherewithal to come up with these kinds of adaptations myself, had I spent any of the last four years on magic instead of a man.
Brie dabbed some moisturizer onto her fingers and drew a small circle on her palm, then another on her forehead, before making the same marks on me.
The pearl extract within it shimmered as she whispered an incantation and closed her eyes.
As Brie extended her hands, her magic flowed through me, an even more comforting sensation than her hugs.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes, and a properly wicked smile spread across her face. She chuckled. “Oh Callie. You are such a magnificent witch.”
“What did I do?” I wanted to return her smile, but anxiety got in the way.
“I thought you said the only magic you’d been doing was occasional beauty spells?”
“That’s true.”
Now it was Brie who was looking at me with awe. “We always knew you were a genuine talent, but if you managed a curse this perfect after four years of nothing… that’s astounding.”
I was about to jump out of my skin. I hadn’t even realized a curse was what I’d cast. Those couldn’t be undone like a regular spell. “Who did I curse?”
“The right person. You’ve already got the perfect revenge on him. You were surgical about it.” Her laugh was pure delight. “Your magic found the source of Maddox’s betrayal and neutralized it. Permanently, I think.”
“But he’s on his way to the other woman right now,” I protested.
Brie laughed. “Well, I don’t think they’re going to have a very satisfying evening.”
“Can you please stop being cryptic and spell it out for me?”
“You cursed him below the belt.” Brie’s grin widened. “There’s only one woman in the world Maddox can perform for now, and I’m looking at her.”