Luck Be a Genie (Moonhaven Cove #6)

1. Lucky

Lucky

Icould tell my boss was trying not to curse as my third computer this year melted before our very eyes.

And I do mean melted.

I googled it at one point, and computers, in point of fact, should not strictly melt like this unless someone tossed them onto a raging bonfire.

But I had new info for that article, because computers could and did melt around me.

Most of the other staff were gone for the day, but Nick, to my horror, was staring at my computer as though he’d never seen anything like it before, when I knew for a fact he was there the last time this had happened.

I remembered the mortification well, despite the fact that it was a feeling I was very familiar with.

As I stared at the melting plastic, I couldn’t help the sense of hopelessness that washed over me at this latest disaster. Was it too much to ask to be able to complete my job without my curse ruining everything?

The answer was yes.

Yes, it was too much to ask.

Tears burned, but I held them back. I couldn’t take this anymore. Every day was a new disaster. A new way to disappoint my boss. A new way to disappoint myself. A new way to humiliate myself.

I was done.

I slowly stood from behind my desk with what dignity remained to me, and gathered my go-bag—a habit I’d picked up from my friend Dice—and my water bottle that I’d already knocked over and spilled over everything twice today.

Finn’s expression gentled when he got a good look at my expression, at the tears I was holding at bay by sheer willpower. Being a shifter, he could also smell my emotions, which certainly helped when your secretary was a disaster, and you didn’t want to scar her for life with your disappointment.

“Lucky, let’s meet for a few minutes in my office,” he said, making a motion to Nick to clean up the trashed computer. Nick nodded and went to work unplugging everything before he gingerly grabbed up the melted pieces and started shunting everything into the metal trash can I kept right by my desk.

The office smelled like charred plastic, which was probably making Finn gag internally.

I ignored him, though it was more out of self preservation than anything like rebellion. Not many people felt safe telling a lion shifter no, but I knew he probably wouldn’t fire me, even though I totally deserved it.

“I’m going home,” I said instead, stepping around Nick’s big bulky frame, and ignoring the concerned glances he was sending my way.

Nick was sweet, and... completely wonderful, but I was a walking, talking disaster, and I needed to stay away from him before I ruined his life.

I ignored the fact that I hadn’t ruined Dice’s life yet, or my grandfathers.

Or the fact that deep down I knew I was just afraid.

Afraid of my magic hurting them, and of sharing my life with someone.

Afraid that with enough time, they’d come to hate me, or at the very least resent me, and that my curse would turn love and affection and devotion into a twisted mess of something I wanted no part of.

“Now, Lucky,” my boss said, and I sighed as I changed directions and entered Finn’s office.

“Shut the door please.”

I did.

Normally, I felt like a kid getting called into the principal’s office when Finn called me in for a quick meeting after one of my disasters, but all I was feeling right now was a shame so deep that it was threatening to bury me alive, and an awful sense of heartbroken apathy.

Was this what happened to people when life was awful for a very long time? This feeling like I was completely broken? This sense of hopelessness, twisted with grief and any bit of happiness whatsoever?

It sucked.

Big time.

I was not a fan at all.

I sighed as I slumped into the chair opposite Finn’s desk.

Avoiding looking at him, I let my gaze travel over his extensive novel collection on the bookshelves lining the wall to the side of his desk.

When I saw the bright pops of color that were his sweet romance books, I paused.

In the past, he’d let me borrow a few of them, even knowing he might never see them again if my curse did something to somehow destroy them. But he’d let me borrow them anyway.

Why?

Because my boss was a softie.

The silence in the office felt painful. I moved my gaze to my hands clenched tightly in my lap. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve the disasters that greeted him each day. The Sheriff’s office, of all places, needed structure and order and safety, not this.

“Lucky.”

I finally met Finn’s gaze, raising an eyebrow at his raised tone.

“I’ve said your name a few times. Clearly, you were elsewhere.”

I had been. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was for the computer, but I’d said a variation of those words a million times before.

Surely he was tired of hearing it? Did sorry start to lose meaning after a while?

Even when your messes were outside of your control?

It was like apologizing for existing. Which not only made me feel small, but also ashamed. As if being just me was shameful.

My thoughts were a mess. I was a mess. I swallowed as I tuned back into my boss’s words. “—sending you on a mandatory vacation.”

Wait, what? “I’m quitting, Finn,” I said, having already made up my mind. “And then I’m going home to pack and move in with my grandfather.”

Finn scowled at me, his yellow-green cat eyes flashing. “You’re not quitting. You’re going on a mandatory month-long vacation. I booked your tickets last week. I was going to surprise you with the vacation tomorrow. This just moved things up a bit.”

I frowned at the envelope he slid across the desk to me. It had my name on the front in his handwriting.

“Why?” I didn’t pick it up. I didn’t dare. It would probably spontaneously combust or something.

“Because you need it.” His voice was low and full of compassion, and it was almost enough to make the tears spill over, but I managed to hold the flood back.

I could cry at home later. Not in front of my boss and Nick, who I was sure was eavesdropping on this conversation using his genie magic.

He tended to be a little protective of me.

“And while you’re on vacation, I’m going to work with your grandfather, and see if we can track down someone who can help you. ”

I swallowed thickly. “You are?” I knew grandpa and I had talked about researching ways to rid me of my chaos magic, but when had he pulled Finn into it?

Finn’s nod was almost forceful, like he was taking it personally that his secretary was besieged with chaos magic on the daily. Or maybe he was just tired of the office disasters.

“Thank you,” I whispered, choked up again. “The only option I’ve been able to find on my own is vampirism, because it’s a change so complete that it rewrites your DNA entirely.”

Finn paused in shuffling a few papers uselessly to the side of his desk. He was always uncomfortable with gratitude and what I’m sure he would privately label as excessive amounts of emotion. “Would you... be open to that if it becomes your only option?”

I didn’t even have to think about it, because my life could not continue the way it had been indefinitely. I wouldn’t survive the fallout. Physically... or emotionally.

“Absolutely.”

I shut the front door behind me, locked it, stumbled to my sofa, and collapsed, still clutching the envelope with my name on it in my too-tight grip. I looked at it for a minute before I finally found the courage to open it, then gasped when I saw the plane tickets and resort information.

Maui.

I’d always wanted to go there.

Even though we were in early summer here in Moonhaven, it was still the Pacific Northwest, which meant that while our coastlines were rugged and beautiful, they tended to be chilly in the evenings and mornings, and our tree-lined forests more resembled a misty fantasy novel scene rather than a tropical paradise.

Both were beautiful, but I suddenly wanted paradise with a fervency that surprised me.

In fact, anything away from Moonhaven would be ideal for me at the moment.

I looked around my apartment, hating the quiet, and missing my little mini unicorn.

He’d been reclaimed by Ben a few months back.

Ben had finally found a great preserve for him with other unicorns.

A place where he would be able to be part of a herd and have a family.

It had broken my heart to see him go, but it had been for the best.

Strangely, and gratefully, my chaos magic had never affected him.

I’d theorized that unicorns were immune to it. That their magic protected them. It made sense after all. Unicorns had a clarifying magic, and they were protected from most, if not all, other forms of magic.

I laughed dully. If only I could become a unicorn.

But I’d most likely be turned into a vampire.

I wondered if I could beg for King Draven to change me?

I mostly knew Dice, but she’d introduced me to Consort Mia and King Draven before, and I’d hung out with Consort Mia a few times.

I hated to beg favors from the powerful on such a limited familiarity with them, but I was more than desperate.

And my research indicated that being changed by an elder or a more powerful vampire, would be best if you were looking to negate a curse in your bloodline.

It wasn’t precisely a curse, but it was close enough.

Sighing, I set the envelope with my tickets on the coffee table and looked up the resort on my phone.

The Grand Makana looked really amazing. It had a highly rated spa, a lagoon with several pools and waterfalls, lots of activities, and several dining options that looked tasty.

I was already a huge fan, and I knew the pictures probably didn’t even do the reality of the resort justice.

A tiny bit of excitement built inside me, which was a welcome change from the dull sense of hopelessness I’d been feeling earlier.

I could go swimming, and be safe and supervised by lifeguards...

just in case. I could eat yummy foods, and maybe learn how to body board.

Or, I could just lay by the pool and read if I wanted to. Which honestly sounded perfect to me.

I could just be.

With the barest smile on my face, I stood to pack. I wasn’t looking forward to riding in a plane again, but I was suddenly determined that nothing was going to get between me and miles and miles of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.

Not my curse.

And especially not the absolute terror I felt when flying.

For paradise, I would deal.