Chapter 3
“Twenty thousand dollars,” Jena groaned into her margarita.
“Are you getting other quotes?” Felix asked, chomping nachos.
The lunch hour rush at Snaps had passed, but it was still packed, and it wasn’t for the ambiance.
The tiny restaurant was basically a shack with multicolored paper lanterns and flags hanging from the rafters, and the floor was bare concrete.
Still, they’d been lucky to get a booth.
The cantina’s Tex-Mex was to die for, and their drinks were on point.
“I’m trying,” Jena sighed, “but I had to leave messages at most of them, and the other one that picked up the phone can’t look at it for another three weeks.”
Felix flicked a lock of curly red hair from his eyes, the collar of his teal golf shirt popped.
It clashed horribly with his olive and orange plaid shorts, but that was Felix.
He always looked like he got dressed in the dark and was way too proud of that fact.
“Maybe this Caldwick place is hurting for business.”
“Maybe. The portfolio she showed me seemed to say otherwise, though. They’ve done a ton of work around the area, and it’s really top-notch.
They’ve got some guy on staff that actually specializes in historical restoration.
The chick that came out said he can carve pieces to replace the ones around the sill that busted off the last time Aggie was hell-bent on chipping paint. ”
“Does he now? Any idea what kind of wood he prefers to work with?” Felix asked. Jena rolled her eyes, and he laughed. “Either way, sounds like the kind of outfit you’re looking for. Maybe your luck is changing.”
“Doubtful.” Jena took another sip of her margarita. “Is town hall hiring?”
Felix snorted. “Yes, but trust me, you do not want to work in government, and I can’t see you filing building permits. Gorman Howe goes through assistants like toilet paper. The man is misery personified, and the bureaucracy is awful.”
“Can’t be that bad—and aren’t you fucking the mayor?”
“Oh, it is, and technically, he’s fucking me, along with the town’s mill rates. The man’s not exactly a champion of fiscal responsibility, but the granite curbing does look nice.”
Jena sighed. That job at the photographer’s was looking better and better. Her savings was only going to take her so far, and shelling out twenty grand would tap it completely.
“How’s the online store?” Felix asked, munching another chip.
“Not bad. I sold a bunch of tinctures today and one of those robes…which I need to get dry cleaned before it ships. God, you should’ve seen Aggie’s face looking through the photos of what this contractor has done…”
Felix huffed. “You already know you’re going to hire them. You just need to get more of the store’s inventory listed to pay for it. There’s a market for Aggie’s stuff—and yours—if you ever get out of your damned head about it.”
Jena sighed, sure he was right, but after her father had cursed the majority of the populace with blackmarket hexes and skipped town, she wasn’t particularly eager to sell hers, even if they were legal.
And there wasn’t a chance in hell she was taking up sin-eating.
She didn’t really even know how to use that portion of her power, and it always made her feel gross.
The stuff in the store, though, she could be more proactive listing that.
“I know, and time’s not an issue, considering I don’t have a job anymo—shit. ”
Felix turned to see what Jena was looking at and did a double take. “Shit doesn’t cover it. That’s an ‘oh fuck,’ but it was only a matter of time. Might as well get it out of the way when we’ve got alcohol at hand.” He raised his margarita and took a hefty swallow.
Jena wished he was kidding, but he wasn’t.
She might be on the local pack’s most hated list, but Crystal Chambers, Becky Swann, and Sue Montgomery had been her biggest tormenters.
They sauntered through the crowd to the bar wearing their coordinating off-the-shoulder sweaters and micro-minis.
Jena wanted to melt into the booth with her not-so-skinny jeans and concert tee as they ordered their drinks.
“How in God’s name have they stayed the same size as high school?”
“I’m pretty positive it’s lypo,” Felix murmured.
“Or some weird were thing.”
“What, like they can shift belly fat to their boobs?” He leaned forward all conspiratorial. “Can you imagine? I’d have such a bubble butt—”
Jena slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her snort. “Oh my God, shut up!”
“Jena? Jena Seymore? Is that really you?”
Oh fuck.
The noise from the crowd died down as people turned to watch, and Crystal’s face lit up like it was Christmas. The other two were definitely sharing in the joy.
Jena gave a little wave. They were adults now. Well, she was an adult. Jury was still out on them. “Hey, Crystal. It’s been a while.”
She grabbed her drink from the bar and minced over with her minions in tow, the cantina going even quieter. Great. An audience, and Lord knew the bitch loved to perform.
“It has. Wow, I almost didn’t recognize you.” She eyed Jena up and down, the “you got fat” more than implied. Crystal’s gaze slid to Felix, and her plastic smile curdled. “Felix. I hear you’re working for my dad.”
“Mostly under him. He’s a real ball buster.”
Jesus. Jena kicked him beneath the table. Felix batted his lashes and raised his glass again.
Crystal turned back to Jena, twirling a lock of golden hair around her finger. “Someone said you came back, but you know how rumors in this town are. I didn’t think you were that dumb, but here you are.” She grinned as snickers came from the crowd.
Felix started coughing, the word “cunt” definitely somewhere in the middle of it. Crystal narrowed her eyes at him. And just like that they were back in high school. Energy prickled at the tips of Jena’s fingers, so damned tired of this shit.
I will not hex, I will not hex…
“Honey, you don’t need that karma,” Felix said, the hair on his arms rising in response to Jena’s gathering power.
No, she didn’t, and her intent was definitely ill.
“Is there something you actually wanted,” Jena asked her, “or did you just come over here to be a bitch?”
“Mmm…” Crystal raised her glass and slowly poured her drink into Jena’s lap. “Just to be a bitch.” She grinned as the other two laughed—
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
Everyone in the cantina turned to the door, then edged away from it as one. Chase stood in the entryway, looking like he was ready to rip someone’s head off.
Crystal paled, then forced a smile. “Oh. Hey, Chase-y…I didn’t think I’d see you—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he growled. “Sue. Home. Now.”
His sister’s head bobbed, and she took off at a run, scooting past his hulking form and abandoning the other two. Becky glanced between Crystal and Chase and slowly slunk into the crowd as he stalked over.
“You need to apologize,” he gritted out. Crystal opened her mouth to argue, and he jabbed his finger at her. “Don’t. I saw the whole fucking thing and so did everyone else in here. You engaged. You walked over. You were a bitch.”
“What the hell has gotten into you?” she shot back. “Since when do you give a crap about goth girl and the gay wonder?”
“Uh oh, trouble in paradise,” Felix murmured.
They were a couple? Jena rolled her eyes. Duh. Of course they were a couple.
“Since when is it okay to assault someone and say shit like that? I don’t give a fuck who your father is, it was a shitty thing to do in high school, and it’s a shitty thing to do now. You’re thirty-two fucking years old, Crystal. Grow up.”
He pushed past her and her dangling jaw to come over to the table. “Are you guys okay?”
Jena stared at him. Did he have absolutely zero concept of how much he’d screwed them just now? Crystal was the kind of bully that if you took your lumps, she moved on, but if you tried to stand up to her, she made it her mission to make your life hell. And if you did it in public?
They were fucked.
Been there, done that, had the t-shirt, and the fact that her boyfriend was coming to their defense in front of the entire town was going to make what they’d gone through in high school seem like fun.
Jena shook her head and glanced at Felix. He looked as dumbfounded as she felt. “Un-fucking believable…” She threw her last twenty bucks on the table and pushed out of the booth, her sodden pants chafing—
No, you know what? Screw this.
“Mind your own fucking business,” she growled up at Chase. Her fingers tingled as she drew a glyph in the air and energy surged. The pomegranate margarita Crystal had poured on Jena rebounded and splattered all over the bitch. She screeched, holding her dripping sweater away from her.
“Oooh…” Felix sucked air in through his teeth as he stood to join Jena. “Boomerang hex?”
“Yeah,” she gritted out, making for the door.
“Nice. Careful, sweetie,” Felix said on his way past Crystal. “Karma’s an even bigger bitch than you.” He reached out to finger her ruined sweater. “Ouch. Cashmere. You’re never gonna get the stain out of that.”
Chase stared after Jena. How the hell had he screwed that up? He frowned, squeezing the brim of his hat lower, the gleeful whispers of the crowd about to send him through the goddamned roof.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Crystal said from behind him.
He snorted, turning back to her. She looked like an extra from a slasher film. “Did what? Called you on your shit?”
“Took their side! How do you think it makes me feel that my boyfriend—”
“Your what?” His sputter became a laugh. “I’m not your boyfriend.”
She huffed, eyeing the still-listening crowd. “Look, I know it’s not official, but everyone knows—”
“Then everyone is wrong.” He growled, struggling to contain his wolf. “We are not, nor have we ever been, together, and we’re not gonna be.”
Her eyes welled up with crocodile tears. “But you…that night…”