Chapter 10
Jena crouched over the steering wheel of her civic, struggling to see the road through the deluge of rain coming down.
Some tropical depression bullshit—ugh! Why couldn’t it have come through three days ago, so she’d never have gone with Felix on that stupid hike?
She didn’t care what he said. The papers this morning—every morning—her damned social media feeds, all of it was screaming about the event of the fricking century.
Chase was marrying Crystal.
Chase was marrying Crystal, and Jena had made out with him.
Worse, she’d made out with him and liked it.
A lot.
Damn it! Stupid, stupid, stupid…she smacked the steering wheel, tears pricking her eyes.
How was she letting herself get pulled into this again?
He was such a fucking liar. She wasn’t his mate, and he was marrying—marrying—Crystal because of course he was.
Why wouldn’t he be? Granted, she was a shitty person, but she was gorgeous and her family was loaded.
Wasn’t that the exact same make and model of vapid bitch Jena’s ex had dumped her for?
God, she was so dumb. You’d think after everything that’d happened the first time Chase had kissed her, she would’ve learned.
But nooo. Screw his bullshit apology. It had been a dare to make out with her at that party.
Hell, she’d bet he’d been the one egging on his stupid pack and all Crystal’s bitchy friends to laugh Jena out of town.
This was just more of the same. He probably got off on making her look like an idiot. A big, fat, gullible idiot.
Mission accomplished.
And now her roof was caving in. That was not the news she needed yesterday after spending the afternoon doing market research at the library.
As much as she hated to admit it, maybe there was something to what Aggie had said about the node repelling practitioners.
Since Jena had been gone, the population of witches in the area had taken a nose dive, and the dozen covens she’d remembered had plummeted to a grand total of three with a smattering of actively practicing witches—none of which were in Fayet.
No wonder that other couple had sold the Spell Shop and business at The Witchery sucked.
It didn’t make sense. As powerful as it was, that node should be drawing practitioners to the area like a magnet, not chasing them away in droves.
A little voice whispered that was because the magic was turning wild without a guardian, and she squashed it.
The node might be ill-tempered, and maybe a little bloated, but it definitely wasn’t wild.
All the wards on it were holding, and if it was that important, it could pick someone else.
No. There had to be another reason practitioners were leaving.
Jena dashed a hand over her eyes, swearing. God, it was hard enough to see, and it was all Chase’s goddamned fault she was out in this mess. If his stupid mother hadn’t gotten her fired, she never would’ve applied for that job.
God, what a jackass.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t just referring to Chase.
The lone position in Fayet willing to pay enough to justify the travel had wanted to interview right away—which in retrospect, should’ve been a red flag—but she was desperate.
She was not, however, desperate enough to sign onto a firm that she was pretty sure was laundering money.
What a waste of fricking time. That was four hours of her life and a half tank of gas she’d never get back for the second time that week. She was done with Fayet. Done! She smacked the steering wheel again, then swerved to miss a pothole. Christ, why was this so hard?
Bright side Jena, find the bright side…
Bright side, bright side…she’d just passed mile marker fifty-eight and hadn’t plummeted to her doom.
Okay..good start, now maybe a little brighter?
Aggie was getting her bathroom. In fact, workmen should be there now. Hopefully they could stick to the budget they’d quoted, and she could pay for them to shore up the roof with unicorns and fairy dust. Both of which she was more likely to stumble upon than enough cash.
Jena sighed. A new roof. Damn it. “Can’t wait for how much that’s gonna cost,” she muttered.
Was selling your eggs still a thing? She had to have a couple decent ones left.
If not, technically she was pretty sure you could live with only one kidney.
Jena bit back a sob as the sign for Havers-by-the-Sea came into view.
Twelve more miles. God, she just wanted to be home—
Home.
The unexpected emotion that came with the word made her pull back from the wheel. Those drafty rooms. The soggy floor. Aggie and Felix. That was home. Where she’d grown up. How was she going to sell the shop?
She couldn’t. But how the hell was she going to pay to fix it?
Didn’t matter, she had to. As much as it made sense on paper, it would be like cleaving off a part of herself to let it go.
And when Aggie died, it would be all she had left of her.
Jena had tried walking away once—had walked away for ten years—and despite the fact that she hated certain parts of it, coming back to Havers was like being able to breathe again.
Havers-by-the-Sea was home.
Even with Chase fricking Montgomery, a.k.a. lying-sack-of-shit living there, and a needy node she was not signing up to babysit.
Goddamn it.
Twenty minutes later, she parked halfway down the block because for whatever reason, his big ass truck was in her spot. Not a freaking vehicle in sight from the contractor she’d hired—if that prick was screwing with her again and had sent them away…
She was gonna kill him.
Jena ripped up the parking brake and took a deep breath, her fingers tingling. Fuck Chase Montgomery and everyone else in this goddamned town—
No. I will not hex, I will not hex…
Jena killed the engine and sprinted for the shop, the rain hitting her like it hated her, too. She stomped over the damned spray-painted sidewalk, now declaring WITCH, and tore the door open. Jackass should’ve taken that as warning because she was gonna hex him with a perpetually limp dick—
Ugh! No. Bad Jena… She stood dripping in the entry way—not hyperventilating—for a hot minute trying to talk herself off that ledge before muttering to herself and slogging up the stairs. Christ, she’d taken drier showers.
Voices came from the kitchen. Not hammering, saws, or whatever construction sounds that should be happening on the opposite side of the apartment. Jena gritted her teeth and stormed into the other room. Whoever this asshole thought he was, he had another thing coming.
“You!”
Chase was sitting at her goddamned kitchen table having a cup of tea with Aggie like he had a right to be there. His head jerked up at Jena’s exclamation, and the stupid smile slid off his face, his throat bobbing as he stared at her. A wave of that fucking musk hit her square, and she growled.
“So, how’d it go?” Aggie asked, cheerier than she’d been in days.
“What the fuck is he doing here?”
“Showing me tile samples,” she said, waving a hand over the books spread out between them, then covering her mouth as she coughed.
The sound didn’t improve Jena’s mood. Damn it. She should’ve bailed on the interview and taken Aggie to the hospital. She’d already been halfway frickin’ there driving out to Fayet. Tomorrow they were going. No more excuses.
“I like these little hexagons with the navy squares,” Aggie said, pointing to a sample.
Jena pulled up short. “Tile samples?”
“Mmm, the lead time can run out six weeks or more on some of these, and Chase wants to have it on order ASAP.” She tapped one of the pages. “See? This one right here. Pretty good match, don’t you think?”
Jena attempted to breathe through the wave of fury incinerating the last thread of her patience. “You? You’re the historical renovation expert? That’s what the ‘see you tomorrow’ the other day was about?”
He just stared at her, his jaw clenched and his chest rising and falling like he’d run a marathon. The cloud of musk coming from him thickened.
“He is, and he’s absolutely brilliant. Finished pulling up that floor today.
You know they set those old pipes in mud?
Not real mud, but that’s what they call it.
One of them had a crack as long as my finger and was pissing beneath the floor.
We got water damage running behind the paneling in the room below right down to the basement.
It’s no wonder all those herbs went moldy.
Sump pump failed and there was a quarter inch of standing water.
Chase’s already installed a new one for us and has it airing out. ”
Aggie beamed at him, and the top of Jena’s head about blew off.
“I don’t want him here,” she seethed.
“And I don’t want you fucking up the hardwood, but there you are, standing in a puddle,” Aggie said, licking her finger to turn a page.
“I—” Jena glanced down. The floor was drenched, her white button-down totally transparent, and her bra wasn’t leaving anything to the imagination. No wonder he was staring, she was giving the jerk an eyeful and then some. She turned on her heel, swearing. “Goddamn it! Get out of my fucking house!”
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit… Chase stared at the space Jena had just left, his cock throbbing and his wolf going apeshit. Aggie touched his arm, and he jumped.
“Guess she’s read the paper.”
His throat bobbed. “Um…yeah.”
“It true?” He shook his head, and Aggie grunted like she’d suspected as much. “Then don’t you dare leave.”
“No, ma’am,” he murmured, licking his lips. Leave? He couldn’t have moved if he’d wanted to. Goddamn, Jena was gorgeous when she was all fired up, and with her clothes plastered to her like that… He swallowed, trying to rein in his wolf—
Want, want, want…
Chase bit back a keening howl, about to totally lose his shit.
Aggie smirked around her handkerchief as she coughed. “Well, I suspect that answers that question.”
He glanced over at her. “Pardon?” his voice cracked.