by Lena Gregory
Murmurs sifted through her closed office door: “. . . believe how hot it is in here . . . might need to leave early . . . better be all she’s cracked up to be . . . that smell?”
“It’ll be worth it . . .” an unfamiliar voice interrupted. “Trust me, Cass is amazing.”
Though she couldn’t make out who the woman’s voice belonged to, the sentiment brought the boost to Cass’s confidence she needed to make this work. It reminded her that she loved what she did and that people loved her in return. They counted on her. Even though many of the clients—probably most—who attended her readings came searching for entertainment and social interaction, there were always a few who came seeking help and guidance. Cass had a responsibility to them.
She tamed the lumps of hair plastered against her head with a comb, added a little blush to cheeks that were way too pale for summer on an island, and smoothed on coral lipstick.
Okay, you can do this.
She shoved to her feet and started toward the door, then thought better of the idea and returned to her desk. She stuffed the makeup back in its case and stuck the case and the mirror into her desk drawer, then slid the chair into place beneath the desk. No sense leaving a mess she’d have to tend to later when her need for order reared its ugly head.
With one last glance around the office to make sure everything was in place, she headed toward the door again, then reached for the door handle and paused. She let her hand drop to her side. Who was she kidding? She was in no shape for this tonight. Whatever had been haunting her all day had begun to . . .
Wait. A thought trickled in, slowly, cautiously. Her mind resisted. Not whatever—
A woman’s voice teased her, whispering, on the outside edge of her awareness, just out of her reach.
The office door shot open and smacked her in the forehead. She staggered back, tripped on the edge of the oriental rug, and went down hard on her butt. Her teeth clacked together, catching the inside of her cheek between them, and the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth.
“Oh, man, Cass.” Bee rushed toward her and crouched at her side. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? I’m so sorry. I was in a hurry, and I didn’t look before I—”
She held up a hand to stop the flow of words. “It’s okay, Bee. I’m fine.”
He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure. I’m fine.”
He brushed off her shorts. “You’d better hurry up and get dressed if you’re going to get this done.”
“What do you mean?” She looked down at her khaki shorts and maroon silk camisole. “I am dressed.”
Bee stepped back and eyed her up and down with a sneer, as if she were wearing a ratty bathrobe.
She huffed out a breath, in no mood for his theatrics. “What’s the problem, Bee?”
“Oh, dear, nothing. I mean . . .” With a nod toward her hair, he sighed. “If you’re sure that’s how you want to go out there.”
“I don’t have time for this.” Granted, he was right, but that didn’t matter. She always dressed for her readings—not too fancy, but in something other than shorts and a camisole, usually a skirt and top. Today, though, well . . . her attire was the least of her problems. She started toward the door. “It’s like a hundred and ten degrees in here, I’m going to be lucky if I even get through this.”
“Hey.” Bee grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. His big brown eyes bored through her, and he frowned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.” She blurted out the answer more harshly than she’d intended.
He narrowed his eyes. “This is me you’re talking to, honey, and you are not fine. What’s going on?”
She shook her head and lowered her gaze from the intensity of his stare. Bee knew her too well to miss the distress she’d seen in her own eyes reflected in the mirror. “I’m not sure, but could we talk about it later? Right now, I just need to get this done. Afterward, maybe we can go to the diner and talk. Okay?”
He squeezed her arm and deliberated a moment longer, then relented and let her go. “Sure, come on. But I’m eating light tonight.”
Cass flipped the light switch off as they headed out of the office toward the reading room. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, but . . .” Bee patted his stomach. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve put on a few pounds.”
“Are you kidding me?” Bee was one of those rare people who could eat like a horse and never gain a pound. Usually, but now that he mentioned it, she had noticed he’d gained a bit of weight recently, even though it seemed to have settled in all the right places, giving him a more muscular build than he’d already had. “You look amazing, Bee.”
“Thank you, dear, but if I don’t get it in check now, it’ll get out of control. Better to be on top of it.” He gestured her into the reading room ahead of him.
A number of familiar faces greeted her, as well as several newcomers she didn’t recognize.
Aiden Hargrove slouched in a seat toward the front of the room, his arm slung over an empty chair next to him. If his bored expression was any indication, he had no interest at all in being there. Seemed Bee’s hopes of any sort of psychic intervention would be short-lived, not that she’d ever lead someone like that. It would feel too much like taking advantage. Despite Bee’s apparent hopes to the contrary, he knew that.
On Aiden’s other side, a woman perched on the edge of her seat, red hair piled atop her head in some dramatic updo that had probably taken hours and cost a small fortune. Diamonds dripped from her neck and arms. She grinned widely when Cass walked in, gripped Aiden’s arm and shook him.
Aiden shot her a half grin, nodded, then rolled his eyes as soon as she turned away.
Cass recognized the woman from the shop. She’d definitely been in a few times before, though Cass couldn’t recall offhand what she’d come in for. Not a reading, that was for sure. She always remembered her reading clients.
Bee may have been right. The silk camisole might not have been the best idea. Sweat already had it clinging uncomfortably to her damp skin. She pulled the front away from her body and fanned herself as discreetly as possible.
Stephanie smiled at her from the front of the room and picked up the microphone.
And, that easily, everything fell into place. Maybe her unease did have something to do with Stephanie. She’d have to examine that later. Cass smiled back and waited through Stephanie’s introduction, then strode through a smattering of less-than-enthusiastic applause to the front of the room and took the microphone Stephanie held out to her. She leaned over and whispered, “Thanks.”
Stephanie winked, then dimmed the lights and retreated to the back table to sit beside Bee.
The burgundy curtains hung limp, framing the open windows. Usually, she’d have closed them to darken the room, set the atmosphere. Candles flickered amid the centerpieces on each table. She probably should have skipped those. Additional heat was the last thing they needed. A stack of papers sat perfectly still where Bee must have forgotten them on the bookshelf earlier, not so much as a flutter from the softest of breezes. If she made it through this reading, she would have Emmett install ceiling fans throughout the shop as soon as humanly possible.
“I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight.” A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Cass’s face. “I have to apologize for the heat. I expected the air-conditioning to be fixed before we started.”
A few weak chuckles filled the room.
“Some psychic!” a man yelled from the back of the room and laughed, long and loud, as he looked around the room, the robust laughter of a bully searching for support.
Someone cleared their throat. A chair scraped along the floor as a gentleman Cass didn’t recognize pulled himself closer to his table and propped his elbows on the blue cloth. Clothing rustled as people shifted uncomfortably and looked around at one another.
Cass’s gaze shot to the back wall
where Tank and Luke usually stood, arms folded across their chests, skeptical, since neither of them believed in her abilities, but supportive just the same.
Emmett slid his chair back two tables over from the smart aleck, but Cass discreetly shook her head, and he froze. Better to ignore someone like her heckler, not feed into his aggression.
Bee coughed. He waited for her gaze to find his, then widened his eyes and rolled a finger for her to get moving.
How was she going to salvage this mess?
She swiped the side of her face, shook her head, and smiled as she searched the room for a place to start. “I’m sorry, the spirits seem to be restless tonight as well. Must be the heat bothering them too.”
A few more people laughed. This time, a little more genuinely.
Cass shook off the heaviness that seemed to be weighing her down. She had a feeling it was something more than the oppressive heat and humidity nagging at her. Whether it was some actual psychic sixth sense or just her natural intuitiveness screaming at her something was wrong, she had no idea. She did know she couldn’t stand there all night and do nothing. “Um . . .”
Hot air bathed her neck, as if someone was breathing right behind her. She whirled around but found nothing, then sucked in a deep breath. Her chest ached with the effort.
Bee coughed again.
I know, I know. She didn’t even bother looking at him.
A young couple sat at a small round table toward the back corner, heads together, smiling down at the cell phone the guy held between them.
Cass focused on them and approached slowly, giving them time to shy away if they weren’t interested in being singled out, giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts.
The woman looked up as Cass approached. Her eyes widened a bit, but her smile remained firmly in place as she stared at Cass.
Her companion looked up a moment later. Since neither of them seemed distressed by her attention, she continued.
A glint of fading sunlight flashed from the diamond on the woman’s left ring finger.
Cass leaned against an empty table beside them and tried to relax. What could they want to know? It seemed they were already happily engaged, which meant the man wasn’t looking to see if his intended would say yes if he popped the question—a common enough reason young men sought her services, insecurity.
No, this couple seemed quite comfortable with one another, more friends than anything else . . .
She ignored her gut instinct. She had to get this reading going. “You were friends before you were lovers.”
The man shoved his seat away from the woman, tipped the chair, and almost landed on the floor before catching himself and shooting to his feet. The woman leaned back as far away as possible, staring at the man with her mouth open, clearly horrified by the prospect.
Backing away from the table, the man held his hands up in front of him as if Cass were holding him at gunpoint. “Oh, no. No way. I think you got the wrong impression.”
The woman looked around the room and laughed uncomfortably, then gestured toward her friend. “My sister’s husband and I came together because my fiancé and my sister couldn’t make it. My fiancé got called into work at the last minute, and my sister is home with her dog who’s giving birth.”
“We were just looking at a picture my wife sent of our Shelby and her new pups,” the man babbled as he snatched the phone off the table and held it up for everyone to see.
Heat blazed in Cass’s chest and spread to her face. That’s what she got for not trusting her gut. “I’m sorry. The friendship part came through loud and clear, but the rest of the message was kind of foggy.”
Several people shifted and averted their gazes. A woman sitting alone at the table next to them smirked as she twirled a lock of long dark hair around her finger, clearly enjoying the fiasco.
Now what? Should she try to salvage this mess or move on?
“Must be the heat causing all that fog, huh?” Her heckler laughed out loud and slapped the table.
The brunette’s smirk widened to a full-blown grin, showing off a line of perfectly aligned, shockingly white teeth.
She ignored both of them. Better to focus on anything else. Giving them a wide berth, she scanned the room, desperate for some way to salvage the situation.
A snort from the front of the room caught her attention, and she whirled toward it, grateful for any distraction.
“The heat sure is messing with those pesky spirits. What do you suppose they’ll screw up next?” her heckler yelled.
Aiden Hargrove, who’d been lounging nonchalantly until then, sat up straighter in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and applauded loudly.
Cass homed in on him. Just what she needed, someone to take her frustration out on. Arrogant Aidan Hargrove would make the perfect target. She sauntered toward him, taking her time, studying both him and his companion, searching for something to grasp hold of, ignoring the warning screaming in her head, begging her to back off.
Her foot caught on a chair leg, and she stumbled but caught herself against a table before she could fall. Great, seemed the heat had fried any cognitive awareness Cass might once have had and left her with nothing more than a wicked headache and a roomful of strangers staring at her, waiting to be enthralled.
For a fraction of a second, Cass considered trying to convince Aiden to invest in a line of gowns with Bee, but her conscience wouldn’t allow it, not even under the most dire of circumstances. Besides, he obviously didn’t believe in her skills, so it would probably only hurt Bee more than help at that point. One glance at Bee frantically shaking his head no convinced her she was right and helped focus her, despite her humiliation.
She took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders, focusing instead on Aiden’s date.
The woman still sat on the edge of her seat, but now she held her bottom lip caught between her teeth, casting nervous glances at her companion. It hit Cass where she’d seen her before. The woman had come into the shop not that long ago seeking a love potion. Her hair had hung in waves around her face at that time, and Cass hadn’t immediately recognized her with it piled atop her head, but the leather cord holding the small bag of crystals Cass had given her hung around her neck and disappeared into her blouse.
Cass forced a smile. “You’re in love.”
The woman cast her gaze down, but a smile flickered as she shot another glance in Aiden’s direction. The most likely question the woman would want answered would be if her love interest returned her feelings.
Cass studied Aiden.
A lock of blond hair fell in a stylish wave across his forehead. He kept his gaze carefully focused on his perfectly manicured hands folded on the table in front of him. A touch of color spotted his cheeks.
Warmth invaded her mind, her heart. “He’s in love too.”
Aiden jerked his head up and shot a look over his shoulder at the brunette seated alone across the room, still twirling her hair around her finger.
“But with someone else.” Cass tried to bite the words back even as they came out of her mouth. “I’m sorry . . . I . . . uh . . .”
Aiden shoved his chair back from the table and lurched to his feet. “I’ve had enough.”
Tears shimmered in his date’s eyes.
“Wait, please, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” Cass held up her hands, wishing desperately she could unsay the words.
“We’re out of here.” He grabbed his date’s arm and yanked her to her feet. “Didn’t I tell you this woman was nothing but a fraud? Let’s go.”
The woman followed meekly, staring at the floor as Aiden weaved between tables toward the stairs. She spared the dark-haired woman a seething glance on her way past.
Cass’s heckler laughed out loud as he called after Aiden, “Hey, buddy, where ya goin’? Why don’t ya stick around, and maybe she’ll tell you who ya really got a hankerin’ for?”
Emmett shoved his chair back and surged to his feet, fists clenched. “That�
�s enough, Dirk!”
Stephanie went after Aiden and his date, hopefully trying to do some kind of damage control.
Bee’s attention swiveled between Cass, Emmett, and Dirk as he stood beside his table, clutching the chair back.
“I ain’t even gotten started yet, Emmett.” Dirk jumped to his feet and waved his hand in the air. “Hey, Cass. Do me next, will ya?”
Bee’s gaze settled on the continuing confrontation between Emmett and Dirk.
Somehow, Cass needed to get control of this mess before someone got hurt. “All right. Let’s all calm down. Please.”
Dirk scoffed.
As Emmett rounded the last table between them, he pointed a finger at Dirk.
With one last glance at Cass, Bee went after him.
“Please, everyone. I have to apologize . . . Please . . .” Cass held her hands up for quiet.
“You’d best put that finger down, Emmett,” Dirk demanded, taking a step toward him.
Emmett clenched his teeth but lowered his hand. A man of few words, he stepped back and gestured toward the stairs. “Just go, okay? I don’t want no trouble here.”
“You never want trouble, do ya, Emmett? But it always seems to find you.” Dirk took a swing, landing a solid blow to Emmett’s chin.
Emmett staggered back but shook it off and swung back, catching Dirk square in the nose.
Two women screamed and ducked away from the fight.
Chaos ensued as people scrambled to get out of the way, and Beast barked wildly from his room downstairs.
Dirk lifted a fist to take another shot at Emmett, but Bee hooked his arm from behind and swung him around, pinning him face-first against the wall.
Thankfully, Emmett stepped back. His girlfriend, Sara Ryan, held a hand flat against his chest, whispering urgently in his ear.
Some customers fled down the stairs, while others backed out of the way but stayed to witness the action.
The sound of sirens wailed in the distance. One of her customers must have called the police.
