Careful What You Kiss For

by Jane Lynne Daniels

  “You work there.”

  Not anymore. After tomorrow morning, she wouldn’t have even heard of the place.

  “And you’re tight with Razor,” Max went on. “You have access I don’t.”

  Razor. Razor Burns. She shuddered.

  Max’s face hardened. “Has that asshole hurt you?”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what is it? Gary?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.” Events would unravel most unpredictably, Madame Claire had warned, if she told anyone what had happened. “Just leave it alone.”

  He drew his mouth in tight. “Guess I can see why you wouldn’t trust the police, after what you’ve been through.”

  Tensley rolled her eyes. “I’m still trying to figure out how you talked them into letting you be a cop.”

  “Want to see my badge?”

  “Bet you say that to all the girls.”

  He ducked his head, having the sense to look embarrassed.

  “I knew it.” She took a long sip of coffee, looking at him over the rim of her cup. “Does it work even better than showing a girl how to outrun the police?”

  “You remember that night.” He was trying not to smile, but he couldn’t manage it.

  “Of course I remember. Now that you’re ‘the law’ do you kick people out of that spot?” A dark little alley. Just big enough to hide a car and the two teenagers inside it, victorious after a slightly illegal street race. Max had said it was private enough to make love. No one would find them. No one had.

  A twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Not even when I was a patrol officer. I had too many good memories. I didn’t want to ruin them by finding someone else there.”

  “Oh.” It came out as a squeak. She took a hasty sip of coffee.

  The waitress came swinging back by, a carafe of coffee in her hand. Both Tensley and Max put up their hands and she left.

  “Is it the house rent? Is that why you don’t want to go back to Gary’s?”

  She searched his eyes. “Why me? There are other girls who work there.”

  A smile teased at his mouth. “You and I have a history.”

  “A history.”

  His coffee cup seemed to suddenly fascinate him. “Maybe I wasn’t exactly disappointed at the idea of spending time with you.”

  My God. This was not happening the night before she would return to her real life. She slapped back the hope that surged inside her before it could take hold. Max the teenage boy had been amazing. Max the man was far more dangerous. Now his confidence was backed up by something real, something fascinating, something pulling her toward him faster than she could peddle backward.

  This had to stop. Before things went any further. “So it’s got to be me, you’re thinking.”

  He nodded.

  “Gary’s a bad guy.”

  “Yes.”

  “Underhanded?”

  More nodding. His gaze rose to meet hers, nearly undoing her resolve. But she kept going.

  “Criminal? Violent?”

  “Yes. And probably.”

  “And you want to put me, not someone else, just me, back in that place. Working for him.”

  Max stopped mid-nod.

  Maybe he’d even made up that whole story about why she’d found him with Rhonda, to try to get on her good side. The skeptical side of her, the one that chimed in with an unhelpful I-told-you-so every time Tensley got hurt, urged her on, giving her words a clipped edge. “In fact, you want me to be the one responsible for getting the goods on him. Not that he’ll be pissed off about that or anything. But it doesn’t bother you at all. You’re ready to send me in.”

  “Tensley — ”

  Back on solid ground, instead of emotional quicksand. “This is great, Max. Just great.” Tensley snatched her purse from the seat and pulled out a couple of dollar bills, throwing them on the table. “After all we meant to each other, you would put me in danger and not even think twice about it.” She stood, her knees knocking together. “Good to know what you really think about me. If I get shot up, you’ll just move on to the next girl.”

  “It’s not like that. I’ll protect you.”

  “Like you protected me from seeing you with Rhonda?”

  His mouth opened. And closed. He didn’t answer.

  She arched her brow. Damn. It was trembling like the rest of her. Just once, she’d like to be able to make a dramatic exit. “Goodbye, Max. Hope you find someone to help you catch your bad guy. It isn’t going to be me.”

  Another dish crashed as she walked toward the door. More yelling followed. She hoped Max was watching her newly thin ass, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of turning back to see. He could actually kiss it, as far as she was concerned. She was never falling for him again, no matter how gorgeous those blue eyes, that dark hair, that hidden poet’s soul was.

  Never.

  After tomorrow morning, if everything worked out the way it should, she wouldn’t remember this brief, insane part of her life.

  • • •

  Kate was late. It took everything Tensley had not to charge through Madame Claire’s door on her own. But she didn’t. Her toe tapped on the pavement until she had a severe toe-ache, but she waited.

  Finally, Kate came around the corner, head down. She glanced up. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Tensley scanned the worry lines on her best friend’s face. “It’s okay. Nothing bad is going to happen. We’ll go in, tell her to make this right and then we’ll leave once she does.”

  “It’s just — ” Kate shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. “I’m worried about what will happen if we have her try this again.”

  Dread began to ripple through Tensley. Kate couldn’t back out now. “She has to. Nothing could be any worse than it is now. Trust me.”

  Kate looked over one shoulder and then the other. “I wasn’t supposed to remember anything, once the mistake was erased.” She focused her anxious gaze back on Tensley. “Then she inserts a mistake into your life and you still remember your old life. The woman screws something up every time. Can we trust her?”

  “We can’t afford not to.” Tensley put her hands on Kate’s shoulders. “Listen to me. I’m a college graduate, with a great condo, a closet of Jimmy Choos, plenty of successful men to date, and a good job. Once I get it back, anyway. But would anyone know that? No. Because they think I’m a stripper with a record.” Her grip on her friend tightened. “And a boyfriend named Razor.”

  “Razor?” Kate lips pursed like she’d tasted pickle juice. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Dead serious.” Tensley grabbed her friend’s arm, pulling her toward the door. “And that’s why we’re going in.” She opened the door, the tinkling of the bell and the smell of incense sending chills up her spine. The last time she’d been here … She loosened her hold on Kate and drew her shoulders back, focusing on breathing through her mouth.

  The door at the back of the shop opened and Madame Claire appeared. Today she was dressed in black, with a heavy gold necklace around her neck and on her feet, leopard print heels.

  “So you have come,” she said gravely. Once her gaze swept upward to take in the two women, she blanched and her eyes widened. “Oh.”

  “You weren’t expecting us? Thought you were psychic.”

  “Tensley,” Kate said under her breath. Her hand closed on Tensley’s arm, radiating a warning. “Don’t piss her off.”

  Tensley steeled herself to be polite. “We need your help.”

  “I see.” The woman drew a breath and walked toward a small desk. “I am, unfortunately, booked today.” She leafed through the pages of a scheduling book. “My appointment will be here at any time. I do not know what has detained her — but yes, at any moment, she will arrive.” More ruffling of the pages, backward this time. She crooked an eyebrow. “Perhaps I could fit you in next week. Or the week after.”

  Tensley and Kate didn’t move.

  Madame Claire walked toward the b
ack of the shop, leopard heels clicking on the hardwood. She hesitated and then gave a dismissive flick of her fingers. “You will take your leave now.”

  “No.”

  The psychic turned.

  Kate took a step forward. “I asked you to help my friend but instead, you turned her life upside down.” Her voice shook. “You need to put things back the way they were.”

  “I do not understand this … ,” Madame Claire’s hand lifted as though she were a stage actress burdened with an unappreciative audience, “ … upside down.”

  Tensley surged forward. She’d never had an abundance of patience, but today it was nonexistent. “Cut the crap. You know exactly what we’re talking about.”

  Madame Claire’s gaze could have neatly sliced her in two. “You were given a rare opportunity. What you did with it was of your own choosing, not mine.”

  “I didn’t know what would happen.”

  “And that is where the opportunity lies, does it not?”

  Tensley jerked a hand through her hair, tears frustratingly near. “I wasn’t thinking. You asked me about a mistake and I just threw something out there. I didn’t know you were serious.”

  “Did I not explain?”

  “I — I didn’t believe you.” Tensley turned to Kate for help. Her friend’s mouth was open, her eyes wide with alarm.

  The psychic lifted one shoulder. “Perhaps you should have.” She turned again.

  “Stop!” Tensley’s voice screeched upward. “You have to undo this!”

  “Please,” Kate implored.

  “It cannot be so.” The woman kept walking.

  Fear surged through Tensley’s veins. “You made me a stripper. Do I look like a stripper? That’s because I’m not!” She shook off Kate’s restraining hand and charged toward the woman. “Get the hell back here and fix this or I — I’m going to the police!”

  Madame Claire’s shoulders lifted. She spun on one heel to face Tensley, who pulled up short before reaching her. “Good luck with that, honey. At least you’ll give the cops a laugh before they lock you up for your own safety.” All pretense of an accent had disappeared. “And no matter what you’re telling yourself, you did not just ‘throw something out there.’ When you’re offered a chance like that, the answer comes straight from your heart.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Think about it. How long did it take you to come up with something when I asked?”

  “I — It — ”

  “Exactly. That regret is always there, always with you, even if you’re not aware of it. I ask one question and out it comes.”

  Tensley’s heart beat so fast, it thudded in her ears. She could barely hear, barely move. “But I’m not me anymore,” she whispered.

  Kate was at her side in a flash, arm around her shoulders, hugging her hard.

  Madame Claire put her hands on her hips, looking from one woman to the other. “I knew I never should have done this, not even once. My momma warned me.”

  The two younger women looked at each other. Kate spoke for both of them. “What?”

  Madame Claire put her hands on her hips, looking everywhere but at them. “Momma invented the technique,” she said. “The Do-over Diva, that’s what she thought she was, though God forbid she should ever do it for me, her own daughter.” She raised her hand, voice rising as she scolded the ceiling. “Not even when I married an idiot who thought all I had to do was twitch my nose and he’d never have to work again.”

  “Twitch your nose?” Kate’s voice was faint.

  The psychic started, as if suddenly realizing she wasn’t alone. She dropped her hand. “He thought Bewitched was a true-life story.” She shook her head. “He really was an idiot. But he looked good and he knew his way around the bedroom. If you know what I mean.”

  Tensley didn’t want to know. At all. “Let’s go back to how you’re going to undo this.”

  “Mamma taught me a few things before she died, but not much.” She made a sound of disgust. “She said it would be too dangerous, that I was nothing but an Esmeralda.”

  At the blank stares of Tensley and Kate, the psychic followed with, “Never mind. A Bewitched thing. And so untrue. I am not accident-prone.”

  “Gre-a-ea-t,” Tensley breathed.

  Madame Claire directed herself to Kate. “I never would have tried the do-over, but when you came in, I felt so sorry for you, I took a chance. And it worked, except for that, you know, remembering the way it used to be … thing.”

  Kate’s hold on Tensley tightened. “You could have mentioned you didn’t know everything.”

  “So you’re complaining now? Things turned out pretty good for you.”

  “True.” Kate screwed up her face, as if she had to think about it. “Pretty good.”

  Tensley folded her fingers into a white-knuckled plea. “Please tell us that your momma at least taught you how to undo this.”

  The psychic hesitated. “Not exactly.”

  “Not exactly?” Her voice abandoned her.

  “I know that it can be done, but there’s sort of a catch.”

  Nothing, not any kind of a catch, could be worse than what she was going through now. “Just tell us what it is.”

  “There’s a lesson that has to be learned before any reverse spell will — you know — take.”

  Tensley and Kate looked at each other, baffled. “A lesson?” they asked in unison.

  “I saw my momma tell that to a client who was begging to have things undone. She did the reverse spell … three hundred sixty-four, I think it was.” Madame Claire tapped her chin with a bright red fingernail. “Part A … or maybe B.”

  “You don’t even know which spell it is?” Kate sounded horrified.

  “I can figure it out. I have them all on my iPhone. That’s not the hard part.”

  “Of course it isn’t.” Tensley was pretty sure she might pass out, at any minute. Her head felt so light, her arms and legs had to be acting like a giant balloon weight, holding it down.

  Madame Claire pulled her mouth in tight. “I remember momma saying that it wouldn’t take until the woman had learned her lesson.”

  “As in, never go to a psychic?”

  Madame Claire was not amused. “Learned her lesson from the journey.” She looked away. “I think that was it, anyway. Or maybe it had something to do with the sum of the parts.”

  “I don’t understand how you could not know this.” Kate’s voice was barely audible.

  “I was twelve years old. And not supposed to be watching. Momma never wanted me to go into the family business.”

  “But you didn’t listen,” Tensley blurted.

  The psychic didn’t seem to hear her. “I was doing math homework at the time, though. I suppose that could be where the sum of the parts is coming from … .”

  “Oh God.” Now Kate sounded like she might be the one to faint.

  “I know it’s a lesson tied to the mistake that’s been undone.” Madame Claire bit down on her bottom lip, transferring red lipstick to her teeth. “But I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  “Right.” Tensley drew a trembling hand through her hair. “Because I’ve always been so good at that.”

  Kate squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “So sorry.”

  “Look,” Madame Claire said, “I wasn’t kidding about the client coming in. She’ll be here any minute. You two have to leave.”

  “Uh-huh. Bad for business.” Once again, Tensley’s knees were banging together, threatening to give up on keeping her upright. What exactly was she supposed to have learned from the last day and a half? How to pole dance?

  “Look, I’ll do my best.” Madame Claire sounded aggrieved. “That’s all you can ask, you know.” She sucked in a breath. “Stand there for a minute and shut your eyes. Let me try something.”

  “Like I’m going to trust you now.” Tensley’s voice rose to a shriek.

  “Like you have a lot of choices,” the psychic snapped.

&
nbsp; Tensley shut her eyes.

  “Wait a minute,” Kate said. “What are you going to do to her?”

  “The reverse spell. Then when she learns her lesson, whatever that is, things should change back.”

  “Should,” Tensley repeated. “Nice.”

  “You said you weren’t sure which spell it was.” Kate sounded panicked.

  Suspicious, Tensley opened one eye.

  “Three hundred sixty-four … uh, A. Has to be.”

  “And what if you’re wrong? I turn into a giraffe or something?”

  “Giraffes have nice long legs.” Madame Claire scanned Tensley from head to toe. “Couldn’t hurt.”

  “Hey!”

  “There’s not a lot of difference between A and B, so be quiet and let me do this. Shut your eyes,” the psychic ordered. “Both of them.”

  Tensley did as she was told. Maybe she’d find out she’d already learned her lesson, without even knowing it, and the spell would take right away. She wasn’t half bad at pole dancing, so if that was it, she was golden.

  Please let that be it. Please, please, please. She closed her eyes as tight as she possibly could. And she held her breath.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Tensley snuck one eye open. And then the other.

  Kate had turned several shades of pale. A vein jumped in her neck as she watched Tensley. “Well?” she breathed. The word barely left her mouth.

  “I don’t know.” Tensley looked down and up. She didn’t feel any different and she had the same clothes on, but … .

  Madame Claire nodded. “You can leave now. And you’re welcome. No extra charge.”

  That would mean — what, exactly? “Did I get my life back?” Afraid to meet the psychic’s eyes, Tensley instead stared at the woman’s shoes. There was a small tear in the leopard print of one, near the toe.

  The answer was sharp, impatient. “Not yet. Obviously.”

  “What do you mean obviously?” Her voice shook. Tensley imagined an actual leopard leaping from the shoe to swallow Madame Claire whole.

  A faint mewing sound came from Kate, causing Tensley to glance up. Kate, who looked as though she might pass out, grabbed the edge of a table.

  “I mean, ob-vi-ous-ly,” the psychic replied, dragging out each syllable, “you haven’t yet learned your lesson. Or there would have been the flash of light, that whole business.”