For Witch's Sake (Bless Your Witch Book Five)

by Amy Boyles

  Milly studied him but said nothing. It was as if she knew he was keeping something from us, too.

  I couldn't take it. "I don't believe you. You found something. What was it?"

  He raked his fingers through his wet locks. He looked delicious right out of the shower. And the smell—musky and clean. Yum.

  Roman dragged a folded paper from his pocket. "Read this. I found it on the top of Pearbottom's file cabinet."

  It was a simple sheet torn from a legal pad. It was folded into fours. I peeled the paper back and read what was tucked inside. "Oh my gosh." My eyes slewed from the words to Roman to Milly. "Is this what I think it is?"

  Roman nodded. "Yep."

  Milly leaned on her cane so far forward I thought she might fall over. "What?"

  I swallowed. "It's a love letter."

  "To who?" she said.

  "To Pearbottom. But it's who the letter is from that's important."

  "Who's it from?" Milly said.

  Roman raised his head and looked Milly straight in the eye. "My aunt."

  NINETEEN

  "My uncle died a few years ago," Roman explained. "He was a good man. A great man, actually. They both took me in when my mother died. And you know, my aunt had all those problems with magic when she was younger. My uncle never judged anybody. He accepted them for who they were until a person did something to change his mind."

  "I'm sorry."

  He shrugged. "It's okay. I had some great years with him."

  I was curled up on one end of Roman's couch. He sat at the other. I could tell the news had shaken him, and I wanted to be here for him, not leave him alone.

  His head fell back, and Roman stared at the ceiling. "I don't care that they're dating. I really don't. If she's happy with Jonathan, so be it. But after what we saw last night and now knowing that she visited Wanda, none of it makes sense. I don't get it. These are two people who I would never think would be involved in a mess like this." He raised his hands and then let them down to his thighs. "But here we are."

  "Maybe there's an explanation for everything," I said hopefully.

  Roman shook his head. "Yeah, the explanation is that they're both bad. They've been stealing magic, had a hand in my mother and sister's deaths and are among the worst of all criminals."

  I cringed. "Maybe it's not what it seems."

  "Darlin', usually the simplest explanation is the right one."

  "I know. But maybe that's not the case here. Maybe there's another reason. Maybe they fell in love and your aunt has no idea that Pearbottom is a horrible person. I mean, she did save my rear end by hiding it when my cuff came off. If you hadn't found that letter, we'd never know about them."

  He didn't say anything.

  "She wants to see your father, doesn't she? Well, let her. Let her see him. If she tries to kill him, then we'll know what side she's on."

  Roman chuckled. "You always put things in a good light."

  "Thank you."

  "You're welcome."

  My phone buzzed. I dug it out of my pocket and glanced at the text from Jenny Butts.

  You need me tomorrow?

  I replied that yes, I'd need her to watch the store for another day.

  Your clothes sure are interesting.

  Wasn't sure how to take that. Didn't know what she meant, so I let it go.

  "Anything important?" Roman asked.

  "No. Nothing even remotely close to a murder and an illicit love affair."

  Roman flashed me a dark look. "It's not illicit."

  "Joke, Roman. It was a joke." I pushed off my side of the couch and nuzzled into him. He wrapped an arm around me and hugged me tight. "There's an explanation for all of this."

  Roman kissed the top of my head. "You're right. We'll get my aunt and father together and see what happens."

  "Good. I've always wanted to witness a fight to the death."

  He glared at me.

  "Kidding. Sheesh. Don't let this kill your sense of humor."

  "I never have a sense of humor when it comes to seeing you naked."

  That was a random change of subject. "Oh, ha-ha. Got me there."

  I started to push away, but Roman tugged me back. He pressed his lips to mine. Every bone popped and fizzled as the heat from his mouth surged through my body, penetrating deep to my core.

  "Okay, mister," I said, breaking away from him. "We'd better stop before you actually get a sense of humor about my naked body."

  Roman nuzzled my ear. "What are you talking about? You're beautiful."

  He tugged some serious emotional strings with that line. "Okay."

  Roman hooked a finger beneath my chin and tipped my face so that our eyes locked. "I'm serious. There's not a woman more beautiful in the entire world than you."

  I shot him a skeptical look.

  He grazed a finger down my cheek. "Don't say one word to dispute it."

  "Or?"

  "I'll break up with you."

  I giggled. "I don't want that."

  "Give me five minutes and you'll understand exactly what I'm saying."

  Another skeptical look.

  "Or don't," he said.

  I bit my lip. "Does this require me without clothes?"

  "Nope," he said. "Just you in the bedroom."

  "But I can wear clothes."

  "You won't want to." He kissed me again, deeply. "I love you. I would never do anything you don't want."

  "You won't make fun of my thighs?"

  "Your thighs are gorgeous."

  I thought about it for a minute and rose. I took Roman's hand and guided him from the couch. Right before we reached the bedroom, I turned around.

  "Better turn off that light," I said.

  Roman snapped it off before I finished my sentence. We entered the bedroom. He shut the door softly behind him. Before I had a chance to turn on a lamp, I was in his arms, his lips leaving blazing smears of heat over my entire body.

  ***

  "You're awfully chipper this morning," Sera said. It was the next day. I had a blisteringly annoying smile on my lips. I was sure of that from the quizzical looks she kept shooting me.

  "You don't say."

  She screwed her face up at me. "No, you don't say."

  "No, I don't."

  Sera threw up her hands. "I'm lost."

  "That's okay. I'm not."

  "As long as one of us knows what's going on," Sera mumbled.

  "I know what's going on," I said.

  "What's going on?" Reid said, sailing into the room.

  "Dylan looks a little too happy," Sera said.

  I crossed my arms. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

  She shrugged. "It's true."

  Chasity walked in. She stopped, turned her head and locked gazes with me. "Roman is smiling too."

  Sera gasped. "Oh my gosh, you didn't!"

  I shook my head. "I didn't. We didn't. No, not at all."

  "But you almost did," Chasity said.

  "There goes keeping anything a secret."

  Reid smirked. "Hard to do that when you've got a mind-reading witch around."

  "Speaking of mind reading," I said, "how's Grandma been doing at the bakery?"

  Sera poured herself a cup of coffee. "Good, I guess. She hasn't said anything to make me think otherwise. How's Jenny doing?"

  "Good. Strangely good. It's almost like she enjoys being at the shop."

  Reid curled up in a kitchen chair, set her phone on the table and started scrolling through it. "Maybe she likes being around all those clothes. She's probably tried them all on a thousand times and is figuring out which ones to steal when she leaves."

  "That's not nice."

  "Maybe I'm not a very nice person."

  I smoothed the worry lines sprouting on my forehead. "Yes, you are. You're a nice person."

  Reid shrugged. "I guess. Hey, do any of y'all miss Adonis?"

  Pretty sure we all gave her the slitty-wedges-of-death eyes. "No," I said. "Do you?"


  "He was so cute," she whimpered.

  "Don't even think about inviting him back," I said. "Don't even think about it if you want to have a home that's not eaten up."

  "Whatever," she said.

  But something about what Reid had said about Jenny stealing made me think there could be a teensy-weensy element off with her. What if she was taking clothes? What if she was going to hijack my store? I mean, not that it would happen.

  Maybe I'd just go by there and take a look.

  I waited until the sun was high in the sky before I left the house. I wasn't sure what Roman was going to do about the information we had regarding his aunt and Pearbottom. We'd been a little too busy with other things to discuss that, but I knew he had something brewing. My plan was to check in with Jenny—well, not actually check in, because if she thought I was free, then she'd abandon her post and I'd be stuck working my shop.

  Which would be bad if Pearbottom showed up. There was a little more than a week to go with the whole house-arrest thing, and I planned on making it out without having to be boiled or skinned or anything else.

  I parked down by Gus's, home of the deep-fried burger, and strolled as casually as possible down the street to my shop. When I reached the display window, I peeked in, being sure to keep most of my body to the side—because, you know, that's what store owners do; we skulk around and try to hide.

  What I saw looked entirely reasonable. Jenny was sorting the racks, her back to me. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I had decided that everything looked squeaky clean and was about to leave when I saw it.

  I blinked to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

  Nope. I'd seen correctly.

  The dresses were shivering and quivering for Jenny. It was so slight, but I could tell. I watched Jenny closely. Could she see them?

  Jenny walked past a row of dresses and patted each one on the shoulder.

  Holy crap. Yep, she could tell.

  My heart pounded. What was I supposed to do? This had never happened before. I inhaled deeply and stepped inside.

  It was absolute madness.

  Okay, I'm being dramatic—but it was darned close.

  Classical music filled my store. Jenny hummed to it while the dresses swayed slightly from side to side with her.

  "What is going on in here?" I boomed.

  Jenny dropped the hanger she was holding and whirled around. Her face split into a wide smile when she saw me. She pumped her arms excitedly. "Y'all. Y'all. Y'all."

  I tapped my foot. "There's no y'all here; it's only me. What's going on, Jenny?"

  "Dylan, isn't it wonderful? Your dresses. I don't know what happened, but one day I started playing music and the music made me happy and then the dresses started swaying, like they wanted to dance with me. Ever since then I've kept playing the music and the dresses have continued on."

  I jerked her away from the window. "Why didn't you tell me?"

  Jenny blinked. "I thought you knew. I figured you did this every day in your shop."

  I scoffed. "No, I do not let my dresses sway. Dear heavens, next thing you know they'd be dancing."

  Jenny bit her lip.

  "Do not tell me they've been doing that."

  She raised a hand, splitting the space between thumb and forefinger. "Just a tiny bit."

  "Jenny, you could get me in serious trouble for this."

  A trill of laughter bubbled from her lips. "Why? It's not as if it's your fault this happened. It's some sort of weird magnetic thing with the earth's gravitational pull. I've been reading and figuring it out."

  I shook my head. "No, it's not, Jenny. You've got to stop playing the music. Stop making them happy."

  Jenny frowned. "What? Why would I do that?"

  "Because if you keep this up, you'll get me killed."

  Jenny tapped my shoulder. "Don't be silly, Dylan. You can't help a natural phenomenon."

  I paused. "Have you told anyone about this?"

  Jenny bit her bottom lip and gave me an embarrassed shrug. "Only a few people."

  "What does a few people mean?" I growled.

  "Sheesh, Dylan. I thought you'd like the extra attention for your shop."

  "Perfect Fit doesn't need extra attention right now. Jenny, who did you tell?"

  She shook her head. "No one special. Just a few folks."

  "What's just a few folks?"

  A rumble of murmurs crept up from behind me. I turned to see a spattering of women peering through the window. As one of them reached for the door, I snapped the lock.

  "Hey," Jenny said.

  Then I grabbed Jenny's arm and hauled her to the side.

  "There must be thirty women out there."

  Jenny grinned. "Thirty paying customers. Think of the green, Dylan. You know, you should really raise my salary for this." She waved at the women. "Hey, y'all—we'll just be a minute."

  "No," I screeched. "We will not just be a minute. They can't see this, Jenny. They can't see any of it."

  "Why not?"

  "Because I'm a witch!"

  The world literally stopped. Jenny's eyes flared. She backed away from me, edging toward a corner. "What did you say?"

  I shook my head. "Nothing."

  "I heard you. You said you're a witch." An uncomfortable laugh burst from her. "Very funny. Ha-ha. You fooled me, Dylan. But I can't be scared that easily. I know you're just an everyday person like myself."

  Boy, was I going to regret this, but I just couldn't hold back. "Right. That's why the dresses are dancing. Because I'm not a witch. Because a tectonic plate is shifting somewhere beneath us and the earth's magnetic field has reversed, causing inanimate objects to dance."

  Jenny's gaze cut from me to the dresses and back. "You're a witch." She shielded her face. "Oh my God, don't kill me. Don't turn me to stone or something. I didn't know."

  I rolled my eyes. "That's Medusa who turns people to stone. I'm not going to hurt you or hex you or anything."

  I glanced at the swaying dresses and then back to the customers. How the heck was I going to get out of this? I needed business, but I also didn't need to get in any more trouble with the witch police.

  "Who's working all this magic?"

  Grandma stood on the other side of the room. She must've come in through the back door. "I thought I felt a tug of power over here. What's going on?"

  I explained everything as quickly as I could.

  Jenny studied Grandma. "Are you a witch, too?"

  Grandma nodded. "Best there ever was. One time an evil fairy goaded me into a fiddle competition for my soul. I had to play the best I ever did, harder and faster than ever before. Luckily I had magic."

  I slapped my forehead. "Grandma, that didn't happen. That's a song by the Charlie Daniels Band—that's not real life."

  Grandma scoffed. "Who do you think inspired the song?"

  "Pretty sure not you," I said.

  Jenny just stared at us, speechless.

  Grandma pushed up her sleeves and said, "Time to right all this." She twirled her hands, and in about three seconds the dresses stopped swaying.

  I unlocked the door. The gaggle of women rushed inside, attacking the racks of clothing. I pulled Jenny to the back.

  "Don't say one word about what I told you."

  "I won't," she lied.

  How do I know she lied? Jenny is the Mouth of the South. I poked my finger at her nose. "You say anything and I'll know. I'll turn you into a toad."

  "Dylan Apel!"

  "I will, and don't you forget it. Oh, and I still need you to keep working. At least for a few more days." I shrank, a little embarrassed at how I'd acted. "Is that okay?"

  She shrugged. "I guess so."

  But I could tell this was going to be weird. And why wouldn't it be? I mean, I'd just told Jenny Butts I was a witch. In her Southern mind, that probably meant I conjured evil spirits using the devil's best friend, the Ouija board. I'm not kidding. I'm almost a hundred percent sure that's what she thought I was
doing while she was guarding my shop.

  Either that or she thought I was a vampire and needed to sleep all day.

  I'd have to wipe her memory later, if I ever got my powers back. Probably it'd just be easier to have Grandma do it. Seemed like a reasonable idea.

  I entered the bakery and asked her point-blank. "Will you erase Jenny's memory?"

  She threw up her hands in overly dramatic exasperation. "Why should I wipe her memory? You're the one who told her what you are." Grandma pointed an accusatory finger at me. "You're not supposed to tell people you're a witch. You know she has the biggest mouth in town. I bet half the people already know."

  I nibbled the nails on my right hand down to the painful quick. "Then you need to wipe her. Before news gets out and I'm in real trouble with the council."

  Grandma rolled her eyes. "I'll help, but not the way you think. I'll cast a spell so she can't tell anyone what you are."

  Relief washed over me. "Thank goodness."

  "But you have to be the one to wipe her memory."

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed each cheek. "Thank you!"

  She shot me a dark look. "I won't always be around to save your behind, or your front, or your sides."

  "I know," I said meekly. "I will get better at this."

  "You'd better," she said.

  I rubbed my head. "So what's happening? Why are the clothes moving? They've never done that before?"

  Grandma shrugged. "Could be they miss you."

  I quirked a brow. "What?"

  "Or maybe they like the music. My guess is it's a combination of the two."

  I cocked my head. "Grandma, clothes can't miss people."

  She grazed her fingers over her mouth. "Then probably it's a manifestation of the magic that's locked inside you. You're doing it, Dylan; you just don't know it."

  I scratched a spot on the back of my head. "So I'd better find my magic."

  "Yes, that would help. Why, I remember a time the sprites sucked my magic from me. Told me I was going to have to drink from the fountain of death to get it back."

  "That's great, Grandma, but I've got to get going."

  "Suit yourself," she mumbled.

  I thanked her a million and one more times for helping with Jenny and headed out the door. As I crossed to my car, I noticed Eliza walking down the block. I didn't know if Roman had talked to her yet, but I really wanted some dirt on the whole boyfriend-with-that-horrible-Pearbottom thing, so I called out to her.