A Barrel of Whiskey - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel)

by S. M. Blooding

  All the hurt, betrayal, anger—gone. Just…gone.

  And it…felt…overwhelmingly amazing.

  Leslie’s hand settled on her back.

  The laughter turned into sobs. Though, why she was crying made absolutely no sense. She’d won. She’d won.

  But she’d lost so many years and she’d have to rebuild her relationship with a daughter she should know better than any other living creature on this planet and that might never happen. Leah was twelve, soon to be thirteen, and she might never let Paige in.

  Leslie wrapped her arms around the bucket seat and Paige, resting her chin on the back of the seat. “It’s gonna be okay, Pea.”

  Paige dropped her hands, a smile on her wet face. Her nose dripped snot. She searched for a Kleenex or a paper towel. Anything. “I don’t know why I’m crying.”

  “I do, stupid.” Leslie rose up and planted a kiss on Paige’s cheek, handing her a napkin. “You’re always so in control of your emotions. I always envied you. Now, I realize it’s made you stupid to them.”

  Paige duck-billed her lips through her smile.

  Alma reached between the seats and patted Paige’s arm. “I really was going to slap Rachel if she did anything.”

  “I think Ms. Bickens,” a lawyer tough enough to face off with Alma, “would have slapped you first.”

  Leslie barked a laugh and released her hold on her sister. “Right? Wasn’t she an absolute treasure in there?”

  “I thought you said Nick was going to be here?” Paige just remembered. In the torrent of everything that had happened, she just remembered she should have seen her brother.

  “Oh, he was.” Leslie’s eyes rounded along with her mouth as she fell back in her seat.

  Paige twisted around to see her sister better. “What? Where?”

  “With Rachel.” Leslie raised her eyebrows, the corners of her lips tucked in. “Yeah. I don’t think he was supporting her or anything. The looks he was giving me made it look like he was trying to herd a giant alligator. But he was there.”

  “I totally missed it.”

  “There was a lot you missed, honey. I’m surprised you made it through court today. I was worried we were going to have to carry you in there. Imagine how that hearing would have gone.”

  Paige chuckled. “Yeah. Glad we didn’t have to go through that. Thank you, guys.” The amount of emotion that welled up with those three simple words nearly choked her.

  “For what?” Leslie asked.

  “Shut up. You know what. You, for doing this. All of you for being there for me. I—” She shook her head. “I really wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.”

  “Oh, you would’ve.” Alma looked out the window, her wrinkled face folded with a look of elderly regard. “You just would’ve taken forever and worried the warts off a frog.”

  They all laughed as Dexx pulled up in front of the house.

  Leslie released her seatbelt and reached up to open the garage door.

  Dexx mock-glared at her. “I could have done that, you know.”

  She gave Dexx a wide-eyed look that said she hadn’t even realized she’d just done that. “I better go save my husband. He’s a genius with the computers, but kids?”

  “And we left them with him?” Paige asked. Wow. What kind of stupor had she been in? Seriously? Had she been in a walking coma?

  “He’s not going to get them killed,” Leslie said, opening her car door before Dexx had even put the car in park.

  Paige waited for Dexx to stop the car before getting out. “Right.” She stood at the hood of the car and waited for Alma to disappear into the house.

  Dexx stayed behind, the notes in his hands. “So, what do you think?”

  She didn’t think. She was so overrun with emotions. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared into his startling green eyes, a smile on her face. “Thank you,” she whispered against his lips.

  His hands settled on her hips as a smile laced his lips. “You’re welcome, though, really, all I did was drive.”

  “Why don’t I believe that?”

  “You saw for yourself.” His lips inched closer to hers. “Does this mean we get to shag tonight.”

  “You are so romantic.”

  “I bring romance to the word.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  She was just too overwhelmed. With everything. “No to sex, but understand I’m really, really going to want to.”

  He clunked his forehead to hers. “You’re a very complicated woman, Pea.”

  “Probably because I’m still trying to figure me out.” She released him. “I’m so happy right now. I don’t quite know what to do with myself.”

  “Yeah. Well.” Dexx ducked his head, a grin splitting his features. “If you need to get rid of some energy, I’ll be available later tonight.”

  “What happened to you not being a piece of meat?”

  “Me?” He placed his fingertips on his chest. “I am most definitely a piece of meat. You can take a bite out of me any time you please.”

  She was still smiling when she walked through the door.

  Henry stood at the kitchen island, Bobby in his arms. He looked up. “You didn’t tell me he was cute.”

  “He’s a baby. They’re all cute.”

  “To some, maybe.” Henry turned his attention back to the baby in his hands, his tone changing. “Some babies are downright ugly.”

  Paige looked at Tru. He stood by the stove, his blond hair disheveled, his blue t-shirt wrinkled, his khaki shorts rumpled. “Is he fed?”

  “Huh?” Tru turned toward her, his expression slumber driven. “Yeah. All kids fed. Quiet time. Good lord. Quiet time. You’re all back.” He stumbled to the hallway. “Your turn.”

  Leslie shook her head, laughing, rocking Kamden in his bouncy seat sitting on the dining room table. “He’s a real champion, that one.”

  “Yeah.” Paige leaned against the counter next to the stove and folder her arms over her chest. “So, I had a win today.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Henry turned, maintaining eye contact with Bobby. “How’s that?”

  “Well, I got temporary guardianship of Leah today. We’ve got to go in for therapy. An investigator is going to be assigned to our case and we have a hearing set in two months to decide if the courts can award permanent custody, or if they still need more information.”

  “Ah, so you’re staying for a bit.”

  “A bit. Yes.” Paige smacked her lips. “I know it’s not what you were looking for. I’d be willing to take a different position, if that would make it easier.”

  Henry shook his head and tucked Bobby to his shoulder to give Paige his undivided attention. “That won’t be necessary. We need you as the director, and, you never know. You might get into the job and want to stay.”

  “I might. That thought had crossed my mind.”

  “You had mentioned Portland, though?”

  How real was that possibility? “I did.”

  “Well, I have a buddy over there. He owes me a favor. I could talk to him.”

  “You did that for me in Denver, too, Henry. And he wasn’t happy about it.”

  Henry shrugged, indifferent. “It wouldn’t be like here. You wouldn’t have your own team. You’d be a regular detective. However, he has a lot of special cases up there. He could use you. Just letting you know so just in case you do end up leaving us.”

  “Yeah.” That was a good idea. Knowing she was about to jump into a war with witches would go over better with a paycheck. “Well, I might have someone who could take my place here if I do end up leaving like I think I might.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Great solution and an excellent fit. “My old partner. Tony Guerrero. He’s a great detective and a vampire.”

  “Oh.” Henry cringed. “Do I want a vampire on my team?”

  “It couldn’t hurt, Chief. Really. He has an in with the paranormal community because he’s a part of it. He knows other paranormals in our system.”<
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  “What?”

  “Yeah. Police officers, FBI agents, fire fighters.” Paige clicked her lips. “Did you know you have a shapeshifter as a judge in your county?”

  “What?”

  Paige nodded. “They’re everywhere and it’s not a bad thing. But they could be a real benefit to you if you had someone who could forge those alliances.”

  “And you can’t do that?”

  Paige shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m a witch and there’s this treaty where we’re not really supposed to converse with them.”

  “What?”

  She held up her hands. “It’s an old feud, apparently. We enslaved a bunch of them. They devoured our souls.”

  “So, having you as a team member isn’t an asset.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Hmm.” Henry rubbed his eyebrow. “Well, get him down here if he’s interested. I’ll interview him on the phone. See if I’m willing.”

  Paige nodded.

  Dexx snapped his fingers twice and tapped his wrist.

  Henry frowned. “Do you two have an appointment somewhere?”

  “Yeah,” Paige said, pushing off the counter. “We actually do. You know that paranormal element we were talking about?”

  “You mean the one you were talking about and I was going, ‘what?’ about? Yeah.”

  “Yeah. That. We’re meeting with them.”

  He pulled the corners of his lips down, a thick frown furrowing his brow. “And that whole treat thing?”

  “Pretty sure that’ll be topic number one.”

  “Are you about to start a war?”

  She really needed to sit down with him when she wasn’t as emotionally overrun—she was coming down from the high—and explain everything to him. “Going to try real hard not to.”

  “Good.” Henry turned and handed Bobby to her. “All right, well. I’ll take you. As a director. Come in on Monday and sign the paperwork. Are you going to need more time off with him and Leah and everything?”

  “I need a paycheck.” Paige winced. “But I also am going to need to take some time and move out of Denver.”

  “Yeah.” Henry brushed Bobby’s head. “We’ll work it out. I’ll feel better just having you on my team. Get down to the office on Monday. Both of you.” He pointed to Dexx with his chin. “I’ve got your record cleaned up so you can join the team, but that credit card you’ve got in your pocket?”

  Dexx straightened. “Huh?”

  “Mr. Dalvin Donover? Yeah. That credit card? Get rid of it and get one in your own name.”

  Dexx stared at the man in wonder as he exited the room. “He cleared my name?” He blinked at Paige. “I wonder what kind of credit I have.”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “You’re going to be getting a paycheck.”

  He gave her lopsided grin. “Oh yeah. Huh. That’ll be weird.” He smacked the counter with his palm. “All right. Wheels up in five.”

  Right. Well, with one win already under her belt, Paige hoped she could eek out at least one more. They could use it. That was for sure.

  “I’m trying to decide if I should be nervous or not,” Dexx said, wringing the steering wheel.

  “In a quarter of a mile,” Lola said through the speaker of Paige’s phone via Google Maps, “turn left.”

  “I would say,” Paige said, her fingertips tingling with some anxiety of her own, “you either are or you’re not. It’s not really a matter of should.”

  Dexx tipped his head and ran his tongue along his teeth. “Was it just me, or was that burger a bit greasier than normal?”

  Paige cleared the loogie out of her throat. They’d stopped at a local burger joint and had eaten before meeting Chuck since neither of them had eaten breakfast. “Definitely greasy. I’m going to make a great first impression hawkin’ hairballs throughout this meeting.”

  “Yeah, well, hopefully you don’t also have gas.”

  “Turn left,” Lola said.

  “Shut up.” Paige rolled her eyes. “Your nose is going to get you into trouble one of these days. I swear to the Mother.”

  Dexx turned on his turn signal and waited to turn onto the dirt road as a blue pickup approached. “It’s a bad sign when even Lola doesn’t know the street names.”

  Paige shook her head. “We’re out in the sticks. I don’t know that a dirt road has a name.”

  “Yeah. It really does. Look there.”

  She looked where he pointed. Sure enough. Green sign with a street name. D Lane. “Wow.”

  “Yeah.” He pulled off the two-lane highway and onto the dirt road that disappeared over a rolling hill to nowhere. “Let me know when I should be worried.”

  “Worried for you?” Paige studied Google Maps, but it didn’t appear to know much more than she did. “You can shift shape and run.”

  “Continue straight for three miles,” Lola said.

  Three miles. “Me? I’m screwed. All I’ll be able to do is call up a big wind and wail them to death.”

  “You can do a lot more than that, and you know it.”

  Paige agreed with a shrug. “Wonder what he wants?”

  “You know what he wants.” Dexx thumped the steering wheel, dirt kicking up all around them. He rolled up his window.

  Paige followed suit. It was getting hard to breathe with all the dust they were kicking up. “Yeah.” Yet she didn’t at the same time.

  They’d entered a valley—if you could call it a valley. Small hills sheltered it from all sides, and a wide metropolis opened before them.

  “Another Nederland?” Dexx asked.

  “If you had a bunch of shifters that needed protection from the public, wouldn’t you keep them out of the city?”

  “Yeah. I would.”

  “Okay, then.”

  They rolled into ‘town’ and found a place to park in front of a yellow store front that was reminiscent of the Wild West days. There wasn’t a name or anything on the storefront, but the big window showed off a wide array of canned foods.

  There were several storefronts along the street and a lone gas station at the far end that boasted no prices.

  Not a single person on the streets. No other vehicles.

  Paige got out of the car and shut the door quietly.

  Lola chimed in loudly, “You have arrived.”

  “Thank you, Lola.” Paige hit the back button several times to escape the program and stashed her phone in her pocket. “Well, Lola seems to think we arrived at the right place.”

  Dexx looked at Paige over Jackie’s top, his eyebrows raised.

  “Leg-of-Dexx, what does your cat nose smell?” Paige asked.

  “Oh, I so saw what you just did there, all Lord of the Rings.” Dexx chuckled. “Leg-of-Dexx.”

  “On the fly and everything.” Paige walked to Jackie’s trunk, scanning the windows for any signs of life. “What do you smell?”

  “Well,” Dexx said, joining her. “A lot of dust.”

  “Helpful in a really, really not kind of way. Anything else, oh mighty, big cat?”

  He flared his nostrils, then shook his head, squinting into the high noon sun. “Not really. There have been a lot of people here. I smell horses, cats, dogs, something aquatic, something lizard. That smell tastes bad, by the way. I’m just letting you know. But they’re all old smells.”

  “How old?”

  “Hours?”

  Paige nodded. “Smart. Meet where no one can get hurt. I like the guy’s style, at least.” She shoved her hands in her back pockets. “Are we early?”

  “A couple minutes. Yeah.”

  “’Kay. Well, then, we wait.”

  They waited for fifteen minutes. Five motorcycles crested the hill and rode into town. Wolf-Man got off his bike, followed by four others.

  Dexx took a few steps forward to meet them. “Good to see you again.” He held his hand out. “Make the introduction formal? Dexx Colt. Recently turned. Saber tooth.”

  Wolf Man raised his chin, then took Dexx’s hand.
“Chuck De Luca.”

  “De Luca.” Paige offered her hand. “Chuck.” Exotic last name. Down-to-Earth first name. “Interesting combination. Paige Whiskey.”

  “Whiskey.” Chuck said, his lips flat as he shook her hand firmly. “Paige. Hmm. Interesting combination.”

  Paige laughed. “I deserved that.” She shoved her hand in her pocket. “Just took me by surprise. You look exotic. Italian, maybe?”

  “Yes. Because Italy is so very exotic.”

  Paige grinned. “Apparently, it is. Okay. I’ll put my shovel away.”

  Chuck smiled before the corners of his lips slid. “We did our research.”

  “Good.” Dexx folded his arms over his chest. “What’d they say about us? Anything good?”

  “Surprisingly.” Chuck studied Paige. “Do you understand what this meeting means for us?”

  Paige smashed her lips shut. Kind of. She still felt like she was doggy-paddling in the deep end.

  “We’ve been at war for years, Ms. Whiskey.”

  “No need to be formal. You can call me Paige.” The judge had just called her mother and her Ms. Whiskey. If she never heard herself referred to in that manner again, it would be too soon. “I did my own research. I read the treaty.”

  “So, it’s true. You’d really not heard of it?” He narrowed his blue eyes, his black lashes making them stand out even more.

  “No.” Embarrassing, but true.

  “The shifter wars are the reason the Whiskeys are in Texas.” Chuck gestured to the building on the other side of the street. “Come. We’ll grab a beer.”

  “Conversations always go better with beer.” Dexx grinned and led the way across the dirt street.

  “You really know why my family moved to Texas?” Paige asked, crossing the deserted street with Chuck.

  “I do.” He shook his head and held the door for her. “It seems odd to me that you wouldn’t.”

  Her, too. Damned Alma and her damned secrets. Paige followed him to the bar.

  He gestured to the bar stools and slid behind the bar. “We have a few drafts.”

  “Do you have anything in amber?”

  “I have something that could do.” He grabbed a mug and poured. “You?” He gestured with his chin to Dexx.

  “IPA?”

  Chuck nodded and grabbed another mug.