“What kind of something?” she demanded.
“A class. And it starts in less than fifteen minutes so let’s move.”
The amusement in his voice set off warning bells in her mind. “What kind of class?”
“Anger management.”
Chapter Eight
“My name is Tessa and I’m a raving lunatic bitch with massive anger issues. May I leave now?”
Seated in the back of the room, invisible to everyone except Tessa, Liam shook his head in exasperation. Tessa’s voice was just as defiant as it had been when he’d brought her to her first anger management class three weeks ago. Twenty-one days into her stay here and she hadn’t said twenty-one positive words yet.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his remote. He hit the pause button and waited for everyone in the room to grow still.
Tessa’s expression mirrored her surprise at his action. She took in the frozen-in-time occupants of the room before looking directly at him. “What’s the matter, Coach? My confession wasn’t contrite enough?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t contrite at all.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder, in the sultry way that he found so damned attractive. The way she turned her head and looked at him from the side of her eyes was beyond enchanting. God, this assignment needed to end soon or he would be in trouble of the worst kind. Tessa needed to change. But the more time he spent with her the more he found he liked her just the way she was.
“So after you unfreeze these people,” she waved her hand around the room imperiously, “I’m supposed to apologize for living? Are those the magic words that will allow me to stop this craziness? I have other things I’d like to do with my life.” Her glare was defiant.
“What might these other things be?” Liam asked, already knowing the answer. It was time for Tessa to make a breakthrough and that meant getting her to talk. Not to rant. Nor rave. But talk.
“I want to teach.” Her voice had lost some of its edge. “Silent spells. To my knowledge there isn’t a single coven of witches anywhere in the world that practice silent spells except for ours.”
She flashed him a rare smile, one that sent a zing straight to his heart. This was the time to step back from her. Instead he took a step toward her. “Tell me more.”
She eyed him, a sudden wariness in her expression. But the temptation to share her passion was apparently too strong for her to resist.
“Come closer to me, Liam.” The way she said his name, what her tongue did to those four letters, bewitched him.
She reached out for his hands and drew him closer. Her hands were warm as they held his.
“This will work better if you stand behind me,” she said. Without waiting for a response she moved in front of him, settling back against him so that her back was pressed against his chest. “Loosen up,” she said, guiding his wrists so that she could manipulate his hands. “Let my body do the work. Just relax.”
She asked the impossible.
“Take a deep breath. That may help,” she instructed him.
He did as he was told and inhaled. Gardenia, mimosa and the slightest trace of orange flower laced with passion flower scent. No. The breathing wouldn’t help.
“What are you going to do?” Liam heard how husky his voice sounded. He was way too close to Tessa for comfort.
In answer, she nestled just a bit closer to him, took his hand in hers, and guided his fingers over her palm. Her touch was light and the pattern she traced was intricate. Intimate.
He closed his eyes against a wave of desire that threatened to pull him out to sea.
“Oh, I do hate to interrupt whatever this is.”
Liam pulled away from Tessa and spun around. He’d been so intent on his attraction to her that he hadn’t heard the door open.
He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Fiona. But she wasn’t smiling her perpetual smile.
“What’s wrong Fiona?”
“I need to speak to you.” Her voice was as grave as her expression. “In private.”
“Who the hell are you?” Tessa glared at Fiona before she turned back to him. “Who is this and why isn’t she freaking out that she’s in a room full of frozen people?”
Tessa radiated sparks of anger and frustration. It amazed him how she went from calm to furious within seconds. She needed his attention now more than anyone back at corporate possibly could.
“Later, Fiona,” he said. “Give me a couple of hours.”
She shook her head. “Now.”
Something wasn’t right. He turned to Tessa. “I’ll just be a moment.”
She shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just stand here and burn calories while you’re gone.”
The last thing he wanted to do now was leave Tessa. But he turned and followed Fiona through the door. First things first.
***
Tessa watched Liam leave the room with a sting of disappointment that he hadn’t chosen her over the blond Fiona. So like a man to follow a slender blonde just because she snapped her fingers. Not that she cared of course.
She glanced around the room of people who seemed frozen in time and place. Their suspended state didn’t bother her but if she could find a way to get them back again then it would move the time line of this crazy journey along. A good old fashioned spell was worth a try. She rubbed her hands to warm them and then flexed her fingers. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she tapped a finger against the palm of her hand and began to trace an escape spell pattern. But nothing happened, not a sizzle or a spark. Damn.
She had to try something completely different. She’d spent weeks now trying without avail to cast a spell. Maybe the way out of this mess wasn’t to focus on herself but to work on someone else. She glanced around. The room was an even split of women and men, there was a wide variety of ages represented. Her eyes settled on a young man, mid-twenties would be her guess. Something in his expression resonated within her, just what she couldn’t pinpoint but no matter. He was the one.
Tessa stood beside the young man. She tilted her head to read his name badge. Marcus. “Okay, Marcus, let’s figure out how to break this spell.”
She sat in the empty chair next to him and closed her eyes. She focused all her attention on Marcus, envisioning him opening his eyes and standing up. Once the image was fixed in her mind she tapped her hand against her palm and began to silently chant an activity spell. Half way through her heart leapt. She moved her fingers more quickly, fighting to keep her enthusiasm from distracting her.
When she was done, she slowly opened her eyes. Disappointment washed over her. Marcus sat unmoving, the same look of frustration on his face that had been there before. His hand still clutched a piece of paper. She leaned in closer to read what he’d written.
I hate it all. I hate being alive. I hate being fat. I hate that I lost my place on the team. I hate that my knees hurt. I hate that the coach and my teammates turned their backs on me. I hate, I hate, I hate. I hate me. I hate life.
Tessa sat back. The sadness and anger in the words he’d written made her eyes water. She blinked several times. That was a lot of hatred for someone so young. He was overweight, but it wasn’t a permanent condition surely. Enough time on the treadmill would take care of the extra pounds, wouldn’t it? She didn’t know. Before she’d arrived here she’d never had an extra pound on her frame. But it didn’t seem as if self-loathing was the answer.
“Marcus,” she surprised herself by speaking aloud, “that much anger is not going to help you.”
She should know. It was her tried and true method of dealing with everyone and everything. And a fat lot of good it had done her.
“You need a plan,” she continued. “Okay, so you’re here. You’re on a diet. They make you run your butt up Mt. Miserable every morning just like they do the rest of us. But you’ve got to do something about this.” She waved a hand at the paper he held. “Carrying around that much anger is going to hurt you a lot more than
carrying around the extra weight. Trust me, I know.”
She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to spill. She only wished she could shut her heart to the truth she’d just spoken.
***
“What couldn’t wait?” Liam demanded of Fiona once they were out in the hallway. “I think I was finally making progress with Tessa.”
“So I saw.” Fiona shook her head. “Boss, she’s going to be nothing but trouble for you.”
Liam started to object but stopped. The sooner they got through this conversation the sooner he could get back to Tessa and the room full of paused people.
“You have a message for me?” he tried again.
“Not an official message but I overheard the most amazing bit of gossip,” Fiona answered.
“And that couldn’t have waited?” He turned to leave but Fiona grabbed onto his arm.
“Wait. You’re going to want to hear this.”
No. What he really wanted was to get back to Tessa. But he knew the quickest way to send his assistant on her way would be to hear her out. “Let’s have it.”
Fiona fairly glowed. “I overheard the board of directors discussing the applicants for the United Paranormal Council seat.”
Liam didn’t care which of his co-workers from Fairy Godmother Inc. had applied, which made this whole conversation unnecessary. He told Fiona so.
“That’s the whole point, Boss. They didn’t feel they have any qualified applicants, but of course they want one of our kind to have the council seat. So they’re going to nominate you.” The last words were fairly squealed with excitement.
“What?” Liam felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. He didn’t want the job. Tessa’s job. The one she had her heart set on. “Why me?”
“I knew you’d have this reaction. But I think it’s exciting.”
“Exciting?” He couldn’t think of a worse way to describe the news. Disaster was more like it. “Fiona, this is not good news. I don’t want to go to Europe. In fact, I don’t want any part of this. Go back and tell the board to find someone else. I like my work here.”
“So I saw.” Fiona gestured to the room where Tessa waited. “In fact, it looks like you like it a little too much.”
“Be fair.”
“No, you be fair, Liam. For once.” She crossed her arms. “You’ve got an opportunity to step up and move our whole organization into a spotlight that can only bring good. Between the witches and the werewolves constantly ridiculing us, we fairies don’t get the respect we deserve.”
“The leprechauns have it worse.”
“Stop joking. This is serious.” Fiona cocked her head. “Take some time and put some thought into this before I take a message back to corporate. I know you want to get back in there to Miss Magic Fingers but remember, you deserve that council seat more than Tessa does.”
“You don’t know that and neither does anyone from corporate,” Liam said. “Tessa needs me. And no one has even officially asked me if I’m interested so there is no decision for me to make.”
“Someone else can work with her. We need you, Boss. It shouldn’t be a hard decision. It’s either your assignment with Tessa or the future of our entire organization.”
So it came down to this, he could either advance the status of his people or break Tessa’s heart by taking her dream job from her. It was a hell of a choice.
Chapter Nine
“Tessa, my dear, I’ve got the perfect costume for you.” Claudia straightened from the box of costumes she’d been bending over. Her shirt was a shiny orange satin fabric and she wore black leggings. Two black triangle pieces of fabric were pinned to her chest pockets. A green ribbon was threaded through her hair, a floppy bow atop her head. Grudgingly, Tessa had to admire the way Claudia walked around as comfortable as a runway model when she was past middle age, plumper than plump and dressed as a pumpkin. The woman was just plain comfortable in her own skin, and Tessa envied that.
Claudia inspected a voluminous piece of black fabric before she wadded it up and tossed it in Tessa’s direction.
Tessa held up the fabric and tried to make sense of what it was supposed to be. “You want me to dress up as a shower curtain?”
Claudia laughed. “Don’t be silly. Slip the robe on.”
Tessa did, but only because she had less than half an hour to get into a costume before the masquerade themed dinner. Costume parties were for children. But if she didn’t show up in a costume she was worried she’d miss dinner, all two lettuce leaves of it.
She turned sideways in front of the mirror and tried to figure out what the robe was supposed to change her into.
“Here, you’ll need this.” Claudia tossed her something black. “I’m a genius. This is the perfect costume for you.”
Claudia’s grin was telling, as was the pointy black hat in her hands. Tessa shook her head. If her Aunt Trudy and those old crones she hung out with could see her like this her punishment should be considered complete.
“Put it on,” Bethany said. “You’ll look cute.”
Perfect. She was now cute. Life was peachy. She started to put the hat on but stopped. Screw peachy. She was a real witch, damn it, and she didn’t have to sink so low as to dress up like some pathetic cartoon character. She needed her magic back. There just had to be a way.
“What else do you have in the box?” she asked Claudia.
“What do you see yourself as?”
“A Greek goddess,” Tessa answered.
Claudia laughed. “Actually, now that I’ve gotten to know you better I think you’d make a great pirate. But if you don’t want my assistance then I’m going to help Bethany instead.”
“Good idea,” Tessa said. Bethany needed all the help she could get. For some odd reason though, Tessa left the sentiment unspoken. Normally a comment like that would have rolled off her tongue.
She turned her attention back to the box of costumes. She pulled out a red sequin dress and held it up. Low neckline. Check. High hemline. Check. Size Twenty. Crap. Too Small. Still, she might as well try to squeeze into it. Everything else in the box was matronly and frumpy. She headed for the ladies locker room.
Tessa nearly broke a sweat trying to get into the dress but she managed to wiggle it down over her hips, which left only the side zipper to struggle with. Drawing in enough air to last her two solid weeks without needing another breath, she pulled the zipper up. There. She was in it. Walking slowly so as not to deplete her oxygen reserves, she went back into the common area between the ladies and men’s locker rooms to retrieve her room key.
She stopped when she saw a familiar figure standing over the costume box. It was Marcus. She hesitated. He didn’t know her from Adam or Eve, but she’d read his personal hate notes he’d penned to himself.
“Hey, watcha’ starin’ at?” His voice was deep, defensive and directed at her.
“I’m sorry,” Tessa said, the apology coming surprisingly easily. She waited for the zipper to split but it didn’t. Apparently it would take more than two words to set it loose. “Are you looking for a costume?”
“You’re a real girl genius, aren’t ya?” Marcus snarled before turning back to the box.
Tessa narrowed her eyes, an angry retort bubbling up within her. But then the words Marcus had scrawled on his slip of paper paraded through her mind’s eye. Her anger dissolved. He had enough self-generated negativity without her adding to it. Instead she watched silently as he dug through the costume box.
He straightened and glared at her. “What the hell are you still doing here?”
“If you can’t find a costume I have an idea that might work.” Tessa barely recognized her own voice, it sounded so level and calm. Good Lord, she sounded like her Aunt Trudy. What next? But in for a dime, in for a dollar. “Move over.” She joined him and dug around for the black robe. “Here.” She handed it to him. “Try it on.”
Marcus held it up. He scowled at her. “You want me to go as the Gri
m Reaper?”
“With a frown like that I could just about see it. But I was thinking more about Harry Potter. Try it on.”
He did and it fit. But still he looked unhappy. “Who’s going to know what I’m supposed to be? I look like a fat dude in a black robe.”
“Hang on a second.” Tessa nipped back into the dressing area and grabbed an eye liner pencil. “Stand still,” she instructed Marcus when she was back. She reached up and drew a lightning bolt on his forehead, and then stood back to admire her work. “There. Everyone will know who you are now.”
Marcus looked at her for a long moment, his uncertainty patently obvious.
“You’re welcome.” Tessa smiled. “Now get out of here because I need to find something to wear and I don’t have much time.”
“Don’t be crazy,” Marcus said. “You look hot in that number.”
“It doesn’t fit.” But as the words left her lips, Tessa realized she was wrong. The dress did fit. Not only had the zipper stayed zipped but she actually had some wiggle room now. What the hell was going on? She crossed over to the full length mirror and pivoted around. Not ten minutes before her dress had been so tight that with one false move she could have created a snowstorm of red sequins. But now the dress fit like a dream, hugging her curves in all the right places and all the right ways.
She couldn’t help herself. She squealed with delight.
“Chicks are weird.” Marcus shook his head.
Tessa grinned. That the dress fit, pleased her. That she’d just possibly discovered the way out of her strange predicament, was pure magic.
She turned to Marcus and fixed him with an appraising look. “I need help with something.”
“Name it.” He pointed to his forehead. “I owe you for this.”
“How are you with wire?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Say what?”
“Can you please try to make something for me?”
He shrugged. “I can try.”
Tessa took a hanger from the closet and handed it to Marcus. “I need help with my halo.”
Witch Weigh (A Paranormal Romantic Comedy) Page 5
