by Deanna Chase
“This can’t happen. You were married to my best friend,” he said, trying to ease the blow of his rejection. They’d dated a long time ago, before she’d hooked up with Craig. He hadn’t been in love with her then, and he wasn’t in love with her now. What she was suggesting was never going to happen. Because of Craig and Zoey, he’d be there for her always, but being her lover was off the table.
She glanced down briefly, and when she looked back up at him, her eyes were slightly glassy. “He’s gone, Hunter. He wouldn’t want me to stop living. You know that as well as I do. Is it really so awful to want to find comfort in someone’s arms? He loved you, too. He’d understand.”
Hunter’s blood ran cold. “Viv, stop. I’ve already stolen too much from him as it is. This isn’t going to happen. Let it go, please.”
She sighed. “You’re just saying that because you feel guilty.”
“No, I don’t. Go to bed, Vivian. I’ll see you in the morning.” Hunter turned and quietly let himself into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Chapter 4
“So we’re set. The shower will be at Yvette’s store two weeks from tomorrow, and the bachelorette party will be a week after that in San Francisco,” Abby said. “Did we miss anything?”
“Who’s responsible for the booze?” Faith asked. She was sitting at one of the small café tables with Hanna, nervously picking at yet another cookie. Ever since Hunter had left, she’d been unable to relax and was currently nibbling on her sixth confection.
Abby chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m on it. Wine has already been ordered.”
“Better include some vodka,” Hanna whispered. “Now that Hunter is back in the picture, I don’t think wine is gonna cut it.”
Faith gave her friend an appreciative grin. “You know me so well.”
Hanna raised a cookie that was decorated just like the bookstore and nudged it against Faith’s in a show of solidarity. “Wine makes everything better. Vodka makes you not care.”
“Did someone say wine?” Wanda called as she swept inside the store holding two bottles. Her bright red hair was electric under the florescent lights, and her face glowed with mischief. “Wanda to the rescue.”
“Me!” Faith raised her empty cider cup. “Fill me up.”
Wanda wound through the café, filling cups, and finally took a seat next to Abby. “I have a surprise for everyone.”
“Something better than wine?” Faith took a long sip of the cabernet, trying to drink just enough to numb the complicated feelings she’d been having ever since her run-in with Hunter.
“Nothing’s better than wine.” She laughed. “But this is good, too.” She waved a hand toward the front window.
The door slammed open again, and this time, Clay stumbled in, followed by Drew, Brian, and Rhys. They each had a beer in their hands, and their apparent ringleader, Abby’s husband Clay, raised both arms out to the side, gave everyone a lopsided grin, and said, “Let the races begin!”
Faith’s gaze met Brian’s. He smiled at her, his gorgeous eyes twinkling with interest. The interaction did wonders for her ego, and she wondered if her sister was right when she suggested she’d written him off too soon.
Abby let out a squeal and jumped up out of her chair. “Did you steal Dad’s golf cart?”
Clay draped an arm over her shoulders. “More like borrowed. We couldn’t let you ladies have all the fun, now could we?”
“Excellent. You’re going down, Garrison.”
“You wish,” he said good naturedly before giving her a lingering kiss on the lips.
When he pulled away, Abby asked, “Where’s Olive? With you mother?”
“Yes. She has Daisy, too,” he said, giving her another kiss on the nose.
“Where’s Jacob?” Yvette asked, inquiring after her fiancé.
Brian, Jacob’s best friend, said, “He’s watching Skye. Said to have fun and he’ll see you when you get home.”
A gentle smile claimed Yvette’s lips. “He sure does love that little girl.”
“Don’t we all,” Brian agreed.
Abby pulled away from Clay, waved at Rhys, his assistant at the brewery, and then turned to her husband, her eyes narrowed in challenge. “Okay, now that you’re here for the golf cart races, what are the stakes?”
He blinked. “Stakes? Aren’t bragging rights enough?”
“No way!” Wanda exclaimed. “That’s a given. We need something more. A wager that has some teeth. Something epic like when we were in high school. Remember the look on Mr. Johnson’s face when he walked out of his front door and found Santa and Mrs. Claus dressed in leathers and all of his reindeer in compromising positions?”
Laughter burst from the group, and Faith’s mouth dropped open. “That was you guys?” She was the youngest of the group and hadn’t been privy to their shenanigans back then. “I need details.”
Drew and Clay shared an amused look then both pointed at Abby and Wanda. “Those two are the culprits,” Clay said. “They made a bet that we couldn’t get Miss Maple’s secret recipe for her caramel-bourbon balls. But Drew here charmed it out of her with his youthful good looks and sparkling personality.”
“Please,” Noel said. “He got it in a trade because she wanted the secret ingredient in his grandmother’s famous chocolate fantasy tart.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Drew said, puffing his chest out. “And Abby, Wanda, and Charlotte, ended up turning Mr. Johnson’s winter wonderland into a kinkster’s holiday fantasy.” Laughter burst from his lips, and he practically doubled over from the hilarity of it all. “Can you even imagine Charlotte positioning Rudolph with his nose in Vixen’s hindquarters?”
Everyone joined in on the laughter as they imagined Charlotte, the sweetest, kindest one of them all, blushing as she arranged the reindeer into compromising positions. Faith glanced at Hanna, Charlotte’s younger sister. She had a bittersweet smile as she indulged in the memory of her late sister. They’d lost Charlotte on the night of her senior prom to an autoimmune disease not even the witches of Keating Hollow could fight.
Faith leaned closer to her. “You okay?”
Hanna nodded and wiped at her eyes. Though the tears appeared to be happy ones. “It’s good to talk about her. We don’t do that enough.”
Faith squeezed her friend’s hand and nodded. “I agree.”
Abby clasped her hands together in excitement. “I’ve got it! The losers of the golf cart race have to dress up like Santa’s little helpers and perform “Santa Baby” for the town at the holiday carnival. But the winners get to choose the outfits.”
Rhys raised one eyebrow. “You want us to sing?”
“No, man,” Clay said. “They’ll be the ones singing. With the four of us working together we can’t lose.”
“Anything goes?” Drew asked. “This isn’t a magic-free zone, right?”
“Definitely not a magic free zone,” Wanda said. “Who’s ready?”
Abby and Noel jumped up, grabbing their men along the way. Ever since Abby had gotten her tricked-out golf cart, she and Wanda had formed a friendly rivalry, engaging in races at least once a month. They were constantly coming up with spells that would help their carts and slow down the others.
Faith shook her head. The men were in trouble here. They had no idea what they were getting into.
Brian walked over to her and held his hand out. “Are you ready for this?”
Faith smiled up at him, warmed by his attention. “Sure. Are you?”
He shook his head. “No. But I’m riding in your cart, so I’m feeling confident I won’t be on the losing team.”
She chuckled. “Smooth.”
“Thanks.”
“I thought this was a battle-of-the-sexes type thing,” she said. “You don’t think they’re going to disown you if you defect to the estrogen zone?”
He shrugged. “If they were smart they’d follow my lead.”
Faith grinned at him. He really was being awfully cute. “Okay
then. Let’s follow Wanda. We have a better chance with her.”
He swept his hand out in front of him and gave a sweeping bow. “Lead on.”
Chuckling, Faith grabbed Hanna’s arm and the two of them hurried out to Wanda’s cart with Brian on their heels.
“Faith!” Yvette called once she was situated in Abby’s cart, the flashing purple lights overhead casting an eerie glow. “What are you doing?”
“Riding with Wanda,” she called as Wanda whipped the cart out of the parking space and headed down Main Street. “Try to keep up!”
Hanna, who was in the front, shared a glance with Wanda, and they both cracked up.
“Your sisters are never gonna let you live this down,” Wanda said.
Faith shrugged. “They’ll get over it.”
“Rebel, huh?” Brian asked, grinning at her. “I like a girl who’s not afraid to take chances.”
“I bet,” Faith said, shaking her head. “Are you ready for this, Brian? You know these races are brutal, right?”
He raised one eyebrow. “I heard they get a little intense. How far can I expect this to go? We’re not talking about maiming anyone, are we?”
“No maiming,” Faith said. “But Yvette let a fireball get away from her last time and singed off one of Wanda’s eyebrows. She now has next-level skill with the eyebrow pencil.”
“I still can’t believe she did that,” Wanda said, shaking her head. “Of course, I returned the favor by burning the outline of a giant penis in her front yard. Before she noticed it, a neighbor saw it and gave her hell for her rampant depravity.” She laughed so hard she wheezed. “Gods, I wish I’d have been there for that.”
Brian’s eyes widened in mock horror. “You people scare me.”
“You love us,” Hanna said, batting her eyelashes at him.
He grinned at her, leaned back, and draped an arm across the back of the seat he shared with Faith. And when his hand landed on her shoulder, she didn’t shrink away. In fact, his touch was kind of nice.
Wanda turned the cart onto the special golf cart path that ran through the town. The magical river was to the right with mystical redwood trees behind it. She came to a stop and jumped out. After rummaging through a small locker strapped to the back of the cart, she produced four mugs and a thermos full of Irish Coffee. “Who needs something to warm them up?”
Everyone raised a hand.
“Okay, we need a plan,” Wanda said. “All magic on deck, so to speak. I’m fire, Faith and Hanna are water. Brian, what about you?”
“Fire,” he said, smiling down at Faith, one of his dimples charming her. “Opposites attract, right?”
“Sure,” she laughed nervously, both amused and slightly anxious about his flirting. Did he have to turn it on so thick in front of her friends?
“Hmm, would’ve been better if we had an earth or air witch in this party.” Wanda eyed the other two golf carts as they turned onto the path. “We won’t be able to beat them with magic, since they’ll have more elements covered, but we might be able to distract them.” She kneeled down and whispered something to Brian, leaving Faith and Hanna to wonder what they might be planning.
“Hey!” Hanna said. “You can’t leave us out of this. What’s the secret?”
But before Wanda could spill the beans, Abby came to a stop right beside them and called, “Ready to get your asses kicked?”
Wanda gave her a wicked grin. “Please. I’ve toasted you the last six times we’ve raced. But good luck to you.”
Clay leaned over and said something to Drew, and the two let out loud guffaws of laughter.
“They’re up to something,” Abby said to Wanda as she eyed them suspiciously.
Wanda shrugged as she climbed back into the driver’s seat. “No rules, remember?”
“Right. No rules,” Clay echoed, still chortling.
“Oh, man. I think we’re in for some serious shenanigans,” Abby told Yvette. “Better get your game face on, cause this is gonna be a battle to remember.”
“Don’t worry,” the oldest Townsend sister said. “Noel and I are ready.”
“Good because the race starts now!” Wanda shouted and slammed the accelerator to the floor. The cart started slowly, already slipping on the slick grass. Abby’s cart shot ahead quickly as Noel used her air magic to help the cart along. The men were just ahead, all of them hunched forward as if that would make Lin’s cart go faster.
Magical rain conjured by Clay started to poor down on Wanda’s cart, and Faith quickly deflected it with a flick of her wrist, sending it over to Abby’s cart and causing her three sisters to get drenched. They shrieked, but it wasn’t long before Noel created an air bubble to keep the rain off them. Earth, wind, and water flew around all three carts as each of the witches tried to slow down their competitors. But it quickly became clear to Faith that the regular tactics weren’t going to work. They were all powerful and able to create a counter spell to either compensate or deflect. What they needed to do was team up.
She leaned forward. “Hanna, let’s bog the men down with a muddy path. Clay won’t be able to keep up with both of us.”
Hanna’s eyes gleamed, and the two witches turned their attention to the men’s cart, conjuring a flood of water for the ground just ahead of them. The pool appeared without warning, and the cart splashed into the makeshift pond, water going everywhere as they came to a sudden stop. As they flew by, Faith heard Clay curse and say the wheels were buried in the mud.
Faith held her hand up, and Hanna high-fived her. “Nice!”
Brian leaned in close. His breath was warm on her cheek as he said, “Well played.”
“Thanks. Hanna and I make a good team,” she said, not minding at all when he pulled her closer to him. She was tucked into the crook of his arm, enjoying that the warmth of his body was protecting her from the ice-cold air Noel was shooting at them.
Abby’s cart was a good ten feet in front of them, and Wanda was cursing, saying something about her turbos not working.
“We can’t combat this wind,” Hanna said. “What do we do?”
Wanda followed Abby around the turnaround point and then glanced back at Brian “Ready?” she asked.
“Absolutely.” While still holding Faith with one arm, he lifted the other and traced something in the air, creating a fire outline.
“Is that…?” Faith’s eyes widened as she took in the phallic shape dancing in front of her eyes.
“It’s a flaming dildo!” Hanna exclaimed.
“What are you doing with that?” Faith asked, her words cracking with her laughter.
“Entertaining your sisters.” He winked, traced a few more fire dildos into the air, and then sent the orbs flying toward the lead cart. It was then Faith noticed that Wanda had traced her own fire dildos and sent them after Brian’s.
Wanda had somehow managed to gain on Abby, and they were only half a cart length behind. The fire dildos were floating above Abby’s cart, seemingly waiting for a command.
“Watch this,” she said as she reached down and flipped a switch on the console of the golf cart. The song “I’m Too Sexy” started blaring out of her surround sound. Up ahead, Faith could just make out where the dildos had lined up in front of her sister’s cart and started bobbing to the beat of the music.
Abby, Yvette, and Noel started screaming with laughter. Noel raised her hand and sent a gust of air at them, presumably trying to wave away the dancing dildos, but all she managed to do was make them swell, the air fueling the fire.
Faith glanced at Brian. “You’ll never live down the fact that you conjured fire penises, you know that, right?”
His eyes gleamed with mischief. “Why would I want to live that down? This story is going to be legendary.”
“Oh. Em. Gee!” Hanna pointed off to the right. “Look!”
Faith followed her gaze and jerked back in surprise when she spotted the men from the other cart bent over, their pants at their ankles as the moon reflected off their back
sides.
“I’m so glad I bailed on that cart,” Brian said with a small shudder. “Of course, if I’d been with them I wouldn’t have the burning desire to scrub my eyeballs with bleach.”
“This party is insane,” Hanna said, wheezing because she was laughing so hard.
A burst of hilarity erupted from Abby’s cart just as Wanda inched by them. Faith was speechless as she watched Yvette blast the fire dildos with a burst of her own fire, causing them to spurt fire as if they were ejaculating right before they winked out and turned to smoke.
The cart jerked to a stop, and Wanda thrust her fist into the air as she yelled, “Yes! We did it! Perfect, Brian. I told you that would distract their pervy butts.”
Faith and Hanna stared at each other, both of them with their mouths hanging open. Then Hanna threw her head back and laughed until tears streamed down her face.
Abby, Yvette, and Noel ran over, each of them animated, waving their arms and laughing along with Wanda and Hanna.
“Faith?” Brian asked.
“Yeah?”
“Are you all right?” His dark eyes searched hers. “Is something wrong, or is this just not really your scene?”
Dammit. She mentally kicked herself. Why was she having such a hard time enjoying herself? The evening’s events should’ve left her warm and fuzzy from having a handsome man interested in her. Not to mention that she should be clutching her side and wheezing from laughing too hard, just like Hanna. Instead, she was unsettled and unable to put Hunter and the raven-haired woman out of her mind.
“I’m just tired after a long day,” she said, forcing a smile as she watched her sisters and their men run down to the river. She groaned. “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?”
“Come on, Faith!” Hanna called, stripping her shirt off. “We’re all going for a swim.”
“Looks like it.” Brian eyed her curiously. “Not interested?”
She should be. There was a gorgeous man sitting next to her who was probably game, but all she wanted to do was crawl into bed. “Not really. I think I’ll wait here until they wear themselves out. But you should go join them. I’ll be fine.”
