Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (78 page)

“You always say that, but I still don’t get it. Who’s gonna care if you slip a cheating pig a dose of truth potion? It’s not like you guys have magic cops policing your activities or anything.”

“Karma,” Lena answered. “Magic is a positive source of energy, pure and powerful. The Universe won’t allow it to be used for negativity. Oh, sure, if you’re strong enough you can get around that. But it takes a talented witch to ignore the rules and work negative manipulation.”

“Karma? Like what, do good magic and good stuff happens to you. Do bad and you get bad stuff? Is it really that simple?” When the sisters nodded, Teri wrinkled her nose. “But he’s the bad guy here, all you’re trying to do is find out where your money is.”

“But if Miki tried to find out with magic, she’d be manipulating his free will. That’s a negative,” Lena explained.

Teri raised her brows at Miki, who offered a grimace and a nod. “Like Lena says, it’s not worth the backslap of energy for me to try to manipulate Perry. Even if I was strong enough, he’s actually somewhat protected by our marriage vows.”

“So what’s that mean for you?”

“It means I have to leave it up to my lawyer to figure out what game Perry’s playing and beat him at it.” Miki looked around the quirky café, wishing for once that magic—even the magic of chocolate—was hers to command. But magic, like chocolate’s effect on her hips, was not doing so great. So she shrugged. “It also means this will probably be my last Wednesday lunch until Doyle gets a lead on what Perry did with all our money.”

“Perry is a pig,” Lena said around her spoon.

“Perry is a swine,” Teri agreed.

“Perry screwed me over,” Miki admitted. She’d accepted the betrayal, had moved past hurt, and now just felt stupid. And pissed. She scooped up another creamy bite of tiramisu. “Bottom line, the most I can get is the house, maybe the furnishings. That’s it. And since I’ve lost my business, I can’t afford the upkeep of that ugly monstrosity.”

“To say nothing of the double-mortgage,” Lena reminded her.

“Please, say nothing about that. I can’t even find a decent job since Pammy’s been bad mouthing me left and right.”

“Why don’t you sell it then?” Lena asked.

“She’d lose her ass,” Teri pointed out. “That place isn’t worth the money Perry the Pig borrowed to redecorate. I wish you’d listened to me when I told you that, Miki.”

“I listened,” Miki mumbled around a bite of cake. She just hadn’t been able to make Perry listen to
her
.

Miki stabbed her fork through a ladyfinger. How ironic. Back when this had exploded on her birthday, all she’d wanted was to get laid. Well, she’d gotten screwed all right. Royally. And unlike sex with Perry, this was the screwing that just kept on giving.

A distinctive, high-pitched giggle rose above the restaurant noise and sent the tiny hairs on the back of Miki’s neck into spasms while her stomach cringed. A tremor shook the restaurant and Teri grabbed the flower vase on their table just before it could launch itself across the room.

Anja, one of the café owners, gave a wide-eyed look around, as if trying to pinpoint the source of energy. Her eyes met Miki’s and she raised a warning brow.

Quick as a flash, Lena grabbed Miki’s hand in hers. Like a heavy blanket, her energy covered Miki’s with calm serenity. Miki closed her eyes and drew it in, biting her lip to keep the tears at bay.

Not again. Miki looked toward the door and met the gloating gaze of the swine himself as he helped his ladylove, the ever giggly and quite gregarious Pammy, remove her raincoat.

Bland as ever in his unassumingly expensive black suit, Perry watched Miki closely as he ran his hand down Pammy’s back. The petite blonde fluttered at him like she was a butterfly and he was hoarding the only pollen in the garden, but unlike Perry, she didn’t seem aware that Miki was there.

If she had been, she’d blush, stick out her bottom lip, and come over to stutter out one of her trademarked passive-aggressive apologies.

Miki should know. On the few occasions she’d gone out, she’d seen the couple here, there, everywhere. It was the same each time. Santa Monica couldn’t stand too many more of these coincidences. She watched her soon-to-be ex-husband escort her already-ex-business partner to a corner table.

“Damn it, I don’t even get custody of my favorite restaurant. The snake is everywhere,” Miki growled.

“Pig,” Teri corrected. “And those are the breaks, kid. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s a big town. When you’re trying to avoid someone, I promise you’ll see them three times a week. Especially when you move in the same circles.”

“Maybe it’s time to take a break,” Lena suggested.

“Break?” She’d already had the breakup of her marriage and business partnership. With her magic going wild, she was breaking china and crystal left and right. Hadn’t she had enough breaks already?

“You know, to get away from all this crap. A vacation. A chance to relax and regroup in a porcine-free zone.”

“Right. I can’t afford to pay the upcoming property tax bill, and you think I should take a vacation?”

Miki rolled her eyes when Lena’s bottom lip quivered and her eyes got that same guilt-inducing pitiful look Ryan always tried for, but never quite pulled off.

“Knock it off, Lena. You know I’m not really in the position to go relax.” Why did Lena always turn the slightest imagined offense into a freaking miserable pout-fest? Miserable, that was, for whomever she was manipulating.

“I was just making a suggestion, Mikaela. I think a week in Mexico, or even San Diego, would do you good.” Oh, ouch. Full name and pitiful flutter of the lashes.

“I appreciate the thought, but it just isn’t practical.”

“So my thinking is impractical?” Lena’s voice dropped to a growl.

Miki raised a brow and cast her gaze over her sister. It was a dismal, rainy March day and Lena was wearing a sundress and strappy sandals. Miki would bet her copper-bottomed sauté pan the woman didn’t have a coat or an umbrella.

“Yeah. I’d say your thinking—among other things—could be termed impractical. I can barely afford this dessert, Lena. Catch a clue, huh?”

Before Lena could blast her, Teri leaned between them and clanked her spoon on her wine glass. “Ladies, please. No point in putting on a show here.” She cast a meaningful glance at Miki, then over at the corner where Perry sat, nibbling Pammy’s ear between sips of coffee. “Especially for such a gloating audience.”

Miki pressed her lips together and clamped her eyes shut against the rush of tears. God, she couldn’t even have a slap-fight with her sister without that damned pig ruining everything.

“Now,” Teri continued in her best uptight tone, the one that always made Miki smirk since it was such a contrast to her sexy persona, “I think Lena has a point.”

Miki opened her eyes to stare at the usually sane woman. Lena licked chocolate off her spoon, her eyes triumphant.

“Teri—”

“Wait, Miki. I don’t mean about taking a vacation. That’s just irresponsible.”

Lena dropped her spoon in her dish with a clanking clatter and glared at Teri. Miki smirked again.

“I mean you’d do well to get away. Tell me something, how often have you seen Perry this last week? This last month?”

Miki quit simpering at her sister long enough to think about that. She twisted her lips. “A dozen or so times this last month. Not including the lawyer’s office. Every freaking restaurant I go to, every event, there he is.”

“He’s messing with you,” Lena snarled. Snit forgotten, she dug her nails into the table and leaned forward to hiss, “He knows your habits, your favorite places. He’s deliberately showing up wherever you are.”

“Oh please. The man doesn’t care enough to stay married to me. Why would he bother stalking me?”

“He might not care enough to make you happy, but that self-important swine obviously gives a good damn about making you
un
happy.”

Even as she shook her head at her sister, Miki peeked over at the corner where Perry and Pammy were canoodling in a disgusting PDA. The last two years, she’d wondered if the man even had a sex-drive and now he was feeling Pammy up over coffee.
Pig
.

“Lena’s right, Mik. He’s playing you. He’s trying to shake you up, keep you miserable. He’s truly bacon-worthy.”

“Revenge. This cannot go unavenged, Miki. You have to show that boar he can’t screw over a Lansing and get away with it.” Lena was practically frothing at the mouth now.

“I don’t know...”

“You said you couldn’t do any kind of negative magic,” Teri reminded Lena.

“I’m not talking about magic. She can get revenge some other way. It’s just a matter of finding the right plan.”

“I don’t think...”

“Don’t you want to pay him back? Screw him over the way he did you?”

“Lena, I had more control of my powers at five than I do now. I try to create a spark of light and I start an electrical fire. I’m in debt up to my ever-widening ass and out of work. Everything is falling apart and I have no clue how to stop this downward spiral, let alone fix it. The last thing on my mind right now is revenge.”

Even if she wanted revenge, how the hell could she get it when Perry held all the cards? Or in this case, Pammy’s breast. Out of the corner of her eye, Miki glared at the happy couple ruining her last favorite restaurant. Didn’t the guy have a bed in his new place? Not only was he stalking her, he was acting like a pervert, always screwing around in...

Miki’s eyes went wide and her heart stuttered.

“Oh, shit.”

“What?” Lena asked, looking at the hot and heavy couple. “What’s wrong, other than the sucky floor show?”

“I think that floor show is my fault.” Miki sunk her head into her hands and groaned. The smell of chocolate filled her senses, but for once, did nothing to calm her. “Oh, shit.”

“Quit saying that and explain,” Lena berated, swatting her on the arm. “What did you do?”

Miki just groaned again, trying to remember.

“Mik, you can’t blame yourself for Perry’s obnoxious behavior. The guy’s an ass, granted usually a lot more boring than this,” Teri mused, “but even before he took his sex life public, he was a total jerk.”

“Usually a lot more boring...” Lena mumbled.

Miki winced.

“You didn’t.”

With a sigh, Miki raised her head and met her sister’s horrified stare.

“I think I did.”

“Think?”

“I don’t remember clearly. I was upset, the power came on so suddenly. I just can’t remember.” Panic whipped through Miki, blowing away the lethargy of the previous months. She had to remember, but the harder she tried to focus on the night of her birthday, the blurrier it all became. Tension knotted her shoulders and a throbbing pain lodged itself behind her left eye. “I don’t know, Lena. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m pretty sure I cursed him.”

“What?” Teri gasped. “I thought that was a ‘no no.’”

“Obviously,” Lena growled with a roll of her eyes. “We have to figure this out. You have to remember what curse you used, Miki. Then you have to remove it.”

“I know what I have to do, Lena,” she ground out. “What I don’t know is how.”

The waiter stopped at the table to clear their plates and the women shooed him away.

“Can’t you just... you know, turn back time or do some kind of general fix-it spell or something?” Teri asked in a fierce whisper.

“I can’t control time.”

“If you had control of your magic, you could go back in time. You could recall the spell and recant it,” Lena told her.

“If I had control. Lena, I don’t. You’ve seen the mess I make of things. And that’s when I’m not trying to use my powers. When I try, it’s even worse. If I tried to go back in time right now, I’d probably end up having cake with Marie Antoinette.”

Tears burned her eyes, but Miki refused to let them fall. She was so tired of feeling helpless, useless.

“Okay,” Lena said. She lay a hand over her sister’s and Miki felt a surge of loving calm pour through her. Like a hug, it was filled with encouragement, hope, and assurance. She gave Lena a grateful smile and let the calm clear her head.

“I guess you’re right,” she said.

“I usually am,” Lena joked. Then she tilted her head to one side, her curls catching the light. “What’re you referring to?”

“I need to get away.”

“Vacation? No, you were right before, that’s a bad idea. You need to deal with this first.”

“I can’t deal with it here. Not with the money worries, stresses, and constant Perry sightings.”

“Where will you go? To stay with Mom?”

Miki shuddered. “Please, the last thing I need is Mom having any idea how bad I’m doing. She’d do some crazy intervention or something.”

“Then what?”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It wasn’t running, she promised herself. It was regrouping. Miki leaned back in her chair, not even tempted to peek at Perry and Pammy climbing all over each other in the corner. No. The next time she saw Perry, she’d have her powers under control, her life all mapped out. She’d remove his curse, make reparations, and be in such a great place, he’d realize what he’d thrown away.

But to do that, she had to get the hell out of Santa Monica and away from the emotional triggers. She needed a place to hide out, relearn to do magic, and harness her power. Somewhere she could relax, regain her confidence, and plan out what she wanted to do with her life.

Miki sucked in a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks, then exhaled. “I’m going to take a sabbatical. I’m going to Idaho.”

And while she was there, as much as it would screw her over karmically, she hoped Perry was arrested for public indecency. It would serve the oinker right.

There’s a New Witch in Town: Chapter Three

Gideon Ross inhaled the rich scent of freshly brewed coffee with a deep sigh of appreciation. Nothing like a small vat of java to start the day right. Only one way better. Gideon eyed the only other people in the diner, three old codgers arguing baseball and Marcia, the waitress. She was fifty-going-on-eighteen, did scary things to spandex, and was one of the few single women in Rossdale, Idaho, population two thousand twelve. Gideon took another sip of his coffee. He’d stick with the java.