Witch Road to Take (6 page)

“Sickness,” he explained. “We expected it,
so we were partially prepared. However, he left the business to me
and now the committee wants to kick me off the board of
directors.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I’ve been here three
days, Mr. Sable. I don’t need the history…I just need the book
name.”

He nodded and bit his lip. “Feisty, aren’t
you? Your boss asked me to bring back this book.” He handed me a
post-it note with the name scribbled on it.

“Give me one second, and I’ll get that for
you.”

“I can help you look for it.”

“No, you can’t. I actually want to keep my
job. You relax and let me look for the book that will help you
continue to ride on Daddy’s coattails while you spend his money.” I
winked.

The look on his face was priceless. If I
could rewind that very moment and watch it repeatedly, I’d do it a
hundred times over with a bowl of popcorn in my lap.

When I returned with his book, I handed it
to him—my eyes cast down on my notebook of notes. Something about
this man made my stomach tie in knots and that was an
uncomfortable, unfamiliar place for me.

“Thanks?” I could tell that he was baffled
at my sudden lack of interest in him. Oh, I was interested, but he
didn’t need to know that.

“No problem, Mr. Sable. Have a wonderful
day.” I waved at him but kept my eyes cast down on my blank
notebook, scribbling nothing in a particular.

When I thought he had gone, I looked up and
released a breath of stale air I had been holding inside my lungs.
Finally, my body relaxed.

The sensation of warm air brushed my ear and
sent shivers through my body. I jumped, but
his
hand was on
my arm and his body pressed against my back.

I froze.

“Before I left,” Quinn whispered in my ear.
“I thought I’d give you this.”

He slid a business card under the hand that
was holding me up. Hell knows my legs weren’t doing a good job of
it. They were weak and as wobbly as a preteen girl meeting Justin
Bieber for the first time.

My eyes were fixated on the business card,
my body frozen between him and the countertop. His tight stomach
pressed against my back. I was breathless.

When he spoke again, his warm breath touched
every nerve ending in my body. “I could use someone like you to
keep my affairs in order.”

He knew what he was doing to me both
physically and emotionally. I couldn’t even respond to his
statement, although my mind was processing a thousand different
things:
kiss me, touch me, move my hair and ravage my
neck.

His left hand reached forward and toyed with
my fingers as he moved his strong, warm hand up my arm. His heart
beat as fast as mine, putting me in some kind of Quintus Sable
trance.

My body trembled in need. I had never had
these out-of-control emotions trample over my common sense. My mind
begged for this single moment, with his body pressed against my
back, to keep moving forward rather than stop.

But everything did stop the moment that
Damien’s voice echoed through the law firm’s library.

“What’s going on?” Damien roared.

Quinn moved back and grabbed his book off
the counter. The way he recovered from the moment was
miraculous.

Breathless, my eyes closed, I mumbled,
“Nothing.”

Quinn grinned and leaned over the counter to
whisper. “Keep it in mind. I’ll see you around,” he said just
before he turned and glared at my brother.

Damien followed him to the library door to
personally ensure that Quinn didn’t get lost on his way to the
exit. I could feel my brother’s anger; his dark demeanor surrounded
his aura.

“What’s going on here?” Damien asked.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Stupid
me, I thought you needed my help. I felt an odd vibe from you that
I’ve never felt before.”

“Damien, it’s time for you to disconnect
yourself from me just a tad. I’m a grown woman now.”

“A grown woman who allows a man to press his
body against her?” he asked angrily.

“Maybe, yes.” I grabbed my notebook and
started for the library door. “This anger is coming from a man
who’s a womanizer?”

“You’re my sister, Dhellia. You’ve never
been—”

I swung around. “And you’re my brother,
Damien. What’s your point? Back off and let me grow up.”

“Growing up? Is that what you call what I
just saw?”

I left my brother standing there while I
mentally tumbled in the lust I had just experienced with Quinn. I
had never endured anything so powerful. One thing was for sure, I
could get addicted to those nerve endings that this one person
seemed to frazzle.

While I daydreamed about Mr. Sable, I heard
my boss call my name from across the offices.

“Note to self, I’m not a fan of having a
boss. He’s almost as bad as having a father who runs the
underworld,” I mumbled before I smiled sweetly.

“Yes, Richard. What can I help you
with?”

“My office. Now!” He about-faced and stormed
off with his high-rise pants and stick-up-his-ass walk. Richard was
a stern man who seemed to hate women. Maybe women had turned him
down one too many times and because of that, he hated all
women.

In the three days I had worked at the firm,
he had never matched a single outfit that he wore to work. Maybe he
was colorblind or maybe he simply didn’t care.

Another odd feeling of knots tied together
in the pit of my stomach. This emptiness was almost a replica of
the nerves-dancing-on-fire feeling I would get when my father would
express anger toward me.

My palms sweaty, I left my desk, and walked
fifteen feet behind Mr. Richard, replaying everything that had
happened during the day.

I know what this is about,
I thought.
Mr. Quintus Sable must have complained about my
attitude.

“Another note to self, keep your attitude in
check while at work,” I mumbled.

Richard’s office window covered an entire
wall with an open view of one of the many things that I loved on
earth: the ocean.

If the Halo man did anything right, it was
creating the upstairs of this Earth and its many extraordinary
facets. That thought alone would have angered my father. It was one
of our many conflicts. I could appreciate the beauty on Earth, but
Father despised anything good.

Richard motioned for me to take a seat in
front of his desk and he opened a box of cigars and offered me one.
I inwardly laughed.
Did I look like a cigar smoker?
I think
he read the expression on my face.

He shrugged, “Sorry, I don’t have candy to
offer you.”

I smirked, not sure if I should be offended
or pleased with that statement. No, I wouldn’t smoke a cigar, but I
wasn’t a child who needed a sucker after a good scolding.

“Listen, Dhellia. I brought you in here to
talk with you about Quinn,” Richard said.

I stared at his yellow-stained teeth, which
reminded me of a dingy pot of gold. Apparently, he had no real clue
how yellow his teeth were because he showed them off while his
eyes, every now and then, drifted down to ogle my body. I caught
him several times taking mental pictures.

“Mr. Sable?” I asked.

“Yes. He is a big client of this law firm.
We represent them on every business transaction they do. This
means, we bill them a lot of money each month. I want to make sure
he’s happy.”

“Was he upset?” I asked almost shyly.

“No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then why are you telling me this?”

“He asked that I allow you to work in his
office three days a week.”

“Oh no, sir. I can’t do that.” That was the
first thing that entered my mind. How could I spend three days at
his office when I was barely able to keep my composure together
with three minutes next to that man?

“I already told him you would.” He grinned.
“And I told him that you’d do it happily.”

“I can’t.”

“You can and you will,” Richard stood up,
and a twitch attacked his right eye.

“What does he need from me?” I almost
whined.

“To help him with some of his documents. His
father was a great man, I knew him well, but he was a bit of
hoarder—an unorganized hoarder.”

“I’m a clerk for this law firm!” I
shrieked.

“He’s going to want you to help him prepare
legal documents as well.”

“Sir, let me say it again, I’m a
clerk
in this law firm. As in file clerk, telephone
receptionist, and coffee fetcher. I know nothing about actual
law.”

“I’ve just promoted you to a legal assistant
and I’ve arranged for you to go to law school—all expenses paid by
the firm.”

I narrowed my eyes at this man who was
showing me his blinding-yellow grill. “Why? I don’t
understand.”

“The last thing you want to do is question
this good fortune. You’re getting an education for free, a raise,
and you don’t have to report to
me
every day.”

Damn, he had a point. It was a win-win
situation, but I disliked that Quintus Sable could pull strings in
the law firm like that. It just seemed like there was something
else going on. “When do I start law school and when do I start
reporting to Mr. Sable?”

“School starts in September. I’ll have you
enrolled in a week or so and you’ll start providing your services
to Mr. Sable in two weeks.”

“Services?”

“As I said, he will want you to file and
organize the business. Apparently, his father left it in shambles.
As you learn more about law, you’ll be able to assist him in other
areas.”

“So, this will be ongoing?”

He nodded. “What I will need from you is
your school and college transcripts.”

School! College! Oh, shit. Think fast,
Dhellia.
“I was home-schooled,” I said quickly, without
thinking that statement through.

“You must have records?”

“A fire.” I lowered my voice to create an
element of drama. “A terrible fire ripped through our house and
everything was lost.”

“What about the school that you reported to
for standards testing?”

Oh my hell, this man was relentless.
“My house was right next to the school, next door in fact and well,
the fire started there first.” I scrunched my face, hoping he would
buy this line of crap.

He tapped his pen on his desk, his face
serious. “That’s interesting.” He stared at me for an uncomfortable
length of time. “I’ll work around it.” He winked at me. “Just don’t
let me down and don’t drop out. If you do, you’ll owe me a whole
lot of money.”

“I won’t let you down.”

He nodded for me to leave.

I got to the door and Richard called me
again. I halfway turned and waited for his next declaration.

“Don’t blow it with Mr. Sable. Our firm is
relying on you to keep him happy.”

I nodded and cursed under my breath at the
same time. Dhellia, the daughter of Satan, had to make a mortal
happy—the very mortal who made me shiver when he was near. And if I
didn’t make him happy, the firm would lose Sable Construction
Company as a client and quite possibly fold as a law firm.

Yeah, like that’s not enough pressure for a
twenty year old.

I pulled into the
driveway of our small home in Long Beach and took a deep breath
before I went inside. I had so much to tell my roommates about my
crazy third day at work.

When I walked in, I stopped at the doorway
to witness another odd event. Jonas was floating over the couch
while Gavin was casting some sort of spell on him. I rolled my eyes
and walked in, slammed the door and tossed my Versace purse on the
chair.

My sudden noise startled Jonas, but Gavin
was still casting the spell, which sent Jonas into a spinout. He
landed face first on the couch.

I laughed hysterically. Never a dull moment
with these two nerds. I shook my head, continued to laugh and went
to the fridge. “Anyone want a bottle of vitamin water?”

Jonas sat up. “Shanks Shell,” he
slurred.

“You’re welcome.” I closed the fridge and
plopped down on the chair, kicked off my four-inch Prada sling
backs and swung my legs on the ottoman. “What’s wrong with your
speech?”

Gavin sat down on the couch next to Jonas
and patted his back. “I told him there’s a six in one chance that
he’d go for human blood at some point, if he continued to cut
through the hospital on his way to or from the studio.”

“Studio? Hospital? Start over and start from
the beginning.”

Gavin sighed, “I’d have this brainiac tell
you, but his tongue will be swollen for another two hours.”

“Okay, tell you what. Gavin you tell me what
happened and Jonas, you rub my feet.” I figured I would make these
roommates useful for something.

Jonas jumped up to come over and rub my
feet, but Gavin’s hand stopped him. “He’s not rubbing your feet,
your highness. He’s going to lay back and focus on releasing the
swelling from his tongue.”

“You’re testy,” I grinned. “So, what kind of
studio?”

“A music studio. Jonas is a musician.”

“Get outta here. Are you serious?” I pulled
the pillow out from behind my back and threw it at Jonas. “I didn’t
know that.”

“Yeah, and he’s quite good. He has a studio
that he uses and four other members of the band. Usually, he feeds
before band practice but he woke up late. He was hungry. Long story
short, he attacked a bag of human blood at the hospital.
Apparently, the temptation was just too great.”

“That was smart.” I laughed.

“Yeah, real smart.” Gavin pointed to Jonas’s
mouth and Jonas stuck out his tongue. “He’s allergic to human
blood, remember? I told him if he continues to take chances,
there’s a fifty percent chance he could die because his internal
organs are swelling up, too, not just his tongue.”