Amber (Jewels Cafe Book 1)

by Mia Harlan

  “Good odds.” Sapphire smirks. “I really wish Tinder listed blood types.”

  “Where would be the fun in that?” Wim grumbles.

  “Come on!” She grabs his arm and drags him toward the cafe.

  I’m kind of excited that we might get some customers, until he openly grimaces. For a second, he makes it look like there really are bad vibes coming from my cafe, but that’s impossible. Maybe the vampire just doesn’t know her own strength?

  “What about Shakespeare in the Park?” Wim complains as Sapphire tries to pull him through the door. “You promised we’d get drunk and insult each other in fancy language.”

  Sapphire heaves a sigh. “Fine! We’ll come back later though.” She turns to me. “Don’t do anything to the bad vibes while we’re gone.”

  “There are no bad vibes!” I shout after her, but she just waves happily and keeps going.

  “There are definitely bad vibes, Ambear,” Wes says, the regret evident in his voice. “I know you don’t want to hear this, little bear. But there’s something really wrong here. Come.”

  He takes my hand and squeezes it so tight it almost hurts. Then, he takes one small step toward Jewels Cafe and stops.

  “Feel it now?” he asks.

  I shake my head. This spot is no different than any other spot, and the cafe looks just as perfect as it always has. “We’ve been here for over a month, Wes, and the only bad thing about this place is the lack of customers.”

  “You don’t believe me?” Wes looks hurt.

  “I... of course I believe you feel something, Wes.”

  “I’m not the only one. Look.” Wes gestures down the sidewalk to the other side of the cafe.

  A large troll ambles toward us, but when he’s a few yards from the cafe, he stops. With a frown at the stretch of street in front of him, he turns and crosses the street to the other side. To Minerva’s side. Where two smiling customers exit, their hands loaded with bakery bags.

  Chapter 7

  AMBER

  “There’s nothing wrong with Jewels Cafe.” The words barely come out louder than a whisper. “I swear, Wes, there isn’t.”

  “I know, little bear.” Wes pulls me into his side. “We’ll fix this, I promise.”

  It takes his words a few seconds to permeate the hurt I feel. All because some random troll crossed the street instead of walking in front of Jewels Cafe. But it’s more than just some troll, isn’t it? It’s because, apparently, Jewels Cafe has bad vibes.

  “You know what? You’re absolutely right, Wes! We will fix this. Right now!” I take his hand and start toward the cafe. “All we need is a cleansing spell. Not that Julian actually knows how to do cleansing spells. But I’m sure he can figure it out.”

  “I’m sure he can.” Wes nods in agreement.

  I don’t miss the tension in his shoulders, or the way his jaw is clenched as we approach the cafe. Like whatever vibes I obviously can’t feel really are that bad.

  The door chimes as we step inside the cafe, and once it closes behind us, Wes’s shoulders visibly relax. Mine do not. Because right at the table where my laptop used to be, there’s a different laptop. And behind it, there’s a different man. Or not so much different, as definitely not Julian.

  Our new customer has dark brown hair, cropped at the sides in a way that makes him look like a total bad boy. His skin is tanned, like he spends days in the sun, and there’s something adorable about his button nose.

  I realize I’m staring, but so is he. His eyes darken when they meet mine, and his lips part as he takes me in. My gaze drifts down, locking on the slightest bit of chocolate right there in the corner of his lips, and I suddenly want to lick it off.

  Get a grip, Amber!

  I try. I really do. But a wave of heat travels through me. It transports me to those few minutes behind the bar, when I looked like Minerva. Then, it takes me back to the moment when I first met Wes. It’s a stark reminder that my bear of a mate is standing behind me while I’m getting turned on looking at another man.

  “Who are you?” I demand, glaring at the man in question. Like it’s somehow his fault that he’s hot and tempting and desirable and... wait, yes, it’s actually entirely his fault.

  “Bean!” Julian snaps from behind the counter and rushes to my side. He leans in close and whispers in my ear, “What are you doing? That’s no way to treat one of our customers! Our very few customers!”

  “It’s really not.” The customer—who is definitely some sort of supe, given his hearing—agrees. He gets to his feet, and I half-expect him to pack up his stuff and leave. I’m inexplicably disappointed, but he smiles at me instead. “I’m Chase. Chason Rowan Oak.”

  “Amber.” I shake Chase’s proffered hand, and the tingles are unmistakable. Which makes no sense, unless... “Wes, are the bad vibes coming from him?”

  “Bad vibes?” Julian and Chase both ask at the same time.

  “No, little bear,” Wes adds, moving a little closer to me, until his muscular front is plastered against my back.

  “Little bear? Who the hell is this guy?” Julian shoots Wes a disbelieving glare before grabbing my hands and pulling me away from him. The way he stares at me is so unnerving that my cheeks flush.

  Then his gaze travels down to my chest.

  Every part of me ignites. My nipples tighten. My cheeks grow hot. And Julian’s eyes narrow. Not in an aroused way, or a pleased way, or any way you might want the guy you love to look at your chest. Instead, he squints at my breasts—which aren’t that tiny—and then follows some invisible line to Wes’s chest and back again.

  His eyes darken.

  I gulp.

  Then he repeats the process, this time squinting at an invisible line between my boobs and Chase’s chest, then back again. Then, just as things couldn’t get weirder, he squints at some invisible path leading from my boobs down to his own chest.

  “Juli? Are you alright?”

  “I should be asking you the same thing!” he cries. “Are you hurt, Bean? How are you feeling? Does anything feel different? Are you sick? Did something happen? I’ve been so worried!”

  “You were worried? But it’s the middle of the afternoon! And I wasn’t even gone that long.”

  “I know...” Julian runs a hand through his hair. “But you ran out of here without your phone. I didn’t know what happened!”

  “Nothing happened, Juli. I just, um, went for a walk and... well... met Wes.”

  “Wes?” Julian turns to glare at my bear shifter mate. Since when am I the type of girl who even has a bear shifter mate? “Who the hell are you?”

  “Juli!” I warn, but his scowl only darkens. “I’m so sorry, Wes! Julian’s not usually like this.”

  “I’m always like this.” Julian continues glaring at Wes, not the least bit intimidated by his huge size.

  “He’s really not! He’s a teddy bear. Well, not a bear bear. But teddy witch isn’t a thing, so I said bear...” I stop when I realize I’m rambling.

  “He did seem a lot nicer before you got here,” Chase adds casually, like my word vomit never happened.

  “It’s alright, Ambear.” Wes smiles. “Julian’s just looking out for you. I’m glad you have people in your life who care about you as much as he obviously does.”

  The pointed way he raises his eyebrows and glances from me to Julian and back is so obvious that I want to die of mortification. Mostly because Wes is entirely wrong about the whole thing. Julian looks so bewildered it’s obvious he only cares for me as a friend, and I shake my head wildly, my eyes pleading for Wes to stop.

  “Wesley Berrett.” Wes chuckles and extends his hand, but Julian ignores it. “Suit yourself, Juli.”

  “Don’t call me that, Bear,” Julian snaps.

  “Whatever you say, Witch,” Wes fires back, but he’s grinning from ear to ear. Like he’s not taking any of this seriously, or he’s purposely trying to rile Julian up.

  “Can we stop calling each other names?” Chase chimes i
n. Both guys turn to glare at him, but he just casually leans back against the table like nothing is amiss. “May I ask you something, Amber?”

  “I guess?” I watch him nervously, wondering what that something could possibly be.

  “Why did you say what you did? About the bad vibes?”

  “Yeah, if anyone’s got bad vibes, it’s Berrett.” Julian glares at Wes.

  “Would you guys please stop arguing?” I throw up my hands in frustration.

  “I’m not the one arguing,” Julian snaps.

  “Yes, you are,” Chase tells him. When Julian scowls at him, he shrugs. “What? I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

  Julian’s scowl darkens. “Well, no one asked you for your opinion!”

  “Can you just stop?” I shout.

  At the rate they’re going, they’ll start physically fighting soon, and that won’t end well for anyone, especially the cafe. Wes will shift into a massive bear and destroy all the furniture. And Julian will cast spells that will make things explode. Then Chase... well, actually, I have no idea what Chase will do. I get the feeling he’s a shifter, but I haven’t a clue which kind.

  “I don’t think we’ll ever stop arguing,” Wes tells me, sounding entirely too happy about it. “Don’t take it too hard, okay?”

  “How am I supposed to take it?” I ask.

  “Personally, I think you should let them have at it,” Chase adds. “It’ll keep them busy. And give us a chance to talk.”

  “What could you two possibly have to talk about?” Julian scowls. “You just met.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were a porcupine shifter.” Wes slaps Julian on the shoulder.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Julian demands as he tries to shrug off Wes’s hand.

  It takes me a second, and then I snort. Julian is being prickly.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Wes starts physically maneuvering Julian to the front door.

  “Hey, what are you doing? You can’t make me leave. I own this place!” Julian shouts in protest, and the front door suddenly explodes.

  “Juli! Wes!” I cry as the glass shatters, and shards fly out into the empty street. I run towards them to make sure they’re okay, but Chase suddenly grabs me from behind.

  “Don’t go anywhere near that door!” he shouts.

  “It’s fine, I’m sure—oof,” I grunt as Wes runs toward me, pulls me out of Chase’s arms, and throws me over his shoulder.

  The wind gets knocked out me, and by the time I recover enough to speak, Wes is at the back of the cafe, climbing the stairs two at a time. “Wes, stop!”

  “Where are you taking her, Bear?” Julian shouts after us.

  “Somewhere safe!” Wes grunts as he makes it the rest of the way upstairs.

  “What the hell was that?” Chase adds, and I realize he’s followed us upstairs. “Why would someone shoot up the cafe?”

  “No one shot up the cafe!” I cry. “Wes, just set me down.”

  “Amber’s right. No one shot the cafe,” Julian adds as his footsteps thunder up the steps. “It was just an accident.”

  There’s a moment of silence, and then Chase finally asks, “You did that thing back there?”

  “Not on purpose!” I come to my best friend’s defense as Wes finally, finally, sets me down. “Stuff like that just happens sometimes.”

  I know I should be pissed, but I can’t summon up any anger. I’m actually surprised Julian managed to go this long without making something in our cafe explode.

  “A door exploded. That shouldn’t happen... any time,” Chase says.

  “You could have gotten seriously hurt,” Wes adds.

  “It was an accident! And I wasn’t even anywhere near that door. You were.” I look Julian over and then turn to examine Wes.

  “Not a scratch, Bean.” Julian grins up at me.

  “I’m fine too, little bear.” Wes slowly begins to relax. “So, why did the door explode?”

  “I was trying to do an electric spell,” Julian tells him. “Nothing too painful, just enough to shock you into letting me go... and the door just exploded.”

  “Makes sense.” Wes shrugs, like it’s suddenly no big deal.

  “You were trying to electrocute him?” I demand.

  “Just a little!” Julian raises his hands defensively.

  “And no one got hurt,” Wes adds, suddenly taking his side.

  I let out a long, drawn out sigh. “I’ll get the broom.”

  Chapter 8

  AMBER

  “I’ll do the cleaning, little bear.” Wes grabs my arm, stopping me. “Just show me where everything is.”

  “It’s my cafe and my mess,” Julian argues. “I should be the one to do it.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Chase says, even though no one was. “I wasn’t offering.”

  “I think you were.” Wes slaps Chase on the shoulder. “Come along, Rowan Oak, you’re gonna help sweep. You too, Witch.”

  “Wade. It’s Julian Alistair Wade.” Julian happily leads the way downstairs to the storage room.

  Wes and Chase trail after him amicably, so I do too. Though I’m mostly confused. Five minutes ago, they were shouting at each other and blowing up the front door. Now they’re acting like old friends?

  Wes fires off instructions, divvies up the garbage bag, broom, and dustpan—I don’t get anything since apparently the guys have everything handled—and we head outside.

  I half expect to find a crowd of onlookers gawking at the damage, but I think Wes was spot on about the bad vibes. The few people who are in the vicinity send nervous glances our way and then cross the street and use the other sidewalk.

  “There really are bad vibes out here, aren’t there?” I ask Wes as I stand next to the pumpkin spice latte sandwich board and watch the guys work.

  “What do you mean by that?” Chase looks up from where he’s kneeling on his haunches, dustpan in hand. He looks so adorable that I’m momentarily distracted and end up completely forgetting the question.

  “You don’t feel it?” Wes asks, and for a second, I think he means my attraction to Chase. But obviously he means the bad vibes. He sweeps up some of the glass with the broom and frowns. “None of you do?”

  “No idea what you’re talking about, Wes,” Julian adds, because apparently now they’re on a first name basis?

  Whatever. I have more important issues to focus on.

  “Look at all the people, Juli. They walk this way, but when they get near the cafe, they suddenly cross the street.”

  “They’re probably just worried about stepping on the broken glass.” Julian shrugs and holds up the garbage bag for Chase.

  “Yeah, but look at their faces.” Because what Julian’s saying makes sense, but it just doesn’t explain the creeped-out look the fairy across the street gets when she reaches a certain point on the street.

  “Okay, fine. That’s weird. But what are you saying? That our cafe is cursed? And that none of us can feel it but Wes?”

  “It is pretty weird,” Chase agrees.

  “I know it is! It doesn’t make sense to me either. But look at them!” I gesture at the elderly couple slowly making their way toward us.

  They look like they’re in their nineties, and they’ve both got walkers, so it’s slow going. And by slow, I mean painful. All three of us stop what we’re doing and watch as they approach the spot where the fairy freaked out.

  I hold my breath.

  Part of me expects them to keep going. Another part expects them to stop.

  The man lifts his walker. He moves forward. I think he’s going to do it. He stops.

  Moving faster than I thought possible, he sticks out his arm, blocking the woman’s path. They’re too far away to overhear, but the quick shake of the head that he gives her is explanation enough.

  The man doesn’t even seem to notice us watching him. He shakes his head again and gestures back the way they came, toward the crosswalk that would take them to the ot
her side of the street. The woman gestures at the street itself. The man points at the crosswalk. The woman points at the street again.

  “So... they’re debating the merits of jaywalking?” Chase tilts his head slightly as he examines the elderly couple.

  “Oh hell.” Julian shoves his garbage bag at Wes and rushes down the street. When he reaches the couple, the three of them start up some sort of conversation.

  “Hear anything they’re saying?” Chace asks absently as he strains his ears in their direction.

  “What?” Wes asks, looking tense and distracted. “Oh, no, don’t hear nothing.”

  We watch as Julian helps them cross the street, and watching him warms my heart. When he jogs back to us, I can’t help but notice how good he looks.

  “Well? What did they say?” Chase asks.

  “That they got bad vibes from this place,” Julian confirms what we’d all been thinking.

  “Interesting...” Chase muses. “What doesn’t make sense is why the rest of us can’t feel them.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” I agree. “Do you still feel the bad vibes, Wes? Maybe they fade over time?”

  “Nope. If anything, they’re getting stronger.”

  “Stronger?” I ask in surprise. “Well, where are they coming from?”

  “Everywhere?” Wes gestures around vaguely. “Although they do get more intense when I’m bending down.”

  “That’s weird...” I tell him. Not that I’m an expert on curses. For all I know, it’s perfectly normal.

  “It is weird.” Julian kneels and tentatively touches the sidewalk. “Try moving around, Wes. Does it get stronger in one specific spot?”

  “It is getting stronger.” Wes shuffles forward, muscles flexing, careful not to step on any of the glass.

  Julian, Chase and I walk after him, until the four of us end up next to the magically grown potted saffron Julian’s mother gave us as a housewarming gift. Or I guess in our case, a cafewarming gift.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Bear! You think my mother would sabotage our cafe?” Julian shouts, taking the pot from Wes’s hands.

  “Isn’t she a witch?” Chase asks.