How Wicked-er Can She Go?
Page 12
"Nichole Smythe-Ponthynhausen!” Oh shit! It wasn't Melina. It was someone much worse.
"Mom?” I doubted attempting to look innocent could save me now.
I peered over the top of the couch and winced. It was worse than anything I'd faced in my entire life. It was Melina and Mom—together!
"I didn't believe her when she told me, so I had to come see for myself."
I bet she couldn't wait to come bust my chops.
"You should have believed me, Petunia dear, and saved yourself the embarrassment. I knew this would end in tragedy.” Melina tsked. “Just look at her. Compromised beyond any hope of redemption, and with a mortal, no less. I tried to tell her. Mortals and witches don't mix."
"I know, luv. Mortals are fine to mate with, but having an emotional entanglement with one...” Mom threw her head back and swooned against Melina. “Oh, the shame."
Melina threw her arm around Mom to steady here. “There, there. Once she's home or locked away in a suitable convent, I'm sure the scandal will blow over. No one will blame you. It's the way this newer generation thinks. I blame the Mitches."
I told you way in the first chapter. They always blame the Mitches. It saves them from actually having to shoulder any blame for themselves.
"One can only hope. I trust you will be the soul of discretion.” That one cost Mom. Melina would keep her mouth shut, but Mom would owe her big time.
"We've known each other too long for you to ask me that.” You notice the old hag didn't say friend. Witches weren't big on friendship among the ranks.
"Thank you, dear. With your own daughter such a handful, I know you understand what I'm going through."
Ah, there's the none-too-subtle threat. So Mom had a little dirt of her own. That was good to know.
"Nikki, pack your things and extricate yourself from that naked mortal."
Oops, I knew she'd get back to me sooner or later. I'd just hoped it would be later rather sooner.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid she's not going to do that,” Gregory surprised me by saying. I twisted my neck to see him give me a nod of the head.
"Young man, this is a family matter. Kindly keep your nose out of it.” Mom wagged her finger at him.
Gregory pushed himself to his feet, “I can't do that. See, I'm in love with your daughter."
He was! Sure, I'd known he might be back at Dion's, but this was standing up to my Mom. Unfortunately, now was not the time for him to grow a set of balls. She might decide to cut them off for him. I was pretty sure I wanted to have use of them later.
"Gregory, let me do the talking.” I scrambled to my feet, hoping to curtail a random act of magic.
"Yes, mortal, let us witches handle this.” Melina butted her nose in.
Gregory pushed me to the side, “Nikki, I'm not afraid of your mother."
"You damn well should be!"
"Don't you think I know that, but I'm more afraid she'll actually take you away from me. If she sees I really care about you, she has to let you stay."
I saw about a million reasons his plan wouldn't work. Without a better one, I let him give it a shot. I looked good in mourning colors.
"Mom, if you love me, just listen to him."
I thought I saw a moment of weakness cross her snaggled face. It may have been a trick of the light, but it gave me a spark of hope. “All right, mortal, speak."
"I can't say I know exactly what's going on here, but I do love your daughter. All I'm asking is for you to let us see if we can make it work. We may not be able to, but dammit, we deserve the chance.” Wasn't he the greatest?
"Petunia, how can you listen to this drivel? We must not lose sight of the fact Nichole was suppose to sabotage his attempts at finding true love, not become the object of his desire."
"What?” He turned around giving me the dirtiest look you've ever seen in your life.
"Yeah, but aren't you glad I suck at my job?” I batted my eyes, innocently.
"We'll talk about this later, after I convince your mother you can stay.” Man, for a second there, I thought he would walk out the door.
"Melina, I agree Nikki should have been more responsible with her duties, but as a mother, I can't very well ignore her feelings for this man.” Ah, Mom did care.
"Well, as her Vesperex, I can do as I damn well please. Nichole, pack your things. You are hereby relieved of your duties, and henceforth banned from this region."
"Like hell she is! She quits. Which means she can do whatever, and live wherever, she wants.” Gregory took a step toward the witch.
"Petunia, that mortal is threatening me with his John Thomas! Is that the sort of ruffian you wish to have associating with your child?” Melina ducked behind Mom, pointing wildly toward Gregory.
It took a minute for the both of us to realize we were half-naked. Ever notice nobody drops by when you look your best? Now, not only did my mother know I'd been seeing a mortal, but that we were doing the nasty in my living room. It was bad enough hearing about it through the witch grapevine, but to see your daughter's boyfriend's winkie first hand kind of sealed the deal.
"Oh, Melina, be quiet. It's not like you've never seen one, and quite frankly, it's nice to be threatened by something that big for once in my life."
Ew, I so did not need to hear that coming from my mother's lips.
"Would all three of you just shut up?” I'd had enough. If I didn't put a stop to things soon, there was no telling what my mother would say.
"Yes, Petunia. I think you and Melina have interfered in our daughter's life enough for one night.” Man, the place kept filling up.
"Dad!"
"Who invited that Mitch?” Melina howled.
"Nobody did. I invited myself. Someone had to come and make sure you two didn't ramrod Nikki into doing something stupid, like becoming a prune-faced bitch like the two of you.” Dad walked past them, throwing Gregory a robe. “Cover that son, before somebody gets an eye put out."
"Well, I never,” Melina huffed.
"With that face, I'd believe it.” Dad snickered.
"Petunia, control your Mitch before I am forced to control him for you.” Melina was livid. Her face went three shades of purple before the words left her mouth.
"Give it a rest. Despite what you tell yourself, I'm twice the witch you are, and you know it.” He waited for Melina to say something. When she didn't, he went on, “Now, this is the way things are going to go. Nikki is going to keep her job."
Melina started to protest, “But she—"
"She did exactly what you asked her to. She became wicked. The things she did to that poor girl were as wicked as I've ever seen. As for turning Gregory here off true love, that would never have happened. For all the magic in the world, love is stronger. The fact that Nikki and Gregory are together proves it."
Melina tapped her foot against the floor as she considered what he'd said. I could see the indecision playing across her face. True, she could fire me, but I doubted she could keep us apart. Still, I'd come to like my little house.
"Alright, Mitch. Nichole can keep her job, but only on a probationary basis."
Dad coughed.
Melina sighed in resignation. “All right, no probation, but I'll be watching her."
"Fair enough, now back to this mortal.” Mom shook her finger toward the newly robed Gregory.
"The mortal is just fine. Nikki loves him and from the way he stood up to you two witches, he loves her. Welcome to the family.” Dad stuck his hand toward Gregory.
"Uh, thank you, sir."
Dad pulled him close for a hug, but I heard the whisper he planted in Gregory's ear. “You hurt her, I'll do things a witch can't fix."
"Dad, behave.” I swear parents live to embarrass you.
Dad gave me a wink before turning to Mom and Melina. “I think we can leave these two lovebirds alone now. We've ruined their evening enough for one night."
"Reginald, there's still the matter of this mortal. I'm not sure how the league will react to
...” Mom voiced, as Dad grabbed her and Melina by the arm.
"Then they should mind their own business and you should stop worrying about what they think.” Dad rolled his eyes in my direction.
"She's our only daughter. I think we need to—"
Dad cut her off again. “We don't need to do anything. Nikki has a good head on her shoulders and can handle things on her own.” He stopped at the doorway. “But I'll tell you what, if the wedding interferes with one of my golf games, then I'll become concerned."
"Wedding?” Mom's knees began shaking, but it didn't stop Dad from leading her through the door.
"Yes, that's generally what people in love end up doing eventually. Who knows, you may even become a grandmother before too long.” He gave me a wave as they blinked back to the Bahamas, leaving us alone.
"So that was your Mom and Dad?” Gregory sighed, looking at the smashed ruin of my front door.
"Yep."
"Think they'll be dropping by often?” He draped his arm around my waist.
"Not so much, until the grandchildren come, of course.” I felt him stiffen as he snuggled close against me.
"Figure there'll be grandchildren for them to come visit?"
"If we stand here in the living room all night, we'll never find out.” I couldn't resist giving his arm a pinch and dashing for the bedroom.
"Nikki, that hurt! What did you do that for?” he yelled, giving chase.
"Because if you aren't wicked you never get what you want."
And with those words to live by, I'm wrapping this sucker up. I got a man to sex and frankly, you people are nosey. So close the book and mind your own business before you wake up to find a goat beard hanging from your chin. Before you get any funny ideas, I'm wicked and won't think twice about it.
The Ever Loving Wicked End!
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About J. Morgan
www.lyricalpress.com/jmorgan
How wicked can I go? Every day that question pops into my head. Yes I'm weird but that's beside the point. That one question was the spark that got How Wicked-er Can She Go? rolling. I mean really Meat Loaf sang he'd do anything for love, but wouldn't do that? Still trying to figure out what that was, exactly. The song begged the question, How far would a character in a romance novel go to get that golden ring of love everlasting?
Then again how far would you or I go to get it? If you think you'd do anything for love, ask yourself if you're willing to do that. If you can honestly say yes, then you just might be wicked enough to appreciate my dilemma. Then again if you're not wicked but wish you could be, I invite you to live vicariously through one of my favorite characters. At least this way you won't go to jail for being a stalker.
J. Morgan's homepage:
www.freewebs.com/jmorganslair/
Reader email:
jennmorgan69@yahoo.com
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