Hex and Candy

by Ashlyn Kane

  Gran made a dismissive noise. “Nonsense. There’s always next year.”

  When Cole was a child, Gran had raised a huge fuss about ensuring he was there for every Samhain—no Halloween parties for him—so that made him raise his eyebrows, but he didn’t comment.

  “We were just lucky your young man was around,” she went on. “Without his quick thinking… and if he hadn’t known where to find your EpiPen!”

  Something about that came out a little too casual. Cole sat up straighter, narrowing his eyes. We were just lucky, she said. “Were we really?”

  Gran covered quickly, but Cole still caught it: a brief flash of guilt, or maybe panic. “Of course! Without Leo—”

  “Are you telling me you didn’t See any of this?” Cole broke in bravely. Because he didn’t believe that for a second. When Ella was born, Gran had had the date circled on her calendar for months. Cousin Julie went into false labor twice, but Gran never wavered; the baby would come when she’d Seen it.

  There—another chink in the armor. Gran clasped her hands in front of her. She’d always told Cole that crossing his arms made him look defensive. “Cole—”

  But the sound of someone else at the door interrupted. Cole and his gran both swung their heads toward the newcomer, and for a second Cole almost felt bad for whoever it was; they probably looked like cobras about to strike. Then he took in the man standing in the doorway—dark-wash jeans, leather jacket, ebony skin, perfectly sculpted hair, cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass. He was handsome in a movie-star way, the kind of handsome Cole would never be. Even the way he stood spoke of charisma. And under all the beauty and charm pulsed the unmistakable red aura of a vampire.

  Roman.

  “What are you doing here?” Gran and Roman said at the same time.

  Roman answered first, maybe because Gran was just as terrifying to the undead. “Looking for Leo,” he said in a rich baritone, cutting his eyes quickly to Cole. “James said I’d probably find him here.”

  Damn it, Jimmy, Cole thought. Also, did Roman have to have a beautiful voice on top of everything else? Talk about insult to injury.

  “Well, as you can see, James was mistaken.” Each clipped word dripped icicles. Gran wanted him gone.

  All of a sudden exhaustion reared its head again. Cole just wanted the damn truth. “So,” he said conversationally, “how do you two know each other?”

  Gran turned sharply toward him, and there was no mistaking the stricken expression nor the guilt in her eyes. Cole had her dead to rights and she knew it.

  Roman said smoothly, “I was a would-be client,” and that cemented it.

  Cole let suspicion harden his features, holding Gran’s gaze. They were going to have this out here and now—but not with an audience. “I see,” he said. “Roman—it is Roman, isn’t it?”

  Roman nodded. Even his nod radiated power and self-assurance.

  “Roman, would you give my grandmother and me a moment? We have some important matters to discuss.”

  He probably could have argued. But maybe he sensed that Cole was on his side, because he simply inclined his head and took a step back, half closing the door behind him.

  Cole very deliberately did not cross his arms. He wasn’t on the defensive here. “Why did you do it?” he asked quietly. “What could you possibly gain from cursing Leo?” He didn’t want to believe she’d done it, but what else was he supposed to think?

  Gran’s tone when she answered was just as frigid as it had been when she spoke to Roman. “I don’t have to explain myself—”

  “I think you do,” Cole interrupted. “I think you do, Gran, because this level of petty curse on a man you didn’t even know is skirting pretty close to gray magic. And you always told me that was wrong, and that it would knock the universe out of balance. So I think you better explain what you were doing.”

  “You don’t understand.” Now that cold refusal had failed, Gran turned pleading. “Cole, some things, a Seer just knows. Sometimes we have to act.”

  “To do what?” Cole half shouted. Someone in the hallway might overhear, but he was beyond caring. “What could cursing Leo possibly accomplish?”

  “Saving your life!” Gran shouted back. “What happened yesterday, I Saw it when you were eight years old, before your mother ever moved away! I saw it a hundred different ways—I saw you die in Florida, in Tuscany, in Baha. I fought like hell to keep you here because I knew if I didn’t, if I didn’t find the right man, if I didn’t make sure he was there, you were going to die.”

  For a second Cole stared at her, incredulous, imagining the weight of that knowledge. Then a wave of ice washed over him, receding with the last of his sympathy—and his patience. “So, what? Instead of warning me to be extra careful around chocolate on Halloween, you….” Roman had said he was a would-be client. “Roman came to you to ask your price for a revenge hex,” he guessed, and Gran’s miniscule flinch let him know he’d guessed right. “He must have brought a picture and you saw. You knew it was the man from your vision. So you cursed him.”

  “I didn’t officially ask her to go through with it!” Roman said loudly from the other side of the door. “In case you’re wondering why I’m pissed!”

  “Shut up!” Cole and Gran chorused.

  But Cole wasn’t done. “You cursed him just as Roman had suggested—so that he wouldn’t be able to act on any of his feelings.” His stomach twisted. “You must have known that eventually he would come to me.”

  After all, Cole was the best cursebreaker in Southwestern Ontario.

  This time Gran said nothing in self-defense. To Cole, she might as well have signed a confession.

  “You manipulated us,” he said, his heart sinking. “You played us from the very beginning. The whole thing was a setup.” So much for free will.

  “How could you?” he whispered, his voice breaking. “How could you do that to me?”

  Gran took one faltering step toward him. “I was trying to protect you. I love you. I couldn’t stand it if—”

  “If I got hurt?” Cole filled in venomously. “Because guess what, Gran? I am hurt.” Not completely true. He was devastated. He and Leo had built their life on what he’d thought was a solid foundation. Now he discovered it was made of sand. “God, and even that wasn’t enough, was it? Setting us up? No, you had to go further and—you sent those flowers to Leo with that enchanted vase so you could scry him, and then you stole the florist’s memories—”

  Did she even realize she’d crossed an elf? Had she been so consumed by her quest that she didn’t care?

  “I had to make sure!” Gran said, wringing her hands now. “I couldn’t take any chances!”

  Cole laughed hollowly, sinking back against his pillows. “Do you know what the funny thing is, Gran?” His eyes wanted to close with grief and exhaustion, but he needed to see her face when she realized the truth. “I never would have come into contact with those hazelnuts if it weren’t for Leo. He’s the one who asked if he could invite Amy along. I almost died because you interfered.”

  It happened as if in slow motion. Gran’s mouth fell open, and her eyes went wide. Then realization overwhelmed the shock and her expression crumpled, the lines on her face deepening and her chin caving in. She raised a hand to her mouth. “What have I done?”

  Watching the impact of his words, Cole expected to feel a grim satisfaction, a stinging balm over his own wounds.

  Instead he felt immeasurably worse.

  “Gran,” he said helplessly, his eyes burning. “You can’t—you can’t ever do that to anyone again.”

  Gran nodded, wordless, face dripping with tears.

  “Okay,” Cole said. His voice cracked. “I’m really mad at you and I think you understand why. But now I need a hug.”

  She shuffled to the bed and put her arms around his shoulders. He wrapped his around her waist, and they both pretended the other wasn’t crying. Then they pulled away, Gran dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, Cole wiping his on the
neck of his hospital gown.

  Knock knock knock.

  Cole looked up, sharp words for Roman ready on his tongue, only to see Leo standing in the doorway, expression serious.

  No. Oh no. Cole’s heart had been in his stomach; now it sank to his knees.

  “Irene, I’d like to speak to Cole privately, please.”

  Gran shot Cole another stricken look but nodded wordlessly and walked toward the door, still dabbing at her eyes.

  “There’s coffee at the nurses’ station,” Leo murmured as she passed him. “Not as good as your tea, but they’ll give you a cup if you tell them I sent you.”

  Gran bit her lip, as though she could not bear to receive kindness from someone she’d been so callous to, and then she nodded again and left.

  When Leo closed the door, it clicked definitively. Cole thought about that sunny September day when Leo had walked into his candy shop and thought it was fitting; their time together had begun with a door opening, and now this one had closed.

  “Roman put the doll in my bed,” Leo said conversationally, surprising him. “Apparently I should have locked my windows. Did you know he could turn into a bat?”

  Cole shook his head, scrambling for his conversational bearings. “Uh,” he said. “No. I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, that makes two of us.” Leo shook his head. “Apparently he felt bad for letting his pride get the better of him and turning a witch on me, and tried to counter the spell.”

  Of course he had. All this, and Cole didn’t even have the simple comfort of Leo’s ex being an asshole. “So that’s it, then,” he said. “Mystery solved.”

  “Yeah. And Roman says he’s got Kyle in the equivalent of vampire therapy to cope with the fact that he’s gonna have acne for like two hundred years, so we can stop worrying about Jimmy too.”

  Cole dug for a smile and mustered one that felt like wax on his face. “Great.” He took a breath and swallowed. “Look, you didn’t sign up for any of this, and it’s not fair to you. If you want to just—forget this ever happened, I understand. I can… we can make that happen.” At least Cole could go on knowing they hadn’t fucked up Leo’s life for good, even if his own heart broke in the process.

  Leo stared at him as though he’d grown a second head. “No, I don’t want—are you offering to Eternal Sunshine me?”

  Cole’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Technically I’m offering to have Gran do it,” he said by rote. “Or Kate, if you never want to speak to Gran again, which I wouldn’t blame you for.”

  For another handful of seconds Leo didn’t say anything, didn’t move. Then he shook his head and asked, “What is wrong with you? I know you didn’t hit your head when you fell.”

  This time Cole couldn’t find any words to fill the hole of his mouth.

  Apparently he didn’t need to; Leo continued on, undaunted. “What, you think that my feelings for you aren’t real because your grandmother manipulated us into spending time together?” He scoffed. “I’ve spent a lot more time with a lot of other people, Cole. I roomed with the same guy for three years in university and I didn’t fall in love with him.”

  Cole realized he was still searching for a rebuttal, then realized that was stupid. “So you’re….”

  “Well, I’m not exactly pleased to be part of a weird morality lesson on self-fulfilling prophecies.” He took Cole’s hand in both of his. “It’s a little strange to realize that someone set us up on a really underhanded, extended blind date.”

  At that, Cole managed a real smile, though it felt tenuous. Hope bloomed in his chest. “A blind date that could only end with true love’s kiss,” he admitted. His heart was in his throat now.

  Leo inched closer. “Well, I’m not going to argue with the results.”

  “Oh,” Cole said, his whole body filling with relief. “Okay.” He paused. “Same.”

  Leo laughed softly, leaning his head against Cole’s. Cole closed his eyes and let warmth and contentment seep into his bones. “God, what a day. I could use one of those lemon fizzies.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Cole murmured, tilting his head. After all, true love’s kiss had its own kind of magic.

  ASHLYN KANE is a Canadian former expat and current hockey fan. She is a writer, editor, handyperson, dog mom, and friend—sometimes all at once.

  On any given day, she can usually be found walking her ninety-pound baby chocolate lapdog, Indy, or holed up in her office avoiding housework. She has a deep and abiding love of romance-novel tropes, a habit of dropping too many f-bombs, and—fortunately—a very forgiving family.

  Twitter: @ashlynkane

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/ashlyn.kane.94

  Website: Ashlynkane.ca

  By Ashlyn Kane

  DREAMSPUN BEYOND

  STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

  #26 – Hex and Candy

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  #59 – His Leading Man

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Hex and Candy

  © 2018 Ashlyn Kane.

  Editorial De
velopment by Sue Brown-Moore.

  Cover Art

  © 2018 Aaron Anderson.

  aaronbydesign55@gmail.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-739-6

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64108-105-4

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018940826

  Digital published August 2018

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America