“Why did she help him?”
“She was afraid of him. I can’t imagine how difficult the whole thing was for her.” Muscles around his jaw bunched. “Instead of moving Ricardo’s Duster closer to the shore like her dad told her, she took off. Her father went after her but she outran him and returned to the spot where they’d buried her boyfriend.”
She rubbed Zander’s back but the tense muscles there didn’t loosen a bit. “Why did she abandon Ricardo’s car?”
“She knew the police would be looking for it, but she says she couldn’t face her father again after what he’d done. She ditched the car then hitched a ride to Tampa and bunked at several runaway shelters.”
They turned the corner.
“The DA wants to charge her with aiding and abetting but since she’s a minor and the crime was committed by her parent, there are extenuating circumstances. Her lawyer is trying to get the DA to drop it and let her go home to pick up the pieces of her life.” He huffed out a breath. “Which I think would be the right thing to do.”
“Me too.” They rounded another corner and were back at Zander’s car. “So you’re not in trouble for working on the case after the sheriff told you not to, are you?”
New lines creased his forehead. “Thankfully no. But I pray I don’t ever end up in a position like that again. I can’t stand operating outside that way, breaking the rules.”
“Breaking the rules? What is it with you? Why are you so obsessed with…” She grasped for the right words. “With coloring inside the lines.”
He stiffened. “That’s hardly what I do.”
She lifted an eyebrow.
His shoulders fell. “Okay, maybe protocol is more important than it should be to me. But I have my reasons.”
She waited.
He stopped and met her stare. Finally, he nodded. “My father was a cop. He apparently took bribes in exchange for looking the other way while a couple of criminals did whatever the hell they wanted.”
Now it all made sense. “I’m sorry, Zander.”
“Yeah, me too.”
She realized he never spoke about his father. “Did he get caught?”
He nodded. “He shot himself before his arraignment.”
She gasped. “I’m so sorry. But you’re not him. Far from it. You’re the most honest, diligent person I know.”
A hint of a smile settled on his lips but didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks for that. I’m still trying to work through it. About time since he died more than ten years ago.” Muscles ticked around his jaw. “I’ve got a lot of paper work to finish. Mind if I take you home?”
A lump caught in her throat. She wasn’t sure what lay in store for them but she did know she cared about him. Deeply. Her first instinct was always to run when someone started breaking through her defenses but she was trying like hell to fight that. “Sure, that’s fine.”
When he dropped her home a little while later, she hesitated at her door.
Zander took her house key. “If you’re not okay with going inside, I’ll take you to a friend’s or to my place. Whatever you want.”
Just knowing he cared worked wonders for her mood. Some of her angst lifted. “I’ll be fine. I have to face it sooner or later. Might as well be now. Will I see you…soon?”
He crushed her against his chest and kissed the crown of her head. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. How about I come by in the morning?”
She nodded into his shirt, too choked up to speak.
He checked her house, turned on lights then pronounced it safe for her to come inside. Then he gave her a scorching kiss before taking her face between his hands. “That’ll have to hold you until tomorrow.”
She clung to him a few more seconds before letting go. “See you.” As she shut the door, she pulled in a shaky breath. Then she got to work smudging the space with smoldering sage and cleansing it with lavender and saltwater to remove any residual negative energy.
Despite her best efforts, something still felt wrong. Maybe it was Zander’s absence. Then again, she’d never had a man die in her home before. Some of those discordant vibrations were bound to hang around for a while. She’d need some serious supernatural firepower to make her home feel livable again.
She called Taryn. “Hey,” she said when her friend answered. “Are you busy?”
“Nope. Just spring cleaning. What’s up?”
“I need your help. And Haley’s too.”
Taryn agreed to come over and so did Haley. Jilly whipped up a batch of vegan muffins and popped some kettle corn as she waited for her friends to arrive.
The women knocked on the door as Jilly removed the muffins from the oven. She greeted them still wearing oven mitts.
Haley, dressed in one of her typical diaphanous sundresses, pulled her into a hug. “I was so worried about you after I heard about that man attacking you. Did you get my message?”
Jilly nodded. “I meant to return your call, but I haven’t had a moment in the past twenty-four hours.”
“The news said the guy was Hannah Saxon’s father.” Taryn entered the foyer behind Haley. “And that Hannah is alive and well.”
Over warm muffins, kettle corn and white zinfandel, Jilly told them as much as she could about the case, leaving out any details Zander had asked her to keep to herself.
Haley shivered as she tucked her feet under the afghan on the sofa. “I see what you mean about the lingering energy in here. I feel the violent afterglow. Between the three of us, I’m sure we can do something about that.”
Taryn dropped her shoulders. “I’m not sure what I can do, but I’ll try. I’ve been struggling to realize my magical powers. I think I’ve read about a million books on the subject.” But Taryn had enough heart to make up for her lack of psychic prowess. And she was a good friend. They had lots in common. Taryn had also lost her mother. Although Taryn’s had died in a fire rather than a self-inflicted drug overdose like Jilly’s had.
Haley plucked another muffin from the basket on the coffee table and handed it to Taryn. “Eloise says your mom was really gifted. Work on your meditation and affirmations and it’ll happen.”
She accepted the muffin. “Okay. I just wish I could do more to help in situations like this. What do you want us to do?” she asked Jilly.
Jilly picked up the picture she’d left on the coffee table, a photo of Lee Saxon she’d printed from the internet. “A banishing spell.”
Haley grabbed a fistful of kettle corn. She’d practically inhaled nearly the entire bowl by herself. Though she was willowy with not an ounce of extra fat on her, she seemed to eat enough for two or three men. “That’s what I was thinking.” Haley was a powerful psychic and witch. Her approval meant Jilly was on the right track.
Jilly passed the photo to her friends. “I’d like us to concentrate on our intent to remove any traces of this man’s energy from my house.” Just looking at his likeness made her shudder with the memory of how he’d attacked her, not just that last night, but the two times before as well.
Haley took Jilly’s hand and squeezed it. Taryn took her other hand and did the same. “We’re here for you, sweetie. Whatever you want, we’ll do,” Taryn said.
Bolstered by her friends’ willingness to help, Jilly took the photo and headed into her bedroom. The women gathered before her altar where she already had a candle lit. They cast a circle then joined hands.
“Focus your mind on the image in the photograph.” Haley looked from Jilly to Taryn. “Concentrate your intent.”
Jilly rallied all her powers. “Lee Saxon, we bid you depart this home and never return.”
Taryn took the photo, crumpled it into a ball then dropped it in the caldron and set it on fire from the candle.
After the ritual, the friends indulged in a movie night. Both Jilly’s friends fell asleep on the sofa, but she refused to succumb. She shut off the TV and detected a subtle shift in the air. And just like that, her house felt like home again. Their spell had worked.
/> Although the possibility of Jamal coming to find her was always in the back of her mind, for now at least, she felt safe. More so because of Zander. She warmed at the thought of him but wondered if she’d be able to engage in a normal relationship, something she’d never even witnessed up close.
Everything about him drew her. She only wished that remaining kernel of unease would go away. Shrugging off the thought, she settled into the loveseat with a small blanket and asked for peaceful dreams.
But the goddess didn’t oblige.
Jilly strode along a road, barefoot, alone and hungry. She spotted a cottage in the distance. Her feet were tired and sore so she knocked at the door, which creaked open although no one appeared to be there.
It was vaguely familiar and she felt comfortable entering. A pentacle hung from a dream catcher in the kitchen along with small string-tied bundles of fragrant herbs—rosemary, sage and mint.
She sat at the table and looked down at a spread of tarot cards—not her deck, but she’d seen them somewhere before. The Devil card was upside down on top of the deck—a warning of bondage to another person, true evil to come.
She shoved out her chair and suddenly she came face to face with Lee Saxon. Blood dripped from several wounds. His eyes were lifeless yet terrifying.
She backed into a wall of muscle. Zander. She shut her eyes and offered up a silent thank you to the Goddess.
But the laughter wasn’t Zander’s. She spun around to find Jamal smiling down at her.
“I couldn’t stay away, Lauren. Or is it Jilly?” His smile morphed into a sinister snarl.
She glanced around, desperate for escape but the men had her cornered like a rabbit. There was no way out.
She shook herself awake, out of the dream. Panting and covered in sweat, she bolted upright in the loveseat. Haley and Taryn were still fast asleep on the couch in the silent house.
“I’m safe,” she whispered, more to convince herself she was really awake. Lee Saxon was dead. But Jamal, he was alive. And there was a chance he might have seen her on TV. Odds were small. He’d rarely watched any news.
How could she be sure? Would she have to live the rest of her life with that specter of doubt hanging over her? She shivered then pulled the throw up under her chin. There was only one way to be sure he couldn’t get her. She had to leave again. Change her identity and start fresh somewhere else.
If she left, dropped her current identity, she’d be safe. But without Zander. The notion of leaving him ripped through her like jagged glass.
Taryn sighed in her sleep, reminding Jilly she’d also be walking away from her coven and the friends that had become so important to her. Maybe if she was extra cautious—made sure she was alone as infrequently as possible and had a security system installed here in her cottage—she’d breathe easier.
The air conditioner kicked on and Taryn jerked awake.
Jilly lifted off her blanket then brought it to the sofa and covered her friend. “Go back to sleep, hon.”
“Everything okay?”
“It’s fine.” She smoothed a wisp of black hair from Taryn’s forehead.
“Are you leaving?”
The question caught Jilly off guard. She’d have expected Haley to have picked up on her thoughts, but not Taryn. “Of course not.”
“Good. Because you and Haley are like family to me. My mom and me didn’t have many relatives. Now that she’s gone…”
“I know. I feel the same way.”
Taryn sat up. “Someday I’m going to figure out who set the fire that killed her. I’ve been working on strengthening my psychic powers to that end.” She nodded. “Someday. You never talk about your mother. What was she like?”
She thought about her mom, tried to sift out the parts she never spoke of, like the drugs and her endless line of loser boyfriends. “She was really pretty. And good at doing hair and makeup.” That sounded lame, even to her ears.
“Mine gave the best hugs. Every time I smell roses I think of her because that’s how her hugs smelled.” Taryn’s sad smile cut straight through Jilly. “How’d she die?”
“Um, you want a refill on your ice tea?” She picked up her friend’s glass and headed into the kitchen.
Taryn followed. “Hey, I’m sorry if I touched a nerve. Took me a while to be able to talk about the fire that took my mom’s life. I understand.”
No, she didn’t. She couldn’t get it because she had no idea Jilly wasn’t who she claimed. Grasping the counter, she shivered as an image of her mother filled her head.
Taryn hugged her from behind. “Sometimes it helps to talk about it. You can trust me.”
Her friend’s words reverberated in her head. She didn’t want to leave. If she had any hope of staying in Freedom Bay, of making a life here—one that included Zander and all her friends—she was going to have to open up to those she’d come to trust. Maybe telling Taryn about her past would get her started on that path.
She twisted around to face her. “My mother was addicted to heroin. She died of an overdose.”
Taryn’s eyes misted. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. I never would have asked it I’d—”
“No, please don’t apologize. It’s long past time I told you.” Instead of judgment, Jilly found compassion in her friend’s stare and in the aura surrounding her.
They talked until the sun came up. Jilly had no doubt she’d done the right thing by confiding in Taryn and she planned to fill in Haley when she woke. And Zander when he arrived. She had to believe in her own instincts to surround herself with those she could trust.
But after her friends left, the morning ticked past with no sign of Zander. She phoned him but her call went straight to his voice mail. Rather than keep checking the clock, she decided to catch up on some of the sleep she’d missed last night. She headed into her bedroom but when she looked at her boarded up window, all she could think about was Lee Saxon trying to kill her. She grabbed the knife from under the pillow and returned to the living room.
Stretching out on the sofa, she tried to clear her mind of all the thoughts barging in, questions about Hannah and her father, about poor Ricardo and his family.
Suddenly she was walking in the woods, holding Zander’s hand. He kissed her and she marveled at how happy she felt, how safe. Maybe this could work after all. They strode toward the beach, to the spot where she loved to read in the shade of a young pine tree.
The landscape changed to crowded, dirty streets. An intersection in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A woman leaned over a second story balcony and threw her a beaded necklace as if it was Mardi Gras time.
Confused, Jilly put on the necklace so she didn’t hurt the woman’s feelings. Somehow it tightened around her neck, choking her. She gasped and coughed.
“Zander, where are you?” She clawed at the beads, trying to loosen them enough so she could at least breathe.
“Right here.” Lee Saxon gave her a sinister smile. He held a knife covered in blood.
She backed away from him and crashed into someone.
“I’ve got you.” She looked over her shoulder and found Jamal.
Her blood ran cold. She managed to escape the men and ran down Orleans Avenue. But the necklace pulled taut, cutting off her air. She reached into her pocket and found her knife.
Black dots grew before her eyes as she worked at cutting away the beads. The more strands she cut, the more appeared, constricting her neck.
“Save yourself.”
Zander. Why wouldn’t he help her?
Something banged nearby.
She woke with a start. Someone was knocking at her door.
“Jilly?”
She shook herself fully awake at Zander’s voice. Still shaky from the nightmare, she stumbled to the door and let him in.
His clothes were rumpled and a thick shadow of stubble covered his face. He pulled her into his arms and she breathed in the scent of comfort—a hint of his cologne mixed with coffee and male sweat.
She
hung on a moment longer than he.
He held her at arms’ length and narrowed his eyes at her. “You okay?”
She burrowed into his chest. “Just hold me.”
His strong embrace replenished her depleted sense of security.
“What is it, baby? Did something happen?”
She led him to the kitchen table. “Just a bad dream. Want some coffee?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m all coffeed out. But if you want to crawl into bed with me, I’m there. You’re not working today, are you?”
She shook her head. “I called Eloise last night and told her I needed to take a day to get my mojo back, so to speak.”
He slipped his arm around her waist and drew her against him. “Then you’re free to join me in your bed?”
“I didn’t get much sleep last night. But I want to hear about Hannah. Will she have to face any charges?”
“The DA is dropping everything.”
“Yay!” She took his jacket and they went into her bedroom.
Zander stripped off his clothes. “I need a shower. Care to join me?”
He seemed so comfortable in his own skin, so at ease naked. Of course, he had an amazing body. With no scars. She treated herself to the view of his arms and shoulders, so roped with muscle, the hard planes and ridges of his abdomen. Everything that made him a man reminded her she was a woman and how much she wanted him.
He took her hand and raised an eyebrow.
Desire trumped her self-consciousness. “Sure.” She followed him into the bathroom then waited for him to step into the shower before she undressed. Pulling back the curtain, she watched him lather his hair. Like all other men she’d known, he seemed to wash his entire head.
But that was where his similarity to other men ended. She’d never been with a guy who cared so much about what she wanted, what she thought and felt. She’d made a point never to give anyone enough of herself to hurt her, yet she wanted to give him all that and more.
Despite wanting it, something inside her refused to completely let her defenses down. She turned her back to him and stood under the showerhead.
Hidden Magic Page 16