Devi and I both stare at her. Laney’s not one to drop multiple fuck-bombs in a single two-word sentence.
She goes a little pink in the cheeks. “Theo’s exact answer when I asked him the same question.”
“Because he doesn’t want her to, or because he knows for himself that she’s not?” Devi asks.
“Both,” Laney answers.
“She’s home?” Devi presses. “I didn’t think anyone had heard from her.”
“She was scheduled to get home this weekend,” is Laney’s cagey response. “Theo’s been demanding proof-of-life updates. He’s also spent some time at her house this week, clearing out all of Chandler’s stuff to take to Fiona Bell’s house.”
That takes a second to register, and when it does, I get my first real laugh in a week.
Fiona runs an online recycled art store with a specialty in jewelry made from reclaimed junk. She’s also Snaggletooth Creek’s most prominent Wiccan practitioner.
It’s a good combination.
She cleanses the auras of anything she recycles before she sells it. Everything on her site is guaranteed curse-free.
Ah, fuck.
I told Grey about Fiona and her war with her neighbor.
To the best of his knowledge, I was talking about a water rights war between Ms. Sharpie and Mr. Leprechaun.
It’s actually about a greenhouse straddling a property line and whether or not she was growing poison ivy for use in spells on him.
And him is one of the triplets who gets super mad when I talk about it, so I never say which triplet.
I love the triplets too much to divulge any more than that.
“So they’re definitely over-over?” Devi asks.
Laney nods while she pushes Jitter out from under the table. “That is the one thing that’s crystal clear in the whole situation.” She looks at me. “Will your new boss figure out who you were talking about, or do we need to do damage control?”
“I think he’s writing me off as a liar, and I changed a lot of details, so we’re probably good. But it might not be a bad idea for a few more people to tell him some incorrect gossip so he quits worrying about what I might’ve told him.”
Devi squints at me. “There’s something you’re not saying.”
“It’s—”
“Addison Hunter at three o’clock,” Laney says quickly.
Devi and I both whip our heads around.
Shit.
She’s right.
Addison’s here.
Addison’s here, and she’s angling up to Grey like she has every intention of asking him to head back to her place.
Over my cold, dead, gossip-loving body.
“Jitter, you win,” I tell him. “Let’s go see your new BFF.”
“Aww, Jitter likes him?” Devi says.
“Jitter likes everyone.”
Except Addison.
I have forbidden him from liking Addison.
And I tell myself Addison is the only reason I’m rising from my seat to cross the room with my dog and rescue Grey.
Again.
If he wanted to talk to Devi, or Laney, or Kayla, or whoever, I don’t care.
But Addison?
No.
No.
The minute I lift my head to plot my path across the restaurant, he makes eye contact with me as if I’m the only person in the room.
Once again, my breath catches in my throat.
Exactly the way it did when he flew to my side to keep me from falling after he startled me in the kitchen earlier, which I am actively not thinking about.
Not thinking about the fear in his eyes.
Not thinking about the way his breath was coming too fast.
Not thinking about the strong grip of his long fingers wrapped around my forearm.
Not thinking about the conflicted emotions that danced across his face when he realized he was giving himself away.
He cares.
But the fact that he clearly doesn’t want to and keeps bringing up how I left him in Hawaii is a major red flag, waving in the wind, broadcasting I have trust issues and I’m ridiculously attracted to you still and pissed about it.
And what do I do with red flags?
I have one-night stands with them.
That’s my dirty little secret. It’s in my DNA to go for the guys that I know aren’t relationship material.
Until Hawaii, but that was safe because I was never supposed to see him again.
He stares at me a beat too long before turning back to Addison and whatever she’s saying as she crowds him too close for my comfort. I say a quiet thanks to the cappuccino gods that it takes me about ten seconds to reach his side.