AMERICAN WITCH: Friday Snippets (6)

Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s Friday Snippet of AMERICAN WITCH for you! This snippet concludes Chapter Four. As always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don’t share.

Happy Reading

Thea

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AMERICAN WITCH

Chapter 4 (continued)

He shook his head, then wryly headed for the exit. At least he should be able to get some sleep at the safe house tonight, which was good because his new job hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

And Atlanta’s new DA had a big agenda and a lot to do.

The next day began as hectically as he’d suspected it would, but he had practiced law for a very long time, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred that was beyond his capacity to handle.

Midmorning, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and surged out of his chair to close the door to his office. He recognized that number. It was the same one that had shown up when he spelled the phone call to Molly.

Hitting Accept, he held the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

He heard traffic in the background. She was slow to speak, but he could muster a wealth of patience when it mattered.

“Josiah.”

Take it easy, son, he told himself as he relaxed back in his chair. Don’t scare her away again. “Molly. Good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”

She demanded, “How did you spell my phone last night?”

He found his lips curving in an amused smile. She was obviously still mad about it. “Have lunch with me, and I’ll tell you. Better yet, I’ll show you. It’s easy.”

“I can’t have lunch. I’m across town from your office.”

“Then have dinner with me. I have plans, but I’m happy to cancel them.”

“Maybe.” Her reluctance came through loud and clear.

His smile widened. “Such enthusiasm. It’s a good thing I have a healthy ego, otherwise my feelings might be hurt.”

She snorted. “Listen, you’ve done too many things to try to influence me, and I don’t trust you.”

“Ouch,” he said, his amusement turning rueful. Over the years, he had grown so used to using small influencing spells in order to get his way he often cast them without giving it a second thought. But she was too intelligent and sensitive, and he had been too heavy-handed. “I deserve that. Does it help to know I only cast spells that would give you an encouraging nudge in the right direction?”

“Because you’re the one who gets to decide what the right direction is?” Her voice turned hard. “Anyway, I don’t care. It’s manipulative, and if you do it again, I’ll find some way to retaliate.”

Abruptly his amusement returned, along with curiosity. Spinning his chair in a slow circle, he asked, “What would you do?”

“I would…” Her voice trailed away. “Well, I don’t know what I would do. But I would figure something out.”

He had no doubt. If she knew a fraction of the things he knew, Molly could do an incredible amount of damage to an opponent. “I believe you, but that’s beside point. I apologize, and I promise to never cast an influence spell on you again. Will that do?”

She blew out a slow breath. “Maybe. But what if I decide to trust you and you go back on that?”

“I won’t,” he said flatly. “For one thing, I respect your awakening Power too much. I don’t want us to become enemies. For another, I just gave my word, and that means something to me.”

She went silent again, and a car horn honked in the background. This time he knew better than to push too hard, and she had been the one to call him, so he waited.

Finally she sighed. “Okay. I accept your apology. Unless you prove me wrong, I’ll take you at your word.”

As entertaining as this conversation had been, he had a mountain of work to do, so he turned brisk. “Great. I’ll ask again—what can I do for you?”

She lowered her voice. “What if I knew someone who might want to give the DA an anonymous tip?”

More surprises. She was turning out to be a wealth of interesting experiences. He straightened. “I would say the DA is intrigued. Tell me more.”

“It might lead somewhere, but then again it might not.”

“It happens,” he drawled. “Anonymous tips are notorious for that.”

“Also, it would be very good for your source if no action was taken until after her divorce was finalized.” She hesitated again. “You know, just in case the tip actually did lead to something.”

“Well, I don’t know what the information is. Nor do I know how long the divorce will take, but if it’s possible to wait, I think I could agree to that.”

“I met with a divorce attorney this morning,” she confessed. “Austin figured out where I was staying and showed up at the hotel last night, so she’s going to file papers and a restraining order right away. She’ll also be sending Austin a settlement offer I don’t think he can afford to refuse. Anyway, hopefully the divorce won’t take too long.”

“It must have been very unpleasant when Sullivan showed up,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. What have you got?”

“A proposition,” she replied. “I’ll tell you what I know—and I have to warn you, it isn’t a lot to go on—and in return I want you to teach me how to defend myself.”

He straightened from his slouched position. “Do you feel like you’re in danger?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Tension like a finely spun wire ran through her reply. “Maybe not. But I do feel uneasy, and I would like some insurance. Something up my sleeve, just in case. I’m not talking about a long-term commitment. One spell would do it, or even a way to somehow channel the ability I’ve already got. I would rather do that than buy a gun. Guns can be taken away from their owners, but nobody can wrestle this Power away from me.”

Ah, such naivete.

Still, given her current level of knowledge, she wasn’t wrong, and respect stirred. “Is this connected to your tip?”

“Yes. I think Austin’s dirty. I found something in the contents of our safe.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I accept your proposition. Now you have to have dinner with me and explain what’s going on. After I cancel my other plans, I’ll be all yours for the evening, but we shouldn’t meet in public.”

Her relief was palpable. “No, I don’t think we should meet in public either. We shouldn’t be seen together. Where do you want to meet?”

He considered various options. “Somewhere outside the city. Do you know the Sweetwater Creek State Park? I haven’t been there yet, but from what I’ve read, the park is huge. That should offer enough privacy.”

“Of course. It’s a beautiful place. I’ve been many times, and it’s only about thirty minutes out. Yes, I’ll meet you there. The park has a visitor center. Once you locate that, there’s a picnic area not too far away.” She rattled off directions, and he grabbed a pen to jot them down.

“Got it,” he told her. “I’ll leave right after work and meet you at six.”

“Thank you.” She paused, and when she spoke again, the reluctance had returned. “If you’re coming right after work, you’ll be hungry. I’ll bring something to eat.”

An inexplicable reaction warmed him. They weren’t friends, and he had given her good cause to be wary of him. He couldn’t think of a single reason she would make such an offer unless she was just… nice.

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“See you then,” she said.

Before she could disconnect, he added, “Oh, and Molly? If someone is really intent on doing you harm, a restraining order isn’t anything more than a piece of paper. You should relocate, and this time don’t use your credit card.”

She blew out a breath. “That’s next on my list of things to do. I checked out this morning, and as soon as the bank opened, I bought some prepaid Visa cards. After I finish talking with you, I’m going to find somewhere else to stay.”

Relaxing, he smiled and purred, “I knew you weren’t just a pretty face.”

“You think I’m pretty?” She sounded astonished but then added quickly, “I’m hanging up now.”

He laughed. “I think you’re beautiful, and I’m hanging up now too. Be careful, and make sure you don’t have somebody following you. See you soon.”

After the call ended, he fired off an email to cancel his dinner date and then sat back in his chair.

So, Molly thought Sullivan was dirty. How about that.

Her information might or might not be relevant to Josiah’s interests, but that didn’t matter. The main thing was, he should be able to gain more of her trust, at least enough so he could give her some training.

That could be enough for her to exercise control so she would stop being so damn visible to those who had magic sensitivity and enough interest in the Atlanta area to check out new anomalies. Helping Molly helped him.

He found himself smiling again. They hadn’t talked that long, but she had still managed to evoke a surprising number of emotions. And with every change in her inflection, he could imagine her expressions.

She was busy and preoccupied with her own problems, but she wasn’t letting any of that dull her sharp mind. Yes, she was beautiful, but beauty was overrated in these modern times. A woman with her kind of intelligence was sexy as hell, and he liked that. He liked her very much.

But that was irrelevant. He had no place in his life for nice people—not with the kind of damage he intended to inflict and the danger that came along with it.

It took some effort, but eventually he put her out of his mind and got back to work.

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