Page 113 of Not Your Ex's Hexes
Eighteen years.
Hexes.
Olive gingerly touched her arm, casting a wary glass at Damian and Callie. Rose digested the scene in front of her, slowly putting two and twelve together.
She turned toward her new friend and potential business-partner/boss with a gasp. “You’re the witch who hexed Damian?”
Callie’s gaze quickly shifted around the group, everyone now looking at her with varying expressions of anger and outrage. “I can explain. I know it looks bad, but—”
“Looks bad? No, itisbad. ASoulHex. For what? Because he didn’t get you a corsage?” Rose snapped. She faced the woman whom she had hoped to call a friend, her agitated Magic lifting the hair off her neck as her emotions climbed.
“It’s not what it seems…”
“Oh, so youdidn’thex him?”
Callie shifted uncomfortably in her heels. “No, I did… but it wasn’t supposed to—”
Rose held up a hand. “Save it for someone who likes listening to meager excuses.”
“Rose…” Damian touched her hand, whipping her attention back to him and the tense flexing of his jaw muscle. “I came here because I need your help. It’s Jasper.”
“What’s wrong?” She wrapped her fingers around his, but he gently pulled them away. She tried not to read into it, too worried about the stallion. “Is he okay?”
“He won’t let anyone near him, and if he keeps kicking like he is, he’ll bring the whole barn down on top of him. We need you back at the sanctuary.”
Callie’s own realization sank in. “You’re the owner of Mari’s Sanctuary?”
Damian threw her another glare. “Didn’t think I’d ever make something of myself, did you? Despite all your best attempts to assure I didn’t.”
“Damian, I—”
“Let’s go.” Rose stepped between them, as much for their sake as Callie’s. “Before Jasper hurts himself, and before I do something Gran will really give me a lecture about.”
Damian nodded, and in another blink, they were off, Olive and Julius following closely behind. Rose got behind Damian on his bike—ball gown be damned—and Julius called for his car from the valet. In less than a few minutes, they were all speeding back to Mari’s, ignoring things called traffic laws.
While Rose worried about Jasper and what they’d find when they arrived at the sanctuary, she also couldn’t take her mind off what had happened back at Guastavino’s.
The ex.
The ex who’d hexed Damian.
The very reason why Damian had spent the last eighteen years believing happily ever afters couldn’t be in his future.
If not for Jasper, she’d be back at that gala giving that witch a personal lesson about magical responsibility and how it was never in anyone’s best interest to hex someone in matters of the heart. And to think she’d almost agreed to become a partner at Sparks of Hope.
It wasn’t as if she had any other offers on the table, and a she-demon talon to the torso was pretty damning evidence that maybe Hunting wasn’t for her despite the fun she’d had and the asses she’d kicked.
Rose stewed on the back of Damian’s motorcycle, furious over Damian’s and her stolen futures, until they arrived at the sanctuary. The second she stepped into the barn, all her focus shifted to the frightened horse kicking the crap out of his stall.
Relief washed over Miguel’s face as they rushed into the barn. “Thank God. I just pulled out the tranq gun… just in case.”
“How is he?” Damian worriedly scanned the horse from a distance.
“No better. No worse.”
Rose eased closer to the stall. “Hey, boy… what’s going on, huh?”
Damian snatched her arm before she reached the latch. “Let’s make sure he’s responding to you before you get too close.”
