Something Witchy (Mystics & Mayhem) (5 page)

I slammed on my brakes and jerked the wheel, but I wasn’t quick enough.  I clipped the back bumper of the sports car that had stopped dead in the middle of the road, and it went spinning around like a toy.  Jack clipped my back bumper, then hit the car head-on with a sickening crunch of metal.

“Holy shit!  Holy shit!  Holy shit!” Kim whimpered, shaking as bad as I was, as we came to a stop on the opposite shoulder.  “What the hell just happened?”

“I think we just became car number two in a three car pile-up.”

Strangely enough, I felt totally calm.  Figuring I was in shock, I just went with it.  I was pretty sure I would freak out later—probably about the time Blake showed up and murdered me for putting matching dents in the front and back bumpers of his new truck—but, I had bigger problems right then.  Kim and I were fine, but it would take a miracle for Jack and the other driver to have come through that collision uninjured.  And I wasn’t a big believer in miracles.

“Come on!” I told Kim, throwing open my door and jumping out like the seat had just grown tentacles and was trying to strangle me.  When she just sat there, looking at me like I was crazy, I felt like strangling
her
.  “Fine!  If you’re not going to help me, call 911 again!”

Without waiting to see if she moved, I started across the road already pulling my own cell phone out of my back pocket.  I came to a quick stop, however, when the crumpled driver’s side door of the sports car flew open and what had to be the hottest guy on the planet stepped out, totally unharmed and looking more than a little angry.

I felt my mouth pop open as I stared at him, but I couldn’t seem to make it close again.  I had never seen anyone so gorgeous in my life.  He was tall and muscular, a quality emphasized by the tight black t-shirt he wore.  Shaggy brown hair framed a porcelain-pale face that sculptors would probably kill to replicate.  He had a straight nose, strong jaw, and full, very soft-looking, lips.  Just looking at those lips was enough to make me wonder…

Yeah….
oh
yeah.

Oh, please turn around!
I thought, practically willing him to do it.  As far as I could tell, he was a perfect eleven on a scale of one to ten, but I couldn’t be sure until I saw his butt.  He didn’t disappoint me, either.  I could have sworn I heard him laugh when he turned to look at the damage to the back of his car, but I chalked it up to the lust-fueled fog he had just put me in playing tricks with my brain.

Yep, perfect eleven…maybe even a twelve.

Having given me a nice glimpse of his perfect behind, he turned around and looked right at me, and those magnificent lips turned up ever so slightly at the corners, almost like he knew what I was thinking and found it amusing.  I wasn’t looking at his lips anymore, though.  His eyes were hypnotic.  They were beautiful—a brilliant hazel that seemed to glow ever so slightly.

I felt that stare like a physical touch.  It slammed into me, making my heart hammer and my skin tingle like I had been electrocuted—only in a very,
very,
good way.  I stood there, unable to move, and watched as he made his way toward me with an almost predatory grace.  The closer he got, the more intense the sensations surging through me became.

He stopped less than five feet from me, and I felt something entirely new.  It was a ripping sensation, like something had torn loose inside me, followed by a wave of something I couldn’t name but absolutely
loved
.  I swayed a little as it washed through me.  It was the most intense, and possibly the scariest, thing that had ever happened to me, and I wanted it to go on forever.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice so warm, so soft and silky, that I wanted to roll up in it and stay there forever.  My eyes went wide, and he smiled at me again and winked.

“Um…Y-yeah, I’m fine,” I stammered, totally at a loss for words.

“Are you sure?” he asked.  “You look a little dazed, gorgeous.”

I had officially entered some alternate universe I had no business being in.  I mean, we’re talking about a guy who looked like he had fallen straight out of heaven or something, and he was calling
me
gorgeous.  I wanted to pinch myself to make sure that I hadn’t died in the wreck and landed in some awesome version of the afterlife.

“Are you sure
you’re
all right?” I asked him, totally confused.  “Did you hit your head in the crash?  Do you need to lie down somewhere?”

He shook his head, smiling mysteriously, and I saw his eyes were sparkling with laughter.  Up close, I could see tiny flecks of gold and green in them.  Truly, they were amazing.  Staring into those eyes, I lost my train of thought for a second.  Oh, I was thinking, don’t get me wrong, but my thoughts were definitely not on the train they should have been on. 

“Have we met before?”

I knew I’d never met him, of course.  Nobody would forget meeting a guy that hot. And yet, there was something so
familiar
about him.  And the longer we stood there, the more I felt a weird sense of déjà vu.

“Maybe,” he said softly, taking another step closer and forcing me to lean my head back to keep eye contact.  There are times when it really sucks to be short. 

I knew I should back up, put a little space between us, but he smelled so
good
!  It wasn’t cologne; at least I didn’t think it was.  It was just…him.  Totally male, totally addictive, and sexy as hell.

“Who the hell are
you
?”

My head snapped around at that guttural growl to find Jack standing there, massive arms crossed over massive chest, glaring at us like we had just stolen his lucky underwear or something.  Despite how annoying he was, I felt really bad for a second.  I had forgotten all about him.  He could have been seriously hurt, and I hadn’t thought about him once.  I hadn’t even noticed him getting out of his car; that’s how entranced I’d been by the godlike man turning my brain to oatmeal.

Like my mystery man, Jack was, thankfully, uninjured.  But where the other guy was calm, even smiling, Jack was beyond furious.  He was staring at the driver of the other car like he would love to squash him like a bug.

“I’ll exchange insurance info with you in a second,” Mystery Boy said without even bothering to turn around and look at Jack.  “Right now, I’m talking to this little beauty.”

“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking to, asshole,” Jack snarled.

“Really?” my mystery guy said, one perfect eyebrow arching up in a way that clearly said he thought Jack was full of shit—and he was.  “Love, are you this prick’s girlfriend?”

“Uh, no.  Definitely
not
,” I muttered under my breath, already starting to back away.  Seriously, the look on Jack’s face was enough to send me fleeing in terror.

“You
are
,” Jack growled.  “You just don’t know it yet.”  There was something weird about the way he said it that made my hair literally stand on end.  Then he made a grab for me.  I dodged it, barely, and started backing away from him faster, glaring at him the whole time. When he made another swipe at me, anyway, I reached the end of my patience with him.  Apparently, Mr. Mystery felt the same way.  When Jack started after me, he got between us and slammed both hands into his chest, shoving him back at least five feet.  I saw his eyes flare wide when Jack grinned at him, then they narrowed so much they were practically closed. 

Casually brushing imaginary dirt off his practice jersey, Jack chuckled.  “That the best you got, princess?  Because we both know it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that.” 

When he started toward me again, however, my mystery guy kept himself solidly between us.  He glared at Jack with a predatory malice that made
me
cringe. 

“Seems to me that the lady made her choice a long time ago,” Mystery Boy said.  It was obvious he was pissed—and totally unafraid of Jack.  At.  All.  And, oddly, with the anger came a strange hint of French to the undercurrent of his words, just enough to make me think he'd spent some time in Europe.  “I think it would be in your best interest to leave.  Now.”

Jack scoffed, looking completely unconcerned with Mystery Boy's threats.  “She doesn't
have
a choice, leech.  She belongs to me.  The sooner she accepts that, the better.”

Didn’t have a choice my ass!  Just hearing that bullshit come out of his mouth was enough to shoot the needle on my temper scale all the way to the top.  Car accident or no car accident, I was finished tiptoeing around his feelings.  Brutal honesty—emphasis on
brutal
—was the only option I had left.

“I am
so
done with this crap!” I snapped, marching toward him without thinking.  When Mystery Boy tried to intercept me, I just detoured around him.  I didn’t stop until I was right in Jack’s face.  Jabbing my finger into his chest, I snarled, “I’m going to say this one more time, Jack, so pay attention.  You and I, we aren’t a couple!  We aren’t
anything
!  I went out with you
twice
!  There wasn’t a third date because every time you touch me I feel a need to go home and shower!  Does that sound like true love to you?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously, and I saw something dark in their depths—right before my lungs filled with smoke again and my eyes started to burn like I was walking through a flaming building trying to find an exit.  I had to force myself not to start gagging as the smell of burning wood and what smelled suspiciously like frying skin hit me.  But, I didn’t look away.  I didn’t even blink.  He had to know I was serious, and keeping eye contact would help him see that I was.

I don’t think I have ever seen anyone look so furious in my life.  I saw a flash of something that looked almost
red
in his eyes for a second and felt like recoiling from him.  Jack had a temper; everyone knew that.  But standing there, trying to keep eye contact as I choked to death, was the first time I really saw how dangerous he could potentially be.

Especially to me,
I thought, the realization making me shiver. 
He’s very,
very
dangerous to me.
  

Even though I was terrified, I couldn’t bring myself to run.  I had never backed down from anyone in my life, and I wasn’t about to start with Jack.  I had taken more self-defense classes than a ninja.  One wrong move and he would be feeling the pain in a certain part of his anatomy for a month.

 “You know you don’t mean that, Em,” he said with a creepy-ass smile.

“Actually, I do.  Every word of it, in fact.”  When the idiot reached for me again, anyway, I slapped his hand away.  “Get this through that thick skull of yours, Jack.  I.  Don’t.  Want.  You.”

“But,
I
want
you
,” he said, a scary smile on his face. “You belong to me, Ember.”

Belong
to him?  He must have hit his head pretty hard if he believed that.  I didn’t belong to him or anyone else.  I had a mind of my own and I was perfectly capable of using it.

“I don’t
belong
to you, Jack!” I hissed through clenched teeth.  I had finally reached step three.  I wanted to kill him.  I knew how I was going to do it.  But, where to hide the body?  Hmm…  “If I belong to anybody, it’s him!”

Oh my God!  What am I doing?
 I thought frantically the second the words were out of my mouth and echoing all around me.  I could have melted into the ground in shame when I realized I had just given myself to my mystery guy.  I was even pointing at him for emphasis!

My face was flaming hot, and I was pretty sure I looked like I was about to catch fire.  I didn’t dare look at him.  I would have to come up with some excuse for dragging him into my drama with Jack, but it would have to wait until I could get rid of my own personal arch nemesis.

“Over my dead body,” Jack growled, taking another step closer even as I stepped back.

“Already plotting that outcome,” I growled right back.  “Don’t tempt me, Jack.”

I arched one eyebrow as he muttered something incoherent—and probably less than flattering—under his breath, then crossed my arms over my chest and waited for him to do something I would make him regret.  It looked like he was going to make me do something violent when he took a menacing step forward.

Before I could blink, I was pushed back and behind Mr. Hottie’s really big—really gorgeous—body.  With that one touch, I forgot all about Jack.  I forgot where we were.  I forgot we had all just survived a major car accident.  I forgot Blake was going to murder me when he saw his truck.  I forgot everything as the world came to a crashing halt and all of the air seemed to be sucked out of it.

And all because my Knight in Shining Armor was dead.

The Truth Does Not Set You Free;

It Gets You Blackmailed

I see dead people.

I know, that sounds like that line out of that Bruce Willis movie where he’s a ghost who doesn’t know he’s dead.  But, I really
do
see dead people.  I’ve seen them my whole life.