Page 50 of From the Start

“Sorry. I need to…” Disappear? Learn how to perform magic and apparate? Rewind time to before I let Kai remove my jeans?

She points to the rear exit and I don’t hesitate. I hurry toward it.

“You may want to button your jeans!” She hollers after me.

Great. The news of what Kai and I did in the office is going to spread around town quicker than the hurricane we had last year. Alaia is a newspaper ‘reporter’ who doesn’t understand the difference between ‘news’ and ‘gossip’.

At least my dad is no longer on the gossip train since he distanced himself from his friends. Although, I wouldn’t put it past Jade to ‘stop by’ our house to giveDad the news.

I make my way fromBootleggertoRumrunnerusing back alleys tourists usually avoid. Unless they’re trying to find my speakeasy.

It never ceases to amaze me how the location is still secret to tourists. I figured tourists would blast the location all over social media but no one does. Or, at least, not yet.

I enterRumrunnervia the rear exit. It’s not as busy here as it is atBootleggersince Mermaid Karaoke is in full swing there. They can have their karaoke. I don’t need women in seashell bras wandering around my bar bewitching the patrons.

“There you are,” Sloane says when I reach the bar. “How is your dad doing?”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you go visit your dad? You didn’t need to run there and back.”

“Run?”

She indicates my face. “Your skin is red and blotchy, and you’re sweating.”

Would it be wrong to pretend I ran to check on my dad? Sloane is a native smuggler,andshe’s been betting on when Kai and I will get together. If she knew what happened in the office atBootlegger,she’d tell everyone and then claim the winnings from the bet.

No thanks.

My other bartender, Dave, studies me. “You’re glowing.”

I rear back. “Glowing? I don’t glow.”

“Are you confusing glowing with glowering?” Trent asks.

I give him my Siren’s Scowl. “Why aren’t you at the door?”

“Told you,” he mutters as he walks away. “Glowering.”

The door flies open before he reaches it, and Dakota and Blossom rush inside. I hurry to them. “What’s wrong?”

Dakota bends over. “Why did we run? Kai didn’t say we had to run.”

“Kai?”

“Oops. Was I not supposed to say his name?”

She isn’t making any sense. I face Blossom. “What’s happening?”

She threads her arm through mine. “We need to talk.” She waves to my employees at the bar. “Harper’s on break.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I figure out what’s going on,” I add.

Blossom drags me through the bar to my office with Dakota trailing behind us.

“Okay,” I say once we’re behind closed doors. “Why are you here?”

Blossom places a finger over her lips and tiptoes to the door. She places her ear against the door to listen. After a moment, she wrenches it open. “Aha!”