Page 8 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

Every muscle in Briggs’s body ached. After sitting in the control chair all day at the studio and then ripping out the ceiling drywall at Mystyk Pizza, all he wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and sleep for a week.

“That’s all we can do tonight,” King said, slapping him on the shoulder.

“Thanks for all the help, man,” Briggs said, wiping the sweat from his brow as he watched Melissa and her friends work to clean up the rest of the debris.

“Did you ever imagine that we’d have a circle of people who’d show up for us like this?” King asked Briggs.

Briggs glanced at his friend. “They’re here because of you.”

King raised both eyebrows. “I’m not the one who made it rain inside.”

“You know what I mean.” Briggs crossed his arms over his chest. “If you hadn’t found Sadie again, Melissa wouldn’t be here, nor would her friend Imogen and her boyfriend Shaun. I just got lucky that I’m friends with King McGrath.”

King let out a dismissive snort. “You think I’m the reason that Melissa agreed to be your fake fiancée? Dude, you need a reality check.”

Briggs let out a slow breath. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“No, I don’t know it,” King said, sounding slightly annoyed. “Open your eyes, buddy. Melissa is here because she likes you , not for any other reason.”

“Yeah, okay.” Briggs was just finding it hard to believe that so many people had shown up for him.

The only person who had ever had his back was King.

Not his parents, or his foster parents, and certainly not anyone down in LA.

Everyone he’d ever met had always tried to use him to get to King.

But Melissa wasn’t that type of person. Besides, she was neighbors with King now.

Hanging out with Briggs just to be close to King McGrath would be counterproductive.

“Here she comes,” King said. “I think I’ll go see if Sadie needs help with those garbage bags.” He held his fist out, and Briggs bumped it with his own.

King nodded to Melissa as he left, and without slowing down, she nodded back.

When she stopped in front of Briggs, she wore a troubled expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Briggs and King had already been hard at work taking down the damaged sheetrock when she’d arrived, and they hadn’t had a chance to talk yet.

“I have some bad news,” she said, looking apologetic. “I looked everywhere, called the inn, and even called Wanda to see if she knew of anything, but?—”

“I’m stuck with Kassie,” he said flatly, not really surprised. When he’d moved to Keating Hollow to work with Austin, he’d had a hell of a time finding a rental until he’d closed on his house. He’d stayed at the inn for part of the time and in a short-term rental the rest.

“There’s a place in Eureka, but it’s not the greatest. I could also cobble together multiple rentals, but they were going to be a lot more than your budget. Even then, there was absolutely nothing during Valentine’s weekend. I can try to?—”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Briggs said.

“I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to get along with her until this album is finished without destroying the entire town of Keating Hollow.

” Dread coiled in his stomach. What if his magic rippled out of control again?

What if someone got hurt… like they had before? He shuddered slightly.

“Do you still want me to come over again tonight?” Melissa asked.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say yes. To ask her to move in with him for the next month or so. But instead, he shook his head. He couldn’t do that to her. Melissa had her own life.

“He’s lying,” King said as he walked by. “He definitely wants you to head over.”

Briggs flipped his friend off but didn’t contradict his words.

Melissa eyed him intently. “There is no way I believe that you want to spend one moment alone with Kassie.”

“That’s true. She makes me want to blow things up,” he said and then had a vision of doing just that. The ache in his gut intensified. He pressed his hand to his stomach, willing the pain to go away. “But I can’t ask you to do that. I’m sure you have a life to get back to.”

“You didn’t ask. I offered,” Melissa said, standing with her hands on her hips and glaring at him as if he’d just insulted her favorite pet.

He couldn’t help it. He chuckled.

“That’s funny? That I offered? Listen, Briggs, I do have a life to get back to.

But here in Keating Hollow, we generally try to look out for each other.

If that’s too much for you to handle, then I suppose I will just go home.

Have a nice night.” She turned to walk away, but Briggs reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

She paused, looked at his hand on her arm, and then back up at him. “Are you manhandling me?”

“Not yet,” he said. “But if you come home with me, I might.”

She shook her head in exasperation. “You’re a pain in my butt. You know that, right?”

“Yes. But you’re going to forgive me and then come save me from the evil pop star. I’ll serve you breakfast in bed again.”

She stared at him, her eyes narrowed as if she were contemplating his offer. When she finally spoke, she said, “You better.”

The ache in his gut eased as he said, “Count on it.”

He placed his hand on the small of her back again as he guided her over to where Bronwyn was sitting near the front of the restaurant. The owner was busy working on a list of supplies they needed to continue the work. “Hey, Bronwyn.”

She jerked her head up, startled, but then smiled easily at him. “Briggs. Thanks for showing up tonight. Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect, but you and your friends have already made so much progress. If we keep the repairs up at this pace, we might be able to reopen by the weekend.”

“I think that should be doable. As long as the paint fumes have dissipated,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure we have a witch or two who can help with that,” she said with a wink.

Briggs almost said that he could do it, but then he remembered that his out-of-control magic had caused all the damage and didn’t want to risk it. “That would be great. We’re going to take off unless there’s something else you need tonight.”

“No. Go home and get some rest. That’s where I’m headed.” Bronwyn yawned, making her eyes water.

Briggs knew exactly how she felt. “See you tomorrow evening.”

Once he and Melissa were outside the restaurant, he turned to her. “Have you eaten?”

“Not much. You?”

He shook his head. “I would suggest a pizza, but…”

She chuckled. “I think we can still get burgers from the brewery if we hurry.”

“I’ll call them in.” Briggs pulled out his phone and ordered three cheeseburgers and fries.

“Three?” Melissa asked.

He shrugged. “One for the princess. I don’t know if she’ll eat it, but it will be there if she wants it.”

“I’m willing to bet she’d rather eat dirt than the grease in that hamburger, but it was nice of you to think of her.” Melissa smirked.

He just shrugged because she was probably right.

He really didn’t know what Kassie would do.

Back when they’d had their thing in LA, she’d happily eaten burgers.

She’d also eaten waffles and cheesecake and anything else he’d offered.

But she hadn’t been filming herself every five minutes back then, either.

They thanked Sadie and King and Imogen and Shaun.

“King and I will be back tomorrow night to install the sheetrock, but I don’t think there’s really anything else to be done until we paint,” Briggs said.

“Call me for that,” Shaun said. “I’m more than willing to lend a hand.”

“Thanks, man.” Briggs shook his hand, thanked everyone again, and then walked with Melissa to her car. “I’ll go pick up dinner while you pack another overnight bag.”

“You have your truck back already?” she asked.

“Yes, it was an electrical panel that shorted out. Thankfully, the parts store had it in stock, and Mitch over at Redwood Auto was able to fix it this afternoon.”

“You gotta love small town community,” Melissa said.

“The longer I live here, the more I’m convinced it was the right place to land,” he said. “The scenery isn’t too bad either.”

Her face flushed, and he couldn’t help grinning down at her.

“Stop. Go get dinner. I’ll see you back at your place.” Melissa pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek.

He’d considered shifting just enough that their lips would meet, but he decided he’d save that for later that night when he had time to savor her. As long as he didn’t fall asleep first. Now that Melissa had left, that bone-weary exhaustion had started to creep back in.

It was going to be one hell of a long week.