Page 7 of Spicy Little Curses (Scared Sexy Collection #3)

I did the only reasonable thing I could do in that moment. I headed straight to the minibar in the antique credenza, removed all the tiny bottles of vodka from inside, found a glass, and started twisting off caps.

“Is this how you always respond to bad news?” said Dax drily as he watched me pour.

“No, that’s usually when the tacos come into play, but I’m winging it. You want vodka?”

“No. But I’ll take whiskey if you have any.”

If I had any. I almost laughed at that. The first thing I did before I booked a room anywhere was inquire about the contents of the minibar.

I had way too many other faults to consider that as one.

I poured Dax his whiskey, handed it to him, then stared at him until he demanded, “What?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how you physically dragged me away from danger, even though you claim nobody can escape that faceless curse collector of yours. It was almost like ... you were worried about me.”

The coldness of his glare rivaled that of the polar ice caps. “It was instinct.”

“Hmm. So this dislike is mutual?”

“ Very. And don’t make that face, I’m telling you the truth.”

We swigged our drinks and stared aggressively at each other.

Finally, he growled, “Shut up.”

I blinked at him innocently. “I didn’t say a word!”

“Your expression is saying it all for you.”

“So stop looking,” I shot back, taking another sip of vodka.

He muttered something under his breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. He seemed like he might throw the glass across the room. Instead, he downed the whiskey in one long gulp and set the empty glass on the table beside his chair.

“All right,” I said, plopping onto the edge of the bed and setting my own glass aside. “You said the Hollow Man can’t be stopped, but if this whole thing started with a curse, then logic would suggest—”

“Logic?” He snorted. “You saw a faceless nightmare point at you like you’re next in line at the butcher’s counter. But sure, let’s bring logic into this.”

I ignored him. Men got so emotional when they couldn’t be in control of everything. “Logic would suggest that if a curse was made, it can be un made.”

“And how do you suggest we do that? Track down a caplata who died two centuries ago and ask for a refund?”

I stood up and began pacing again. “No, but there has to be someone who knows how curses like this work. There has to be some kind of loophole. A reversal. Maybe even another caplata willing to undo it.”

Dax’s face darkened. “You don’t mess with voodoo, Petra. Not unless you’re willing to pay a steep price.”

I turned and gave him an arch look. “Was I hallucinating when you told me that I’m marked for death? I don’t exactly have much to lose, do I?”

His gaze was dark. Unfathomable. He stared at me pensively for a moment, then glanced away, staring out the window into the night. The room fell heavy with silence, the only sound the faint hum of the hotel’s ancient heating system.

“There’s someone who might know more.”

“Who?”

His lips pressed into that thin line that was becoming more and more familiar. After a pause, he said, “Celeste Leclair.”

“Okay. Where do we find this Madame éclair?”

“ Le clair. And finding her is the problem. She doesn’t exactly have a fixed address.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“She’s off the grid.” He hesitated, then added grudgingly, “And she hates me.”

“She sounds like a very intelligent person.”

The saccharine smile I wore made him look as if his head were about to explode.

He jolted to his feet and headed toward the minibar, elbowing me out of the way. “Look, Celeste is a medium. And not the kind that reads your future in a crystal ball in the Quarter for twenty bucks a pop. She’s the real deal. People say she’s got one foot in this world and one in the next.”

“Perfect! That’s exactly the kind of person we need!”

He unscrewed the cap on another mini bottle of Jack Daniel’s and sucked down the contents. “Yeah. Except she’ll probably kill me on sight.”

“Why would she do that?”

After a suspiciously long pause, he admitted, “Her daughter was in love with me.”

It took a second for me to understand. When I did, I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. “No.”

Ashen and tight lipped, he nodded.

“Oh, Dax ... that’s awful! She’s dead ?”

Exhaling slowly, he nodded again.

“I’m so sorry. Oh God, how tragic.”

We were doomed, but I didn’t say that out loud. Instead, I went into fix-it mode.

“Okay, so we just have to convince a woman who hates you to help us break the ancient curse that killed her daughter.”

“She doesn’t blame the curse. She blames me . And rightly so, because I could have saved Emmie by just staying away. By not being selfish and staying the fuck away.”

I was beginning to see why his personality was so bad. He wanted to make sure nobody else fell victim to the curse again, not if he could help it.

That was almost heroic.

Judging by the way those girls on the street gaped at him, however, I suspected he didn’t have to do much to trigger the curse. One sly wink in their direction, and the three of them would’ve been goners.

“Look, we have to try. Not only for you and me, but for all the other people who could be affected by this curse in the future.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “There won’t be anyone else affected by it.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I’m the last of the Rousseaus. Matthias’s final descendant. The curse dies with me.”

Oh.

Oh crap .

I should’ve been nicer to him. Way nicer.

Because if I really was marked for death by his stupid family curse, he had zero reason to help me fight it.

He could just let me be reaped or sown—or whatever being murdered by a supernatural entity who collects curses is called—and continue on his surly way, avoiding romantic entanglements until he died.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said sourly, watching my face.

“But I’m not that heartless.” He paused for a beat; then the ghost of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Actually, I am, but I’m also too curious to not want to know why the curse has suddenly changed to go after a woman who’s not in love. ”

“If that’s your roundabout way of trying to say I really am in love with you, I just don’t realize it yet, you’ve got broken front teeth in your immediate future.”

His lips thinned again, but this time it wasn’t in displeasure. He was trying not to grin.

Stifling a yawn, I picked up my vodka glass again. He removed it from my hand and set it on the nightstand.

“It’s late. You need rest.”

“No, I need to find Madame éclair!”

“ Le clair. And we will find her. First thing tomorrow, we’ll start looking. But right now, you need sleep.” He gestured across the room. “You take the bed. I’ll take the floor.”

“Wow. And here I thought you weren’t a gentleman.”

His glower was as black as his eyes. “Don’t get used to it.”

He grabbed a pillow and blanket from the closet and settled himself like a watchdog on the floor in front of the door, folding his arms behind his head and glaring ferociously at the ceiling.

I crawled under the covers and gazed at him for a moment before turning out the light. Lying there in the dark, I thought about what his life must have been like.

All those years being alone, knowing he could never risk closeness with someone, knowing what would happen if he let himself fall ...

What did happen.

His low voice interrupted my musings. “Get some sleep, Notebook. The problem will still be there in the morning. You can worry about your fate tomorrow.”

But I didn’t sleep. And it wasn’t my fate I was worried about.

Though I was the one marked for death, for some strange reason, I was more worried about him .