Page 14 of Unhinged Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #2)

Wesley

The front door of my tattoo parlor swung open, Reid’s voice breaking my thoughts. “What bites?”

I lifted my head from the sketch I’d been working on, shaking my head at his flippant remark. “Of all the things to say in a town like this,” I muttered.

He wore loosely laced boots, casual black jeans, and an equally dark long sleeve tee.

Swirls of ink curled over his forearms from where he had pushed his tee up to his elbows, making him look like he fit in here more than I did.

Having inked the designs myself, I knew they covered him from the waist up, hiding history he refused to talk about.

Leaning against the front counter, he looked over the desk at me. “Ok, what gives?”

I let my stool roll back on its wheels and stretched my legs. Staring back at the sketch in front of me, annoyance churned in my gut. It wasn’t coming together the way I envisioned. Letting the pencil drop from my fingers, it clattered against my desk.

My mind had been a complete mess when I woke up this morning. Thoughts of Skye and this whole fucking thing with my brother’s ghost had left me reeling. Sleep just hadn’t come, and I knew I looked like shit.

Reid wasn’t blind, nor stupid. I knew he smelled a rat, but I couldn’t tell him about Skye. Not yet. I couldn’t risk it getting back to Ty before I got the chance to speak to him myself.

As if my silence beckoned his attention further, Reid pulled out a chair, flipping it backwards, his arms draped over the back as he looked at me expectantly. I dragged my hand through my hair, weighing up how to approach the topic without saying too much.

“Say you wanted to talk to a ghost… how would you go about it? Asking for a friend.”

Reid looked at me doubtfully. “Personally, I wouldn’t fuck with the dead.”

My lips pulled into a thin line. I had to agree with him. Until last night.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and I stumbled for what to say next.

Reid’s voice broke the quiet. “Mate, I don’t know what’s brought this on, but the dead are better off ignored, in my opinion. They aren’t… ”

Suddenly, the door to Inked flew open, a red-faced Skye storming inside.

“Who do you think you are?” she seethed, slamming the door shut behind her. The force caused the windows to rattle. Her hands hung at her sides, bunched into fists, a fever in her eyes brightening them into two fluorescent bulbs.

My brows shot to the roof. I darted a look at Reid, his gaze flitting between us.

Skye followed my eyeline, stilling when she noticed him perched on the chair.

Reid’s fingers thrummed against the back of the chair. “Here for some ink, Skye?”

“Ah.” She stopped short, grappling for words. “Yeah, thinking about it.”

Rising from my stool, I leaned against the side of my desk, throwing her a look we both understood.

Not here.

The barrel of fire directed at me didn’t extinguish.

“It seems Skye’s not happy with the design I drew for her,” I said, coming up with the first thing I could, to divert any suspicion.

Her glare didn’t ease up. “I didn’t think it was appropriate, ” she shot back.

This woman was simply infuriating. “I beg to differ,” I retorted, stifling a smile behind my fist.

Blood raced through my veins at her fiery temper, my dick stirring in my pants. She was an absolute fucking delight. Fierce. Passionate . It took every ounce of will inside me to stamp down the arousal at the fever in her glare.

Last night, everything between us changed. It was vulnerable, honest. But this? This connection between us when we threw banter at each other like daggers was fucking magic.

Reid stood, moving toward the door. “I’m going to leave you guys to sort out whatever this is yourselves.”

Skye didn’t look at him.

I held the connection between us, the live wire of tension ready to explode.

“And Wes?”

I dragged my head back to Reid at the warning in his tone. Knew his thoughts were turning over, drawing his own conclusions.

“Yeah?”

His stare hardened to mine, a hand lingering on the doorknob. “What we spoke about earlier… might pay to keep it to yourself for now.”

He knew. Fuck.

A simple nod and he left.

The moment the door shut behind him, I wasted no time. “Not wise,” I said pointedly.

“Don’t avoid my question. What the hell was that last night?”

I lifted a brow. “Oh, you liked that?”

Last night I crossed a line. Did something I had never done before. I’d been that fucking devastated by the night’s events, I hadn’t been thinking straight. I had to admit, cracking her subconscious state had been enthralling. Something I didn’t know I was capable of.

Her irises turned a shade of silver blue, her fire element making itself known. Again .

“Screw you,” she spat.

I smirked. “If that’s what you want…”

Her pupils blew wider. “Arrgghhh! You’re so—”

“Charming? Great in bed? Oh wait, we didn’t get to that.”

She looked as if she were about to combust. Her eyes, wild with an untamed hunger lingering behind them, made me question if she’d finished herself off last night. My guess was not.

She stormed over to me, her hand wrapping around my throat, catching me off guard. Enough to lose my footing. I stumbled backward until I hit the wall, her fingernails shaping crescent moons into my skin at the base of my neck.

Well shit.

Her grip around my throat tightened further. “If you would shut that perfect as shit mouth of yours, I could tell you I have a plan.”

She thought my mouth was perfect?

Fuck. Yes.

When I realized air was not as precious to her as it was to me, I threw my hands up in defeat, and she released her hold on me.

Quick bursts of oxygen pulled into my chest. “Are you insane?” I rasped, grabbing at my throat.

“Stay out of my head,” she demanded, grabbing fistfuls of my shirt.

I couldn’t help myself. This whole situation was so fucked up. “I’m just saying, if lack of air is your kink…”

This time she shoved me. “Are you finished?”

Her glare sliced the banter from my tongue. “You have a plan?” I asked, not sure I heard her correctly.

“Yes.”

I rubbed my throat, unsure if I was on board with this lack of air shit she clearly got off on. Everyone had their own kinks, but fuck, air was life.

When she finally let go of my top, I answered honestly. “I’ll try anything, Skip.”

She released her hold, her eyes rolling full circle. “You know I hate that name.”

Ignoring the comment, I moved past her, grabbing my jacket from the back room. I extended an arm. “After you.”

She huffed her way out the door, and I locked it behind us. Perks of owning my own business.

Leading us down the road, she headed toward the forest, a duffel bag hanging over one shoulder.

Curiosity got the better of me. “What’s in the bag?”

“Questions later,” she replied without turning around.

I stared at her ass where her tights left nothing to the imagination. At that moment, because, fuck it would be my luck, she turned to look behind her, catching me in the act. “Just checking out the goods,” I admitted.

She stormed on with a subtle shake of her head. “You honestly have no tact.”

A smile crept onto my face at how easy it was to get a rise out of her, and I wondered if she was like this with everyone or if she kept those burning embers just for me.

I let my thoughts drift to the previous night when I bolted out the door under the suffocating circumstances. It had all been too much. To know my brother was here, but not. That he had been haunting Skye.

I didn’t even know if haunting was the right term, much less be able to decipher how I felt about it.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we turned off a familiar dirt trail that led onto another. As we entered the forest, it tightened around us, the trail getting thinner until I could barely make it out ahead.

She sighed. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“And you give no answers.”

Scampers scratched the quiet that fell over us, their brisk departures from our oncoming footsteps deepening into the forest. They made hasty exists before I even got a glimpse of them, clearly more frightened of us than we were them.

It was a comforting thought. I had never ventured this far into the forest before, not even as a child.

We continued down the trail, winding our way through the tangled forest, when, suddenly, Skye halted in front of me.

My chest collided with her back. Her hand whipped behind her, landing on my arm, halting my movement.

We stood on the edge of a small clearing, the silhouette of a large manor leaning toward us.

Skye removed her hand, lifting a finger in the air. An unspoken warning.

I reached out with my magic, searching the area with my senses, but we were alone.

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “There’s no one here.”

A quick nod and she moved forward. Footsteps cautious. Silent.

I followed close behind her, mirroring her steps. “What is this place?” I murmured.

“This is Moldsworth Manor. It’s been vacant for as long as I can remember.”

I stared up at the two-storied monstrosity looming before us.

Faded of color, its weathered timber exterior was now home to a sprawling expanse of vines.

Their naked limbs climbed its walls as if claiming the manor as their own, winding themselves through gaping holes that once served as windows.

The vacant frames stared back at us, almost leering.

“It looks like something out of a horror movie,” I muttered. “How did I not know about this place?”

Skye’s face brightened. “I found it as a child. I haven’t been back for years.”

A beat of silence passed. I wasn’t sure what this house had to do with her plan .

“Do you plan to murder me, Skip?”

She laughed lightly. “If you quit calling me that, I’ll let you live another day.”

I smirked. “Unconvinced.”

We stepped onto the porch that wrapped around the lower level, Skye making her way to the front door. It groaned as she pushed it open, the movement sending a layer of dust sweeping with it.

Caution edged my tone. “And why are we here again?”