A Barrel of Whiskey - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel) (19 page)

“Drew?” Paige cleared the threshold into the kitchen.

Leah sat at the dining room table, calm with a big box of drawing pencils open in front of her, earbuds plugging any sound and a sketchbook in her lap.

“I didn’t know she was an artist.”

“Well, she is. Where do you want this?”

Paige pointed to the floor beside the playpen, dumping the bags next to the spot she’d pointed out. “What else did you do today?”

“Tune-ups on all the cars. Alma needs new pads, so that’ll take a bit more time. What about you? You were gone a long time.”

“You see what we came back with, right?”

“The whole store.”

“Only half of it, but yeah. Leslie can shop.” Paige leaned against the car. “But you wouldn’t believe where we went first.”

An expectant smile creased his eyes. “Lawyer.”

“Jesus Christ! Was I the only who didn’t know about this?”

“We didn’t want to get your hopes up just in case it didn’t work out.”

“Wow.”

“And, hello, Pagan. Stop using Jesus’ name in vain.”

Paige stuck her tongue out at Dexx. “Sorry, Jesus. Though, I’ve read the Bible. I’m pretty sure he’d understand. Yeah, so, anyway.”

“Yeah, so anyway. How’d it go. What’d she say?”

“You knew it was a she?”

“Yeah. Nick went to college with her. She’s a real nice gal.”

“Nice. Yes. She’s nice.” Good grief. She felt like a dolt. How much was going on around her that she just wasn’t paying attention to? Focused. That’s what Leslie called it. Too focused. Yeah. Paige could see it now. “We have an emergency hearing scheduled for tomorrow.”

“And she thinks it’ll go well?”

“She does, but so did the last one.”

“We know more now.”

“Did you and Leslie share notes? That’s what she said.”

“Hey, we all feel a little guilty over what happened. Okay? Less me. I wasn’t here. I was, however, in New York when Rachel showed up with Leah. I heard the stories she told everyone about you.”

Paige narrowed her eyes. “Do I even want to know?”

“Nope. But I heard them. And I admit, for a while there, she suckered me in. You’ve got to remember, she took me in when I had no one else.”

“You had no one else because you refused to go back to a mother who loved the shit out of you.”

“I never said I was a great guy. I was a pretty stupid kid.”

Paige couldn’t say she’d been any smarter. She didn’t know how she would have reacted if she’d met her father only to have him leave. She didn’t know thing one about her father. The only thing she did know was that Leslie, Paige, and Nick all had different fathers. Paige couldn’t say anything. She had a child by one father and he was dead. Maybe it was something similar for Rachel.

Though it was a lot easier to think horrible things about the woman instead of giving her any saving graces.

“Are you nervous?”

“Horribly.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “I know what could take the stress off.”

She studied his face for a long moment.

His eyes widened. “Are you trying to tell me I might actually get lucky tonight?”

“No.” She really, really, really wasn’t feeling it. Sex might relieve stress for some, but she was way too keyed up. There was no way she’d find her way into the mood even with a handsome guy like Dexx in her bed. “But it might be sometime before we’re dead.”

He clasped a hand to his heart and closed his eyes. “Such sweet words.”

Paige slapped his arm. “Stop it.”

He smiled down at her, then gathered her in his arms. “I understand. Okay. No pressure. You’re not wired that way. I get it. We’ll have our moment when it happens, not when we force it.”

Paige thunked her forehead against his chest. “How’d I deserve you?”

He rubbed her arms. “I have no idea. But it’d be real awesome if you earned me.”

She pulled back, her mouth open, one corner of her lip raised.

He grinned and grabbed more stuff out of the trunk. “What did you bring us back for dinner?”

“I have no idea. Leslie muttered something and got very excited. My coffee died in my blood stream by that time.”

“Died in your blood stream?” Dexx asked with a chuckle following behind her.

“I am not made to shop. Oi, my goodness. No. I just can’t.”

He set down his armload on the dining room table. “There’s just one small load left. I’ll go grab it. You check on Bobby.”

Paige smiled. “Where is he?”

“Upstairs in the nursery.”

Paige headed for the nursery. She slowed as she grew closer to the bathroom closest to Tyler’s room.

“What did you get into?” Leslie demanded.

“I don’t know,” Tyler whined. “I was okay and then I just felt sick.”

“You threw up on your shoes.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

Paige started to poke her head in the room, then heard the distinct sound of barf hitting porcelain and opted not to. “Got everything under control?”

Leslie sighed, her eyes closed, her face pointed to the ceiling. “Yes. We’re fine. For the love of Pete, I’m fine. Tru had better get his damned ass home today.”

“Mom,” Mandy wailed down the hallway.

Leslie pointed to Tyler and spread her hands at Paige.

She waved Leslie off. “Yeah. You got this. I’ll get Mandy.”

“Thanks, Pea.”

“Mom!”

Paige quickened her steps toward the other bathroom, but stopped at the sound of barf hitting the floor. She leaned forward, looking into the small room. Mandy had come close to the toilet, but had still managed to miss it. “What did you guys have for lunch?”

Mandy hurled again, this time into the toilet bowl, kneeling in her own vomit.

This was motherhood. Paige sighed and went to get the mop. Joy of joys. This was what she’d been missing out on all those years. This was what she was fighting to get back.

Awesome.

J
ust as Leslie got Tyler settled in his bed and Paige got Mandy all cleaned up, something drew them both into the hallway.

The sound of more barfing, but out of baby mouths.

Paige ran into the nursery in time to see projectile formula vomit erupting from Bobby’s mouth only to land back on his face. He jerked with surprise, then let out a loud, piercing scream.

Her first reaction was to pick him up, but he was covered in vomit. His bedding was covered. The floor was hit. If she’d thought Mandy had been a mess to clean up, she had another thought coming. How could so much barf come out of one tiny mouth?

It wasn’t all him. Kamden shared the crib and a good portion of that barf was his. Together, Leslie and Paige got the two boys cleaned up and the rest of the room picked up.

“I hate the smell of vomit,” Leslie complained, closing the last snap on Kamden’s onesie.

“You’ll never get it out of everything.”

“At least not for a few days.”

“Right?”

“What started all this?”

Paige looked around the room and spotted Tyler’s backpack in the nursery. “Why would Tyler’s backpack be in here?”

Leslie shrugged. “Are you thinking Tyler came in, poisoned himself, his sister, and then these two?”

No. But something was amiss. Normal kids? Something like this happens, you think something must be in the water. These kids were witches, though. Kids who were still learning the cold, hard hand of consequences. “How else do you explain it? These two didn’t go to school with them.”

“There was something in the water?”

Paige balanced Bobby in her left arm and knelt beside the Ironman backpack. She didn’t even have to unzip anything. She pulled out a pouch of material tied roughly with rope. “How much are you willing to bet this is a hex?”

“Someone poisoned my son?” Leslie let out a growl and snatched the satchel from Paige’s hand. “Who would have done that?”

“Les.” Paige looked up at her. “Last I checked, we were the only witches in town.”

“We’re not even close. There’s about a dozen of them around.”

That was news to her. “And how many of them hate you?”

“Hmm.”

“How many of them have a beef with you, enough so to poison your children?”

“Um.”

“Have you had any run-ins with any of them? Anyone who might be upset with you?”

“Well, there was Shelley, but I don’t think she’d hex my kids.”

“What happened?”

“She asked for a spell that would give her husband a run of really bad luck.”

Paige winced.

“She wants to divorce him, but he has all the money. And she’s the one who cheated on him, so she might end up losing the kids.”

Paige released a quick breath and stood. “Well, let’s get this to Grandma and see if she can’t counter it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to clean up barf all night. Especially, baby barf. Kids, you can tell them to barf in a bowl and then to clean up their mess when they’re done.”

“Dear lord, Pea. You’re mean.”

“I work.”

Leslie glared on her way out of the nursery, the hex bag in hand.

Paige followed her down to Alma’s workroom. A large wooden table filled the center of the room and the three walls were filled with shelves that housed herbs, bottles, books, and other trinkets. Drying herbs hung from the ceiling. A large window dominated the east wall. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to cast a source spell on this hex.” Leslie pulled a map of the area out of a drawer that looked like it was filled with junk. She unfolded it, the creases worn, the edges ragged. Two corners were taped back in place and scorch marks littered several areas.

“What have you done with this map?” Paige asked.

“I’ve been busy lately.”

“What’s going on?”

Leslie didn’t answer. She set the hex bag in the middle of the map and grabbed a mortar sitting on a high shelf.

Alma walked through the door that led to her room. “What’s going on here?”

“The kids were hexed,” Paige explained. “A throwing up hex.”

“What?”

“I found this. Leslie is tracking it to see where it came from.”

“You think another witch hexed us?”

Leslie wasn’t listening. Her lips moved. She took a pinch of whatever was in the mortar and drizzled it over the bag.

Nothing happened.

Leslie frowned. “What?”

Alma grabbed the bag and started untying it.

“Grandma,” Leslie shouted, reaching across the massive table to stop her.

Unless she’d climbed on the table, she couldn’t stop her grandmother.

Alma finished untying the bag and spread the contents on the table. “I know this work.”

Paige tipped her head. “As in you’ve instructed this witch?”

“You could say that.”

“Who is it?”

Alma touched the material. “Do you recognize this?”

Leslie looked up at her grandmother, then down at the material. She shook her head. “Why would I?”

“Because this is your old shirt. This rope? Came off that ball of twine right over there. This? Is Mandy’s work.”

Leslie ran her fingers through her hair, straightening. “I’m—” She licked her lips and dropped her hands. “I’m going to kill her.”

Paige chased after her sister back up the stairs.

“What were you thinking?” Leslie shouted as soon as she opened the door to Mandy’s room.

Paige scurried out of Leslie’s way as she stormed back out of Mandy’s room and headed into Tyler’s.

“Amanda Lynn!” Leslie jerked Tyler’s door open. “What were you thinking?”

Mandy sat on Tyler’s bed, the two huddled together as they stared up at their mother.

Paige set her hand on her sister’s arm. “Les.”

She shook Paige off. “What were you thinking? Hexing yourselves? And your brother? And your cousin?”

Mandy shrugged, her mouth open.

Tyler pushed himself onto his knees. “We don’t want to go to school anymore!”

“Wow.” Leslie reeled backward, putting her hands to her head melodramatically. “I don’t want to go to school anymore so I’m going to hex myself and my brother so Mom will keep me at home.”

“You don’t understand!” Mandy glared at her brother, but returned her attention to her mother. “You’re the one who says we can’t use magick in school, but I had a knife drawn on me today, Mom. And I had nothing else to protect myself with.”

“Did you use magick?” Leslie asked, her voice dropping in octaves and volume.

“No. But I almost did. I’ve had my lunch stolen. My homework has been shredded. Someone peed on my school books.”

“What the—” Leslie stopped herself. “Why haven’t you told me about this?”

“You were freaking out because you were pregnant.” Mandy’s eyes were round. “I wasn’t telling you anything.”

“Hey, Home,” a male voice shouted from the front door. “I’m home!”

Leslie turned to Tyler. “And you? What about you?”

“Boys picking fights. They want me to cast on them. They’re daring me to give them pox.”

“And you’re not, right?”

“I could break their eardrums, Mom. I can’t give them a pox.”

Leslie licked her lips and glanced at Paige. “Fine. You’re not going to school, but, next time, talk to me before you hex yourselves. The two of you have baby duty tonight since your Aunt Paige and I had to clean up not only your barf, but theirs. Next time, think.”

Tyler rolled his eyes.