Fried Chicken & Fangs (A Southern Charms Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 12

  “Then I hope everything goes well for you tonight. I'll be cheering you on.” My sincere sentiments didn’t lessen my growing suspicions.

  She brightened at my good wishes and then drooped again as she gazed at the chain of the necklace falling through my fingers. “Thank you,” she muttered almost too quiet to be heard. “I should help finish the job so I can spend the rest of the afternoon preparing.” The fairy fluttered away, leaving me with my concern.

  I forgot what I'd come in to look for as I pondered if what I’d just witnessed meant what I thought it did. Had I caught my friend in the middle of taking one of my grandmother's prized possessions or was she being a conscientious cleaner, finding the necklace in some odd spot? And why was she in my old room?

  If I wanted answers, now was the best time to confront her, but my doubt stopped me. If she were my friend, didn’t I trust her? If I made accusations and was wrong, I could ruin our relationship. The poor tiny being had enough on her plate with tonight's event. For now, I didn't need to add to her worries.

  I pocketed Nana’s necklace, determined to give it to her before the debates started. Walking back downstairs, I headed to the kitchen. Instead of taking the cake home with me, I pulled it out and cut a slice, eating it one slow bite at a time, waiting for the fairies to finish.

  After two slices, I surprised Juniper again when she popped in. “Oh, Charli, you scared me. I was getting ready to close everything up, and didn't know you were still here.”

  I pointed at the plate. “Couldn't pass up Nana's upside down pineapple cake. Do you want to take some home to Horatio?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, thanks. I'll see you later.” With the fluttering of wings, she left.

  Putting the cake back in the fridge, I took careful steps to the front door and checked to see if Juniper and Moss were gone. Before I left the house, I visited every single room and examined as many nooks and crannies as I could. I was looking for everything and hoping I found nothing.

  Nothing missing. Everything in its place. Without my grandmother's confirmation, I couldn't be sure, but for the most part, I didn't see anything not where it was supposed to be. A small bit of relief eased my doubts about my friend.

  Picking up my cat, I closed up the house and retrieved my bike, Peaches hopping into her normal spot in the front basket.

  After today's events, I deserved a much-needed nap. The motorcycle parked outside my house and the muscled bearded man rocking on my front porch stood in my way. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bypass him and bound inside like Peaches.

  “I’m sorry I was such a witch to you today, okay?” I said, unwilling to play any games.

  “Thank you,” Dash accepted in his gruff voice. “Me, too.”

  Apologies traded, I expected him to leave. When he didn’t, the awkward silence grew between us. I blew out a breath. “And?” I pushed.

  He picked up a helmet from beside him and pushed himself up from the rocking chair. “And I thought maybe I could make it up to you by taking you for a ride.”

  I’d fantasized about riding behind the wolf shifter more than once with my arms wrapped around his waist, leaning into his solid back. And I missed the speed of a real bike. Taking the helmet from him, I planted it on my head in response.

  Dash chuckled but didn’t say anything else. We approached his motorcycle, and he straddled it, holding it steady for me to hop on. He took the helmet draped over the handlebar and secured it on his head.

  “Hold on tight,” he instructed.

  My hands detected the ridges of his muscular abs through his shirt. He squirmed under my touch. “Don’t tell me you’re ticklish.” I giggled.

  “Just another secret revealed.” With a flick of a switch and a kick, he started the motor. The bike vibrated underneath me, and I tightened my grip.

  He took us to the road with slow care, but as soon as we hit the pavement, he revved the engine and took off. The wind whipped around us, and the rumble of the bike filled my ears. It had been a long time since I reveled in that sound of freedom. I let out a thunderous war whoop, and Dash shifted gears.

  “Let ‘er rip,” I yelled.

  We traversed the edges of town away from any traffic. There weren’t many opportunities to fly, but speed wasn’t the whole point. My stomach clenched in excitement, and I couldn’t suppress the effervescent giggles that kept bubbling out of me.

  Sunlight dappled through the trees when we turned down my favorite road. Live oaks lined either side and Spanish moss hung down, creating a canopy effect. Finding a long straightaway, Dash hit the gas. I trusted him with my life, knowing he would never let anything happen to it whether on the back of a motorcycle or not.

  The gatehouse loomed closer and closer, and the wolf shifter slowed down. He pulled off to the side of the road before we reached the edge of Honeysuckle, and he let the bike idle.

  Taking off his helmet, he checked on me. “You doing okay? I can feel you laughing.”

  “I’m absolutely perfect.” My worries had been left behind in the wind.

  His own chuckle vibrated under my palms. “Good. I know we’ve got the debates tonight, so I have to take you home.”

  “As long as you take the long way back.” I bit my lip and batted my eyelashes.

  He revved his bike to life and shouted, “As you wish.” His genuine smile should be listed as an eighth deadly sin.

  Turning us around, he waited for me to squeeze him tight one more time. When we raced back toward town, I swore I heard him howl with happiness.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The bells on the door of Sweet Tooths Bakery tinkled when Lee led Ben and me inside. A long line of people waited to buy out the rest of the baked goods from the former tooth fairies, who buzzed about behind the counter filling orders. Discussions about the night’s debate peppered the air, and I listened in to catch anything alarming.

  Alison Kate approached us and kissed Lee on the cheek. “Sprinkle and Twinkle said we could all stay after they close up. If you want to wait inside, I think Lily and Lavender are seated over there.” She pointed to a far corner.

  “Excuse me, Miss Charli.” A gentle hand pushed on my back to move me out of the doorway.

  “Henry, I’m surprised you’re not at the cafe with Flint,” I chastised the elder jokester.

  He nodded at the display case. “If you want pie, you go to the cafe. But if you want a slice of red velvet, you have to come here. Sassy may be good with her pie crusts, but she has a devil of a time with her cakes.”

  “I’ll go grab you a slice before they’re all gone, Mr. Henry.” Alison Kate disappeared through the noisy crowd.

  “Much obliged,” the older gentleman called out to her. He touched my arm. “It’s a flyin’ shame that there troll dropped out. If anyone coulda given the vampire a verbal whoopin’, it was him. That Horace was a longshot-and-a-half, and his timid giddy girlfriend isn’t going to get anywhere even with the troll coaching her. It may be a tight race between the one with a pointed hat versus the one with pointy teeth.” He tapped his own enamel in his mouth for emphasis.

  “Horatio. That’s the name of the troll,” corrected Lee. He left with Ben to join the cousins at their table.

  “Whatever his name. I don’t think he’d hurt a fly. A fella who can talk like that doesn’t need to use his fists.” Henry accepted a small white box from Alison Kate and handed her some money. “Keep the change. Y’all have a good night. I’m gonna enjoy givin’ Sassy some grief by eatin’ this at the cafe.”

  As the baked goods disappeared, so did the number of people until Twinkle locked the doors. Alison Kate got up from the table to help her bosses clean up and prep for the next day. I stared at the empty space next to me where Blythe usually sat. She had gleefully joined Damien afterward to celebrate with Raif’s team. It felt like a betrayal of everything I ever knew about her, even up to a few days ago.

  “Does it bother anyone else that Blythe isn’t here?” I asked the table at large
.

  “She’s having fun with her new crush. I don’t see anything wrong with that.” A new recruit to love, Lily touched Ben’s hand.

  “It just feels unnatural that she’s hanging out with Raif, my aunt, and the Hawthorne’s.” That would include my cousin and Tucker as well. “It’s like she’s switched teams.”

  Lavender clicked her tongue at me. “It’s not an us versus them scenario. You used to hang out with most of those people before.”

  “I used to be engaged to Tucker. I find myself much happier in my present company,” I declared, smiling at my friends. “All except Lee, who can’t be bothered to participate in the conversation because he’s too busy with his nose buried in his spell phone working on something with his tongue sticking out. And I bet he smells and picks his nose and farts rainbows like a unicorn.”

  Without looking up from his device, Lee snorted. “I heard all of that. I’m checking to make sure that my latest update went through before I send it to all of you. And I definitely don’t fart rainbows.”

  Finishing off the homemade moon pie on my plate, I licked my fingers clean of any chocolate and marshmallowy sweetness. “I thought Flint spoke well tonight.”

  Ben leaned back in his chair and draped his arm around the back of Lily’s. “He did, but Raif had a stronger response for most of the issues. I thought he was slightly out of line when he somehow managed to connect the death of Mrs. K to Horatio whenever Juniper spoke.”

  “It was completely unnecessary bullying,” agreed Lily.

  Lavender took a sip from her drink. “That poor fairy looked like she could burst into tears at any moment, she was so nervous.”

  “Hey, what color was her aura?” I asked. “Does anxiety show up as a color? Or how about having a massive ego like Raif?”

  “I’ll bet being pompous has to have a really ugly color. Like puce. Pompous puce. Wait, is puce a bad color?” Lily asked.

  Ben squeezed her hand in his. “It’s more of a grayish purple-brown color.”

  “Sounds about like unicorn manure. That could work,” I said, wrinkling my nose at the idea. “So how about it, Lav?”

  My sensitive friend shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t read the auras of fairies or vampires. I have to rely on my sense of their emotions when I’m with them in person.”

  Her revelation shocked me. “Really? I never knew that. Is it because whatever magic they possess is different from ours?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe they have a way of blocking me,” Lavender suggested.

  Since we all grew up in a town with a mix of different magical beings, it didn’t come naturally to see anyone as that different from me other than maybe the obvious things like size. The whole point of our little place in the Southern sticks was to give a safe place for anyone who didn’t fit in anywhere else. Yes, we started with witches, but our community grew to have a myriad of lives living together.

  “Is it just Raif you can’t read or all vampires?” Thoughts of trying to dig up more on Damien formed in my devious brain.

  “All of them,” admitted Lavender. “I think because, you know, they’re living but they’re not at the same time.”

  “So that rules out mummies,” contributed Lee without looking up.

  “And zombies,” I pointed out, unable not to chuckle.

  Alison Kate took the chair from beside me and dragged it to sit next to her boyfriend. “Who’s a zombie?”

  Lee finally stopped obsessing over his device. “Nobody, sweetums. Okay, everybody take your phones out. The updates should have gone through by now.”

  We obeyed and listened to him give overly elaborate descriptions on how his spellwork interacted with the human technology. Weaved between his excited explanations were detailed instructions on how we could now send texts back and forth to each other. He got stopped several times and started over again from the beginning to our major frustration.

  I waved my hands in front of me. “Whoa. I think you’re making this too difficult. We don’t have to know why it works, just that it does. If I’m understanding you, we press this button,” I showed him which one, “and speak. The text will show up on the screen. Like so.”

  Pushing the button, I dictated, “Lee is a gigantic, glasses-wearing nerd of a witch.” The words showed up on my phone. After selecting his name from my contacts, I finished the action.

  His phone pinged, and he showed us his received text. “You can also use the keypad numbers like Charli says they used to, but it takes longer. And, by the way, I’m proud of my geeky magical status.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and received a kiss from Alison Kate in victory. “Also, if you press the Menu button and hold it down for more than five seconds, an alert will be sent to the warden station. I’m still working on the spell to allow them to locate you if you activate the emergency function.”

  All of us at the table clapped with enthusiasm, declaring our friend a genius. “You’re going to make a lot of money in magical communities,” I declared.

  “Me and Dash. Part of the idea belongs to him. We have an agreement.” Lee returned to messing with his phone.

  “Where is the wolf shifter tonight? I thought he was going to join us.” He’d sat next to me during the debates, adding his own commentary throughout and trying to make me snort out loud. I couldn’t kick the feeling that I wanted to ask him to take me for a ride again.

  Lee looked up and checked outside the bakery’s window. “I don’t know. He said he was coming, but when we were heading this way, he said he wanted to stop by Lucky’s bar for a couple of minutes. I’ll be honest, I almost joined him.”

  Alison Kate hooked her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder. “But you thought better of it and came in to support me and my shop.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “That’s right, my hot little honey bunny with honeysuckle icing.” Lee flipped us off after the rest of us groaned and threw our napkins at the two of them.

  Standing up, I stretched. “I think I’ll go find Dash. Ben, can I have a quick word with you?” I pulled him to his feet and dragged him with me away from the others. Lowering my voice, I interrogated him. “What did you tell my grandmother?”

  A sheepish look shadowed his face. “What did she tell you that I told her?”

  I placed a hand on my hip. “Don’t play advocate with me and redirect my question with another question. Did you tell her about my problems?”

  Ben squinted. “N-o-t exactly,” he dragged out. “But the woman has a way of getting information out of you. She’d have made a fantastic advocate.”

  I snorted. “Tell me about it. So you didn’t give her any specifics?”

  “Uh-uh.” My legal friend shook his head. “Why?”

  I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him closer. “Because I had to drink an entire tall glass of that nasty, disgusting, revolting sludge. All because of you.”

  Lily noticed my manhandling of Ben. “Hey, hands off my merchandise, missy,” she called out.

  I let Ben go and pointed a finger at him. “There will be payback. You won’t know when. You won’t know where. But it’s comin’.”

  He lifted his left eyebrow. “You’re trying to start a prank war with me? The king of pranks?”

  The man had a point. He knew how to play it cool and had the patience of a sphinx. No one suspected him or respected his devious mind. He possessed a talent for passing off the blame for pranks onto others and excelled at the long con. We found out after graduation that he had been the instigator of the pimple hex in high school, not young Gerald Tanner. Ben was the provider of the face cream to cure the unsightly acne, so we thought he was our savior, not the sinner. He not only fooled us all but he also made a lot of money off his efforts. Had he not told us himself, we may never have known.

  “Maybe not,” I acquiesced.

  “Still, I’m sorry she made you drink that stuff. But consider that it might have helped you, whether there’s something wrong with you or not. That’s a win-w
in in my book.” Ever the advocate, Ben talked his way out of trouble.

  I bid my friends goodbye and went on a search for Dash. Waving at the people through the window in the cafe surrounding Flint, I wondered where Juniper and Horatio had ended up tonight. Had I been able to catch them after the debates, I would have invited them to come with us. I hoped they knew they still had many friends supporting them in Honeysuckle.

  I spotted a motorcycle parked in front of the bar and crossed the street in that direction, my blood quickening at the thought of getting to ride behind Dash again. As I got closer, I detected two bikes instead of one. And neither of them was like the one I’d ridden on today.

  The shattering of glass from the alley between the bar and the next building stopped me from entering The Rainbow’s End. I followed the noise of angry voices and witnessed a struggle at the end of the passageway. Ducking behind the dumpster, I stood up to see over the bags of trash.

  Two dark figures took on one, fists hitting flesh in muted thuds. The one getting beaten bent over with a blow to his stomach, groaning.

  “Stay out of our business,” warned one of the attackers.

  “You can’t tell me what to do anymore,” grunted the other attacker, pounding his knuckles across the one in the middle’s face with a crack.

  A roar ripped out of the punching bag. Amber eyes I recognized flashed in the darkened alley. Dash. With a snarl, the wolf shifter straightened to his full height and tossed the first guy in my direction. A hard body hit the other side of the dumpster with a crash, pushing the metal container into me. I flinched and crouched down.

  Taking the guy who had punched him in the face by the throat, Dash threw him up against the brick wall with a growl. His voice hovered between human and animal, and he rasped, “Tell me why you’re in my town, Trey, or I will break you.”

  The man who had taken a glorious motorcycle ride with me earlier today no longer existed. Based on the grunts and heavy panting, his animal fought against him to break free. And was winning.

  Pixie Poop.