Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Okay. Let’s try again.” I tip my head up and wait for him to kiss me. “You know how we thought the most shocking thing today was the vet bill? Well, I got something to top it.”
“Now I’m kinda scared to ask.”
“Hah, right? Well, that house Keith’s aunt bought is totally haunted. I picked up a few spirits there but the one that stood out the most was a dark spirit that was keeping the others from reaching out. But anyway, that’s not my news. We went outside and were about to leave when I felt something telling me to go to this little old shed. I didn’t have time to investigate more, but Hunter was able to smell something rotten and decaying under the floorboards.” I turn the water off and twist in Ethan’s arms.
“Hmm. We’ll have to check it out soon. Were the remains human?”
I raise and lower my shoulders. “Hunter couldn’t tell.”
The floorboards creak as Nik comes down the rear stairs, emerging into the kitchen. “Best let sleeping dogs lie. And by that, I mean skeletons.”
“That’s what I said,” I tell both Ethan and Nik. “Mostly to make myself feel better for not telling Keith. But digging up a corpse will not only delay the renovation project but could anger spirits and we kinda have enough going on.” Just saying it out loud makes me feel guilty all over again. But I already feel scatterbrained and stressed, and I know whoever tried to frame Ethan for Patrick’s murder isn’t done messing with us yet.
“One thing at a time.” Ethan kisses my neck and steps back, grabbing his gym bag and going upstairs to shower.
“Everything looks good,” I tell Nik with a smile and pull a glass bowl for the salad out of a cabinet. “And smells amazing.” I take the bottles of wine I was chilling in the fridge out and open them so I won’t have to mess with the cork later. Stepping back so I’m leaning against the counter, I end up pouring myself a glass of wine, looking around the kitchen as I take a small sip.
I’ve never been overly concerned with getting my house spotlessly clean before someone comes over, telling myself my guests are here to see me and not my house. My previous house was so small I didn’t have many places to hide all my clutter, and I thought moving here would somehow make me a wonderful housekeeper.
It didn’t.
But Nik enjoys keeping things clean and tidy and even though we’ve told him over and over we don’t expect anything in return for him staying with us, I think it makes him feel better to do his part, so to speak. And right now, the kitchen looks perfect, with most of the dishes already washed and put away. The dining room table is set, and the guest rooms upstairs are clean with fresh sheets on the beds.
I scrubbed Romeo’s cage before heading out to meet Keith, and it was finally warm enough today to open the windows to get some fresh air in the house. The guest bathroom is sparkling clean as well, with brand new towels rolled up in the little linen closet. Why I’m so worried about making a good impression on Harrison’s girlfriend is beyond me.
It’s important to him, though, so in turn, it’s important to me. And I assumed at some point, he’d grow up and stop being such a manwhore. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think it would happen anytime soon.
Hunter lets us know when Harrison pulls onto the road, able to detect him much sooner than a regular dog. I take the salad into the dining room and Nik holds his hands over the candles on the center of the table, using magic to light them.
Ethan comes down the stairs right as Harrison and Saanvi get out of his car. I watch out the dining room window, trying my best not to make any assumptions about her until I actually get to know her. Keith is right: statically, Harrison isn’t going to date two demons in a row.
My brother is dressed casually in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. We’re twins and share a slight family resemblance, but I definitely take after the Lancasters more than anyone else. Finding out there was another redhead in the family was almost as pleasing as finding out I’m a witch. Saanvi is gorgeous, with her dark hair swept up off her face, gently blowing in the spring breeze. She’s wearing a knee-length blue dress with a coordinating sweater and is clutching her purse tightly in one hand and holding onto Harrison’s arm with the other.
I go to open the door, welcoming them in, but then Saanvi abruptly stops. I wouldn’t think too much about it except she stopped directly in front of a circle of protection.