100% That Witch - Celia Kyle Page 0,14

having a handsome, charismatic—and, okay, gay—vampire help her with Potions was more than she could have hoped for. And, of course, that would mean spending a lot more time together.

So I can get information for Ryan, she reminded herself.

“You all good?”

“Huh?” Tiffany snapped to attention, half-afraid she’d been speaking all that out loud right in front of him.

“You just kind of went away there for a second. I worried you might have accidentally huffed some of that powder you were stocking.”

“Hardly.” She laughed again. He had such an easy way about him. “I’m just surprised. You’d really do that for me just because I’m a friend of Nathan’s?”

A funny little smile played at the edges of his mouth. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from it.

“Something like that.”

“Okay,” Kiki said, emerging from the storeroom and startling Tiffany, as though some strange spell had been broken.

“Did things break in my favor?” Nero asked, sauntering back to the counter in a lithe way that belied his bulk. Tiffany caught herself watching the hitch in his hips as he stepped across the store, letting her eyes drift up the expanse of his broad shoulders. Nice view.

Kiki smiled. “They did. You said you’ll take all of it?”

“Everything you’ve got.”

While they chatted over the Crow’s Weed, Tiffany buzzed around the shop, gathering the other items on his list. The guy had impeccable handwriting. Almost too meticulous—bordering on calligraphy.

Arriving at the counter, she hovered for a moment after depositing the rest of Nero’s order. Kiki set about tallying everything up and then casting a sideways glance at her.

“How about getting the rest of the stock put away?” She gestured at the cart with a sprig of Thaliac flower.

“Oh, right.” Almost blushing, Tiffany pushed the cart around the store as she put items away.

Nero thanked Kiki as he handed her a wad of cash. Then, as he made his way toward the door, he tossed a hand up in farewell to Tiffany.

“Nice talking with you, Tiffany. What do you say to the end of the week? Maybe Friday after dusk? If you’re not working, that is.”

“I’m free.”

“Great.” With that, he pushed out the door and disappeared into the cool Othercross evening.

“Um, what was that?” Kiki leaned over the counter, a salacious grin plastered across her face.

“What?”

“Meeting Nero Baines Friday at dusk?”

“Don’t get excited. He’s just going to tutor me for my Potions class.”

“Uh-huh. For a second there, I thought you two were setting up a date.”

“As if,” Tiffany scoffed.

Not a chance. A date with a gay vampire? That wouldn’t do either of them a lick of good. Besides, she had Rhys.

Six

Tiffany crouched in the bushes, keeping her eyes glued to the front doors of the Judiciary. She’d already been peering through the leaves for a quarter of an hour and garnering some pretty funny looks. A willowy little goth girl secreting herself among the shrubs was bound to raise some eyebrows.

But desperate times called for desperate measures. Not that Tiffany liked to think of herself as desperate. Still...what was a girl to do?

It’d been four days since her date with Rhys. She’d spent every moment peeling the paint off the walls while waiting for him to get in touch with her. No such luck.

Whether in class, at work, or lying in her sleepless bed staring at the ceiling, that tall drink of a necromancer danced through her mind. If her grades hadn’t already been in trouble, this would have nudged them in that direction. She’d even taken to leaving her phone on in class, fearful of missing the ping she’d been crawling out of her skin to hear.

No dice.

She’d texted him over a thousand times in her head but kept herself from actually doing it for fear of looking thirstier than someone stranded in the middle of the desert. No, her phone was so dead, she was starting to wonder if her dad had cut off service when he rolled up the carpet on everything else. But when she’d casually texted Kelly to test it out, her roommate had responded straight away, wondering why Tiffany was texting since they were both in the house.

It’d instigated one hell of a conversation. Tiffany was practically frothing at the mouth to fire a line in Rhys’s direction. She knew he hadn’t died, or Aurora would have called up from Florida with the news.

Kelly was having none of it.

“The ball’s in his court now, short stuff,” she’d said.

“But…”

“But nothing. It’s his move. Love is like chess. You gotta check yourself to