Page 32 of The Jilted Jinn


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"Things ended pretty horribly between us. I...ended up having to move because she was stalkingme."

One of my eyebrows rose at that one. Why in the world would Martin bring something like that up? Perhaps he didn't know the whole story. I tried to gauge Harry's sincerity. On one hand it seemed like he was leaving a whole lot out. On the other, if this situation were true, I wouldn't want to talk about iteither.

Suspicious, but unwilling to push things tonight because I really wanted to get out of the house, I scooped my keys out of my purse and headed to thedoor.

"Ready?" Iasked.

He nodded, though I could tell he was still thinking about his encounter with Martin. "Of course." He motioned for me to go first and pulled the door shut behindus.

Thoughts of Martinfinally died off when we arrived at the newest Mixology bar in Midnight Cove. I'd read about this place in the paper, but I wasn't someone who liked a lot of mixed drinks. The concept seemed fun, too, especially since it was ran by a witch who supposedly could guess your favorite food and drink combinations just by looking at your palm. It was like fortune telling with atwist.

We walked intoMadame Choice'sand snagged the first table we saw. If we'd gotten here any later we probably wouldn't have been able to sit because people were starting to arrive in droves. I took a menu and started to peruse it when a tall, dark-haired woman arrived at our table. Her eyes were the color of a midnight sky and power swirled around her. When she spoke in her deep timbred voice, I sat my menu down because all I wanted to do was listen to her. When she smiled, her entire face lit up injoy.

This was a woman who enjoyed what she did. She explained the concept of the restaurant to us, told us we could order whatever we wanted from the menu because they had a full service bar, or she could have the bar create a special cocktail based upon ourtastes.

I, of course, jumped at the chance to sample an original drink. Harry hesitated, but after some ribbing, he alsoaccepted.

The woman pulled up a chair and reached for my hand. "My name is Charity Melange," she said. "I'm pleased to make youracquaintance."

I smiled at her and introduced myself as she studied the lines on my hand. After a moment, she looked at me, then back at Harry. She leaned in to whisper something to me. "All is not as you see it, Ms. Harper. Heed this advice for you will see the truth soon." Then as suddenly as she'd leaned in, she was sitting up straight in her chair and beaming at me. I blinked insurprise.

"I'm going to say milk chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla and melted brown butter." Charity grinned atme.

"Errmmm," I said, dumbfounded. Those were my favoriteingredients!

"Great! I'll send this info over to the bar and have them create something special for you." With a snap of her fingers, a waitress beelined for our table. She rapid fired the ingredient list to her and then turned toHarry.

He looked...nervous. And a littlebewildered.

"Hello," Charity said, though her smile dimmed a littlebit.

Harry nodded as he held out his palm. She studied it for a moment, a slight frown on her face. "Cherries, condensed milk, white chocolate and...steak." Charity chuckled. "It will be interesting to see what the bar comes up with thistime."

He stared at her with his mouth open. "How didyou-?"

Charity waggled her eyebrows at him. "Never ask a magician their secrets." She stood up and bent down to my ear level. "Stayalert."

I frowned and was about to tell her to mind her own business when she abruptly stood and disappeared in thecrowd.

"What did she say to you?" Harry's expression was toointerested.

I faked a laugh. "She just wanted to make sure we knew if we didn't like our drinks that we could send themback."

He didn't believe me but he nodded. "Good, because cherries and steak sounds tooweird."

It tookme a long while to relax after that. First Martin and then Charity, a total stranger, acted weird around Harry. Yet I didn't sense anything alarming besides his weird reaction when Martin mentioned Lila. Honestly, everyone got weird when their exes were mentioned, so I really couldn't hold that one againsthim.

But after my third delicious original drink, my caution took on a fuzzy edge and I began to relax. Harry's handsome features began to blur around the edges and by the time my fourth drink rolled around I was drunkenly asking him if his parents were fond of puns because he was a wolf namedHarry.

Thankfully he found that to be hilarious because as soon as I said it, I was mortified and knew I needed to lay off the drinks. He'd stopped drinking at two because one of us had to drive home. He could have had more because of his faster metabolism, but tonight Harry seemed to be pulling out all of the stops to be a perfect gentleman. By 11, I pronounced I'd had enough and he practically had to pour me into the car to get mehome.

Harry wentin for a smooch as he walked me up to the porch, but I deftly (okay, not so deftly, maybe more like drunkenly) evaded him and pressed a finger over his lips. "Not right now," I said. He looked crestfallen, but cleared his throat andnodded.

"Sorry. Too soon. I understand." He turned around and walked to his car. I watched him go, marveling at how handsome he was, but also wondering just how much I could trusthim.

Once he'd pulled out of my driveway, I opened my door and pushed inside. Though I'd had a fun night, Harry hadn’t bought me dinner and I was starving. Though it probably wasn't wise to cook under the influence, hunger wonout.

And that was how at midnight I came to bake a sausage and gruyere souffle and eat standing up in my kitchen like a wild beast. It came out perfectly, surprisingly enough, and I inhaled every single bit of it. By then, most of the drinks had worn off and I finally remembered to drink a bunch ofwater.