Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

Preston was waiting for me at Little Owls , a modern coffee shop with way too many versions of coffee available and a decent selection of Danishes . I put in an order for hot cocoa, then joined Preston at one of the small tables. Around us, patrons concentrated on their laptops, and the sounds of key-clicking and the noises of the espresso machines filled the air.

Sitting across from Preston , I looked at him expectantly. “ Thank you for loaning me the crystal.”

He studied me for a few moments, then drank some of his coffee. He had opted for some sort of espresso and a plain Danish .

I blew on my cocoa, then took a sip. It was okay, but the one I served at the Tea Cauldron was way better.

“ How’s the shop?” he asked with his usual fake cheerfulness.

“ Doing great, thank you. Halloween was a wonderful boost.” I set the cocoa down and wrapped my hands around the mug, offering him a bland smile. “ How are the opening plans for Tabbies coming along? Will everything be ready in time?” I had received invitations for the opening in two weeks, which I had burned in my backyard’s fire pit while eating pizza with Dru .

“ Everything is going according to plan. We’ll be ready for opening day.” He arched a brow. “ Will I see you there?”

“ I’m sorry,” I said with fake politeness. “ Unfortunately , I have a previous commitment that day.” Namely helping Dru with her shop so it’d eclipse Tabbies and yeet the bastard into the sun —her words not mine—even though the two shops had nothing in common.

He snorted and took a bite of his Danish . He took his time chewing and swallowing as my fake customer-facing smile slowly became engraved on my cheeks.

“ So ,” I finally said, “the charged black jade?”

He patted his mouth with a paper napkin. “ I have some conditions.”

My smile dropped. “ Conditions ?”

“ I’ll lend you the crystal if you tell me where Dru got the money for the shop.”

Of all the underhanded things! “ That’s none of your business.”

He leaned forward, pinning me with his gaze. “ You want the jade, you tell me where that money’s coming from.”

“ Ask her.”

“ We’ve gone through this before.” Aggravation filled his voice. “ She won’t tell me.”

“ Consider that a hint.”

“ Her parents don’t know,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “ My contacts at the bank don’t know. My? —”

“ You asked her bank ?” I was about to throw my cocoa mug at his head. That was going way too far.

“ Of course I asked her bank. What was I supposed to do?”

Was he for real? “ Give up like a normal human being?”

He ran a hand over his shaved head. “ I can’t.”

“ Of course you can. It’s not that hard. People don’t nose into other people’s business all the time.” Not to that level, anyway.

“ You don’t understand.”

“ I really don’t.” Was he trying to tank Dru’s operation? Make her life impossible?

With a heavy exhale, Preston rubbed the line creasing the middle of his forehead and muttered something I didn’t catch. There was so much frustration pouring out of him that a small light went on in my head.

If he was simply playing with me or Dru , he wouldn’t be letting me see all this. He would’ve kept the fake expression and impeccable manners he’d had in all our previous encounters so far.

“ You’re worried about Dru ,” I realized. “ Actually , seriously worried.”

He scowled. “ Of course I’m worried.”

I sat back and sipped my cocoa. “ Why ?”

“ What do you mean why? Isn’t it obvious?”

“ It really isn’t. You two broke up forever ago. Why do you care so much?”

He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable now. “ I still care for her. I’m not going to stand back while she accepts shady deals just to one-up me.”

I nearly spit my drink. “ Shady deals to one-up you?”

“ You know.” He gestured vaguely toward the coffee shop and the street. “ Get her own shop to show me up.”

“ She’s wanted her own shop long before you showed up,” I pointed out. “ Aren’t you giving yourself too much credit?”

“ I know she has. But why the rush now? The moment I come here to open the new Tabbies ?”

“ Because her previous employer died and instead of leaving her his shop as he’d promised, he lost it to the bank?” I asked dryly. “ It had nothing to do with you.”

“ Why didn’t she get another job then? Why didn’t she stay working for you?”

“ Why work for others when she can work for herself?” Was he truly this dense?

He slapped the table with triumph. “ Exactly ! That’s what I’m saying. She saw me opening the shop and the bank wouldn’t let her buy the Corner Rose and now…”

“ Now ?” I prodded.

“ Now she’s probably gone to some loan shark to get the money for her shop because she can’t stand me opening a shop here before she does,” he finished in a hissing, low voice.

I laughed. So that was it. He thought Dru had sold her soul to get back at him with her own shop.

“ It’s not funny,” he snapped. “ These people, there’s always a catch to their deals, not to mention the extra interest. You need to tell me what the heck she did, so I can fix it.”

That sobered me right into a hard glare. “ Dru doesn’t need you to fix anything.”

“ I have the means to help with her loan, whatever it is.”

“ Assuming you’re right, you think she’ll let you help her like that?”

“ No , but you will. Because you’re her friend.”

That did bring a smile back to my face. It felt so good to have a bestie who didn’t want to secretly kill me. “ That’s true.”

“ This is serious, Avery .”

My smile widened. “ I think it’s very entertaining.”

His expression hardened. “ Who loaned her the money?”

“ Why did you two break up?” I asked. “ I’ve heard part of her version, but what’s yours?”

“ To repeat your own words: none of your business.”

“ If you want me to help you with Dru’s business, I want to know why you’re so invested.” I shrugged and studied him closely. “ Maybe you’re a controlling jerk who doesn’t want her to be successful without him.”

Preston’s gaze drifted to the windows, his mouth forming a tight line. “ I broke up with her after I got the promotion at Tabbies .”

“ Why ?”

“ We were fine until then. We’d been going out for several months and her parents encouraged the match. I thought we were going to last a while, to be honest.”

“ Until you got her promotion?”

He scowled at that. “ It was never her promotion. She had sights on the position, but I had a lot more experience. I was the obvious choice.”

“ Not to her.”

“ I can’t help what she thought.”

“ So why break up with her after?” My heart hurt for Dru , and I felt the need to throw my mug at him again. “ If you were in love, as you said?”

He met my accusatory words with open honesty in his. “ Would you have stayed with someone who resented you for accepting a better job? One they wanted?”

“ Dru doesn’t like disloyalty,” I conceded. “ You could’ve passed on the promotion.” But even as I said the words, I knew that was awful advice. You couldn’t limit your opportunities for fear that your loved one would leave you.

“ That’s not how relationships should work.”

“ It’s not. So Dru was convinced you used her to get to know her parents and get the promotion.”

He winced. “ The timing was not great.”

“ And then you broke up with her, which solidified her beliefs.”

“ In a nutshell.”

Of course, this only worked if he wasn’t lying. Who would admit to using Dru to her best friend? “ Why did you come here to open Tabbies ? It can’t be a coincidence…” I gaped, struck by a new thought. “ Did you open Tabbies here to offer Dru a job?”

Preston snorted at my outrage. “ Of course not. Dru would never accept.”

“ But you wanted to help her anyway, right? That’s why you’re holding a charged jade hostage, isn’t it? To see if you can help Dru .”

He tensed. “ Can I help Dru ?”

I took another sip of cocoa and let him sweat it while I pondered what to tell him. Should I put him out of his misery or let him run around asking more questions about the money and hopefully not sleeping well at night over it? But if he kept asking, he might uncover the wrong information about me and the shop.

Besides , I really needed that crystal.

“ Dru got a private investment from a reputable source.” I lifted up a hand before he could speak. “ I can’t say who it is, but there are no bad deals involved. You can stop worrying now.”

He studied me closely. “ Are you telling the truth?”

“ Yes .”

He closed his eyes with obvious relief. “ Good .”

“ But , if you want to start repairing your friendship with Dru , I suggest you give her shop you full support during the next PBOA meeting.”

“ Of course.”

“ Wonderful . Now , the jade please?”

He waved that aside. “ I don’t have one.”

My whole being stilled. “ What ?”

He polished the last of his Danish and gulped down the remains of his espresso. “ I don’t have a charged black jade. I wanted to talk to you about Dru , and this was the only way you would.”

Of all the underhanded… I snapped to my feet, the chair scraping back with a hair-raising screech. “ No wonder Dru broke up with you!”

He offered me one of his patented blindingly white smiles. “ Lovely doing business with you.”

It would be once I was done making him eat his espresso cup.

Unfortunately , Grandma would not approve. Neither would the shop staff. Probably . They might after I explained the situation, though.

I took in a calming breath. The smells of coffee filled my senses, the sounds of keys clacking and muted conversations. The loud whistles of the machines.

“ Trust might lead us into unfair seas, but it will never sink us.”

“ It won’t?” Preston asked politely.

“ Nope ,” I told him smugly. “ Because my soul will be light enough to sleep at night. You , on the other hand? Good luck with the crabs at the bottom of the sea.”

He stood and grabbed his coat. “ Eloquent .”

“ Thank you. Dru will be as well once I tell her how you scammed me.”

That brought him up short. “ What ?”

“ I’m afraid this will only corroborate her version of the story. And here I thought there was a chance for the both of you to eventually get along.” I shook my head. “ Totally my bad. I should write to her parents as well. They should be informed of how you treat the local business owners.”

Deep lines formed on his forehead. “ Now , wait a minute.”

I tilted my head and eyed him. “ I wonder what other underhanded agreements you’ve collected to get to where you are. They should definitely be aware of any possible taint to Tabbies’s reputation.”

“ This was a private matter,” he sputtered. “ Nothing to do with Tabbies .”

I lifted my hands in a full-armed shrug. “ You know what they say: your business life is a representation of your private life.”

“ Who says that?”

“ Anyway , I should get going. Got black jade to find and important paranormal business to conclude. I know Cavalier and Hutton won’t be happy that you took me away from an important meeting under false pretenses. I wonder if they’ll advise others not to enter into business with you, seeing how disappointing this exchange was?”

Preston tugged at the neck of his perfectly starched white shirt. “ There’s no need to go that far. Look , I will ask around, see if anyone has charged black jade on hand.”

“ Speaking of which, I wonder what the Council will say when they learn of how you treat the official local witch? They’ll …” I lost my train of thought as a sudden, gloriously perfect idea burst into my mind.

A slow, wickedly wide smile curved my mouth.

Preston grew even warier. “ What are you going to do?”

“ For once, I’m going to call the proper authorities.”