Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

E DGE

With a clatter that cut through the hum of chatter and clinking glasses, I dropped my plank onto their table, splinters scattering across the surface like tiny wooden invaders. Immy's eyes shot up in horror and recognition while her date's mouth hung open mid-sentence.

"Edge, what are you doing here?" Immy asked, her voice uncertain. Damn, she was adorable when she was confused. Dammit Edge, don't go there.

"I don't know what vile hex you've cast on me," I began, my voice carrying more accusation than I intended, "but ever since you nearly flattened me with your car?—"

"It was an accident!" she interjected, her cheeks flushed with anger. "And I certainly didn't cast any spell on you."

"—and ever since I inadvertently scratched your precious car," I continued undeterred, "I can't seem to wander too far from you." I leaned in closer, my ghostly form somehow managing to convey my frustration. "So tell me, witch, why am I cursed to linger by your side?"

"Are you kidding me?" She hissed, then glanced at her date. "I didn't do anything."

"Is it an apology you want? Fine." Rolling my eyes, I offered an exaggerated bow before her and her mortified date. "My most sincere apologies for such a heinous crime against your vehicle." My sarcasm dripped like molasses—thick and bitter. "Now remove the curse."

Immy's cheeks flushed, leaving her looking even more beautiful than before. I felt a tug in my chest as I watched her fidget with her hands. I was so distracted by the way her lips trembled that I nearly missed her next words.

"Look, I didn't cast a spell on you, okay? I don't even have magic to do something like that. I barely have enough—erm… I don't know how to get it through your thick skull that I didn't do anything."

Her date looked like he wanted to crawl under the table or perhaps vanish into thin air—a feat he likely couldn't achieve, but one I managed all too well. His silence was cowardly. He made no attempt to defend Immy or even address me directly.

With a sigh wrought from centuries of weariness, I flickered out of sight momentarily, leaving only my accursed plank on the table as evidence of my visitation. Immy slid it onto the floor without a care while casting an accusatory glare at her date.

"You could have said something, Erik," she said tersely.

"I... don't do confrontation," Erik mumbled sheepishly.

With renewed determination, I flickered back into view. Before I could speak, we were interrupted.

"Everything okay over here?" A waitress asked as she cautiously approached the table.

"Fine," Immy said through clenched teeth.

"Uh…" A server looked between Immy and me before glancing at the plank on the floor. "I'll just leave this here for now." She quickly set a drink down in front of Immy before hurrying away again.

"You can't keep me here forever," Immy said as she picked up her drink and took a sip.

"We'll see about that," I muttered as I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're going to sit right there until you agree to fix whatever curse or spell you put on me."

"I didn't put a curse on you!" Immy shouted as she slammed her glass down on the table so hard that some of the liquid spilled over the edge. "And even if I wanted to help you—which I don't—I have no idea how to undo whatever happened to you."

"Erik, run while you still can," I warned the poor male witch.

"But… but…" Erik stammered as he looked between Immy and me.

"It's not like I wanted a ghost pirate to be bound to me for life."

I narrowed my eyes at Immy, then flicked my fingers at the plank. It reappeared on the table right in front of her. "Then I suggest you fix whatever you did to my plank so I can take it and leave you alone for good."

For the second time, I flickered out of view. I was on the verge of losing all my energy without a long rest, and I didn't want to leave my plank unguarded in a restaurant for a server to carelessly throw away. Though, with new developments, I didn't know if that would affect me or not.

"Can we just go back to our negotiation now?" Erik asked hesitantly from his seat.

I attempted to regain enough energy to talk to her, but it was no use. At the moment, I had used too much energy. Hopefully, waiting a few minutes would be enough for me to return.

"If this is too much for you, then maybe we shouldn't be dating," Immy snapped at him as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. I watched as she became frustrated, but she tamped down on her temper as she said again that this date wasn't working for her.

Erik's eyes widened in shock, and he looked around nervously as everyone in the bar watched our confrontation unfold. "You know what, I can see this isn't a good time to discuss this right now. How about you give me a call when you deal with your little issue." Finally, he pulled a business card out of his pocket and set it down on the table in front of Immy before quickly getting up from his seat and hurrying out of the bar without looking back.

Immy watched him go, then let out a huff of frustration. She reached for the business card, then crumpled it up and threw it on the table. "I don't need a boyfriend that badly."

"No point in staying here after that spectacle." Immy muttered as she collected herself and her stuff, then slid the chair out.

Oh, no. Beautiful temptress or not, she was not leaving until I got a chance at my date she was currently ruining. I appeared right in front of her as she stood. "I'm trying to go on a date myself," I insisted through gritted teeth—or whatever passed for teeth in my spectral form. "A proper one without interruptions."

"It's not my fault!" Immy retorted. Her defiant gaze never left mine as if challenging me to disprove her words. "You can date whoever you want. I won't stop you. Actually, I insist you go bother someone else so I can go home and forget tonight ever happened."

I scoffed at her refusal. "Nice try, but we both know that's a load of crap. All you have to do is sit at a specific table so that I can go on my date without any more interruptions from you."

Immy's jaw dropped open in shock before she closed it with an audible click. "You think we're going on a date?"

"You wish," I sneered at her. While she was hot, I wouldn't date her if my life… or unlife, depended on it.

"This isn't working for me anymore." As she tried to push past me. I forced my spectral form into a fully corporal body. She bumped into my shoulder, her soft curves pressing against me and making it difficult for me to think. "You can't leave until you fix whatever curse or spell is keeping us bound together."

"I told you already that I didn't cast any spell or curse on you." Immy insisted as she glared up at me.

"Then how do you explain why we can't seem to separate?" I demanded. She was close… too close, but I couldn't seem to move away from her either. A dark part of me didn't want to move away from her. I kind of enjoyed the fire in her glare. Instead, I wanted to see just how spicy she got when I irritated her more.

"I don't have an explanation for it," Immy said through clenched teeth. "And I don't plan on sitting here in shame just so you can annoy someone else."

"Then it looks like neither of us is going anywhere, huh?" As our standoff continued in the heart of the Rusty Anchor, it became clear that this witch—confounding as she may be—had taken hold of something within me. Something I hadn't felt for centuries.