“Or tit for tat,” he winked. “Whichever you prefer.”

  I could tell by his smile he was already quite pleased with himself. I had to admit, it was pretty slick.

  “Alright,” I agreed. “Once I’m all set up here, maybe I’ll go.” I wagged a finger at him. “But it had better be good. You’d better know your stuff.”

  “Oh I know my stuf—”

  “Because if you’re dragging me all around Salem to end up in Murphy’s pub,” I teased, “just so you can get into my pants… well, I’ll have you know I’m not that kind of girl.”

  “Oh yes you are,” Zane said smugly. “And I’ve already been in your pants.”

  I laughed and nodded. “Point taken.”

  He got up and made another round of my shop, taking everything in. In turn, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Zane was as tall and beautiful as I remembered, with wild, shoulder-length blond hair kissed by the October wind. His every movement was hypnotic. It was all I could do to pry my gaze from his perfect, bubble-shaped ass.

  I’d sunk my fingernails into that ass. Clawed at it desperately, while he rolled his hips forward and pushed that much further inside me…

  “What’s in the back room?”

  “Nothing,” I said, rising to clean up the mess.

  “Here goes nothing then,” he smiled, and ducked inside.

  Ten seconds went by, then twenty. I dumped the trash and followed after him, wondering why he hadn’t come out yet.

  “Anyway, I was jus—”

  Two hands settled over my hips, pulling me forward with a sharp gasp. I wasn’t even through the doorway, and suddenly I was against him. My body molded snugly against his, as two big arms slid around me.

  “Oh.”

  Anything else I might’ve said was lost as his lips pressed hotly against mine. I was kissing him. He was kissing me. Our tongues danced slowly, sensually, like they’d been doing it all our lives. And our hands roamed with the intimacy and familiarity of two lovers who knew there were zero boundaries between them.

  Damn…

  His jacket hit the floor. So did my shirt. It happened simultaneously, reminding me of those experiments where scientists dropped two things in a vacuum to see them land at the same time.

  Holy shit.

  There was the quiet roar of a zipper. The jangle of a belt buckle. My hands found bare skin, and suddenly I was running my palms over the most perfect, beautiful set of abs in the entire universe.

  And right now they were all mine.

  “You have a bed back here, eh?”

  Zane murmured the words into my mouth, jerking his nose toward my little bedroll. I nodded vaguely. One of my hands had moved south, slipping beneath the unbuttoned waistband of his jeans. I felt warmth down there. Hardness…

  CRASH!

  Thirteen

  SAVANNAH

  The noise was loud and obnoxious, followed by the high-pitched, unmistakable tinkle of shattered glass. Immediately our hands shot back to our sides again. Our bodies parted.

  “What the—”

  I hadn’t finished the sentence and my lover was already through the doorway. He hadn’t stopped to think, or talk, or wonder. He’d just acted.

  “Zane, wait—”

  I struggled back into my shirt and rushed out, straight into the center of my shop. One of my windows had been shattered inward, and there was glass everywhere. It was embedded in my new carpet. All over my freshly-polished floor.

  And resting in the middle of all, a good-sized brick stared back at me mockingly.

  “Zane?”

  The door to my shop hung open, and Zane was gone. He’d rushed out so quickly I didn’t even see him leave.

  I checked the street. The crowds were even thicker than before. A few people looked back at me curiously, then glanced over my shoulder at my broken window. With nothing else to do, I made my way back inside and began sweeping up.

  “Motherfucker.”

  I was down on my hands and knees, picking razor-sharp slivers of glass from my beautiful Persian rug when Zane finally returned. He was red-faced and out of breath. Two of my fingertips were already bleeding.

  “I’m sorry…” he apologized unnecessarily. “I ran left and right, but I didn’t see who—”

  “Your fly is open.”

  He looked down at me curiously for a second or two, then quickly zipped up. Realizing what I was doing he knelt down to help, but I stood up and waved him away.

  “Don’t bother,” I said. “I need to buy a vacuum anyway.”

  “What the hell happened?”

  I didn’t have to guess at what happened, I already knew.

  “Apparently I’m having trouble with the locals.”

  Zane squinted back at me like I’d just spoken Mandarin. “You… wait, what?”

  “Turns out the palm and tarot card reading business is pretty fucking competitive,” I spat angrily. I dumped the broken glass over my little garbage pail and rubbed my hands together. “Who knew, right?”

  “So you have an idea who did this?”

  “Yes,” I answered. “But also, no.”

  Whoever the woman was, I realized I knew nothing about her. Other than the fact that — judging by the way she was dressed alone — she was probably in direct competition with me.

  A cold breeze wafted in, sending a chill through my body. I was pissed as hell. Even more so that my once-quiet shop was now filled with street noise and chatter.

  “I’ve gotta call a window service and get this fixed,” I said with a sigh. “Or maybe the sign guys could do it when they come. Shit, I haven’t even opened yet.”

  “I could help you—”

  “No, no,” I said, without really thinking. “You’ve done enough for me already. You bought me lunch, and saved me from dicey meat. And we broke in my reading table together.”

  “I distracted you,” Zane interjected. “Kept you from setting up shop. Maybe even got your window broken, because if you hadn’t been in the back room—”

  “If I hadn’t been in the back room I might be picking this glass out of my eyes,” I jumped in. “Seriously, you probably did me a favor. An unintentional favor, dripping with ulterior motives…” I smiled weakly, “but a favor nonetheless.”

  He stared at me a little longer, making sure I was alright. Making sure there was nothing else he could do for me, without pushing the issue. I appreciated the effort. I was getting a sense that the tall blond was as sweet as he was beautiful.

  “Alright,” he said, dipping into the back room for his jacket. “Just promise me two things.”

  “What?”

  “One, you’ll stay out of trouble. And away from windows.”

  “And two?”

  Zane reached out, placing two big hands on my shoulders. He leaned down and gave me a kiss that sent a ripple of heat through my body.

  “That you’ll call us,” he said, nodding again toward the armoire.

  I smiled warmly. “Okay.”

  He returned my smile and slipped through the door, which I closed securely behind him. Locking it seemed silly somehow, considering the jagged, gaping hole in my shop.

  Call the sign company, my mind said distractedly. See if they have a window installer.

  I wanted to move, but my feet remained planted. For more than one reason, I was suddenly sorry Zane had left.

  You like him.

  I smirked sardonically at the voice in my head. What was there not to like? So far the man was perfect, inside and out. Strong, sweet, beautiful. Filled with an optimism and innocence that made him even more appealing, which was strange considering the losers I’d been attracted to in the past.

  All at once I decided to go next door, and see if any of my fellow shopkeeps had a vacuum I could borrow. It certainly couldn’t hurt to find out.

  As I left I passed the armoire, which stood there mocking me. My silent, brooding enemy. One that could only be defeated if I were bold enough to dial a few phone numbers. And then I remembered Zane’s parting words to me — especially that last word — and all new butterflies took flight in my stomach.

  Call us.

  Fourteen

  SAVANNAH

  I dreamt… and in my dream I was completely and utterly alone.

  That part didn’t frighten me. I’d been alone almost all my life. No, it was the intensity of the loneliness that bothered me. The sort of total abandonment that came only with the end of the world, or in this case, being trapped on all sides by a void of impenetrable darkness.

  I probed with my arms and legs, but I couldn’t feel anything. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I were standing up or lying down. The only sensations I had were of hopelessness and despair. A grim and terrifying foreboding, as if nothing would ever be right in my world again.

  And then… something moved.

  The darkness became shadows, and in those shadows I saw faces. Strangers. Foreigners. People I knew. But then the people I knew became strangers as well, as the memory of how I knew them slipped desperately away.

  Light seeped in, but it wasn’t true light so much as it was an absence of darkness. A cold light that made everything pale and grayer still. Shapes formed. Objects coalesced. Some were familiar. Others…

  Without warning I was surrounded by something else. Metal. Leather. Plastic. There was a sound, or rather — a song. It played faintly as background noise, as the faces to one side of me became people I not only knew, but actually despised.

  You have to run.

  I knew it was truth, but it was also an impossibility. There was nowhere to run. No way of getting out of the situation I was in, and even worse, the knowledge that it was I who’d put myself in such a place to begin with.

  GO!

  I struggled, but my wrists were pinned. Someone had me. A hand went into my hair, yanking my head backwards. Forcing my face to the sky, only there was no sky.

  Do somethin—

  The explosion came next, as it always did. A white-hot flash, followed by a searing, burning pain, radiating down from my shoulder. The noise was so loud it was thunderous. It obliterated everything…

  I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding. My throat felt like it was on fire.

  Fuck.

  I thought I was done, as I had been before. But just when I’d forget, the dream would come back. It happened every time I got complacent. Every. Single. Time.

  In the past I’d sit up in bed, waiting until I was calm again. But I found that never worked. The best remedy was to get up, and get out. Starting my day and staying busy was the only way to keep my mind from dwelling on the darkness of my recurring nightmare.

  Luckily today would be the busiest one in a long time.

  I got showered and dressed, then skipped breakfast. In record time I was out on the street, walking with purpose. It was opening today, no matter what. Windows or no windows, I was getting back on the proverbial horse. Almost a year after a terrible fall…

  Forget about all that.

  Turning the corner, I ducked into my usual coffee house and ordered the biggest latte they had. It was much later than I wanted it to be. I’d slept in a little because I wanted to be well-rested, but I was just now realizing I might’ve overdone it.

  Ten minutes later, I was standing before my shop, smiling proudly. The signage above the door was done, and it looked pretty fucking fantastic. In black and red, with gold-leaf accents:

  The All-Seeing Eye

  My broken window had thankfully been replaced. It was a favor that cost me extra, because the sign guys would only do it if I agreed to some sandblasting on their part. Etched into the glass was my new logo; an all-seeing eye, centered within a triangle, surrounded by rays. The original Freemasons symbol, adapted by “seers” everywhere.

  Not that I was a seer or anything.

  If anyone had a gift it was my grandmother, although she claimed to have imparted some of her abilities onto me. Personally, I didn’t see it. I couldn’t tap into any of the visions she seemed to have, or memories of past lives she claimed to draw upon. There were times when I even doubted those things. Questioned her abilities.

  But other times…

  Other times I’d seen her do stuff that just didn’t make sense. For example, she would know things she couldn’t possibly know. See things in her mind’s eye that happened, almost as though she were there. These instances couldn’t be accurate — not unless she was right. Not unless you believed.

  She was taken from me early, when I was almost ten. By then I’d spent four whole years with her. Almost as long as I’d spent with my parents…

  I unlocked my shop again, only this time I left it unlocked. I was officially open. Ready to earn a living again, doing one of the only things I really knew how.

  KNOCK KNOCK.

  I turned as the door opened, still clutching my coffee. I smiled my friendliest customer smile, but only for another half second.

  Ah, fuck.

  “I thought I saw you duck in here.”

  Gus looked a little better than the last time I’d seen him, if such a thing were possible. He’d tidied up some. And for once he was wearing clean clothes.

  “Can we talk now?”

  He stood up straighter than normal, as if presenting himself. But his eyes were the same. They crawled over me the way they always did, half desire, half brutal judgment.

  “Make it fast,” I said. “I’m technically open.”

  Gus grunted and folded his arms. “Crowds won’t form for a little while. You’ll get customers soon, though. And they’ll be steady, too. All through the day.” He squinted down at me shrewdly. “Which is why I always raise the rent this time of year.”

  I scoffed at him. “Raise the rent?”

  “Yeah. More people, more money.” He shrugged. “More rent.”

  “But we already established the rent.”

  “That’s the base rent.”

  “I signed the lease less than a month ago,” I countered. “You didn’t mention anything about this.”

  “All the landlords around here do it,” explained Gus. “Sort of like the mall stores, that raise their rent around Christmastime. Right now is the busiest time of the year for Salem. You know that.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Thirty percent increase. Only for October and November.”

  I laughed in his face. “You’re kidding, Right?”

  He shook his head gravely. “Either you pay it or you’re out.”

  Silence descended over the shop, as the two of us ran out of things to say. There was no way in hell I was budging on the rent. It wasn’t even a matter of money, it was a matter of principal.

  “Look…” Gus said, his voice going suspiciously low. “Maybe the two of us could… work out some sort of a deal.”

  Fifteen

  SAVANNAH

  My fists were clenched so tightly I thought my fingernails might draw blood. My entire face twitched as I arched an eyebrow.

  “A deal?”

  The whole thing was unbelievable. It was everything I could do to keep my mouth from twisting into a snarl.

  “Yeah, sure,” said Gus. “You know... one hand washes the other.”

  “Tit for tat?”

  My landlord’s face broke into the same crooked-toothed grin as last time.

  “Now you’re getting it.”

  “No, not really. Explain the deal.”

  “Well,” Gus shrugged again. “Let’s say you were to give me a private reading.” He nodded over my shoulder. “In the back room there. One night, after you close.”

  “A private… reading.”

  “Yes,” Gus nodded. He cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. “Just me and you.”

  “And in return?”

  “You don’t have to pay the rent increase,” he said simply. “This month or the next.”

  I nodded very slowly. “So let me see if I have this straight,” I said. “Just so we’re on the same page.”

  My landlord shifted. Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

  “You’re looking to fuck me.”

  I let the words drop loudly, heavily into the silence. Putting on my best contemplative look, I tapped my chin with one finger.

  “In the back room right there. One night. After I close.”

  Gus said absolutely nothing. In the silence of the shop, I could practically hear his heart beating faster.

  “And in return, I save… what? A few hundred dollars?”

  The man standing across from me remained motionless. Eventually I saw his shoulders give a tiny shrug, almost imperceptibly.

  “That’s pretty fucking sad, Gus,” I sighed. “Sad and pathetic. Don’t you think?”

  “Well—”

  “I mean shit, you could just go out and hire a prostitute with the money,” I taunted him. “She might not want to fuck you either, but for that much, she might at least pretend.”

  My landlord’s face went stark white… and then bright red. His top lip curled back in a sneer of contempt, as his mouth opened to say something.

  I stopped him immediately.

  “Say one word Gus,” I snapped. “Just one more fucking word. That’s all I need. That’s all it would take for me to scream my lungs out, and when everyone comes flying in here, I’ll tell them all about the disgusting piece of shit you really, truly are.”

  I spat the words with such vehemence and venom, the asshole actually took a step back. I had to admit, I’d be scared if I were him too. Hell, I was frightening myself.

  “Now I’m not one-hundred percent sure if the cameras I had installed last week to deter shoplifters actually pick up sound,” I continued, “but I’m thinking they do. I remember paying extra for that. But it’s definitely worth checking, Gus.” I settled my hands on my hips. “Don’t you think?”

  He stared back at me and gulped. Actually physically gulped. It was like something right out of a movie.

  “I have a counteroffer if you’re still willing to make a deal,” I told him. “Wanna hear it?”

 

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