Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (22 page)

Mae, Seth, and Anthony paced around
the small space.

“
Her place is a real
pigsty,” Mae said, while kicking a T-shirt out of the way. I was
glad Becky hadn’t turned around to see the T-shirt moving on its
own. I knew they couldn’t behave themselves. It was worse than
babysitting four-year-olds. At least the little kids would be
cute.

Becky stared for a beat. “I suppose
you’re right. It makes sense. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take
care of it. I’ll alert the coven. We need to figure out what this
guy’s up to. But did you consider the demon thing I mentioned?
Maybe your friend is influenced by a demon? I told you performing
magic could be really, really bad.”

Again with the demon talk. Was
everyone trying to freak me out? Becky had spoken the exact words
I’d wanted to hear about Cooper. Alerting the coven and getting to
the bottom of his motives…now, we were getting somewhere. With any
luck, they’d drag him out of town on his butt. He thought he could
waltz into town with his good looks and woo everyone. Well, I
wasn’t falling for it. But the part about me performing magic and
attracting demons? I wasn’t convinced.

“
What happened to Brianna
anyway?” I asked.

Anthony leaned against the counter
right next to Becky. “They took away her broom and
cauldron.”

I shot Anthony a shut up look. He
winked.

“
What happened to Brianna
is something I can’t discuss.” Becky stood and walked over to the
sink, turning her back to me. She began wiping the counter with a
small towel. Now was not the time for housekeeping, no matter how
much her place needed it. I had questions and needed her help for
answers.

“
You’ll have to ask Karyn
these questions. I can’t and won’t answer them,” she said over her
shoulder.

Maybe I was being overly sensitive,
but I felt her comment was insensitive. She knew I couldn’t ask
Karyn anything right now, and maybe never.

“
It’s kind of hard for me
to ask her, don’t you think?”

“
Yes, well, she’ll snap out
of it.” She placed a jug of juice that had been sitting on the
counter into the fridge.

She’ll snap out of it? I thought she
cared about Karyn? What a callous thing to say.

“
I certainly hope she snaps
out of it.” I used air quotes for emphasis. “Does anyone have an
update about her condition today?”

Becky turned to look at me and shook
her head. “No change.”

“
That poor woman,” Seth
said, as he paced the floor.

He brushed past Becky. She turned,
looking in his direction. Had she sensed him? There was no way she
had seen him. She’d have mentioned the little fact that I’d brought
three ghosts into her house if she could.

“
Well, thanks for stopping
by, Larue.”

I guess that meant the conversation
was over.

“
Okay, yeah.” I stood. “I
need to get going anyway. Thanks for the help, Becky. I really
appreciate it.”

“
It’s no problem, dear.”
She smiled wide.

“
I don’t like this woman,”
Anthony said. “She’s one of those clingy types, I can
tell.”

I wanted to give him a smart-aleck
answer, but it would have to wait until we were outside. It was
hard to bite my tongue when Anthony was around.

“
I’ll tell the coven about
our suspicions about Cooper and let you know how they want to
handle it. I’ll call as soon as I hear something.”

“
Our suspicions?” Anthony
asked. “She had no suspicions. It was all you. She could care less
what he does to you. She just wants to live in her own little messy
world.” Anthony had really taken a disliking to this
woman.

I walked toward the door. “Thank you,
Becky. I know you’ve been a lot of help to Karyn, and I know she
appreciates it.”

She nodded. “I’m going to the
hospital. Several of us are. We’re doing a spell. The nurses don’t
want a lot of us in there at once, but we’re going to try and slip
in.”

“
Let me know if I can
help.”

“
Sure will, Larue. I’ll be
in touch.”

I waved over my shoulder and headed
toward my car.

“
Oh, she’s just so
irritating,” Mae said.

“
Why in the world don’t you
guys like her?”

“
She’s snooty,” Mae
answered without hesitation.

“
Yeah, that’s not the word
I was thinking, but I’ll be a gentleman,” Anthony said.

Now he finally decided to have some
manners? “Now you’re going to start being a gentleman?” I climbed
in the car and started backing out before Anthony had a chance to
get in the backseat.

“
Hey, you almost left me at
that dreadful woman’s home. And I take offense at what you said.
I’m always a gentleman.”

I smiled to myself. Finally, I’d
almost gotten one over on him.

“
I’m really hurt. You were
driving off without me.” He was still yammering on while I
drove.

“
Don’t listen to him,” Seth
said.

“
No, don’t listen to the
old man,” Anthony huffed.

“
Y’all are bickering again
and giving me a headache.”

“
Darling, men are nothing
but headaches, but sometimes it’s worth the pain. Like in the case
of that hunk of man you got.”

“
I don’t think I need to
hear this discussion,” Seth said as he plugged his ears with his
fingers.

“
Honey, where do you think
he got his good looks from?” Mae wiggled her eyebrows.

“
You’re too kind.” Seth
chuckled.

“
Oh, man. I’m getting sick
back here, please stop.” Anthony made a gagging noise.

“
Listen, all of you. Just
stop talking for a second and let me do the talking. I think I’ll
know what I’m doing next if you’ll give me a chance to think it
out.”

“
Atta girl,” Mae
said.

“
I was thinking…perhaps a
little bit of exercise would help me clear my thoughts.”

Oh, good, calisthenics,” Anthony
said.

“
Um, yeah, sure, that’s
what we’ll call it,” I said.

No way was Anthony seeing me perform
pole fitness.

***

When I pulled up to Mindy’s studio,
the parking lot was full. I squeezed my car into an available spot
in the back and made my way toward the door. Halfway across the
lot, I stopped.

“
Whoa, whoa, whoa. No men
allowed.” I made a stop signal with my hands.

“
What? It doesn’t say that
anywhere,” Anthony said, looking around for the invisible
sign.

A gray-haired woman approached me.
“Did you say something, dear?”

Heat went to my cheeks. “I was just
talking on my cell phone, sorry.”

She scowled. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She
looked me up and down. “I didn’t see your phone.” She glanced down
at my empty hand.

I couldn’t tell her I had a speaker
stuck in my ear because with my hair pulled back in a ponytail, it
was obvious I didn’t. Great. I really was losing my touch. People
would think I was a crazy loony tune.

When she walked away, Anthony said,
“You’re really slipping there, my dear. People will think you talk
to yourself.” He smirked.

“
Stay out here or I swear
I’ll force you into that light, if it’s the last thing I do,” I
said, trying not to move my lips. A ventriloquist I was
not.

“
You tell him, Larue,” Seth
said, gesturing at Anthony. “Come on, young whippersnapper. Before
you get us all in trouble.”

I stomped off toward the building,
still fuming as I walked through the door. Women were everywhere.
Mindy stood at the front of the class; she didn’t look up to see
me. I took the only available spot; of course, it was right up
front. There was only one other pole available right beside the one
I was using. The class was almost full. I wasn’t sure what was
going on, but Mindy had a full house—that had never happened
before. Had Cooper used magic to fill up Mindy’s class? Had she
advertised? She’d done so in the past with pitiful
results.

Mindy gave a half-smile as the music
started, barely acknowledging me. Christina Aguilera singing Lady
Marmalade flooded the room. Mindy started instructing the class on
what to do and the women followed with ease. Maybe if Mindy saw me
making an attempt at the fitness thing, it would snap her out of
the spell. I began my usual attempt at twirling around. My
coordination wasn’t meant for activities such as this. I made a
half twirl, then fell off, landing right on my rear. I jumped up
and positioned myself next to the pole again. Everyone was probably
fighting back laughter as they watched me.

When I glanced to my right side, Mae
West was doing an upside-down slide on the pole. The “itchy gitchi
yaya dada” chorus of the song was on loop in my head. If someone
ripped the pole from the ceiling and beat me with it, it would have
been less painful. Mae twirled around the pole as if she had been
doing it for years. Figured, even a ghost was more coordinated than
I was.

I felt sorry for the women in class
who were unlucky enough to be behind me. The sight of my posterior,
as it spun around, couldn’t possibly be appealing for all to see.
No matter how hard I tried, my body wouldn’t twirl around that
pole. I was missing the twirling trait or something. Every single
time I attempted Mindy’s class, I came out bruised and embarrassed.
Yet, I came back for more punishment.

The pole made this horrible squeaking
noise every time my skin made contact. Flesh on metal didn’t sound
great…and the feeling as it pinched wasn’t so hot either. I tried
to cover my exposed skin with sweats, but that just made the
aforementioned twirling even worse.

“
Hold on to the pole like
this.” Mae demonstrated her hand position.

I placed my hands in the location, but
still couldn’t pull myself up like Mae had shown me. She shook her
head, then continued her crazy stunts. If only the women could see
Mae West working that pole.

After what seemed like an eternity,
the class came to an end.

“
Whew, that was wonderful,”
Mae said breathlessly. “But don’t worry, you’ll get better at it.”
She winked.

No comment.

“
Mindy, can I talk with
you?” I waved when she switched off the music.

“
Larue, I’d love to, but
I’m just swamped. We’ll talk later, okay? Thanks for coming.” The
phone rang and she dashed off, leaving me standing there like a
confused little puppy. I missed my best friend. Should I leave? Or
continue to try and talk with her about her condition? I was
surprised she’s spoken to me at all after the way she stormed out
yesterday. Obviously, this plan was going to work. One pole fitness
class wouldn’t break a spell or a demon’s hold on her. I needed
something more drastic.

Mae trailed on my heels as I marched
out the door and hurried to my car. So much for impressing Mindy
with my pole fitness skills.

Anthony had a devilish grin on his
face when I reached the car. “You are not cut out for that. You’re
gorgeous, but please promise me you’ll never attempt that again.
You owe it to humanity.”

Heat gathered in my head. Steam would
probably roll from my ears at any second. “I’ll picture the bright,
white light to the other side for you, Anthony, I swear I will.
Poof, you’ll be gone.”

He held his hands up in surrender,
stifling a laugh.

Wiseass.

At least the class hadn’t been a
complete loss, because now I knew what I needed to do
next.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I burst through the door of High
Fashion on a mission and it wasn’t for a new dress. Cooper Garret
had messed with the wrong girl. Black magic or no black magic, I
was going to tell him what I thought of him. Heck, he’d probably
already put a curse on me anyway. How much worse could it get?
Okay, a lot worse, but I had to try something. I wouldn’t let him
get away with this. Don’t mess with Larue Donavan, or her friends.
And especially, don’t come between me and a date. As long as it
took me to get one, I didn’t need some jerk coming into town and
messing it up. He was interfering with my life and the people I
loved. Wait. Was I falling in love with Callahan? I couldn’t think
about it until I settled my beef with Cooper.

Cooper sat behind the counter, looking
up at me when I marched up.

I pointed at him. “I don’t know
exactly what you’ve done, but I’m not going to let you get away
with it. If you take your black-magic-practicing butt out of here
right now, I won’t have you carted out on your rear.”

“
You tell him, honey,” Mae
said.

“
I love it when she’s
feisty like that, it’s so adorable.” Anthony stood beside
me.

“
Stop talking,” I
said.

“
Do you want me to punch
him, Larue? I’ll knock him out with one punch. I used to do some
boxing back in my day.” Anthony straightened and puffed out his
chest.