answer.
‘Yes. Just like every man I’ve ever dated. But what else are you going to do?’
Temporarily snuggling further into the couch and throwing my head backwards, the alternative runs through my mind. The lousy alternative where Hunter ruins everything. My eyes feel like they are full of sand, my head throbs and the vertebrae in my neck have been replaced by a steel rod.
‘Do you want to give this a go? I understand if you don’t want to, it’s a bit weird,’ Mel says.
‘It’s a lot of money, too.’
‘It is,’ Mel agrees as she joins me in flail position on the couch.
We both exhale, turn and look at each other. Whatever trouble one has gotten into, it’s been with the other by her side. Whenever someone picked on one of us at school, they dealt with both of us. We’ve seen each other through doomed romances, failed romances, second-time-around romances and more hangovers than either of us can count. But this is truly crazy. Casting a spell? Or maybe not even casting a spell, perhaps this is just handing $700 over to some witchy scammer who is going to cackle all the way to the Caymans?
But what if this does work? What if in some Harry Potter, Practical Magic kind of way, this spell deletes me from Hunter’s memory? Imagine if it is real and I don’t try it? I’ll spend the rest of my lonely, single, miserable life wondering… what if ?
‘Stuff it,’ I say, nodding.
‘So that’s a yes?’
‘Why the hell not? I’ve got nothing to lose, except $700. What do we need?’
‘According to this list we need Hunter’s hair, which you hacked from his rather large cranium earlier this evening, and a photo of him. Do you have a photo?’
‘Yep, it’s in my gap year album on the bottom of the bookshelf.’
‘We also need a wind-up clock, a toenail clipping from you, three drops of your blood and…eww.’ She screws her face up.
‘What?’
‘Three plucked pubic hairs from you.’
‘Plucked?’
‘Yes, it says they must be plucked and not cut. I’ll get the photo of Hunter, you can do the rest.’
We set about gathering what we need and I withdraw my credit card from my purse and sit in front of the computer.
‘$700 will send me over my limit,’ I say.
‘Losing Aiden will send you out of your mind,’ Mel answers.
Suddenly, my phone rings. The number isn’t familiar, so it’s not Aiden. There’s only one other person it could be, ringing me at this time of night. Hunter. Quickly, I answer it.
‘You little bitch!’ the familiar voice yells down the line. ‘You won’t be smiling so much by the time I’m finished with you.’
Yep, Hunter. I put it on loudspeaker so that Mel can hear everything.
The adrenaline courses around my body again. ‘How did you get this number?’
There was a short pause on the other end. I can hear Hunter smile. ‘Cressida gave it to me. She was very obliging after I told her about your little visit tonight.’
There’s a tingling sensation deep inside my chest and my gut is churning. It’s started already. Hunter didn’t waste any time. This is really happening.
‘You’ve already told Cressida?’
‘Yes, I did,’ he says smugly. ‘And she was very interested in your past— in our past together. She can’t wait to give Aiden a history lesson.’
My eyes fill with tears, because Cressida will waste no time in telling Aiden. She’s probably already rung him.
‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a fly on that wall?’ he says.
My mouth opens but no sound comes out. All feeling has left my body.
‘Imagine that,’ Hunter continues, ‘to be able to watch little Aiden St. James’ heart breaking. I wonder what kind of noise it would make?’
From my toes the tingle of rage begins. It moves up my calves to my legs, bringing me back to life.
‘I wonder, in the seconds after he absorbs the news, what he’ll be feeling? Will it be shock, disbelief?’
The rage spreads to my hips and stomach where it curls and knots itself into
‘Yes. Just like every man I’ve ever dated. But what else are you going to do?’
Temporarily snuggling further into the couch and throwing my head backwards, the alternative runs through my mind. The lousy alternative where Hunter ruins everything. My eyes feel like they are full of sand, my head throbs and the vertebrae in my neck have been replaced by a steel rod.
‘Do you want to give this a go? I understand if you don’t want to, it’s a bit weird,’ Mel says.
‘It’s a lot of money, too.’
‘It is,’ Mel agrees as she joins me in flail position on the couch.
We both exhale, turn and look at each other. Whatever trouble one has gotten into, it’s been with the other by her side. Whenever someone picked on one of us at school, they dealt with both of us. We’ve seen each other through doomed romances, failed romances, second-time-around romances and more hangovers than either of us can count. But this is truly crazy. Casting a spell? Or maybe not even casting a spell, perhaps this is just handing $700 over to some witchy scammer who is going to cackle all the way to the Caymans?
But what if this does work? What if in some Harry Potter, Practical Magic kind of way, this spell deletes me from Hunter’s memory? Imagine if it is real and I don’t try it? I’ll spend the rest of my lonely, single, miserable life wondering… what if ?
‘Stuff it,’ I say, nodding.
‘So that’s a yes?’
‘Why the hell not? I’ve got nothing to lose, except $700. What do we need?’
‘According to this list we need Hunter’s hair, which you hacked from his rather large cranium earlier this evening, and a photo of him. Do you have a photo?’
‘Yep, it’s in my gap year album on the bottom of the bookshelf.’
‘We also need a wind-up clock, a toenail clipping from you, three drops of your blood and…eww.’ She screws her face up.
‘What?’
‘Three plucked pubic hairs from you.’
‘Plucked?’
‘Yes, it says they must be plucked and not cut. I’ll get the photo of Hunter, you can do the rest.’
We set about gathering what we need and I withdraw my credit card from my purse and sit in front of the computer.
‘$700 will send me over my limit,’ I say.
‘Losing Aiden will send you out of your mind,’ Mel answers.
Suddenly, my phone rings. The number isn’t familiar, so it’s not Aiden. There’s only one other person it could be, ringing me at this time of night. Hunter. Quickly, I answer it.
‘You little bitch!’ the familiar voice yells down the line. ‘You won’t be smiling so much by the time I’m finished with you.’
Yep, Hunter. I put it on loudspeaker so that Mel can hear everything.
The adrenaline courses around my body again. ‘How did you get this number?’
There was a short pause on the other end. I can hear Hunter smile. ‘Cressida gave it to me. She was very obliging after I told her about your little visit tonight.’
There’s a tingling sensation deep inside my chest and my gut is churning. It’s started already. Hunter didn’t waste any time. This is really happening.
‘You’ve already told Cressida?’
‘Yes, I did,’ he says smugly. ‘And she was very interested in your past— in our past together. She can’t wait to give Aiden a history lesson.’
My eyes fill with tears, because Cressida will waste no time in telling Aiden. She’s probably already rung him.
‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a fly on that wall?’ he says.
My mouth opens but no sound comes out. All feeling has left my body.
‘Imagine that,’ Hunter continues, ‘to be able to watch little Aiden St. James’ heart breaking. I wonder what kind of noise it would make?’
From my toes the tingle of rage begins. It moves up my calves to my legs, bringing me back to life.
‘I wonder, in the seconds after he absorbs the news, what he’ll be feeling? Will it be shock, disbelief?’
The rage spreads to my hips and stomach where it curls and knots itself into
Similar Books
