“Hey! Just the chicky I want to see,” Hank greeted, only because she wasn’t trying to tell him what to do in his dominion. “Am I good to start cleanup for the end of day? My daughter and I are going out on a date tonight.”
His daughter, Lilian, was the picture of him in female form. He and her mother had split up when she was young, but it was obvious that they’d tried to make sure Lilian was loved since she came out of high school hitting the ground running and motivated. What she’d make of herself once she finished high school and was an adult was anyone’s guess, but they all knew she’d do amazing.
“That’s fine,” she answered, giving him a wide grin. “What are you two doing?”
“Thought we’d go for dinner and then have a couple of drinks to celebrate her eighteenth birthday.”
“It’s her eighteenth already?!” Skylar exclaimed, bravely stepping into the kitchen a little more. “I’ll have to get her a present.”
He gave a laugh, and it was always so light and warm that it melted her ire. Coming to Hank when she needed uplifting was always just what the doctor ordered.
“Please. There’s no need. Me and Hilary already put our wallets together to fly Lily to Europe before she’s bogged down with uni next year.”
Her grin grew.I should buy her a suitcase then.
At her expression, he narrowed his eyes over his rectangular glasses. “I just gave you an idea, didn’t I?”
She looked up at the ceiling coyly. “Nope. Never.”
She ducked away with a giggle, her three-inch flatforms scuffing across the wooden flooring as she fled.
If I buy her a suitcase, I can alter it with charms to make sure it’s never stolen or tampered with, and place a spell to ensure she’s safe while she’s travelling.
Honestly, Skylar wanted to use her magic for that, and probably would have broken into Lilian’s house while she was out to do it anyway. She may have – she absolutely had – broken into all of her employees’ homes to place down protective spells.
They were her family, as she no longer had any left.
With her head swirling with ideas and excuses to use her witchcraft, she had an uplifted bounce to her step.
Even when she came back to the front to find Kaylee still swiping left on random men for Skylar on the dating app, she tried to hold on to the positivity.
Her shoulders lost their tension, as she could see the truth in her friend’s meddling.She’s just doing it because she cares.
Whatever was actually stopping Skylar from throwing herself back into the dating scene, one thing was certain: she was...lonely. Not in a ‘breakdown and ugly-snot cry into a two-litre tub of chocolate ice cream’ way, but with a subtle ache that niggled at her chest every day.
It worsened when she sidled up next to Kaylee and helped her swipe, crinkling her nose in denial constantly and never once swiping right on a guy.
I wish I could just... summon a boyfriend.
Chapter
Three
“I totally could,” Skylar grumbled to herself as she tucked in the last chair and wiped down the last table.
Over the speakers, loud, upbeat phonk music played, and she lightly headbanged, wiggled her shoulders in a little dancey dance, and spun as she cleaned. The shutters were down, hiding from the world that she was enjoying her own company as she tidied up The Bean Alchemist to perfection.
Her magic was weak enough that she couldn’t conjure brooms and rags to clean, but shewasable to blow all dust into nothingness. The windows had a perfect shine to them, and despite Hank thinking he was an amazing cleaner, she ensured every bit of grease was gone with a special concoction that made her kitchen the cleanest one in all of Sydney.
“I could totally summon a boyfriend,” she repeated for the sixth – or was it seventh? – time. “Or at least someone to rail me into oblivion. Surely there’s a spell in one of my grimoires.”
If she summoned a demonic being who was bound to pleasure her the wayshewanted, then she wouldn’t feel too bad if he tapped and left. A naughty trade. Sex would be the reason she summoned him, so there would be no need to talk about commitment or pretend things were more than what they were.
She grabbed her bag from underneath the counter, slung the black bat backpack over her shoulder, and headed to the door to leave.
I just have to make sure I’m not sacrificing my soul or something.She may be horny, but she wasn’t willing to sacrificethat.
As she went to open the door, a knock came from the other side.
