“Dick can be used in a couple ways with that guy. How the hell did you find him? He was a real gem.”
“Clearly I am too gullible when it comes to online dating.”
“Ah. Yeah, that explains it. Online dating can be a nightmare, I hear. The undesirables can hide their little peccadilloes until they get you in person.” The burly guy stepped sideways, to the very edge of the doorframe, before curving around and looking through. “All clear.” He gave me a thumbs-up. “Guess I don’t need to go borrow a shovel from my neighbor.”
I grinned as I sighed. This town did like to joke about unmarked graves.
“Cool.” I looked around the room. No one moved. “What’s everyone waiting for, then? Does Austin need a cooling-off period or something?”
The guy studied his shoes. “Don’t expect so. He’s pretty clean about taking out the trash. Austin Steele takes care of this stuff all the time.”
“Right.” I nodded, chewing my lip. “Sooo…”
“Jessie, wine’s getting old,” Niamh hollered from within. “It’s turning to sludge before me eyes.”
“Vinegar,” Austin said.
“Sludge, vinegar, whatever. Would ye come on, Jessie? You must be chokin’. Come and get a drink.”
I hooked a thumbs-up at the burly guy, which he probably didn’t see, given he’d returned to studying his shoes, contorted my face in an expression that would have loudly declared my social awkwardness had anyone been looking, and returned to my stool.
Austin waited in front of a thankfully empty seat devoid of a gin and tonic and a guy I hoped to never see again. My wine sat where I’d left it, as did all the abandoned drinks from the people in the pool room.
“Austin, I have to hand it to you,” I said as I hovered behind my stool. “You can really clear a room. You might give them the all-clear, though. They’re just waiting in the other room, not drinking.”
“Here. Jessie, sit next to me. Logan can move.” Niamh pushed the burly guy’s drink away.
“Oh no, I’ll just—”
“It’ll be grand,” Niamh said. “He won’t mind.”
Austin studied me as he switched the positions of my glass and Logan’s beer, again without looking.
“It’s not my all-clear to give,” Austin finally said as Niamh gulped down some cider.
I lifted my eyebrows as I switched seats. “Why? Does this fall on me because I invited Gary here? I said I was sorry when I went in the other room, but the guy—Logan—gave me a weird response.” When they both stayed silent, I put up my hands. “I’m going to be honest, I’m lost. Did I cross a line by inviting a Dick here? Because I figured anyone was allowed in, and I just wanted—”
“You need to allow everyone back in the room,” Austin said in a low, even voice.
“After that,” Niamh said, “let’s chat about exactly how utter shite you are about choosing dates online, because I have to hand it to ye—”
Austin held up his hand, and Niamh’s mouth clicked shut, which meant she must have gotten one of Austin’s whip cracks of power (I’d yet to find anything else that would silence her). Her expression crumpled into a scowl.
“Okay, I realize you mean magically,” I told Austin, “but for the record, I’m still not clear on what’s happening. I don’t know why it’s my job.”
He braced himself against the edge of the bar, his arms flaring with muscle and his eyes fixed on me. “A wave of power swept the bar, urging—no, commanding—everyone to scatter. A magic unlike any I have ever felt called me to arms beside you. Called Niamh. Why Mr. Tom— Damn it.” A vein in his jaw flared as he gritted his teeth. “Why Earl hasn’t come barging in, I don’t know—maybe you kept it localized. It didn’t seem to reach the people on the outskirts of the bar area. Whatever you did, Jess, you had everyone fleeing this space faster than I ever have in my life. They are waiting out there because that is where you put them—out of harm’s way. Out of the action. There they will probably stay until you release your hold.”
The world spun. My head felt light. I blinked into that steady cobalt gaze more than was natural. It was hard to believe him, because I hadn’t felt anything, not a single thing. If I’d used that much magic, wouldn’t I know? A strange pulse had come with the summons.
And then a memory surfaced of my fingers tingling. That was all I’d felt, just anger and tingling fingers. The implications were troubling—if I could pull off magic like that without even trying, without even knowing I was doing anything, what else could I do by mistake?
“Are you positive it was me?” I asked quietly.
“Yes,” he said, just as quietly, comforting. “We’re probably in the most dangerous time for you. I hope we are, at any rate. Unlike mages or shifters or most other magical beings, you didn’t have the benefit of growing slowly into your magic—of learning it by trial and error in relative safety. Instead, you were given a large dose of magic upfront, are steadily working into a huge dose that will possibly trump all other magics in the world, and have zero instruction.”