Accidental Leigh Read online

  My phone was making a noise to notify me of an incoming call. I told Kim that I was sorry, once more, and then tried to catch the other call. I clicked over a moment too late and nobody was there. The missed call notice showed that Kelly had called. There was a voicemail from her and I played it back. All I heard was a bunch of screaming in the background. I was terrified that something had happened. I mean really? How could I not be, after what happened to Jennifer and Kim? I tried calling her back several times with no luck. I tried Lindsey’s number. No luck. I wondered if Hunter would have the number to the other roofers. Maybe he could call them and see what was going on. I quickly dialed his number with the hope that he didn’t think I was a raving lunatic.

  “Hunter? Hi, it’s Leigh. You gave me a ride home earlier.”

  “Hi! I was just thinking about you.”

  Awe, he was thinking about me. I’d have to hold on to that thought for later. Thanks to me, my friends could be in real trouble.

  “Umm, that’s great, but I think there’s a problem over at my friend Lindsey’s house, where you guys were working today. I got a voicemail from her, but it was just- well, it sounded a lot like screaming. I tried calling back to both her and Kelly, but there was no answer on either of their phones. Normally, I would drive over there and check things out, but I don’t have my car here with me and I’m really worried. I don’t know those guys, and the girls were doing a lot of drinking. How well do you know them?”

  I didn’t want to tell him what a shitty witch I was, or what was going on with all of my experiments. I’m not even going to mention, how I had inadvertently placed all of my friends and family into disastrous scenarios. I wanted him to like me, not run away screaming!

  “Oh, I seriously doubt there would be a problem. I’ve worked with Luke and Derek long enough to know that they are good guys. They’re both related to the owner of the roofing company, too. I have their numbers, let me make a few calls and I’ll call you right back.”

  “OK. Thanks, Hunter.”

  I paced around the living room in an attempt to calm my nerves. Luna came up to me and was being unusually sweet. She rubbed her tail against the side of my leg and then jumped up onto my writing desk. It was almost as if she wanted me to write.

  “Sorry, Luna. I don’t have anything left to write about tonight.” After hearing about all of the disasters I caused, there was no way that I was going to write anymore until I found out what the hell was going on!

  I had been tempted earlier to write a nice date for Hunter and me, but with the way things are going, who knows what kind of disaster would await us. Besides, I genuinely liked him. I wanted to see if a natural relationship could develop on its own. You know, the kind with zero supernatural influence or interference!

  My phone rang. Thankfully, it was Hunter calling me back. I had started to wear a hole in my carpet from pacing back and forth. I was completely sick with worry.

  “Well, no answer from any of them. I’m going to head over to Lindsey’s place and see for myself what’s going on. They probably aren’t even there anymore, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Would you mind coming along, so it doesn’t seem too weird for me to be showing up alone at this hour? The last thing I want to do is end up getting hauled into the police station for a misunderstanding.”

  “Sure. How long before you get here?”

  “I’ll be there in about ten minutes or so. I’ll see you then.”

  I was beyond grateful for Hunter. My car was still sitting over at Lindsey’s. Sure, I suppose that I could have called the police, but I really didn’t have anything to go on. I really didn’t want to cause any trouble for anyone. What was I going to tell them? I cast a few less than fortunate magic spells that went awry on my other friends. Now I’m worried about these two because of an odd voicemail and a lot of alcohol? They’d lock me up quicker than I could blink. Just for the record, my idea of a relaxing vacation had nothing to do with padded walls and a straitjacket! That is unless Vlad could be there with me… oh wait, that bitch killed him!

  I quickly threw on a pair of shorts, a tank top, and my favorite sandals. By the time I was ready, Hunter was knocking at the door. I couldn’t help but notice how nice he looked, now that he had showered and changed. Maybe I didn’t appreciate the full quality of his hunkiness in my drunken stupor earlier in the day, but now- whew, I appreciated! The spark was definitely a little more than ignited. I felt like my body might internally combust from the smile he sent my way.

  I hadn’t noticed that his eyes were the lightest, most amazing shade of blue. His blonde, thick hair was begging for my fingers to run through it while he did naughty things to me. His full pouty lips were absolutely made for sin. Suddenly, I remembered the way he looked with his shirt off on Lindsey’s roof. Fuck me, I literally started to drool.

  When I was finally done making an ass of myself and checking Hunter out, we headed for his truck. I had to give him brownie points for trying not to laugh at my not so discreet ogling.

  We zipped over to Lindsey’s and knocked on her front door. There was no answer. We could hear the music blaring loudly from inside. It sounded like her tiny home had been transformed into a bar. We made our way to the back of the house and found the door unlocked. Hunter led the way. The kitchen was empty, but when we got to the living room, the scene was pretty much what I had envisioned.

  “Whoohoo! Two more for strip poker!” Yelled a very topless and very drunk Kelly.

  Lindsey still had both parts of her swimsuit on, but the guys were down to their underwear. One of them was standing in front of Lindsey. I guessed that he must have been the loser of that hand, since Lindsey was slowly tugging at the waist band of his underwear, in a vain attempt to strip them off. The guy was quite drunk and trying to dance in front of her.

  “Well, Hunter what do we do? Should we leave them? I mean, they’re all adults here and from the looks of it, quite consenting.” I was at a complete loss for words. I wanted to see if I could keep Hunter’s attention long enough to hold a conversation as Kelly’s massive milkers bounced freely around the room. Let’s face it, she definitely did NOT get passed over in the boob department. If there was anything on my body that I would have wished differently, it was to have Kelly’s boobs, instead of my own. Hers were spectacular! This was an unexpected test for Hunter. I hope he passed with flying colors.

  “You’re right, as stupid as they all look right now, you’re right. I’m going to take the keys to the truck they brought here and offer them a ride. I can’t make them leave, but I’m not letting them drive. Hey guys, you know you have to be at the job site by six in the morning? How about loading up into the work truck and I’ll drive you home?”

  I was pleasantly surprised when he acted as if Kelly were fully clothed, nothing impressive there. I was still gaping over the display of her bared rack!

  “Awww,” Lindsey protested. “It was just getting good, too! I was finally going to get to see Derek’s goods!”

  Luke agreed with Hunter and slowly put his jeans and shirt back on. Lindsey quickly grabbed the elastic waistband of her vanquished card player.

  “Not so fast, you still have to pay up.”

  To our surprise, she reached her hand down into his shorts and grabbed ahold of his assets. She pulled his shorts down with the other hand revealing what she had gotten ahold of.

  “Nice!” She gave it a few strokes and then smacked his ass and told him to get dressed.

  “I wonder how much of this she will remember in the morning.” I said to Hunter.

  “Oh, I’m sure she will have a vague memory of it.”

  “Leigh, the work truck is a cargo truck. The guys can climb in the back and I’ll drive you home, if you’d like.”

  “I would say I’m sober enough to drive, but I don’t take any chances, even though it’s been about four hours since I’ve had a drink. So, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

  Lindsey laid down on the couch and was already asleep. Kel
ly slumped into a chair next to her.

  “Hold on, I just want to cover these girls up. I cannot wait to call them early tomorrow morning.” I went into Lindsey’s room and took some of the fluffy blankets from her bed and spread them over the now snoring beauties. Next, I set their ringers to the most annoying ring tones I could find. Oh, and I turned the volume up all the way.

  Hunter herded the two young roofers out the front door and ushered them into the back of the truck. He rolled down the door and latched it shut, so none of them could stumble back out. “You all should probably sit down before you fall down.” He yelled to the boys.

  Once again, he held the passenger door open for me, but this time he took my hand and helped me up into the cab, which was much higher off the ground than his truck was. The truck bounced and creaked away into the night, accompanied by the groaning protesters in the back. Apparently, they failed to heed the warning of sitting down.

  “Thank you, for helping out. I would invite you in when I get home, but I think you have some special cargo to deliver.”

  “Yeah, these guys are all staying at the boss’s house. I bet every one of them will be late to the job in the morning.”

  “Yeah, well, I think we got there just in time. It looked like they were about to get a little too crazy. I swear that I’ve never seen Lindsey or Kelly act like that before.” Which was a complete lie. There was one time that was equally as bad as, or perhaps even worse than what we walked in on tonight. The incident happened at a bachelorette party we were all invited to. The party featured two male strippers and since it was being held in someone’s house, there were absolutely no rules.

  We all had our hands on the goods that night! Well, we almost had our hands on the goods. I was busily stuffing one dollar bills into this stripper’s skimpy little G-string. Kelly came over and pulled his cock out and tried to stick it in my face. Sorry, but I really don’t have any interest in a cock that makes a living by sticking it in every horny woman or maybe horny guy, in the city. Sorry, but that’s just not my cup of tea. I’m all for having a fun time with the girls, but I have to draw the line at public sex acts with strangers.

  The bride to be was the worst. She actually gave an oral performance… in front of all of us. Somebody recorded it on their phone, which was a complete breech of etiquette and probably blackmail material for later in life.

  I was pretty sure Lindsey was about to reenact the same scene with the young roofer tonight. I really had to wonder what the hell had gotten into them. I knew, I had nothing to do with that. No, I think that was just two young, single, and very drunk women surrounded by shirtless studs. And hormones, let’s not forget about those little bastards. Lindsey attended an all-female Catholic school and college when she was growing up. I know first-hand that she looks for any opportunity to make up for what could have been massive amounts of juvenile delinquent behavior, with a side of wild girl syndrome. Not everything in life is sprinkled with magic, stupidity frequently and easily trumps witchcraft.

  Hunter stopped the truck in front of my place. I thanked him once more for the lift. The guy was just too nice. It was killing me! He’s everything I would expect to find in the best of my best book boyfriends. He asked me once more about getting together soon. How could I refuse?

  “Hey, Leigh, I just want you to know that tonight doesn’t count.”

  It took me a minute to comprehend what he meant. “Oh, I fully agree! I’m looking forward to spending time with someone other than my insane friends and psychotic cat.”

  “We better do it soon, though. I’ll be heading to the academy in less than four weeks. How about we get together on Thursday, if you’re free that is? I have the day off. I started shortening my work hours, so I can get more time to work out and do some studying for the academy. It’s a great opportunity and I really want to graduate as close to the top as I can.”

  “Thursday would be perfect. I’m completely free all day and evening, too. Just give me a call to let me know what time you want to get together and we’ll go from there.” Of course, I wasn’t free at all. I had a veterinarian appointment in the afternoon for Luna’s annual exam and a book club meeting in the evening. Neither of those were as important as the prospect of a potentially awesome date with a man that seemed to have a lot of book boyfriend qualities. If it would have been Carl on the other hand, I would have chosen to go to the book club meeting. It had become pretty stale lately, since one of the new members acted like a goddamn dominatrix with her pushy attitude and pleather skirts.

  I knew the next thing on my agenda was to find out how long the Chicago Police Academy course would be. Hopefully short and sweet. Wait, strike that. Something could go terribly wrong.

  Chapter Nine

  Witchcraft.com

  I had a couple of days before my expected date with Hunter. By now, I had almost given up on Vlad. Almost. I had already gone back and started reading the series from the first book. I missed the magic of a good story. I wasn’t quite ready to attempt a resurrection of Vlad, until I had honed my witchcraft. When I pondered the idea, I realized that perhaps I needed to learn more about witchcraft, if I expected to gain control of it. Another thing, I figured I had at least a few days left to change the outcome of my parents’ weekend.

  Other than throw my friends and family into hellish situations, what else could I do? I started by delving into information with my research partner. If you’ve never researched “witchcraft” on the internet, you are in for a real treat. The historical facts are buried under steaming manure piles of completely useless garbage. I mean, think about it. Don’t you think, if it was as easy as throwing together a few herbs and saying some silly words to accomplish whatever you wanted, everyone would be doing it? It seemed like everyone was into some new age spiritual revival, I had completely and thankfully missed out on.

  I’m pretty open minded, so when I came across one of these tried and true internet fueled magic spells, I decided to give it a try. The spell was called Wisdom. It promised that the witch would be able to make wise decisions with her or his power. Now, I normally ignore most of that kind of stuff on the internet, but wisdom is something I desperately needed right about now. Especially, if I planned to play around with altering someone’s future. I had to be smart. Witchy smart. There was one more thing that gave the spell some validity. The website included images of the original medieval magic book. Of course, most of it was in Latin and some Greek. The rest appeared to be written in a strange alchemist’s code.

  Now, like any classic witch spell, it required a number of ingredients. Some of these things were pretty easily found in any spice rack. Bay leaf, saffron, and sea salt. It would be more difficult to get my hands on the five drops of goose blood and the cow’s tears. A quick check of my kitchen and just as I suspected, I had everything but the goose blood and cow tears. Do cows even cry?

  Time to call on my irrational and insane friends to get my car back and see if they wanted to help me whip up a batch of wisdom. I let Kelly’s phone ring until I reached her voicemail and then I tried Lindsey’s. They were probably still sprawled out like road-kill, right where I left their drunken asses. Finally, after another try to Kelly’s phone, she picked up.

  “Ahhhhhhrrrr,” she both growled and moaned. “What do you want? I’m busy dying here.”

  “You guys need to come pick me up. We have some shopping to do. Well, not so much of a shopping trip as it is a scavenger hunt.”

  “What the hell? Really? Does it have to be today?”

  “Yes, it does. Now get yourselves together, I’ll be waiting!”

  Almost an hour and a half later, Kelly slinked through my door. “Holy hell, Kel! You look like dog meat!”

  “Thanks for the compliment, Leigh. I tried. I really did, but this is the best it’s going to get today.” Kelly feebly waived her hand over her face and hair.

  “Where’s Lindsey?”

  “She is hurting- bad.”

  I laughed and asked Kel
ly what she remembered from the previous night’s strip poker game. Like any good friend, I had to tease the hell out of her. When these opportunities arise with loved ones, you must strike quick and hard! “So, do you remember the strip poker game?”

  “Ugh! You saw that? It’s all pretty fuzzy still. We were just having fun. They’re nothing but college guys. They were cool about it, and to be honest, it was a bit reminiscent of being back in college. For me at least.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t see all of it. I walked in right as Lindsey was about to strip the one guy completely naked. I interrupted her little show.”

  “Speaking of guys. Where did you skip off to with Mr. Arms? Don’t think for a minute that we didn’t notice your little disappearing act!”

  “Mr. Arms, by the way is Hunter. He is probably the nicest guy that I’ve met in a very long time. We actually have a date Thursday night. You see, I have something called self-control, unlike the two of you. You two acted like it was your first night of freedom from a women’s correctional institution.” Kelly simply rolled her eyes, which was probably a bad idea considering the fact that she still smelled like a brewery. The room probably started to spin on her again.

  “Pffft. You forget, I know all of your secrets. Besides, I’m happy you have a date. Maybe I’ll get Luke’s number and give him a call. I’m pretty sure, I saw Derek writing his number on Lindsey’s thigh with a sharpie. Anyway, now that I’m here, what exactly are we doing today?”

  “Witchcraft! More precisely, a magic spell that will hopefully give me better control over using my newfound witchy powers. I found out some pretty interesting things about my desk and I need to find a way to tame it.”

  “Like?” Kelly prompted.

  “It has a message written in Latin under the drawer. Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui, and translated it means, beware of what you say, when, and to whom. I also contacted the old bitch who gave it to me. I had to practically twist her into a knot to tell me anything about it. She told me the desk was very old and came from Massachusetts!”