Allure

“Huh, that’s funny.” I pull at my shorts, but it stays put, as if bound to his.

He chuckles. “I don’t know, maybe this charm is supposed to do more than protect me from black magic. I bet it’s supposed to keep us glued together forever.” He winks, then tugs at the cloth, yanking the two pieces apart.

I scowl. “You know I’d never do anything like that.” Red magic coercion spells take away a person’s free will to love and are just plain wrong.

He nuzzles my neck. “I know. I just like to watch you get all riled up.”

“Ha-ha.” I yawn. My thigh warms. Digging my hand into my pocket, I finger my third of the broken ruby. Since we couldn’t glue the three pieces together after the Break Jinx failed to reverse the Beaumont Curse, Cooper, Jack, and I each took one as a sort of souvenir. An insanely expensive and irreplaceable one, but it was better than tossing them into St. Helena Island Sound.

Just thinking about my massive screwup makes me tired, and way too fatigued to think about my clingy pants. Cooper’s probably half-right anyway. The spell must have discharged some electromagnetic energy or something. My lids droop and I pull away. “I’m sorry, but I’m exhausted. I should probably head home.”

He sighs. “Fine, have it your way.” He runs his hand through his loose, golden-brown hair, then flashes me his killer smile. Standing up, he offers me his hand and pulls me to my feet. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I wink, knowing his gratitude is as much for the kisses as it is for helping to save his soul.

Cooper and I make our way up the bluff and down the path that leads to the Big House. Just as we’re about to hop into the golf cart to head to the caretaker’s cottage, shouts erupt from Cooper’s place and we race toward the sound. It’s definitely Cooper’s dad, Beau, and someone else. Something smashes. Whatever’s going on, it isn’t pretty.

Cooper and I wind around the front of the house toward the back patio and veranda.

“Stop!” a hushed voice calls out.

I grind to a halt as Cooper pulls up next to me.

It’s my brother, Jack’s, voice but I don’t see him anywhere.

“Where are you, bro?” Cooper whispers.

The shouts from the house grow louder.

“Over here.”

Jack is hunched behind a giant saw palmetto bush on the edge of the yard. Cooper and I rush over to him.

“What are you doing?” I kneel in the mulch and bat away a long, spindly leaf.

“What does it look like? I’m eavesdropping.”

Thank you, Sergeant Obvious.

“Yeah, but why?” Cooper crouches next to me.

Jack lifts a finger to his lips to keep us quiet. “Just listen. They’ve been going at it for about an hour.”

Missy, Cooper’s very young and very blonde stepmother, skitters out the back door in her trademark stilettos and cutoff shorts, then scurries across the veranda and out onto the patio. “I swear, I’m not lying.”

“Then answer my question.” Beau’s voice booms from inside the house. His thick southern accent is more sluggish than usual. Almost groggy. Another crash booms.

“I did, sugar. About a thousand times.”

“No you haven’t. I want answers, Missy, and I want them now.” Beau’s voice bellows as he lumbers to the French doors that open out to the veranda, leaning hard against his cane and staggering with each step.

Cooper’s father is humongous, the inevitable result of his extraordinary appetite for all things deep fried and decadent. He wasn’t always like this. I’ve seen pictures of him and my dad when they were kids. Thirty years ago they were both lean and athletic, but somewhere along the line, probably when the Beaumont Curse snatched his soul, he changed.

Hauling his excessive girth across the threshold of the veranda, Beau heaves for breath. “Where is it?” He sways and reaches for a glass table for support but it tips and crashes to the ground, its top splintering into a thousand pieces. Somehow he manages not to spill on the floor with it. “I want my ruby. Now.”

My stomach plummets. Now I understand why Jack’s been spying on them. The necklace. A third of which is currently in my pocket. We are so screwed.

“Crud,” Cooper whispers as he grips his temple. His heart is beating so hard I can actually hear it in his chest.

“Uh-huh.” Jack nods.

My pulse rages as adrenaline surges through my veins. Depending on how Missy answers her husband, things could go very badly for us, especially Cooper. Until last week Missy wore the eighty-carat ruby everywhere —the grocery store, the mall, even the gym and spa. But we needed it to break the Beaumont Curse, so we borrowed it—sort of—by working a Mind Confusion spell in the middle of her Fourth of July hurricane party. In our defense, I only expected to use it for a couple hours until after the storm passed and the Beaumont Curse was broken. How was I supposed to know everything would go horribly wrong and the necklace would be destroyed?

Gnawing my lip, I stare at Missy, who’s gripping the back of a patio chair. “Beau, baby. My jewelry is locked up tight in my treasure box. You know that.” She forces a smile and a nervous giggle trickles from her throat.

“Do I?” Though his voice quiets, it’s laced with barely contained fury.

“S-sure you do. Why would you think otherwise?”

“You know. It’s funny. You’ve been saying the same thing all week.” His jowls ungulate with each syllable. With a grunt, he steps forward, advancing across the veranda. “I want to believe you. Especially since you know how important that stone is to this family. And how much I value it. Surely you wouldn’t dream of losing something that’s been handed down to every plantation mistress for nearly three hundred years.” He sucks for air, his chest gurgling with each breath as he lurches onto the patio. Even in the twilight, his skin is pastier than normal. This workout is liable to give him a heart attack.

She shakes her platinum head and takes a step back. “No, of course not, baby. I’d never dream of doing anything like that.”

Wheezing, he advances toward her. “And after all I’ve given you, you wouldn’t possibly think about stealing from me.”

“Never. I’m the luckiest girl in the world. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be the checker at the Route 21 convenience mart.” Her voice quakes.

He stops right in front of her. “Then why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.”

His pungent, rotten-bologna scent carries on the breeze, burning my throat. He’s always reeked, but even from this distance, it’s stronger than normal.

Beau nods. “Yes, you are. I looked in that box of yours. The necklace isn’t there.”

She swallows hard. “I’m sure it’s in a safe place.”

Jack and Cooper turn to me, their jaws agape. We don’t need words to know we’re all thinking the same thing: Is she as clueless as she seems, or is she actually covering for us? And if so, why?

Fast as lightning, Beau’s arm shoots out and he clutches her tiny jaw in his enormous hand. “You’re sure?”

I gasp, surprised by his ability to move so quickly especially after all the huffing and puffing.

His head snaps in our direction.

Cooper, Jack, and I freeze, holding our breath.

For one long minute Beau searches the yard with his gaze, looking for the source of the sound. My lungs burn for fresh air and my muscles ache from being locked in place.

Finally, Beau turns away, apparently satisfied that he and Missy are alone. Releasing her jaw, he strokes the side of her sleek hair with his puffy hand. “Where is the ruby?”

“I’m not sure.” Her voice is small.

“What?” he growls.

She whimpers. “I know I wore it to the hurricane party. And I remember talking to Bunny Perkins about the burglaries on the island. We’ve got so many valuables here, I was worried we’d be robbed next. I’m sure I put it