A Stake With a View (You Are The Worst Witch! Goodbye!) (A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Book 6) by Starla Silver Page A

porch with the front door open behind them, letting the cool ocean breeze flow into the mansion. The heat of the day had finally relented. Melinda sat on the edge of the porch her leg shaking unconsciously, her fingers tapping against her shaking leg.
    Lucas leaned over and gently pushed against her thigh. “That’s not helping.”
    She frowned. “Sorry. This sitting around waiting is driving me to new levels of crazy.” The more hours that passed, the prophetic dream she’d had the night before sliced its way to the surface of her thoughts. We have Riley tied up in the basement, she kept reminding herself. He can’t hurt anyone as long as he’s there. He can’t torture William as long as he’s there.
    “I didn’t think we’d still be sitting here come evening myself,” Lucas said invading her thoughts. He glanced back into the house. You could just make out the kitchen, where the basement door was located.
    “I don’t know how much longer Riley has until he’s just too far gone,” Melinda rambled in a panic. “I mean, it’s been all day! What’s taking so damn long?” Her breaths got shorter, air hard to get into her lungs. “What if we can’t get the Feyks to undo what they did to him?” Her heart stuttered, skipping a beat. “What if he just keeps getting worse? What if I didn’t do enough to stop my vision from coming true? What if he hurts someone? What if he kills...”
    Lucas pulled her to her feet. “Take a breath.”
    She did, but it was shaky and shallow. “Panic attack,” she squeaked out.
    “Obviously.”
    She saw the same fears swimming in his eyes, but he was staying so calm. How?
    “I’m okay,” she insisted sharply.
    He lifted an eyebrow in distrust of that statement.
    “No. I’m not,” she caved.
    “Didn’t think so. It will be okay, Melinda. Just breathe.”
    She nodded. Please. Please. Please. If there’s anyone in the cosmos in charge of such things, please let it all be okay. Please don’t let anyone get hurt. Please don’t let Riley hurt anyone. He’s not a killer. He’s not even a violent person.
    A soft touch caressed her cheek. Her eyes darted upward to see Lucas looking quite concerned. She pushed out a rushed exhale.
    “I’m okay now. Really.”
    He accepted her answer this time and dropped his hand.
    She watched Earl and Josh move gargoyle number three onto its perch.
    Just one left to go.
    Shouting echoed from the basement, wafting out to them on the front porch.
    “Great, he got that frigging bandana out of his mouth,” sighed Lucas.
    “How are you not having a panic attack right now?” grilled Melinda.
    “Oh, I am. I just react differently to panic then you do.”
    “By seemingly being the picture of perfect coolness?”
    He chuckled. “I used to get them a lot after my parents died, and I was suddenly custodian of a younger brother. I got some help.”
    “What kind of help?”
    “Mainly, the kind of help that showed me how important it is to see that when everything is spiraling out of control, to remember the things that are also going right. It’s a rare occurrence that everything is actually going wrong, all at once. But our minds go on this autopilot, pulling out all that’s negative.”
    “It’s hard to focus on the positive when the bad sucks so royally,” said Melinda.
    “For a long time it was very difficult to find anything positive in my life,” said Lucas. “And I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject, but for me, I look for just one good thing to focus on. The shit doesn’t just go away, but if I can remember that one positive thing, it helps me manage the rest of it.”
    “So what positive thing are you thinking about right now?” she asked him, desperate to find one thing she could grasp onto, and focus on. 
    “Um,” he stalled.
    “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
    “No, I just don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”
    “I won’t,” she promised.
    “I was actually focusing on how