Colby: September by Brandy Walker Page A

his spine and his stomach rolled with nausea.
    But he wouldn’t be able to find out until he dealt with whatever waited for him. Fuck, he prayed it didn’t take long.
    Stepping through the door, the sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks. The door damn near closed on him as it slid shut. It was also probably why he didn’t feel the magic slip over him as he walked inside the room.
    “Ella,” he exclaimed, reeling back. To say he was surprised to see her sitting in his chair, one eyebrow arched high, and lips pinched, would be an understatement. She looked unhappy. Very, very unhappy.
    He took the few steps to get to her and reached out to haul her to him. She dodged him. Pushing back in the chair before standing.
    “Sit,” she commanded, pointing to the chair.
    He wanted to stay standing, to keep on an equal level. There was a force pressing on him to obey. He plunked down into the chair and spun to face her, as she paced back and forth. “What’s wrong, babe?”
    “Don’t you babe , me.” Her eyebrow inched higher. Lips pursing tighter. It was a look that told him he was in deep shit. One his mother used when he was a boy. Little Djinns had a bit of mischief coursing through them when their powers manifested. He’d given his mother a run for her money. So much so that she used magic on him.
    He racked his brain going over the last couple of days. There wasn’t anything he could think of that he’d done wrong. Didn’t say anything to set her off. He had no idea what he’d done wrong. Except…he groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.
    “The bet,” she confirmed, reading his mind. He didn’t know how the fuck she’d done that, but she was right.
    “How…”
    She sliced her hand through the air, cutting off his words. It was almost as if she were stuffing them back in his mouth. “I had quite the morning with an off-her-rocker bitch. She had all sorts of interesting things to say about you. Seems there was a bet with Holden. Who could get me in the sack first?” Her eyebrow inched even higher. He was sure it would get lost in her hairline at any moment.
    “Colby,” she snapped.
    “No,” he paused. The silver in her eyes flashed bright. Something he’d seen a witch do only once before. Ah fuck . He hoped like hell he wasn’t about to be cursed again. “It was who could get you to go out with him first,” he mumbled. Better to stick to the truth than try to cover his ass. Not like he could say anything different. There was a force pressing against his skin. Pressing him to admit his sins and tell only the truth. It was foreign and had the feel of magic. He narrowed his eyes and studied Ella for a second. A silver hue glowed softly around her.
    “Did you put a spell on the room?”
    Her lips thinned. “And if I did?”
    “I would understand. I heard something happened at the spa.”
    “Geez, that was fast,” she mumbled under her breath.
    “Rumors have a way of finding people. It had to do with Claire, didn’t it?”
    Ella pursed her lips. Her nostrils flared at the mention of the other woman’s name. “The bet.”
    “I was going to tell you about it,” he sighed in resignation. It all needed to come out one way or another.
    “Oh.” Power snapped from her fingers, arcing from one hand to the other. “And when were you going to do that?”
    He opened his mouth, words on the tip of his tongue, but Ella wasn’t allowing it. She glared at him, and he snapped his mouth shut. How the fuck was he supposed to explain himself if she didn’t let him?
    “I know,” she snapped her fingers, the sound cracking loud through the room. “You were going to tell me now, since, you know, we’ve slept together. You’re the big winner. No reason for you to keep chasing after me and pretending to like me. Is that right?” Colby caught the tiny bit of hurt bleeding through her question. Hope bloomed in his chest, no matter how horribly timed it might be. To him it meant she cared. That she was