I Hate You
Part 26
“I don’t know why you are against it.” The lawyer asked Miriam Kane, perplexed. “Your share of the sale would be over two hundred million. That’s more than what we could get in court in the divorce proceedings.”
“And you call yourself a divorce attorney?!” Miriam shrieked. “Don’t you know that, to me, the money is secondary to making my bastard Husband and that bitch of a Daughter suffer? Block the sale and get an injunction against my Daughter’s trust fund!” Actually that was a lie. Money was always primary to Miriam Kane. However, hurting and punishing her ungrateful Daughter after all she had done for her was nearly as important.
“Okay. You’re the client.” The lawyer conceded. He had other clients that had acted against better judgment in divorces and he decided to back off before he cost himself another big payday. “I’ll go in front of a judge today to ask for a complete audit of the company’s books and the buyer’s proposal. That will buy us some time to get the injunction to stop the sale completely.”
“Don’t forget my Daughter’s trust fund.” Miriam snapped.
“I won’t. How did you find out about their plans?” The attorney queried. “My detectives didn’t even know about the planned sale.”
“Then fire them and get new ones! Otherwise you maybe next.” Miriam threatened. “If I knew and they didn’t, it means that they don’t know how to do their jobs or they are afraid to get their hands dirty! They have had almost two weeks and have yet to find anything incriminating.” She stormed out of his office.
The lawyer buzzed his secretary. “Please get me the Thompson detective agency on the line.” As he waited, he wished that he didn’t have to call Madge Thompson, but Miriam Kane didn’t leave him with much of a choice. He didn’t like dealing with Madge. She made his skin crawl. She was arrogant, unethical and charged more for her services than any of the other detective agencies he used. She was also nearly perfect when it came to finding the skeletons buried in people’s closets quickly and he needed to appease Miriam Kane fast.
“Let me check with O’Hare and Midway first!” Madge smirked when she came on the line.
“What?”
“You heard me.” Madge cackled with malicious glee. “After our last business dealing, you told me that the only way you would ever use me again is when monkeys flew out of your ass. When did you get the air clearance?”
“Ever pleasant as always Madge.”
“Then let’s cut to the chase. Your back is against the wall, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking. Whatever it is, I’ll do the assignment for double my usual fee.”
“Double?! You’re insane!” The lawyer sputtered.
“Unless the next word out of your mouth is agreed; it’s tripled. Clock is ticking. I’m hanging up in ten seconds and if you call back then it’s quadrupled.”
“Agreed.” The lawyer seethed. The bitch knew she had him by the short hairs. He didn’t want to lose the forty million plus fees from the Kane divorce. “I’ll fax over the contract and the case details.”
“I’ll be waiting loverboy.” Madge gloated as she hung up.
“You can come back in.” Cassie informed her family as she opened the door. They were waiting outside of Marie’s apartment while Cassie met with Francesca in private. “I’ve given Francesca three spells for testing to see when she can speak magic properly.”
“Sis, before Miss Boyd shows up, can you look at my car?” Liam requested. “The knock has reappeared sporadically.”
“Sure Squirt.” Cassie grinned as they walked towards the car.
When they were out of the other’s earshot, Liam spoke up. “Actually, I needed to talk to you away from Francesca. The Tiffany meeting is spiraling out of control.”
“How do you mean?” Cassie questioned.
Liam explained what Tommy overheard Brickhouse and Rhino talking about. “Unless the Sophomores are idiots enough to go against Brickhouse and his group, they should fold quickly. The bigger problem is going to be Tiffany and Mandy.”
“Why?”
“It looks like they won’t listen to reason and ...”
“And what?”
“Mandy will then probably kick the crap out of me while saying Rhino ordered it as a plan B. She knows from past experience that I won’t hit a girl.”
“How does she know this Squirt?” Cassie prodded.
“Last year, during gym class, I was paired with her when we had to do dancing. I accidentally stepped on her foot and she punched me.” Liam winced and rubbed his shoulder as he remembered the incident. “At first, she was scared. When I didn’t retaliate, she got a weird glint in her eye, smiled wickedly and began to pound on me until the gym teachers hauled her to the Principal’s office. She got suspended for two weeks.”
“Don’t worry Squirt. Let me know when and where on Saturday and I’ll watch your back.” Cassie grinned. “Picking on you is my job; not hers!”
“And that’s how you use Avogadro’s number to calculate the molarity of acids.” Ben informed Amy. They were studying, over at her house, at the dining room table.
Amy smiled and started to kiss Ben when she heard an “Ahem” from her Mother who had walked in. Amy quickly pulled back.
“Until you can keep your grades up, curb your hormones.” Mrs. Wilson warned with a smile.
“Yes Mom.” A chastised Amy acknowledged.
“Thank you again for dinner Mrs. Wilson. It was delicious.” Ben complimented.
“No problem Ben.” Mrs. Wilson answered, flattered. “Have you decided on where you’re going to school next year? You must have received dozens of offers.”
“I’ve narrowed my choices down to four. All have excellent engineering programs. I’m just looking for something to set one above the rest.” Ben listed his four choices. Amy got excited when he listed his third choice.
“I’m glad to see you are serious in your school work.”
“I wasn’t always this way Mrs. Wilson. I used to think that as long as I could play football, I was set for life. Then last year, our starting quarterback got tackled badly and it ended his football career. I remember visiting him in the hospital. He was crying about how his life was over and he had nothing to live for. He was seventeen.
I decided then to make sure that football was not my be all, end all. I had been taking easy classes, up until then, but now needed to concentrate more on math and science. I signed up for trigonometry and chemistry. My chemistry teacher saw me trying and struggling. She kept me after class one day and asked me if I was serious about learning or did I expect to have the football coach get her to ‘fix’ my grades.
She could see I was earnest when I told her about planning for life beyond football and she suggested a tutor. Luckily, I got assigned to Liam.”
“I’m glad too since he introduced us.” Amy chimed in.
“Liam makes it seem so easy to learn. He never talks down to you or makes you feel that you can’t learn. He also helped me score well enough on my SATs to be considered by some of the schools on my short list.”
“Well, keep up with your studies and you should have a bright future ahead of you.” Mrs. Wilson smiled as she left the pair. Once her Mother was gone, Amy grabbed Ben and kissed him deeply.
“Are you crazy?!” Ben whispered when he got his breath back. “You could get in trouble with your Mom.”
“But I wasn’t kissing you.” Amy protested grinning. “Well, yes I was kissing you. But that was more of an ‘I’m trying to recruit you’ ploy.”
“Recruit me?” Ben asked puzzled. “I thought we are already going out.”
“We are silly. You said earlier that you are looking for something to make you choose one school over the others. If I scored well on my SATs then I’ll be going to your third choice. I was just showing you what you could have everyday if you choose that one.”
“You know, I’m probably going to need more convincing.” Ben winked.
Amy smiled and planted another one on Ben before they returned to studying.
“Do you still prefer to wait until the summer before continuing?” Abigail asked Liam as class ended. Two thirds of the way through class Jasmine, then a little while later Francesca and finally Liam all started to speak magic properly. Cassie teased Liam about it being true that girls did mature faster than boys until Abigail reminded Cassie it took her five months instead of four to learn to speak magic properly.
“I didn’t have a necklace to help me and we were only meeting two hours a night once a week because of Barry’s work schedule. My Mother wouldn’t let me have a car unless I worked and paid for the insurance.” Cassie protested.
“It’s not my decision alone to make anymore Miss Boyd.” Liam said he looked at Francesca. “If Francesca wishes to continue now, I will also. I am her ride.”
“Sì prego.” Francesca requested with a smile.
“Prego means please.” Jasmine informed her younger Brother.
“I know Sis.” Liam smiled. “Francesca has been teaching me Italian on the way here and I am helping her with her classes on the way home.”
“Excellent.” Abigail responded. “We will spend at least one more class with speaking before we move to learning control.”
“Goodnight everyone.” Liam said as he and Francesca left.
Abigail approached Cassie before she packed up. “Cassie, I please need you to do something for me.”
“What is it Abigail?”
“I need for you to brew a potion for me.” Abigail answered as she handed a piece of vellum like paper to Cassie and a velvet pouch. “You can use the potion ingredients that Jasmine picked up yesterday, with these. I can pick up the finished potion tomorrow.” She had stopped by Fitzgerald’s for the instructions and a few other ingredients without telling him why she needed it or who it was for. After knowing each other for almost eighty five years, Paddy granted her the respect of not invading her privacy.
“Miss Boyd, why don’t you use it for our lesson Sunday?” Marie inquired.
“The potion can only be brewed by a white level and I need it as soon as possible.” Abigail hurriedly explained.
Cassie knew from Abigail’s tone that she was nervous about something and that there was more to the story, but let it slide. “You can either pick it up at my place in the evening tomorrow or you can wait while I brew it here and then drive me home.”
“It’ll take four to six hours to finish. I do not want to impose on Marie. Tomorrow evening is fine.” Abigail agreed.
“See you after six.” Cassie said as Abigail left. She then turned to Jasmine, “Remind me to give you the arousal spell candy. I did it on a pair of bonbons this time for something different.”
“Actually now that I fulfilled my oath to Samantha, we are going to step back from the arousal spells for awhile until I can cast them myself.”
“Well, I don’t need them and neither does Marie. Why don’t you just hold on to them. In a few days, they will be just regular bonbons again and I don’t eat chocolate.”
“Why not Sis?” Marie asked.
“I don’t ingest caffeine and chocolate has caffeine. I stopped when I was eighteen.” Cassie smiled.
“But I’ve seen you drink coffee.” Jasmine said puzzled.
“Decaf or I use a spell to remove it. But the spell makes chocolate taste terrible to me.” Cassie answered. “Can you picture me after two or three grande espressos if I didn’t remove the caffeine?”
“I’d rather not Sis.” Jasmine laughed.
“Drive safely home and I’ll see you both on Sunday.” Marie said with a smile as she hugged her Sisters goodbye and began rearranging her apartment.
“I know I can keep you until tomorrow, Lassie.” Paddy told the mannequin like figure Roxanne had been for the last two weeks as he locked the store’s door. “But I’ll let you off early for good behavior.” He then lifted her out of the window and onto a cart. He wheeled her into the back and turned off the lights in the front of the store.
As he got her original clothes out of a drawer, Paddy thought back to when she first entered his shop. It was about twenty minutes before closing two weeks ago. She walked in as he was putting two crystal balls into a display case. She was dressed head to toe in black leather with her black stringy hair covering most of her face. She asked to see the skull he had stored on the top shelf. While he went to get the ladder, she grabbed the two crystal balls and ran.
Roxanne was half a step out the door when she froze up solid. She tried as hard as she could to move but nothing responded. She hoped that some passerby would see her predicament and help but, at that time of night, the streets were empty. She was trying to figure out what was happening to her when she heard the man approaching. “Now Lassie, why did you do something that stupid?” He asked before Roxanne’s world went black.
When she came to she was in the back of the store. She still couldn’t move from the neck down but could now speak. After calling Paddy every name in the book, she threatened him with retribution from the gang she was in.
“Are you done Lassie?” An amused Paddy calmly asked.
“I’ve not even started you fat piece of crap!” Roxanne spat before she found herself muted.
“Okay, let’s get a few things straight Roxanne.” Paddy started and saw her eyes grow wide when he used her name. She didn’t have any ID on her. “I know your name is Roxanne Waters and you are not in a gang. You can speak again.”
“Are you a real wizard?” Roxanne asked in awe, looking around the room.
“The proper term is witch, but aye. Now let’s get to the matter at hand. You tried to steal from me. I should turn you over to the police.”
“No, please.” Roxanne pleaded. “I’ll do anything to avoid jail.”
“Anything?”
“Yes anything.” Roxanne meekly confirmed.
That was two weeks ago. Paddy was now canceling the spell. After a minute or two, Roxanne blinked and began to move. She knew he had changed her but she didn’t know how much. She stripped off the dress Paddy had her wearing and ran over to a mirror to examine herself.
Gone were all her tattoos, except for the rose on her right shoulder. Also missing were the track marks and the cravings for the drugs she used to make her miserable life bearable. It had been two weeks since her last fix. She had grabbed the crystal balls to hock for money for drugs. Her stringy black hair, that she always hated, was now a beautiful mane of red. Roxanne looked and felt like a princess. She then turned back to Paddy with a sultry look.
“Why can’t you keep me?” She asked as she approached him.
“Excuse me?” Paddy inquired as he backed up, shocked. His reaction was like a dog that actually caught the car it was chasing and then didn’t know what to do.
“The other day I heard you tell one of your witch customers that you couldn’t keep me. Why can’t you?” She smiled as she got closer.
“Because you are a real person and not a mannequin.” Paddy gently reminded Roxanne. He was afraid that her mind had snapped.
“I can be both for you.” Roxanne stated as she removed her underwear and stood naked in front of Paddy. “You cannot believe how much of a turn on it was for me to be in that window; not being able to lift a finger. Plus I heard all those compliments.” She grabbed his belt and began to loosen it. Roxanne reached in and felt his manhood. It was becoming as hard, stiff and tall as Blarney castle. She smiled as she removed his pants and kissed his Blarney stones.
“You don’t have to do this. I’m giving you a fresh start. Drug free and without a police record. You are free to go; no strings attached.” Paddy feebly protested as she removed the rest of his clothes. None of the other shoplifters had ever acted like this.
“To go where?” Roxanne asked as she gently pushed the naked Paddy down to sit in a leather chair. “I have been moving from jerk to jerk to keep a roof over my head ever since my Dad kicked me out of the house eight years ago. I pawned my Mother’s wedding ring for a fix. He told me I could never come back until I could give the ring back to her. I’ll even bet you the louse I was living with has already moved on to a new girl after I didn’t come home two nights in a row.” She then lowered herself onto his magic wand to begin the show.
Roxanne had slept with a lot of guys before for various reasons: food, rent, drugs, avoiding jail. This time it was different, it was probably the first time she did it because she cared about the person and it showed. Before, when she had sex, she did it quickly just to get it over with. Now she was trying to make it last as long as possible and Paddy was obliging her. She rode Paddy for over an hour as she experience not one, but two orgasms. Finally he released in her and gave her a third one.
As she hugged him, with a satisfied smile, she felt herself slipping into the same blackness that had enveloped her two weeks ago. When she came to, Paddy was dressed and holding a small box in front of her.
“What’s this?” Roxanne asked.
“Open it up and see.” Paddy answered with a twinkle in his eye.
Roxanne opened the box and was surprised to find a ring inside. However, as she stared at the ring, she realized it wasn’t just any ring. It was her Mother’s wedding ring!
“How did you find it?!” Roxanne exclaimed as she hugged him.
“I didn’t. I entranced you and had you describe it in detail. I then created this exact copy.”
“But why?” Roxanne asked with tears.
“Go home to your Parents and reconcile with them.”
“But I want to stay with you.” Roxanne protested.
“Alright, if that be your wish. But first, I want you to go home and make peace with your Parents. I don’t want to see you back here before Monday. If after three days, you still want to be here and with me, we’ll figure something out. I’ve always wanted a second set of hands around this place.” Paddy offered.
“If I agree, do you agree to put me back in the window occasionally? You said yourself I was good for business.” Roxanne countered.
“Aye Lassie. However, no more two week stints. Four days max, with a week off in between.”
Roxanne stood up and french kissed Paddy. “Seven days, please.”
“Six and that’s my final offer.”
“Deal!” Roxanne grinned as she went to get dressed. She grabbed her old clothes and stopped. Somehow the head to toe black leather biker skank look didn’t appeal to her anymore. Paddy sensed this and laid the clothes on the table. After a few spells, Paddy transformed the clothes into an outfit that Roxanne liked. After she had dressed, she put the ring into her pocket. She met Paddy at the front door. The sun was beginning to come up.
“Here.” Paddy said as he handed her forty dollars. “Call it either a loan against your first paycheck or a gift if I never see you again.”
Roxanne kissed Paddy and whispered, “You’ll see me.” She then grabbed his ass and walked out the door.