Three Tequilas (Althea Rose 3) Read online

  “What happened? You look ready to gut someone and use their skin for a lampshade,” Beau asked, his eyes worried.

  “She’s a raging bitch. A horrible raging bitch. Be prepared.”

  “Great,” Beau said, pasting a polite smile on his face as the door opened behind me. I moved to the sit at the bar, though I was certain Cash had wanted us to sit at a table so we could all face each other. At least this way, Cash would separate me from she-bitch.

  “Beau, always good to see you,” I heard Cash say. “And this brat is my sister Farah.”

  ‘Brat’? Ha, not even close.

  “Pleasure to meet you. I see good looks run in the family,” Beau said easily, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Oh, stop it,” Farah gushed, and I turned my head to see if this was the same woman. “Aren’t you just the cutest? I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

  Had I stepped into a different dimension? Was I in a parallel universe? Or did Farah just dislike me specifically? Beau cast me a curious glance, but beamed at Farah. He led her to the bar – but was smart enough to seat her a stool away from me. Cash quickly took the middle stool.

  Farah craned her neck and looked around at the tiki bar.

  “Great place. Just the right amount of kitsch, yet an understated elegance. I dig it.”

  “Farah, do you have something to say to Althea?” Cash asked, drilling a finger into his sister’s side and making her jump.

  “Yeah, sorry Althea. I’m cranky from lack of sleep and being hungry.”

  I raised an eyebrow. If that was cranky, then I didn’t want to see her full-on angry.

  “Sure, no problem,” I said politely, but I think we all knew that the terms of our relationship had been set.

  “Well, I can certainly help you with the hungry part,” Beau said, smiling at Farah as he handed her a menu. He didn’t even have to ask me what I wanted to drink – just began mixing a mojito. “Corona?”

  “Sure,” Cash said with a smile.

  I kept my mouth shut – which, if you know anything about me, you know that’s virtually impossible. When Beau slid the mojito across the bar to me, I accepted it gratefully and immediately took a sip, letting the cool mint soothe my burning throat.

  A part of me wanted to dip into Farah’s brain and see if I could read her thoughts – but that violated my code of ethics. And what was the point of having ethics if you ignored them under trying circumstances? Sighing, I swirled the ice around in my drink.

  “Burger for you?” Beau asked, and I caught the smirk on Farah’s face.

  “Actually, I’ll have the crab tonight. It’s really good here.” I turned and smiled at Farah, then looked up at Cash. “Reminds me of the crab we had on our first date – remember?”

  “Yes, we need to go back to that place. It was delicious,” Cash said, smiling down at me as I warmed underneath his gaze.

  “Gag me,” Farah said under her breath and I tilted my head at Cash.

  “Knock it off Farah or I’m taking you back to the hotel,” Cash said dryly, and Farah rolled her eyes.

  “Beau, what’s good on the menu?” Farah asked.

  “Everything. What’s your mood?”

  “Nothing too…” her gaze slid my way and back, “fatty.”

  “How about some grilled shrimp skewers with a side of corn on the cob?”

  “Sounds perfect.” Farah simpered at him.

  Beau finished taking Cash’s order and disappeared into the kitchen, and my lifeline went with him.

  “Are you diving in the morning before work, Thea?” Cash asked, his voice even.

  So, the thing is, Cash was technically fine with the fact that I went out diving with Trace on the regular. Because I needed to keep my website updated with new underwater photos for sale, I constantly needed new material. Which meant I was going to keep diving with Trace. But in reality, Cash barely tolerated my time spent with Trace. I have to admit, though, I appreciated that he hadn’t tried to outright forbid me from meeting up with Trace. I suspected that even Cash knew I wouldn’t tolerate being ordered around.

  I don’t take to rules well.

  “Actually, yes, I’m diving all week. Turns out the expedition I told you about didn’t get called off. So I won’t be in at work at all.”

  “Must be nice to just take off work when you feel like it,” Farah quipped.

  “Yes, it is. That’s why I own my own business. I make the rules,” I said, smiling brightly at her. Lord, what was up this girl’s butt?

  “I mean, but it’s not really much of a business, is it? Reading tarot cards? Pretty loosey-goosey on the rules there, I’m sure.” Farah snorted a laugh.

  Oh, so now we were going to attack my profession? Fantastic.

  “I invite you to stop by the shop. You’ll see that it’s actually run with the utmost professionalism. I’m able to close when I choose because I’ve either worked longer hours to cover my appointments or rescheduled them. And, not that I owe you an explanation, reading tarot has a rich and beautiful history – I help people on a daily basis. With real problems – like their love lives, money situation, job choices, and even planning their families. Not what nail color is the hot trend for this spring,” I bit out.

  Shit, now I’d stooped to her level and taken a stab at her profession. I held up a hand as she was about to retaliate.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have knocked your profession. I believe women should stick together and lift each other up – not tear each other down. I’m not sure what your problem is with me, but you’re being incredibly rude and clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. So, I will say this: I make an honest day’s work doing something I love, I run a business with my best friend in the world, I have a solid group of friends in this town who I enjoy spending my free time with, and I’m very much interested in your brother. If you have a problem with that – then that’s on you. Not me.”

  Farah measured me for a moment, clearly surprised at how direct I’d been.

  “Fair enough,” she said.

  The rest of the evening followed suit; by the time dinner was over, I was exhausted from trying to pull answers out of a sullen Farah and still make nice with Cash. At this point, I was starting to wish I had driven over by myself.

  “I really need to get going. We dive at dawn tomorrow,” I said to Cash.

  “That’s fine. Why don’t I run you back home and then I’ll come back for Farah?”

  “Sounds fine to me. I’ll just finish up this fruity concoction Beau whipped up for me,” Farah all but sang to Beau, clearly happy that I was leaving. Confusion raced through me – I had expected Cash to tell Farah that he would drop her off at the hotel.

  “Enjoy,” I said sweetly. “Beau makes the best cocktails.” I stood and walked around the side of the bar to lean in and kiss Beau on the cheek. “I hope you poisoned the drink.”

  I’ll give Beau credit – he didn’t even blink at my whisper.

  “Bye, Farah. It was… interesting meeting you. I hope you have a safe trip back to New York.”

  I had no idea when she was supposed to go back – but I guarantee you I wasn’t going to see her again on this trip.

  “Yes, good luck with your little tarot reading shop,” Farah said breezily, scrolling through her phone again. A part of me wanted to reach over and pluck the phone from her hand and drop it in the frothy pink drink in front of her.

  But I restrained myself.

  “Shall we?” I said to Cash, and he nodded.

  The silence grew between us during the car ride home until I finally burst out, “What’s your problem?”

  “My problem? My problem?” Cash’s voice rose as we neared my house.

  “Yeah, your problem. What? Now that your sister is here you’re going to act all different around me? It’s clear she hates me,” I said, my arms crossed over my chest. He hadn’t even said anything about my pretty dress, which was completely unlike him.

  “Screw my sister – what about the fact t
hat you’re going on some expedition you won’t tell me about that someone’s already been murdered over? Huh? When were you going to tell me more about that? Damn it, Althea!” Cash slammed his fist on the steering wheel and I jumped in my seat. “I’ve rescued you from two, count ’em, two, near-death incidents already. I can’t keep doing this! Being with you is entirely maddening.”

  Whoa boy. That was not what I was expecting. I’d thought we were going to fight about his sister.

  “I hadn’t realized I was so difficult to be with,” I said, honestly shocked at the direction this was taking. Sure, we’d been in some sticky situations together. But I’d thought he was over those.

  “It’s just… you’re not… you don’t do anything that’s normal. And there’s magick. And you rush in to save anyone who needs it. And now you’re going off on some type of something that you can’t tell me about, but Trace knows all about, and I can only suspect that it won’t end well. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”

  And there it was. The big glaring fear I’d had about Cash all along. Maybe we were just too different.

  We sat in silence in front of my house for a moment.

  “So I’m going to assume you’re not staying here tonight?”

  “Are you going to call off the expedition in the morning?”

  Ah. So it was an ultimatum then.

  “No, I’ve signed a contract. I have to go.”

  “Well, then, I suppose call me when it’s over. It’ll be nice to hear you’re safe.”

  I blinked back the tears that threatened. Somehow we had gone from a fairly normal and happy relationship to – this. And I hadn’t seen it coming. It was like hitting a brick wall at sixty miles an hour.

  “So what is this then? This is goodbye? Your sister comes down and disapproves of me so that’s your excuse to kick me to the curb?” And speeding along behind the tears was my anger.

  “It has nothing to do with her.”

  “Don’t lie to me. I’m a freakin’ psychic, remember? I can tell when you’re bullshitting me. And you are clearly upset that your sister didn’t take to me.”

  “Okay, yes, it would have been nice if you could’ve tried to be polite to her.”

  “Me! I was nice to her. In fact, I held back more than I should have. Come on now, Cash, you aren’t stupid. Don’t tell me you think your sister wasn’t being rude.”

  “Yes, sure, she was being a bit rude. But she’s protective of me, is all.”

  “Oh, so that gives her some license to be a raging bitch? Sorry, I may not have been raised with all the money and prestige your family has – but at least I’ve learned manners.” I was surprised to find my hand trembling on the door handle. I looked over at Cash.

  Handsome, mouth-watering Cash. Too-good-to-be-true Cash.

  “I should’ve known you wouldn’t be able to handle being with a woman like me. Go back to your perfectly perky and boringly respectable corporate girls. I’m sure they’ll be perfect for you to parade around on family vacations.”

  “Now, Thea, that’s not fair,” Cash began, but I held up my hand.

  “This isn’t about me getting myself into danger, is it? It’s just that you aren’t comfortable with the life I lead.”

  Cash blew out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

  “It is about the danger aspect. I don’t want you to be in danger. Shit, I feel like I’m getting an ulcer because I’m constantly worried about you. Is she getting herself into trouble today? What type of magick ritual are they doing now? Is some demon coming to kill her? Will she be kidnapped again? I just… it’s too much. I can’t even focus through half my meetings. My business is suffering.”

  My mouth dropped open. This was the first I had heard of any of this.

  “Why didn’t you say something to me? Why am I just hearing about this now?”

  Cash shrugged.

  “Because I don’t see you changing that aspect of yourself. So what am I supposed to do? I tried to live with it – but I don’t know if it’s going to be too much.”

  I took a deep breath.

  “Do you want to talk about this some more? Maybe not in the car in front of my house?”

  Isn’t that always where the most important conversations happen? Sitting in a car in a driveway somewhere? It’s never on the couch at home or a nice discussion over dinner.

  “I do want to talk about it some more. And I’m not breaking this off, exactly. But maybe we just need to sit with the idea of not dating anymore and see how we feel about it.”

  There it was. The non-break-up that leads to the break-up.

  “Taking a break?”

  “Why don’t we take a few days. Call me if you need me. Please keep me posted on this expedition of yours. I really don’t like the sound of it.”

  I got out and stood outside his car, holding the door open for a moment as I held his gaze.

  “Funny, because if you were really worried about my safety – breaking things off like this is probably not the way to show it. Seems like a back-handed way to manipulate me into doing what you want.”

  Cash’s mouth dropped open and I slammed the door on his words. I all but ran to my door, and was inside in a matter of seconds. I leaned back against the door and waited for him to knock – to come after me and say we could work through this and become a stronger couple for it.

  It was Hank licking my toes that made me realize I’d been standing there crying for several minutes.

  “It’s just you and me, Hank,” I said, crouching down so he could lick my tears. “You and me, buddy.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I’m not going to lie and say I flounced off into the night cursing Cash’s name and pretending I was a strong independent woman who didn’t need no man.

  But I did manage to wipe my tears and get up to bed without too many dramatics. After a phone call with Luna where we castigated Cash’s manhood, I was feeling mildly better and I lay in bed with my laptop, researching weather patterns for the Florida peninsula.

  I mean, I knew trying to sleep was going to be a joke.

  So I was surprised when my alarm jolted me awake at five in the morning, all the lights in my room burning brightly, and my laptop tilted on its side on the bed. Hank snored contentedly at my side.

  I looked over at the file folder of papers I had printed the night before. I’d spent hours diagramming weather patterns and trade winds, and had a few ideas about what direction we should go in. I would wait to see what Nicola had to offer first, though, before I gave up my ideas.

  There’s nothing like throwing yourself into a knotty problem, such as a mysterious treasure hunt, to take your mind off of heartbreak, I thought as I jumped in the shower and let the warm water sluice away the grogginess clogging my brain.

  And, frankly, I couldn’t decide if I was heartbroken over Cash. My heart was certainly bruised, but not broken. We were still in that figuring each other out – testing the waters – phase of the relationship. But, damn, the man was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. At least in the bedroom.

  I sighed and leaned back against the shower wall. I guess we’d just have to see where things stood with us at the end of this expedition. For now, though, I needed to get my butt moving.

  I’d told Trace the night before that I was going to meet him at the wharf. I wanted to drop Hank at Miss Elva’s, as I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone while we were on the boat. And frankly, Hank was safest with Miss Elva. There wasn’t much that could get past her formidable powers.

  “Guess what, Hank? You get to terrorize Rafe all day long,” I said as Hank came and licked the water from my leg while I toweled off.

  Don’t judge. Dogs do weird things like that. So do kids.

  I hightailed it through my morning routine, packing my dive bag, shoving my folder of papers in with it, and getting a bag of toys and treats together for Hank. In less than twenty minutes, I was ready to go.

  Cup of coffee
in hand, I raced out the door.

  And stopped in my tracks at the sight of a card tucked under the windshield wiper of my car, the Aztec snake drawing on it clearly visible from my front porch.

  “I’m not scared of you!” I said loudly, whipping the card out and crumpling it in my hands. “Come on, Hank.”

  With that, I floored the car away from the house – and I made sure to drive over the card on the way out.

  Nobody had better mess with me today.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After dropping Hank at Miss Elva’s – much to his delight and Rafe’s horror – I made my way down to the wharf. Miss Elva had made me promise to stay in contact throughout the day, and I’d tucked my cell phone in its waterproof case in my dive bag, so I’d be sure to remember to text her after each dive.

  The early morning light of the sun was just kissing the horizon when I stepped onto the planked floating dock where all the fishing and diving boats were moored. The docks were alive with activity, even at this early hour. Fishermen were packing coolers with bait and checking their lures, while dive boats were securing their tanks. I waved to various regulars – my morning people, as I called them. We all knew each other, and if ever there was an emergency out on the water, you could guarantee that these boats would be among the first to respond.

  Trace’s boat was tied up at the end of the dock – a pretty red and white boat that catered to smaller, more intimate dive groups. It allowed him to go to some of the less touristy spots, and his services were typically in high demand. I could see that he was already on board, running through his daily checklist and lining up tanks.

  “Captain,” I called out, smiling at him as I slipped my shoes off and stepped onto the dive boat. Trace immediately took my dive bag from me and tucked it under one of the benches that ran along the side of the boat. The boat was set up with a dive platform at the back that made water entry with a heavy tank on your back easy. The stern of the boat was shaded by a canopy, and a bench ran along each side, with tank slots behind the benches. They allowed you to sit and slide into your BCD vest, so when you hook yourself in and stand up, the tank is attached to your back. It was a nice set-up, and I knew Trace took great pride in his boat. The front had more seating, and a small bathroom was tucked away in the hull below. All in all, it was a solid dive boat without being too large or difficult to handle.