[Southern Arcana 1] Crux Read Online Free PDF Page B

one question she’d been wondering since Jackson had taken an interest in her welfare the night before. “Why?”
    Nick leaned against the cabinets and tapped manicured nails on the countertop. “Honestly? You seem like you need help. If I have the means to provide it but choose not to, what does that say about me?” She pulled a charm-style keychain from her pocket and held it out. On the ring was a single key.
    “Let me do this. That way, I won’t feel like a complete drain on society.”
    The simple honesty of the statement soothed Mackenzie’s suspicions like nothing else had. She walked into the kitchen and accepted the key. “Okay. I’ll work for tips and keep an eye on the place.” It was more than she’d been paying for the cheap hotel, but not nearly as much as she should have paid.
    Nick had to have known the bulk of Mackenzie’s income came from tips, anyway, and losing her hourly wage wouldn’t make much of a difference.
    “All right, then.” Nick opened a cabinet and pulled out two oversized mugs. “Want a café au lait?”
    “Sure.” Mackenzie retrieved the milk from the fridge, noting that Nick had also brought vegetables, fruit and cheese.
    “Is Jackson an investigator or something? He’s pretty good at www.samhainpublishing.com 43

    Moira Rogers
    following people without getting noticed.” She tried to sound subtle, but had a feeling she’d failed.
    Nick’s grin confirmed her suspicions. “Yeah, he’s a private investigator. He and his partner, Alec, spend a lot of time at the bar. Jackson was close to the lady who owned it before me.” She bit her lip, suddenly looking contrite. “I’m sorry I had him follow you, but I didn’t really believe you when you said you had a place to stay. It was wrong of me, but I was worried.”
    “It was a little startling.” As if the sheer panic that had gripped her the night before could be considered “a little” anything. “He was a perfect gentleman, though, once he stopped stalking me in the shadows and all.”
    “He usually is.” Nick eyed Mackenzie shrewdly. “Quite the looker too, hmm?”
    Mackenzie felt the corner of her mouth quirk up, and was almost surprised she could still smile. It was real, not one of the fake ones she plastered on while working. “You seem to have a lot of lookers hanging out in your bar.” Nick hooted as she filled a small pan with milk and set it on the range over gentle heat. “That’s an understatement. My bar is chock-full of hot men, that’s what it is. I should start advertising that way.”
    “The women would never leave.” Mackenzie relaxed more and found herself praying the car she’d abandoned 44
    www.samhainpublishing.com

    Crux
    outside of Memphis held the key to how Marcus had been tracking her. Maybe the nightmare would be over for a while.
    She could catch her breath and try to make sense of the shambles of her life.
    More than that, Mackenzie wondered if this was the kind of place she could stay. It was easy to imagine being friends with Nick, working at the bar, maybe even finding a place where she could get a job giving dance lessons again. And maybe get to know Jackson…
    Nick filled two of the mugs half full of coffee and slowly added the heated milk. “Mahalia’s could be the first official New Orleans meat market. Wouldn’t my father just love that?”
    Mackenzie reached out for the mug that Nick proffered.
    “Your father doesn’t like you owning a bar?” Mackenzie’s father had paid for her to go to bartending school, reasoning that anyone with a fine arts degree in dance should have something to fall back on. Her parents hadn’t been wild about her career choice, but they’d been supportive.
    Nick snorted and shook her head. “He thinks I should be heading museum committees in Manhattan and looking for the perfect society husband, not running a watering hole in the French Quarter.”
    “That must be rough.” She said it because she wasn’t sure what else to say.