Samhain Publishing

“Come on, Josie. Just for laughs.” Karen leaned on the kitchen counter, eyes bright, cheeks flushed from too much wine.

Josie fingered the ruby red glass bottle.

“Do the spell.” Emily turned over the paper tag that hung around the neck of the bottle. A lick-and-wish spell.

Josie rolled her eyes. “It won’t work.”

“So do it.” Karen said. “Lick. Lick. Lick.”

Emily joined the chant.

She could blame it on the wine, and that she’d been single for twelve months—ten if anyone asked. A full year without sex made her sound like she couldn’t get any. Her friends thought she needed help and had resorted to magic.

“Okay! One lick. That’s all.” The only thing that was going to happen would be gastro from licking a bottle that had been handled by God only knew how many people in the Ye Olde New Age Shoppe.

Josie let out a breath and stuck out her tongue, then swiped bottle over it before she could have second thoughts. Orange and spice clung to her taste buds.

“Happy?” She set the bottle down and glared at her well-meaning but misguided friends. The bottle made a hollow thunk, spun once, but remained upright. She needed to brush her teeth and scrub her tongue for germs, but the lingering taste was so delicious she almost wanted to try again.

“A hot lover was supposed to appear.” Karen looked around the lounge-room-kitchen area. There wasn’t anywhere for a man to hide in her one-bedroom flat.

“Did you wish?” Emily peered under the dining table.

Yep, it was her fault no man had appeared out of the bottle. It couldn’t possibly be her friends had been conned out of twenty dollars by the fake gypsy.

Josie pointed. “Look! There he is, reclining on the sofa and he’s sooo hot.”

Both women turned to the red sofa. “Very funny, Josie.”

“I’ve managed this long without a man. I’ll be fine. Truly.” Josie put her hand on the kitchen counter to steady herself. What she needed was to lie down. The wine had rushed to her head, and the room was moving without her permission.

“Madam Rae promised it would work.” The soon-to-be married Karen frowned. “I knew we should have got the bath Nessie instead.”

A monster in her bath. That would really please her no-pets-allowed landlord. “Stop going to that shop.”

“She predicted I’d get married.”

“Karen, you’ve been with the same guy since high school. You have two kids with him. Anyone could’ve predicted you were going to get married, eventually.” The room was hot, too hot. Josie wiped her hand over her forehead. Her palm came away damp. Could she have gotten sick this fast, or was she really, really drunk?

“She predicted my pregnancy.” Emily patted her slightly rounded tummy.

“If you have sex, you get pregnant.” As she spoke her tongue became heavy. She shook her head to clear the low hum now residing in her ears. “I think I had one too many glasses with dinner.”

“We’re going.” Karen held her hands up. “I promised I’d be home by one anyway.” She kissed Josie’s cheek. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you for dinner. It was just what I needed.” Josie hugged Karen. She meant it—the girls’ night out had been perfect. She was tired of only seeing her friends with their partners. As happy as she was for them, it reminded her of what she’d failed to find.

“I’ll see you on Monday.” Emily hugged her. A few more months and Emily wouldn’t be at work. Maybe it was time to take a chance and find a new job. Re-invent herself.

“Only if I’m not sick from licking strange bottles.” Josie opened the front door. A cold breeze swept over her skin, her clothes too thick for it to slip beneath and cool her down.

There was another round of hugs and kisses before Karen and Emily left. She watched Emily pull away, driving Karen home in her fancy black Mercedes, then locked the door. She didn’t let envy unsheathe its claws. Instead she made herself open the pantry door, where she stared at her vision board like she had done every night before bed for the past twelve months. She fanned her face and closed her eyes, but the images and words stuck to the door were engraved on her eyelids. She’d pasted the pictures together after Grant had left her for a woman he worked with. The longer hours at work had been extra hours with the girl from filing. All those work dinners and functions he had insisted on attending alone—because they would “bore” her—had really been dates with his new girlfriend.

Her muscles tightened as the old anger resurfaced. Grant had used her, kept her until the new girl was a sure thing. She was always “Plan B” Josie.

It had been long enough that nausea no longer surged in her stomach when she thought of him. Not long enough for her to forgive and forget. Josie rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers. Her vision board wasn’t working.

No house. No Audi TT. No boyfriend.

Better single than a sucker.

“Think positive Josie, positive.” She glanced around the board, looking for something that had worked. The fake cheque made out to her, signed “The Universe”. She nodded to herself. She’d got the pay raise she’d asked for; that was something to be grateful for.

Obviously right now The Universe was busy answering the needs of other people. She had a car and somewhere to live. Her life wasn’t bad…it just wasn’t brilliant. She wasn’t where she’d wanted to be at thirty-two. She huffed out a breath, closed her eyes and tried again. The buzzing in her ears intensified. She ignored it and focused on her fantasy life.

Josie imagined driving the car, parking it in the double garage of her beautiful house, her hot husband greeting her at the door. Her daydream spun, a glittering whirl of colour. Exotic wood smoke filled the air. She reached out a hand to stop herself from falling over.

“Lay off the red wine.” She must have drunk Emily’s share as well as her own.

Using the back of her sofa for support, she toed off her heels, not trusting herself to balance on one leg. Her bed beckoned, the pull irresistible. She walked around the flat, flicking off lights. Beneath her bedroom door light pooled. Josie frowned—she didn’t remember turning the light on after coming home. Maybe she’d left it when she went out, but it had been still been daylight then. She padded over and opened the door.

Her mouth fell open, and she stepped back and slammed the door closed, breathing hard.

There was a naked man tied to her bed.