Page 18 of Vibes

“You guys really are a buzz kill,” Cora sighs. “I’ve gotten the riot act from a few people now.”

“A few—Cora!” Iris seethes. “Who else bought a hockey player?”

“One was an accident,” she says immediately, holding up a finger. “I would never have let Londyn purchase them but Edmund made the sale.”

“Them?!” Iris practically shrieks. Of the five of us I’ve heard mentioned, the only “them” I can think of are the twins.

Oh, Londyn is screwed.

“They were bought on my day off and I forgot to toss them into a box while I was off. I know where everyone is. It’s going to work out. I can only break one curse, Iris.”

“Cora,” Iris says, her voice turning eerily calm. “How many people are currently sex toys? Is anyone not stuck right now?”

“From the hockey team?” She pauses, tapping her chin. “Five.”

“How many in general?” Iris shrieks.

“Shh!” Cora glances down at me, shakes her head, and looks back above me. “Five people total. All from the hockey team. This is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with cursing people before. Let’s just focus on the two of you. That’s the only problem that either of you can fix.”

“Cora,” Iris says again, firming her voice. “If I didn’t buy Lachlan, how the hell was the curse supposed to be broken?”

Sighing, Cora turns her gaze to me again. “Just so you know, Lachlan, the spell only breaks with the setting sun. You can be human by night, but until the terms of the spell are met, you’ll continue to shift back to a vibrator come dawn. You can go to the police, call your friends, make things harder on all of us, but it won’t change your fate. The spell is meant to force you to learn and forgive.”

“Forgive you? Can it, witch, I’m not—”

“No,” she corrects. “For the buyer, someone you’ve wronged, to forgive you. When this was just Flynn it was simpler, but now that others are involved the rules extend. The curse will take over at dawn each day until broken. If you can’t be sincere with Iris it can continue on this loop for however long it takes over seven days, until the spell is supposed to expire. That’s the idea anyway. I didn’t intend for this to affect anyone else, but once I realized all of you were stuck under my spell, I at least had the decency to ensure they were purchased by someone who could help break said curse.”

Iris is quiet for a moment. “So, are you saying you picked our fates? I happened to spend ten extra minutes with Lachlan and now we’re both screwed?”

“You’re being a touch dramatic there,” Cora sighs, and I honestly don’t understand how he isn't taking this more seriously. “Help him transform back and you two can talk things out. You said you don’t know him well, right? So it should be easy enough to forgive and move on.”

“And I transform him by…”

Cora gives Iris an amused look. “Exactly what you’ve been doing, babe. Orgasms. He gives you one—poof, bam, boom. He gets to be human until you accept his apology or dawn hits. Whichever happens first.”

“So hypothetically I could turn him back into a guy right after dawn?” she asks carefully.

“He could turn himself back into a man if he does the job,” Cora replies, turning his gaze down to me. “Dawn resets the timeline. My suggestion Lachlan? Be a good toy, give her an orgasm like she deserves, and apologize like hell. Grovel a little. You’ll be done before the following dawn and you can go back to trying to save your team’s rep.”

Thanks for the reminder. One game won’t fuck us but if five players stay missing… that will.

“I really am sorry you’re caught up in this Lachlan,” Cora continues, and it’s possibly the most sincere thing I’ve ever heard her say. “Like I told your friends, this was a split-second decision. You can thank your captain for bullying me until I snapped.”

Did he bully her? To be honest, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the interactions between Flynn and Cora until the party. I have zero classes with the little witch, and Flynn said she was nothing to worry about so we didn’t worry. And that bit the rest of us in the ass.

“You sold these hockey players to make a point,” Iris says slowly, cutting in before I can start bickering with her buddy again. “Cora… that’s seriously fucked up.”

“It wasn’t the plan!” she stresses. “This is just supposed to be Donahue’s problem.”

“Well now it’s everyone’s problem,” Iris counters, shaking her head. I only know she does because she drops her arm to the table, turning me with a twist of her wrist, and now I can’t see Cora. But I do catch the disappointment and sadness in her eyes.

What did she expect from her friend?

“I was kind of hoping this would be one elaborate joke,” Iris continues, her brows pinching together. “Even if it was at my expense. I shouldn’t have to forgive someone who barely did anything wrong to me, Cora.”

“Then forgiveness should be easy,” Cora replies, practically cutting through the end of Iris’s sentence.

“I also don’t want anyone to have to touch me,” she says more quietly, and my mind starts spinning again about what that means. I’ve already done that once, so what’s the issue if I do it again? I’m a sex toy for crying out loud. “And now I’m going to have to. I don’t want a hockey player to be imprisoned forever. Lachlan should be able to get back to his life. Can’t you just lift the damn spell?”