Succession of Witches Read Free

knew…or something. There were definitely a few levels of smug knowing in there. “Are you sure you wanna know? It’s pretty bad.”
    “How bad?” she asked, reaching out instinctively for a glass of water and reminding herself for the umpteenth time that she couldn’t be seen drinking anything at all. “Like, will I lose all my respect for Dwight?”
    “Not all of it. Half, maybe two-thirds at worst,” Mike reasoned, having to nearly shout to be heard as the band blasted through the chorus of some rock anthem Cassie couldn’t remember the name of.
    “I’ll deal. Out with it.”
    Mike grinned devilishly. “Not Concerned With Pants.”
    Cassie just looked at him for a moment. “Not. Concerned. With pants.”
    “Khalil told me. Apparently, when the band started, they couldn’t get their drummer to show up for practice. And then the first time he did show up, he was still in his boxers, and he was like ‘You can have me with pants, or you can have me on time for practice,’ and they were like, “Not concerned with pants, dude,” and it became this thing where-“
    “Okay, too much information,” said Cassie, groaning. “I can’t believe Dwight agreed to that.”
    “He was outvoted…oh, hey.” said Mike, then Cassie sensed a presence behind her right shoulder. She turned to see Sam approach their elevated booth, turning gracefully at the last moment to avoid an obviously drunk woman wearing kitty-ears on her head from crashing into him. The catgirl giggled a slurred apology, pulled her drink up to her chest and ran back in the direction of the dance floor.
    “Talking about NCWP? Dwight isn’t happy about it,” said Sam. “He knows it’s stupid, but once they booked a few gigs under that name, it couldn’t be helped. Can I sit?”
    “Oh uh…sure,” said Cassie, scooting over on the bench to make room for him. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
    He shrugged as he settled into the booth. “I wasn’t, but Khalil insisted that I go. Something about how it was important that I ‘see Dwight in his natural habitat.’”
    “And Khalil was willing to close up shop all by himself for that? That’s cool,” said Jay, his eyes practically glowing with hero worship as he looked at Sam. Cassie had a feeling no more chemistry homework was going to be done tonight.
    Mike looked at Sam and Cassie sitting next to one another across from him, seemed to come to a decision, and gently elbowed Jay in the ribs. “C’mon, you think you can help me find where they hid the bathroom in this place?” he asked.
    For a moment, Jay looked like he was about to protest, then he followed Mike’s gaze across the booth and his own eyes widened in understanding. “Oh, sure. I think I saw it on the way in.”
    Cassie glared at them as they scooted out of the booth one at a time. “Only girls go to the bathroom in pairs.”
    “There’s a first time for everything,” said Mike.
    Cassie groaned as they disappeared into the crowd. “Real subtle, guys,” she mumbled. Everyone in the entourage knew that Sam and Cassie had been avoiding each other, and knowing the court was breathing down their necks for Cassie to make progress with her witch training, they’d been trying to find excuses to leave them alone together so they could work it out. Usually, it was done with at least some modicum of finesse.
    “What was that? I can’t hear you over this….music,” said Sam, sounding as though he’d meant to condemn the sound around them as something else entirely.
    “Nothing,” said Cassie, looking down at her hands and feeling miserable. Even if things weren’t so awkward between her and Sam, this would be an uncomfortable position; with him sitting on her side of the booth, if she turned to look at him, they would be right in each other’s faces, but if she looked at the table, then it would make it extra-obvious she was avoiding his gaze. For now, she opted for looking at the table, noting with an almost artistic