Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove #1)

by Lana Harper

U of Chicago,

it seems wildly unfair that i attend uchicago and have not met a bi witch

“I’m perilously close to liking you, Harlow.” “How close, though? Close enough to consider using my first name?” She leaned in, dipping her head until our cheeks nearly brushed. Her warm breath fanned out against my ear, sending a flurry of goose bumps racing down my neck. “Let’s just say I’m trying to pace myself.”

“Next time, I’ll have to show you the Wormwood Suite. It is, I assure you, peak Avramov.” “Who says there’ll be a next time?” “Your cheeks do, Harlow.” She slid her fingers down the shorter side of my bob before tucking it behind my ear. “And so do I.”

Maybe she can’t help it, because she’s Talia and an Avramov and therefore innately impulsive. It doesn’t make her feelings your responsibility, because like you said, adults. But it does mean you should at least be cognizant of where she’s coming from.”

“I know how you are, Em, don’t forget,” she said gently. “You don’t fall hard or fast like I do, you take your time about it. And then if someone beats you to catching feelings, it freaks you the hell out.

“Jagbag, it’s a Chicago thing. I think it’s a slightly more couth version of jackass, or maybe jerkoff? I just like how it sounds.”

never heard of this lol

“But in the best way, right? I really have missed us, Lin. I’ve missed you.” “Have you?” Linden said, in such a quietly wounded tone that my head snapped up, my heart suddenly tripping over itself. “Because I’ve tried so hard, Em, so hard to keep us together. To keep us friends. And sometimes it seems like you want that, too, and I feel like I still have you, like we’re still us. But then other times . . .” She shook her head, the corners of her mouth drawing down. “You feel so far away. Like if we never saw each other again, you might be totally okay with it.”

“My real favorites are in the fifteen-dollar-cocktail range. Not the path toward quashing student debt.” “Fifteen, for a cocktail?” Talia shook her head in disbelief, reminding me that she’d never ventured far enough from Thistle Grove to encounter shockingly overpriced beverages. “Could that possibly be worth it?” “Unfortunately, sometimes, yes.”

She flicked one gleaming bare shoulder in a shrug. “For me, it’s the satisfaction of it. You’ve fed someone, made them happy and comfortable for at least a little while. Taken care of them in a way that they could feel. Granted, there’s a way bigger payoff if you’re cooking for at least two—all that effort for just yourself is kind of a drag.”

So many choices, for everything. You could live there forever, and still never feel like you’ve seen and done it all.” “I wasn’t asking you to channel the Chicago bureau of tourism, Em.