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Love Potion #69
Eve Vaughn
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2005 Eve Vaughn
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ISBN: 1-59596-159-3
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Changeling Press LLC
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Editor: Carolyn Robinson
Cover Artist: Sahara Kelly
This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
Chapter One
Alice stared at the little trailer in the middle of the woods with disdain. “You’re absolutely fucking nuts! Why in the world did you drag me to this place?”
“Because this is where Madame Shaniqua lives. Promise me you won’t say anything to offend her. This means a lot to me.”
“I’ll try, but I’m not making any promises. If you ask me, Ben’s not worth all this. You should have given up on that lost cause a long time ago, girl. You could have any guy you wanted if you set your mind to it.” Alice tossed her long black hair over her shoulder.
“I don’t care about other guys. I want Ben.”
“Shayla, darling, we have a saying in Korean about lunatics like you.”
“I’m sure you do, but right now I don’t need one of your sayings, I need your support. Can I count on it?”
Alice pursed her lips, and her golden almond-shaped eyes narrowed. For just a moment, Shayla thought her friend was going to walk away, until her features softened. “Okay. I’m only going in with you because you’re my girl, but you owe me big time.”
Shayla threw her arms around her friend. “Thank you. I’ll make this up to you. I promise.”
“You’d better. How the hell did you find this place anyway? It’s a dump!”
“I got a flyer in the mail. Make Him Love You . Usually, I throw crap like that away. I thought I had, but one night I found it by my nightstand. It was really odd because I’d just gotten off the phone with Ben, who happened to be telling me about a girl he’d met.”
Alice shook her head. “Frankly, I think you can do much better than Ben. I can’t understand why you haven’t realized how shallow he is. I just don’t get you, girl. You’re gorgeous, you have a good job. You’re the type of person to give the very shirt off your back to someone in need. You’re a smart woman, and I can’t figure out what this obsessive devotion to him is all about. He is such an insensitive jerk.”
“Look, I appreciate the glowing review of my character, but I wish you wouldn’t talk about him like that. Ben’s been a good friend to me.”
“ Friendbeing the operative word. If you two ever got together, you’d get over him so quick you’d wonder what you ever saw in him.”
“I don’t think so. Are you going to let me finish telling you about how I found out about this place or not?”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Go ahead.”
“As I was saying,” Shayla paused, stressing the moment, then continued, “the flyer was by my nightstand and I was feeling down, so I called the number. I talked to Madame Shaniqua on the phone, and she said she would make me a love potion that will make me irresistible.”
“How the hell do you know this isn’t some kind of scam?”
“She knew things only I would know. She’s a Gypsy princess. Her specialty is love spells and charms,” Shayla explained to Alice, who didn’t look like she was buying it.
“Well, if she’s so good at what she does, why does she live out here in the middle of the woods in this tin can? If that bitch pulls out a knife, I’m running and asking questions later.”
“Oh, stop it. Don’t be such a drama queen. Now let’s go in. I told her I’d be here by now.”
“I still can’t believe you’re doing all this for that weak-ass Ben. If you ask, me I’d take that fine-as-hell brother of his in a heartbeat,” Alice muttered.
Shayla pretended not to hear. The last person she wanted to think about was Ben’s older brother, Brad. He worked her last nerve.
Shayla tapped on the trailer door. Suddenly there was an explosion within the trailer. Without hesitation, she rushed through the door of the trailer, and immediately regretted it.
The most noxious odor she’d ever had the misfortune to smell nearly knocked her off her feet. “Holy shit! What’s that funky stench?” Alice stopped in the doorway, holding her nose.
“I don’t know, girl, but it smells like…” What did it smell like?
“It smells like feet and ass.”
“It’s the smell of the mystics, my child. You mustn’t mock them lest you anger them,” a raspy voice spoke.
Madame Shaniqua entered the room, larger than life. Shayla wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what she was looking at. The Gypsy was tall and rotund. She had to be close to four hundred pounds, which the bright multi-colored muumuu she wore did little to disguise. Each of her sausage-like fingers sported a gaudy ring, and she wore so many gold chains Mr. T would have been jealous.
Her pale, heavily made-up face looked as if it had been painted with a spray can. But the biggest shock of all was that Madame Shaniqua was not a Madame at all. If the crooked orange wig on her head and the hairy arms weren’t clue enough, then the fact that she hadn’t bothered to shave the five o’clock shadow from her face definitely gave it away.
“What the fuck!” Alice sputtered.
“Umm, I think we should go.” Shayla grabbed Alice’s arm to hustle her out of the trailer.
“Wait! Don’t you want your love potion?” Madame Shaniqua asked.
“Why the hell would I want to buy anything from a cross-dressing freak?” Shayla hissed, angry as much with herself as Madame Shaniqua. Yet another dead end in her pursuit to make Ben Carrington love her. How could she have been so gullible? Because she was desperate…
“It’s not nice to say such nasty things, child. Especially when I just mixed a fresh batch of my potion just for you. Didn’t you hear the explosion? That means the spirits were pleased. You’d be a fool to walk away now.”
“Girl, let’s get out of here. This is bullshit! Why are you even standing around arguing with this con artist? Besides, the stench is singeing my nose hairs.” Alice fanned her face, looking as though she wanted to faint.
“You’re right. Let’s go.” Shayla sighed in defeat. She should have listened to Alice and not come here.
“If you leave now, Ben will never love you,” the Gypsy said with a satisfied smirk on his face. Shayla froze.
“How did you… I never mentioned anyone’s name.”
“Madame Shaniqua knows all, my child.”
“Oh come on!” Alice snapped. “This is obviously a scam, Shay.”
The Gypsy shot an aggravated look at Alice. “I’d advise you to keep your friend quiet. Her skepticism is disrupting the spirits.”
Shayla gave Alice a pleading look before turning back to Madame Shaniqua. “What if this potion doesn’t work?”
“It’s a love potion from the goddess Aphrodite herself. My au -- I mean, the recipe was handed down from my mother, who received it from her mother and so on and so on… It’s a guarantee this Ben person will love you or your money back. What do you have to lose? Obviously nothing you’ve tried has worked or you wouldn’t be here.”
He had a point. What did she have to lose? If it worked, Ben would fall in love with her as deeply as she loved him. “Fine. I’ll take your potion.”
“Great. I’ll go bottle some up for you.” As he turned around to walk to the back room, another explosion occurred, but this one erupted straight out of his body. “You must excuse the spirits working within me,” Madame Shaniqua said as he hurriedly left the room.
“It smells like the spirits are trying to free themselves through his ass,” Alice muttered.
“Shhh.”
“This is definitely a con, girl! I can’t believe you would buy something from this RuPaul wannabe. The fact the nasty motherfucker farted and blamed it on some damn spirits should tell you something.”
“We’re already here. I’m going to buy it, so be quiet. He’s coming back.”
Alice snorted to show her displeasure, but remained silent.
Madame Shaniqua returned, with a heart shaped vial in his pudgy hand. “Here it is -- a vial of my famous Love Potion #69. That’ll be one-fifty, my child.”
“But you said one hundred over the phone,” Shayla argued.
“Told you it was a scam,” Alice said with a singsong chime to her voice.
“I guess so. Let’s go,” Shayla agreed, turning to leave.
“Wait! For you, my child, I’ll give you a discount. One hundred dollars and it’s yours.”
All she had to do was walk out the door and end this madness, but a little voice went off inside her head. Make him love you .
What if this potion did work? Shayla paused before reaching for her purse. Oh, to hell with it. It was her last hope.
Chapter Two
It was her party and she could cry if she wanted to. How could Ben do this to her? Why were men so dense? Already on her fourth tissue, Shayla blew her nose --again. She knew she was being silly, sitting in the bathroom of the restaurant crying her eyes out. She sniffed. She should be out there with her guests having a good time, but how could she have a good time when Ben was out there fawning over some bimbo?
They agreed to be each other’s dates for her birthday dinner tonight, but instead, Ben showed up with a redhead with the biggest man-made boobs Shayla had ever seen. As he had entered the restaurant, Shayla had felt her heart plummet. He’d walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek. “Happy Birthday, Shay.”
“Who’s your friend?” she’d asked him, staring pointedly at the redhead.
“Oh, this is Misty. She works at my office. I knew you wouldn’t mind me bringing someone along.” He must have sensed she was upset, because he frowned. “Are you okay, sweetie? You weren’t really serious about us being each other’s dates… were you?”
Now what the hell was she supposed to say without looking like a jerk? “Of course not. We’re friends, right? Anyway, I think I’m just being a little emotional because of this turning thirty thing.”
Ben nodded in understanding. “Of course. You look pretty tonight.”
“Thanks.” Shayla smiled, his twinkling blue eyes making her heart melt.
“I guess I’d be upset about getting old too. Why, I just cried buckets when I turned twenty-three this year.” Misty shot her a patronizing smile.
Shayla was ready to knock the bitch’s teeth down her throat. Instead she smiled, showing a lot of teeth. “Oh, you’re only twenty-three? You look so… mature for your age.”
The superior smirk dropped from Misty’s face. Her green eyes narrowed to slits. “Let’s go find a seat, Ben. We shouldn’t monopolize the birthday girl’s time,” Misty practically sneered before dragging Ben off to a table away from her. Damn it. Before the party, Shayla had downed the entire vial of the love potion Madame Shaniqua had given her, but she was no more irresistible to Ben than she’d been before. Was it not enough? Seeing Ben whispering in Misty’s ear sent her over the edge. Now here she was crying her eyes out like an idiot.
Alice knocked on the bathroom door, but Shayla shooed her away. She was sure her friend would point out her stupidity in buying a love potion from a transvestite Gypsy. Still, rational thinking didn’t come into play where Ben was involved. Shayla sniffed again.
They’d been friends since her family had moved next door to his. Shayla and Ben were both ten years old at the time. She’d been a bit of a tomboy so she and Ben played sports, traded baseball cards, and hung out together. The two of them even had a secret language.
However, things soon changed when they entered high school. Ben realized how much he liked girls… and Shayla realized how much she liked Ben, with his mop of curly blond locks and dreamy blue eyes. He had a devilish charm, making it hard for most women -- and especially her -- to resist.
There was no doubt about it. Shayla Allen had a serious case of jungle fever. And the only cure was Ben Carrington. It didn’t seem to help she’d been throwing hints at him about becoming more than friends, because he just didn’t seem to get it. The one time she’d actually told him how she felt, they’d been both stinking drunk, and the next morning they had both pretended the words had not been spoken.
After graduating college, Shayla had accepted a job in Atlanta with a large marketing firm, trying to forget about him. She’d even gotten engaged for a short period of time, but things hadn’t worked out. Shayla had hated hurting Tyrone. But she realized it would have hurt him much more if she’d strung him along while still having feelings for someone else. Damn her stupid heart. Why couldn’t she get over this stupid crush. This love.
Once she had accepted where her heart lay, she’d packed up and moved back to Baltimore. By then, Ben had become quite the ladies’ man. He was a successful accountant and as handsome as ever. From then on, short of dancing around naked, swinging her tits in his face, she’d tried about everything she could to get his attention romantically.
It probably would have been easier if she could flat out tell him how she felt -- again -- but every time she started, the words would get stuck in her throat… which was why she’d ended up at that stupid Gypsy’s trailer in the first place.
Damn it, why couldn’t he love her? She knew men found her attractive. Other men complimented her on her smooth milk chocolate skin, her thick eyelashes and dark brown eyes that slanted upward, giving her an exotic look, and her smile. True, she was only average height, but her body was curved in all the right places. So what if her thighs and butt were a little on the thick side. She was still pleased with her figure.
She glanced at her image in the mirror trying to figure out what it was about her that Ben apparently didn’t like. Her long micro braids hung down her back and her make-up was expertly done, or at least it had been before she ruined her mascara. She knew it wasn’t a race issue. Ben had dated quite a few women of color. He once joked to her about variety being the spice of life. So what the hell was wrong with the idiot?
Somehow she’d make it through this party without making an ass of herself. She would pretend everything was okay. And the first thing she’d do tomorrow was to go by that damn Gypsy’s trailer and demand her money back.
A tap on the bathroom door interrupted her thoughts. “Shayla, come on out.” It was Brad. Fuck. Of all the people to show up tonight, why did it have to be him?
“Go away!” Shayla yelled.
“All the guests are asking for you. The least you could do is show a little common courtesy and come out instead of sulking in the bathroom like a spoiled brat.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you think. You weren’t even invited so why don’t you scram!”
“I’ll give you ten seconds to open this door. After that, I’m breaking it down.”
Having known him for most of her life, she knew he didn’t make idle threats. “Leave this door alone! You have no right to destroy the restaurant’s property. You can’t force me to come out.”
“Ten.”
“Go away!”
“Nine.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, Brad Carrington!”
“Eight.”
She splashed cold water on her face, patted it dry with a paper towel, and tucked a stray braid behind her ear. She opened the door just as he counted to one. She wanted to smack the arrogant look off Brad’s face.
He’d been the bane of her existence since they first had met. He was Ben’s older brother by five years, and no two brothers could have been more different than the Carringtons. Ben wasn’t much taller than she was and on the slim side, where Brad was huge, standing 6’ 5” and built like a decathlete. His wavy brown hair trailed past his shoulders and he sported a full, neatly trimmed beard. His left ear was pierced and tonight a small gold hoop dangled from it. Shayla grudgingly admitted Brad did have nice eyes -- deep green with gold flecks.
A lot of women thought he was hot. Just not her . Even her mother once pointed out how handsome Brad was. Whatever. It was hard to get past the way he constantly taunted her about her feelings for Ben. Brad seemed to take pleasure in the fact that her love was not returned. He was such a hateful bastard.
He probably thought he was so great because he’d gone to New York and become a best selling author. A few of his books had even been made into movies. It was sickening to constantly hear how the hometown boy had made good.
She glared up at him. “You’re just an asshole, Brad. Why did you come to my party tonight, anyway?”
Brad’s jaw clenched, his green eyes flashing with an emotion Shayla couldn’t read. “Your mother invited me.”
“But I didn’t.”
...
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