Free Otherworldly Discipline: A Witch's Lesson by Korey Mae Johnson

looked like he had just done something exceedingly strenuous—like swam the English Channel, not simply just dressed and bathed. “You’re lucky you have someone like me to pick out nice things for you and to burn away a history of poor clothing choices.”
    She pressed her lips tightly together. “Yeah… About that… I’m actually sort of annoyed about that…”
    “Oh, I would be too if I owned hideous things like those .” He grinned. “You’re very welcome.”
    “No, I mean…” She put her hand over her eyes. Talking to Moriarty could be so stressful. “I mean, you didn’t have the right to touch my things, let alone toss them . ”
    “Well, maybe if you hadn’t run away for six weeks you’d still be the proud owner of a pair of sweatpants that say ‘juicy’ across the bottom.” He rolled in a way that communicated that he thought that article of clothing was one of the more lower-class things he’d ever seen. “I didn’t have your assistance when we were moving you in, so I had to adlib.”
    She crossed her arms across her chest. She understood that they were going to argue and, in a way, looked forward to it. After all, she couldn’t argue with Ashcroft anymore without worrying about her bottom’s welfare.
    She took a deep breath.  “Look, Moriarty, I came in here to thank you—”
    “Of course you did.”
    “—for saving my life from that weird demon thing. And possibly for giving me mouth-to-mouth without biting me or doing any funny business. But if—”
    “Funny business?”
    “—you touch my stuff again I will give you another fat lip. Though—”
    “Don’t act like you could do that if I was paying attention. You gave me an uncalled for boot to the face—”
    “—I’m nonetheless willing to apologize for your injury and thank you for saving my life… and stuff. Which is a first. But I do want you to acknowledge, in exchange, that you crossed a line with the clothes.”
    “That’s not an apology. That’s a negotiation! Did you think I would fall for it because you didn’t take a breath?” He looked at his fingernails as if to check them for cleanliness. “I didn’t cross any line at all. I didn’t just save you from a demon, I’m saving you from yourself. Your welcome and your welcome.”
    She put her hands to her hips with frustration and glanced out the window for a moment to collect her thoughts.
    “You know you look good, Charlotte. Stop fighting it.”
    She found herself trying to keep a grin off of her face when she looked back at him. “You are so arrogant that it’s almost funny. Not completely funny, you know. More like cartoonish, actually. Like a clothing super villain.”
    “Are you still planning on assisting me this morning?” he asked her, waving his hand through the air to veer her off topic.
    “I suppose,” she replied thoughtfully, looking him over.
    “Good. I’m famished. I need a cigarette and lunch, and I… I’m not comp letely sure I can get out of this chair. But when you get my lunch from Naomi , don’t say anything about me smoking in here, or else I will drown and then eat you myself. I will find the energy in me to do so. She’s insufferable about it.”
    She grimaced. The last thing she wanted to do was to go to where a bunch of servants were—the kitchens—where everybody would look at her and think the same thing. That she was spanked. “Can’t you, like… diet?”
    “Just go downstairs and get it for me,” he asked her again, wearily. He studied her expression, and then grinned. “You look nervous,” he said, like her nervousness was just as delicious as lunch.
    “No, I’m just—I just…” She decided halfway through the sentence that Moriarty was the last person she could trust as a confidant. She gave frustrated huff.
    But he knew her hesitancy like he had read it on her face. And then he teased her with the information. “Have lunch with me. You can put a pillow down for yourself…” He broke out in