Sinful Spells (Book 3): Miss Fortune World: The Cappuccino Posse, #3

By J.K. Hage

Jaxson's mother Olivia LeBlanc returns to Sinful after a 20-year prison stint. Voodoo rumors are flying, there's a dead body in the bayou, and strange things start happening.

In other words, it's a normal week in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a full cast of murder suspects, it will take the combined efforts of Pepper, Gertie, Ida Belle, and Fortune to catch the killer.

But for Pepper, knowing there's a killer on the loose pales in comparison to the experiences she has with Olivia, who has taken a particular dislike to the woman her son is passing time with.

Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!

• Language: English
• Publisher: J&R Fan Fiction
• Release date: Aug 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386229551

J.K. Hage

J.K. Hage believes the world is a better place when you take the time to enjoy humor, coffee, and plenty of chocolate. Bitten by the writing bug in elementary school, Julie spent much of the eighties filling notebooks with romantic ramblings and story ideas before joining the “real world” of college, marriage, children, and working to pay the bills. But she never lost the desire to tell stories. Many years later, thanks to an inspirational friend, she took the plunge and began writing fiction for a wider audience.   If you were to visit Julie at home, you would probably find her writing a new story or blogging on her laptop while sipping a tall mug of sweet and creamy iced coffee. In her spare time, she loves reading or binge-watching her favorite television series with an orange tabby cat on her lap and the world’s laziest Jack Russell terrier snuggled in next to her.

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Copyright © 2017, 2018 by J.K. Hage

(First published under the same title in October 2017.)

This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, certain characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

This story is based on a series created by Jana DeLeon. The author of this story has the contractual rights to create stories using the Miss Fortune world. Any unauthorized use of the Miss Fortune world for story creation is a violation of copyright law.

Sinful Spells can be read at any time during the Miss Fortune timeline, but it was written to take place after the first Miss Fortune book, Louisiana Longshot. Any variances in characters, timelines, or relationships after that point in the Miss Fortune series have not been incorporated into this spinoff series.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author and the publisher, J&R Fan Fiction, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Chapter 1

THE BELL RANG AT THE front of Francine’s Café, and Pepper Monroe looked up to see Jaxson LeBlanc walking toward her. She felt a bit of drool escape the corner of her mouth as she watched his long legs and confident stride. At 6’3" tall and in his late 30’s, Jaxson was amazingly gorgeous. His short, wavy black hair and day-old beard looked like it had been styled for a romance novel cover. His deep green eyes sparkled and he smiled at her, showing the one slightly crooked tooth that made him look human instead of freakishly model-perfect. Good god almighty, that man was delicious—definitely the hottest man south of the Mason-Dixon line!

Before he got to her, a giant purse landed on the floor right in front of him. Jaxson stooped to pick it up, raising an eyebrow and greeting the owner as he handed it back to her. Miss Gertie, I believe this purse weighs more than you. Does a southern lady really need to be bothered carrying around such a load?

Gertie was 72 years old, 5’2 tall, and possibly weighed all of 110 pounds while holding that giant purse. Don’t you pay any attention to how much my bag weighs. But now that you’ve stopped to make conversation, I wanted to ask, isn’t today the day your mama—"

Jaxson interrupted, Yep, it is. His face tightened, and he turned to finish making his way toward Pepper. When he got there, his smile had dimmed and his eyes had lost some of their sparkle.

Pepper, I hate to do this to you. I know we had plans for tonight, but some family stuff came up that I have to deal with.

Okayyyy... Pepper realized they didn’t have to be together every day, but she hated to miss out on what had promised to be a great night of learning more about the wilder side of Sinful... Oh, and watching alligators with a spotlight from the safety of a big truck.

Jaxson looked uncomfortable. Uh, my mother has been away for a while. She’s coming home tonight, and it’s been strongly impressed upon me that I should be there to welcome her home.

Jaxson LeBlanc, are you a mama’s boy? Pepper teased, and her usually serious brown eyes widened in mock surprise. Of course Jaxson should respect his mother, but something seemed a little off about this situation. Pepper hadn’t heard a single word about his mother in the time she’d known him, and here he was breaking a date to visit her?

Jaxson smiled a bit and shook his head. No, but I am enough of a man to realize that I need to put in an appearance at the homestead tonight—or risk the wrath of Olivia LeBlanc.

Sure, sure, I understand. Not really. Pepper heard Gertie snort from her table and looked over at her with raised eyebrows. Yep, there was definitely a story here, but she wasn’t going to drag it out of Jaxson in front of Francine’s breakfast crowd. Call me when you get home. I’ll probably just be, uh, watching television or something.

I’ll do that. We’ll make plans for tomorrow, okay?

Pepper nodded and watched him leave, once again captivated by the beautiful sight of Jaxson in motion. She let a sigh escape just as the door closed behind him, then she turned to Gertie and said, Okay, what’s going on? Jaxson was obviously distracted. He knew she rarely watched television, yet he hadn’t even registered the comment as being unlike her.

Gertie looked around at the other customers, who suddenly found their breakfasts intensely interesting. Nobody looked up, and you could hear a grit drop.

Why, dear, Jaxson’s mama gets out of prison today.

There was no way she could have heard that correctly. Prison?

That’s what I said, isn’t it? Olivia LeBlanc just served a 20-year sentence at the women’s state penitentiary. Almost as an afterthought, she added, I’m sure Jaxson’s daddy will be happy to have his little woman home again.

Prison? Pepper knew she was repeating herself, but how had she not known about this?

Pepper Monroe, do we need to take you in to have your hearing checked? Yes, for the third time, prison!

What was she in for?

Attempted murder. She almost killed Jaxson’s daddy. He forgave her, but the judge wouldn’t listen to reason and still put her away. I know she hated being away from her man, but I hear she finally achieved her life’s goal. Gertie was clearly enjoying telling this story, one frustratingly tiny bit at a time.

Okay, Gertie, I’ll bite. What was her life’s goal?

To become a high voodoo priestess. Gertie spoke calmly, as if that were a perfectly reasonable item to have on a person’s bucket list. Then she whispered, almost in awe, I hear she’s just as powerful at Marie Laveau.

Pepper laughed. Voodoo? That’s just something from movies and television!

Gertie gave Pepper her most serious look. All I’m saying is, you’re going to want to make a good impression on Olivia. I’ve seen some mighty strange things happen to those who end up on her naughty list. She started digging through her purse, finally coming up with something that looked like a homemade charm and stunk to high heaven. I would suggest you put that on a nice chain and keep it around your neck. For luck.

I’m not sure how lucky I would get with the way this thing smells. Pepper tried to hand it back, but Gertie refused to take it. Fine. She slipped it into her pocket, determined to pitch that thing as soon as possible.

Pepper looked around. A few of the customers were nodding even though they still wouldn’t look in Pepper’s direction.

Holy crap, what sort of family was she getting involved with?

One woman