Page 34 of How to Get Even

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Oh. My. God.

‘Told you,’ Chase whispered into her ear as he swept past her, taking off his coat and sliding into the booth ahead of her.

‘This place is…’ She trailed off, moving in a daze to the booth where the team sat under bright red and neon pink signage that took her right back to Just Desserts. But if Just Desserts had been her heaven, what was this? It was like Chinese New Year had thrown up in an American-style diner and no one had bothered to clean it up.

Ali leaned forward, sheer delight in her eyes. ‘There’s karaoke upstairs.’

Bella’s mouth dropped open and nothing came out.

She was in shock, she decided, glaring up at the biggest Lucky Cat she’d ever seen. Gold against the lipstick-red painted wall, its paw waving up and down.

‘I thought that was Japanese,’ she said to herself.

‘It is. But I don’t think the designers of this place particularly minded that much,’ Chase replied, surprising her that he’d heard.

‘Because they’re American.’

‘Because they’re American,’ Chase replied, nodding.

Giant beautifully decorated fans were pinned to the walls while paper Chinese dragons hung from the ceiling. Somewhere a slot machines bounced and pinged, and servers yelled, everything working so hard that Bella felt her brain short-circuit as she gazed in half fear and half irrational excitement, curious as to what she’d find next.

‘Oh,’ Chase said in surprise, calling her gaze back to him, only to find him looking right at her. ‘You like it,’ he accused. ‘Youactuallylike it,’ he said on a laugh.

Bella glared a warning at him and he did that damned smirk again that pulled on something in her chest. Something she didn’t want to think about because… of Astrid, because Bella couldn’t, because he was absolutely everything she hated about men. Lying, cheating, charming snakes.

‘Full of surprises,’ Chase said to himself, turning to the menu in his hands.

Bella did the same, having to look again at the menu, half of which was all American diner food, and the other half a list of Chinese takeouts’ greatest hits.

This was pure guilty pleasure.

And yes, Chase was right. She actuallydidkind of love it.

Immediately she thought of the girls and she wanted them here so much her heart thudded. She wanted to take pictures, but Good Bella would never be so crass.

But… she wasn’t Good Bella any more, was she? She was someone who had got a job with the sole purpose of taking down her lying, cheating boss. That was most definitely not Good Bella behaviour. So maybe she could take pictures because she was Bad Bella now?

I’ve been such a bad…

Bella cleared her throat, the line from Delia’s book dragged from the recesses of her mind without warning.

‘You okay? You look a little… flushed,’ Chase asked.

‘Do you need some water?’ Ali said beside her, pouring her water anyway.

Bella nodded and gratefully took the glass, downing half the contents.

Where had she put that book?

A waitress came by to take their drinks order.

‘Margaritas,’ Ali cried.

‘Frozen,’ added Maurice.

Chase nodded his head in agreement and Bella thought,Why not?

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