Page 117 of Frosting and Flames

I hadn’t thought that far about any of it. “I don’t know.”

“You should. He needs to pay for what he did.”

Okay, she’s starting to worry me a little.

“Do you want to go back to the bakery?” she asks abruptly.

With her in this mood? “Not really,” I admit. As hard as it was to focus on work before, I won’t get anything done waiting for Nick’s call.

“Should we get ice cream?”

Sweets are Jae’s answer to most problems. That, or violence. “I don’t think they’re open this early.”

“Let’s go check.”

Why not? It’s better than sitting here obsessively checking my phone, as if his call will slip past me. “Sure.”

We’re only a minute down the road, though, before Jae slams on the brakes, making a sharp sound of disgust. “Oh,hellno.”

I look around wildly, trying to figure out what she’s referring to. We’re in front of the auto repair shop, the sign out front announcing our satisfaction is guaranteed.

She jerks the wheel into the lot and throws it in park, unbuckling.

“Jae, what—”

She’s already out of the car, storming toward… Oh, no. It’s Kyle.

He’s smoking a cigarette—something I’ve never seen him do before—walking around from the side of the building into the open garage. If I remember right, his brother works here.

I have no desire to confront Kyle, especially without Nick here, but apparently Jae doesn’t feel the same way, aggression radiating off of her.

“No, no, no,” I mumble, fumbling to call Nick one more time, praying he picks up. It kicks over to voicemail and my stomach sinks. All I can think of is the disappointment on his face yesterday when he found out Kyle had been sniffing around and I hadn’t told him. I promised I’d include him about stuff like this.

When the phone beeps, I rush to say, “Jae is confronting Kyle. I… I don’t know what to do.” My voice shakes. “I need to go get her. We’re at the auto repair shop on Main. I didn’t want you to think I was keeping you in the dark.” I panic and hang up, knowing that was an absolute waste of a message.

Jae’s already yelling at Kyle as I open the car door—something about being a dirtbag as she gestures wildly.

“You’re a fucking psycho,” she shouts, pointing her finger at him, dangerously close to his chest. “You’re going to do time for breaking and entering.”

The last thing I need is for her to touch him and he claims it as assault.

“Can’t say I know what you’re talking about.” Kyle smirks as he blows his cigarette smoke directly in her face, riling her up more. “But guess I’m not surprised to see Rachel’s little watchdog yapping her big mouth.”

She lunges at him, and I get there just in time to hold her back, nearly tripping over a pile of black oil-stained rags on the ground. “Jae, please. This isn’t how I wanted to handle this.”

She doesn’t take her attention off of Kyle for a second. “He deserves to be called out. He tried to ruin your life.”

Kyle scoffs, and now that I’m closer, I can smell the alcohol on him. He’s already drinking this early in the day? “Ruin? Come on.”

“Shut up,” I tell him, still struggling with Jae. “And you can drop the act. I know you were in Nick’s house.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“We have proof,” Jae claims, and I don’t contradict her. Even though ourproofis the word of a woman who has a reputation for being the town gossip.

The smirk drops from his face, his eyes red and bloodshot. “All I did is show you who Nick really is. How all men are, even if they try to hide it.”

“Not all men are disgusting pigs,” Jae says, slipping out of my grasp to get in his face. “Just you.”

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