Page 29 of Fanning the Flames

“Joan!”

She shrugged. “I was a Supervillain. Those were the only people I could get with. Everyone got really drunk at those beach bashes. Things happened.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It meant nothing,” Joan said, not sure if that made it better or worse.

Sadie slipped her hand free. Okay, worse.

“She literally said it meant nothing to her. I don’t think she has the capacity for compassion. She eviscerates with her words as much as her nails.”

“Uh-huh.”

Joan started to make a joke about Ricki’s nails not being conducive to certain sapphic deeds, but this wasn’t the time or place.

Her phone buzzed in quick succession. She pulled it out to see multiple texts and missed calls from Mark and Perry.

“Let them know you’re safe,” Sadie said.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Joan said.For everything.

“It’s okay. I’m just afraid of what this might mean for you.”

“Me, too.”

She’d worked hard to build this lovely, quiet life with Sadie, with Hot and Cold, and distance herself from villainy.

Something deep inside said it was all about to change.

CHAPTER6

The past two days had been like the Vector City of old with news headlines filled with Super activity. Details about the trio of new Villains in town. Questions about what their Heroes were doing about them.

The last thing Sadie wanted was to pretend like everything was normal, but what else was there to do but keep on keeping on? Even Joan had encouraged her to keep her plans of visiting Vector City Coffee to see Nyah on her birthday.

So now she was standing behind the counter she used to work at with friends she used to work with, making drinks she used to make. She glanced at the wall of windows at the front. Those were in danger of getting crashed into again. The last time she’d visited, there were tables and chairs against those windows. Today, they were shoved back.

The sky was a cloudy, eerie green, the air filled with misty moisture. Where was this rain last summer when they’d really needed it?

Oh, right—Ether hadn’t been messing with their atmosphere.

Sadie poured a steamed almond milk leaf design on top of a lavender latte to-go. Her former coworkers laughed at how she’d stepped right in. Amit’s wavy black hair was shaggier, and Nyah had recently gotten long sky-blue braids. Both still had to wear those very drab dove-gray aprons that matched the white-and-gray color scheme of the place.

“You don’t have to do that,” Amit told her, as bossy as ever.

“I want to,” Sadie said.

“You came here for me, not to do unpaid labor,” Nyah said.

“I can’t help it. I like barista-ing.” She called out the order and set it on the counter. The young new hire guy gave her a look likeKindly get out of my workspace.Maybe he was the one who’d picked the slightly more upbeat indie music.

Amit shooed her from behind the counter. “How’s Joan?”

“Joan is great.”

“Still treating you well?”

“Like a queen,” Sadie said, smiling to herself.

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