Page 38 of Sweet on You
“I’m just going to pour a coffee for the road,” I said, taking a paper cup. Surely, at the very least, Lex owed me a cup of joe. I pulled the pot of drip coffee off the warmer and barely got an inch poured before it was empty. “I’ll start another pot,” I said and crouched to where Lex had pre-ground coffee beans. The tub was empty and I groaned. Of course, whenIwanted to get a cup of coffee, there was none to be had. Water, water everywhere with not a drop to drink.
“Empty?” Lana asked.
I nodded. “I’ll go grind some more for you. I think I saw a coffee grinder in the back.”
I slipped into the small area behind the café that was blocked off with a curtain. It was tiny, not well lit and utterly organized to a t, even though it was crammed with stuff. Not a spec of dirt or dust lived anywhere. Sure enough, in the back corner next to an outlet rested an industrial-sized coffee grinder. I vaguely recalled Lex grinding beans out front, though for the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why. It was loud as hell and the café was currently full of customers sipping their coffee and enjoying a quiet morning before work. The last thing they probably wanted was the screeching sound of beans being chopped between blades.
Besides, there was an outlet back here. Why in the world wouldn’t he just use that one?
I plugged it in, opened the top and poured an entire bag of beans into the opening. I made sure the lid was secure and hit the button to start the grinding.
For one minute, the machine worked its magic and the scent of freshly ground Arabica filled the back room.
But just as quickly, I smelled smoke. And before I knew what was happening or could stop it, the outlet sparked. It popped, the sound loud and terrifying like a firecracker.
I screamed and out of instinct ducked, covering my head. A lot of good that did.
Tony came running in. “Holy shit!” he cried. When I looked up, peeking at him through my fingers, I saw the flames. In a matter of seconds, the wiring had lit up like a fourth of July show.
He grabbed a towel and smacked at the flames, and Lana came running in, too, with a cup of water. “No!” I stepped in front of her before she could toss the water on the fire and make everything ten times worse. “It’s an electrical fire. We need baking soda. Do you know where he keeps it?”
Lana’s eyes went wide, her face white as a sheet, but she nodded, ran back out to the front and returned with a giant box of baking powder.
Tony was still smacking the flames with a towel. I grabbed another one to wrap around the part of the cord not engulfed in flames and tugged the whole thing out of the wall. As long as the wire was still plugged in, the source of the heat and the fire would continue.
It took two good tugs before it broke free from the melted plastic and metal. Then, I doused the flames with baking powder until they died completely.
Coughing, the three of us fled out of the back room. Even though it was a small fire, the smoke filled the tiny space quickly and thoroughly.
Every customer was on their feet, peeking in at us. “Are you okay?” Tony asked me.
I checked my hands for burns. There was a small one on my thumb where I had yanked the grinder away from the flames, but other than that, I seemed okay. I nodded. “Yeah. How about you?”
“I’m fine,” he said and Lana nodded.
“Me, too.”
I glanced around at the murmuring customers. “We should probably get them out of here and close the café down,” I said. “It’s probably safe now, but just in case.”
Lana nodded. “Dammit. We were supposed to be making todayeasieron Lex.”
“Poor guy,” Tony added. “Quite a day. His ex is being sent to prison, he’s meeting his daughter for the first time,andwe nearly burned down his bakery all in one day.”
Every muscle in my body stiffened. “What did you say?” I asked.
Lana’s eyes drifted closed. “Tony, you dumbass.”
Tony winced, scrubbing at his morning stubble with his palm. “Ah, shit. I’m sorry. It just slipped out.”
There was too much to unpack with what Tony had just revealed. Lex’s ex is going to prison? He hasa daughter? I had more questions than I even knew how to ask. But instead, I cleared my throat and said, “It’s none of my business, really.”
Lana narrowed her eyes at me. “I call bullshit on that. It might be new… but there’s something between you, isn’t there?”
How the hell would she know? She’d never even seen us together. I sighed. “Who wants to be the one to call him to tell him about the fire?”
Lana and Tony looked at each other before each calling out, “Not it!” in unison. Then, both of their eyes fell to me.
“This is the sort of news that comes best from someone you’re sleeping with,” Lana said, smiling.
“We’re not sleeping together,” I said sharply. It was none of their business even if weweresleeping together.
“Okay,” Tony said. “Then, it’s the kind of news that comes best from someone youwantto sleep with.” Tony held up his hand to stop me as I opened my mouth to protest. “And don’t try to say he doesn’t want to. Lex is one of my best friends. Trust me… hewantsto.”
