Page 134 of Always Red (Chasing Red 2)

do some damage to the shop when you and I were in the building. They were ordered to do it the next day, which was—ding-ding-ding—the day of Caleb’s birthday party. Are you smart bitches feeling me here?”

I drew in a sharp breath, my hand falling limply from Kara’s arm. A chill raced up my spine, and I shivered. “Beatrice-Rose,” I choked out. “Kar, it was Beatrice-Rose.”

“I’ve no doubt she did it. Problem is, the kids said she was wearing a big hat and dark shades, so they can’t really give a clear description of her. They described her clothes, though, and it didn’t sound like what Beatrice-Rose was wearing that day.”

“She’s cunning. She could have bought new clothes at the mall.”

Beth shook her head. “What in the hell is wrong with this psycho? She needs some honest-to-Jesus bitch-slapping.”

“Get in line, sister,” Kara said. “Ver, you have to be careful.”

I nodded. “I will. You too.”

My mind was whirling with so many things, trying to piece together everything that happened since Beatrice-Rose showed up at Caleb’s flat. If Beatrice-Rose had paid the skaters to set fire to Kara’s shop while we were inside, there was no telling what her limits were. I decided to phone Caleb later to tell him about it.

“Kar, did Cameron drop by last night?” I asked.

A shadow fell over Kara’s eyes before she turned away.

“He heard me tell Damon about the fire,” I added.

I stared at her back, saw her shrug.

“Ooh, somebody’s repressing her feelings,” Beth teased. “Need Dr. Phil, Kar?”

“Shut up, Beth, or I’m stabbing you in your mouth.”

“Sure. With what?”

“With my fucking powers, that’s what. Switch topics now.”

Smirking, Beth pulled the box of cake in front of her, her beautiful mismatched eyes widening in childlike joy as she opened it and sniffed.

“Well, at the party,” I began as I pulled out plates and utensils, “Beatrice-Rose was wearing the same dress that I had on.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” Kara exclaimed.

I shook my head at Kara and set a plate in front of Beth.

“I knew she was up to something when we saw her lurking at the store while we were shopping for your dress,” Kara said.

“Yep. She told Caleb’s mom that I saw her at the store trying the dress on first and that I knew she was going to wear it to the party—”

“And because you’re a big, bad bitch, you wore it too,” Kara finished.

Beth paused from cutting the cake. “That bitch needs to be executed!”

I pursed my lips, debating whether to tell them more. I saw their angry faces—these two beautiful girls who had come to mean so much to me. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be sitting in a cozy kitchen having drinks with my two best friends as they listened to my problems, I would have laughed in their face.

“There’s more,” I added. “Caleb had to take an important business call, so I was by myself for a while. Beatrice-Rose tried to humiliate me in front of people—”

Beth cut a tiny square piece of chocolate cake and laid it carefully on her plate. “You should’ve phoned me. I would’ve brought Theo. Without his leash.”

“Thanks. At first, she was singing praises about having the legs for ballet and—”

“She can use those legs to crawl the hell out of my sight,” Kara interrupted, “because if I see her again, I’m going to make sure she can’t walk anymore.”

“I’ll bring the chainsaw,” Beth added. “We’ll Hannibal Lecter her.” Kara and I stared at Beth, taken aback. “What? Too much? Okay. Sorry.”

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