Page 22 of Zeke

“Yeah,” she says, gushing a bit. “Isn’t it great? Daddy’s been meaning to hire someone, and Julia said she needed something to get her out of the house.”

“Did she?” I raise an eyebrow at Julia, whose eyes are fiery as she glares at me. “I had no idea. Probably could have given her a bit more work if that’s the case.”

“I don’t want your fucking work,” Julia says dangerously, but her hands cling to her apron like I’ll snatch it away from her.

“Easy now.” Kira steps from behind the counter to stand between us. She’s smaller than both me and Julia, but she silences us with those words and a look. “I don’t give a damn what the two of you do or say to each other at home, but this here is neutral ground. Understand?”

Julia and I continue to glare at each other, so Kira repeats herself. “Understand?Julia. Zeke. None of this behind these doors.”

“Fine,” I say before Julia can, wanting to show Kira I can be the bigger person. “No hard feelings as long as we’re here. Deal?”

Julia sneers at me but then lets out her breath in a huff and takes my hand. “Deal.”

“Great,” Kira says. “Now, what did you come in for, Zeke?”

It’s hard to say I only came in to see her, and doubly so in front of Julia. This isn’t her business, much as it seems she wants it to be by the way she’s looking at me.

“I, uh…” I look at the case and see what’s out of stock. “Aw, man. No more cranberry muffins?”

“I didn’t think you liked those,” Kira says in a mix of surprise and suspicion.

“Well, uh…” I didn’t think this through. She knows what I like, and my lame excuse is already blown out of the water. “I don’t. I just wanted a reason to stay a little longer. You, uh… you don’t have a break coming up soon, do you?”

Julia scoffs. I shoot her a look, but Kira smiles, which makes everything all right.

“Yeah,” she says. “I do. I can go in about fifteen minutes, once I finish decorating the cupcakes in the back. You want a donut while you wait?”

“You know me too well,” I say with a smile, putting a hand to my heart like I’m touched, which, if I’m honest, I am. “And a coffee.”

“Can you get that for him, Julia? A coconut cream,” Kira says in a pointed voice, reminding Julia of the truce in this space.

Julia looks like she swallowed a whole lemon as she pulls out a coconut cream-filled donut, my favorite. She puts it on the counter a little too hard and some of the cream spurts out onto the parchment paper. I run my finger through it and lick the yellowish goo off with a smile before picking up the pastry.

“Yum.” I turn to walk away and sit at a small table by the window. A few minutes later, Julia brings me my coffee, and I go to the fixings bar to put cream and sugar in it. I barely get through half of it when Kira joins me with a coffee.

She smiles at me, and I open my mouth to say something, not entirely sure what’s about to come out, when she says, “I heard you and Eli talking yesterday.”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut and try to play it off. “Yeah?” I ask. “What about?”

She gives me a look like I’m being dense, which I guess I am.

“You know what about,” she says before sipping her coffee. “About me and how you’re both fighting over me.”

Shit.

“Uh…” I try to say something that will help me save face, but I feel embarrassment turning my cheeks red, which rarely happens. Something about Kira broke down all my walls. “I…”

“It’s fine, Zeke,” she says.

I see Julia staring at us from behind the counter and hope her hearing isn’t as good as Kira’s was yesterday. The look on her face tells me she already knows.

“It is?” I ask, wondering what she could think about two brothers fighting over her. What if she doesn’t want either of us? She’d said her dad would never let her date a biker. Maybe she has no interest in being a part of that life—ourlife.

“Of course, it is.” She takes another sip of her coffee and sighs like it soothed her. “Why wouldn’t it be? You’re both great guys, but your fighting doesn’t affect me.”

“It doesn’t?” I ask, feeling like the wind was taken out of my sails.

“Not yet, anyway.”

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