“Research,” Katy said as she took her first step into the green yard.
I had no idea what Katy planned to do, but absolutely no good would come if I let her knock on the door. She had to be stopped before she caused trouble. The problem was she was three steps ahead of me, making a mad dash to the black front door.
I hated to be rough with a woman, but I didn’t have many choices. I had to stop her involvement in whatever horrors she had planned. I took the only route available and tackled her right there in the grass. Katy and I both landed on our sides, knocking the breath out of her even though I wrapped my arms around her waist to take the brunt of the fall. She rolled on top and smacked me on the arm.
“What in the hell are you doing?” she asked as I battled to gain control of her fist before she made contact with a vital organ.
I grabbed her shoulders, flipping us so she was on the ground, where I held her and maintained a higher position. “Stopping you from making a disastrous mistake.”
Nothing good waited for us behind the front door. Just old memories and hurt.
As if I conjured her myself, the door opened and Cassandra stepped out onto the porch. “Riley?”
She held a piece of toast in her hand with one bite taken out of it, as if we’d interrupted her in a midmorning snack.
Dammit.
I released my hold on Katy, and she jumped up like we hadn’t been wrestling in the front yard of a house in Pelican Bay and smiled as she jogged up to Cassandra’s steps.
“Cassandra, I can’t believe I bumped into you today.” The ability of the woman to pretend she hadn’t orchestrated everything around her absolutely baffled me.
Did she actually believe her own bullshit, or did she just make her own reality? Katy and I had been best friends since grade school, but I’d never quite figured out what made her tick. Pierce was a brave man—or a stupid one.
Cassandra glanced at her as if she also realized Katy had lost her mind. “You’re in my brother’s front yard screaming.”
I grabbed Katy’s arm and, as gently but as quickly as possible, tossed her behind me and then stepped in her path to block her from Cassandra.
She peered at me, still confused. “She’s still like this, huh?”
“Yup.” There was nothing else to say after Katy threw you into one of her plots. I mean, I actually I volunteered, so I only had myself to blame.
Stupidly, I figured she was only off to yell at gang members or confront one of the motorcycle gang leaders. I could handle those situations. This I was not prepared for. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea what she had planned.”
Nothing I came up with in my head was as horrible as what I faced.
Cassandra smiled. “I believe you.”
Behind me, Katy pretended as if we weren’t in the middle of the most awkward conversation in the world. She pulled a phone from her back pocket and stepped beside me, holding it between the two of us. “You need to hear this.”
I tried to push her to the side. “Cassandra doesn’t need to hear anything you have on your phone,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t know why Katy brandished her phone as a weapon, but it was definitely no good.
“Oh she does and so you,” she said and then hit a button on a voice recorder app. The three of us listened in stunned silence.
“Well, of course, I never meant to hurt Cassandra’s feelings. It wasn’t her fault she picked that short dress. I blame her generation. All that internet and Instagram influencing people. Whatever they’re called,” said my Aunt Mary. Her voice was distorted by the crappy recording but still easily recognizable.
The more my Aunt Mary talked on the recording, the darker red my cheeks turned. It wasn’t a good look on a man, especially one who tried to be large and intimidating. I hated being surprised, and in a moment of awkwardness, my Jefferson heritage came out.
Katy stopped the recording when the conversation changed to a different topic. I growled at her, but my arm snuck out, trying to push her off to the side.
“I’m telling Pierce,” I whispered, and for the first time she dropped her smug grin into a worried one.
With that taken care of, I turned back to Cassandra with my mouth open, unsure of what I needed to say to make the situation better. Almost a decade had passed, and of course, Katy used the opportunity to bring back the embarrassing moment even if she thought she was clearing the air.
“You want a cupcake?” Katy asked, completely ignoring the fact I was still holding her away from me with my arm.
“No!” I couldn’t let her anywhere near the bakery. Katy had obviously set her sights on Cassandra, and if we wanted to get through however long her vacation was in one piece, then we needed to stay far away from each other. Which meant Cassandra needed to stay far away from the bakery. “Cass doesn’t need a cupcake.”
Both women gasped on either side of me, but I didn’t figure out why until Katy spoke.
