“Um, yes, please.”
A look of panic flashed over Michael’s face, which was odd. But the anger that followed it was even stranger. He stormed over, throwing a nervous glance at the street.
“What are you doing here?”
“Getting pastries,” she said, accepting the box from the now-puzzled cashier. “What are you doing here?”
“My wife owns this place,” he said coldly.
That explains the rhinestone theme.
Michael was still looking around cagily. “Is Nicholas with you?”
“No,” Jay said. “He’s at home, and I’m headed there, too. So if you have business with him, I’d recommend calling him up on the phone. It was nice to see you.”
To her consternation, he followed her out onto the sidewalk. “Tell me it isn’t true.”
“What?”
“Quentin said you were at his hotel. He said the two of you were—” He broke off, but his eyes went to her throat and she clapped her hand over herself. Michael’s face creased in disgust. “Tell me you aren’t sleeping with your own stepbrother.”
“Wow, all right then, I won’t.” Jay scanned the street desperately. “Screw you.”
“My god.” His voice rose, causing a few people to glance over curiously. “Did it start after graduation or were you already fucking him when you started seeing me?”
Jay whipped around. “First of all, you’re being absolutely disgusting. Second of all, you don’t know anything about me. You never did, because you never asked. Our relationship was always aboutyouand whatyouwanted. And now you’re married to someone else, so it’s really none of your business who I sleep with, and even if it was, I wouldn’t discuss it on the street.”
“But it is business, right?” he said flatly. “After all, he owns half this town and you’re—you.” His eyes drifted to her bare shoulder, and she fought the urge to tuck away her bra strap. “I used to think you were a nice girl. It actually used to make me feel guilty a little, because I felt like I was corrupting you every time I made a move. But I guess I just wasn’t paying enough.”
Jay shifted the box to her other arm and slapped him—hard.
“Ow, fuck.” Michael pressed a hand to his face. “Very classy, Jay.”
“Fuck you,” she said, fighting back the angry tears forming in her eyes. “Seriously. Fuck you and fuck Quentin, too. The whole sorry lot of you can just get fucked.”
“He tried to pay me off to get me to stay away from you. Did you know that?”
Jay turned away.
“Quentin was paying back interest on that predatory loan for years. And Nick even put one of his own friends in the hospital with a bruised trachea. He couldn’t swallow solid food for two weeks. Two weeks, Jay. Nick only had to spend one night in jail for it.” Michael let his hand fall to his side, revealing his reddened cheek. “That’s the kind of man you’re sharing a roof with.”
“Leave me alone,” Jay said in a low, furious voice. “Or I’m calling the police.”
“I thought you were a feminist. You think he won’t do the same thing to you?”
“Leave.”
“Wow.” He shook his head. “Well, that makes my decision easy. You made your bed. Have fun lying in it. But don’t expect anyone to help you when he runs your heart through the thresher.”
With that, he turned and headed back inside 24 Karat Cakes.
When the Uber arrived two minutes too late, she was still shaking. The young male driver kept shooting her these little worried glances, and when he let her out by the trash cans, he wasted no time peeling off back down the hill in a thick cloud of dust.
Nicholas wasn’t back yet so she set the pastry box on the counter, one hand pressed flat on the granite as she stared at the oak cabinets and eggshell white walls.
She thought of Michael saying “I guess I just wasn’t paying enough.”
She thought of Nicholas saying “You could be my little bird out of bed, too.”
