“Delilah?” Kady’s sleepy voice comes from the other side of the kitchen. “What on earth?—”
“Holy fuck with frosting on top!” Sabs comes from behind her as they enter to see the full extent of my baking carnage that’s taken over the kitchen. “Are you catering for a one-hundred-person event?”
The kitchen island is covered in at least fifty vanilla cupcakes. Over next to the window cooling is a line of banana breads—cinnamon swirl, blueberry, and chocolate chip. There are also three baking sheets holding a variety of cookies and a precariously leaning tower of chunky blondies in a few of my favorite flavors—white chocolate and raspberry, salted caramel, pistachio, and walnut.
“You do realize that it’s 7am, don’t you?” Kady’s shrewd gaze scans over the food mountain. “How long have you been up?”
“Uh…” My bleary eyes flick to the clock. After tossing and turning, I got up at 3am and have been baking ever since. “Early.”
“It’s a good thing I’m hungry.” Sabs selects a vanilla cupcake and takes a mammoth bite. “Gah!” Her whole face screws up before she spits it out into her hand.
“What’s wrong?” I ask frantically. “Is it the vanilla? The ratio of baking powder?” I take the cupcake from her then cautiously take a nibble. “No!” I wail as a briny taste coats my tongue. “I must have used salt instead of sugar. I had to replenish the jars. Don’t worry, Sabs. I’ll whip up another batch of these ones in no time. If you?—”
“Hey!” Her gentle hand on my shoulder steers me into a stool at the breakfast bar, forcing me to sit down. “I think we’ve got more than enough here, and you’ve definitely earned a break.” Her amber gaze softens. “What’s going on, Del? You haven’t had a baking marathon like this since?—”
“Sabs.” Kady shoots her a sharp glare as she takes a seat on my other side. “Does this have to do with your date with Tae?”
“I’ll kill him!” Sabs snatches up my mixing spoon, brandishing it like a sword. “I’ll pummel him with this then whizz that barista up in our blender. How does that sound?”
Kady shakes her head in despair. “Not helping, Sabs.”
“He didn’t do anything bad,” I mumble. “Well, not in the way you’re thinking.”
Kady scratches her chin. “I could definitely find a way to ruin his reputation. Maybe I can get Calder to dig into his background and write an exposé about how he spits in the coffee to get him fired?”
“Judging by the look of this kitchen, I doubt that’s sufficient punishment for whatever he did.” Sabs pops the spoon into her mouth to lick up the brownie batter clinging to it. “I can ask Margie about the best way to dispose of a body? She always has her nose in those true crime magazines. I’m sure she’ll already have a plan in mind, and I don’t want to ruin the blender when you make such good smoothies.”
“Let’s leave the blender out of this,” I say hastily.
“So what happened, boo?” Sabs wraps her fluffy, pink-robed arm around my shoulder. I feel a tad better, breathing in hercherry scent as she strokes my hair. Physical contact is always something that’s calmed me down, and she knows that. “We’re here if you want to talk.”
“The date was going so well,” I begin, the bridge of my nose already tingling with the threat of tears. “We went roller skating. I fell over.” I pause when I notice the concerned look on Kady’s face. “But I was fine, then we went to the Tea House to have something to eat. It was going great, and then we kissed…”
“Oh no,” Sabs groans. “Was he a bad kisser? A serious case of washing machine syndrome? Or too much teeth? Or…” She gasps in horror. “Did he have bad breath?”
Kady shudders.
“No, the kissing was… more than fine.” Tae was an amazing kisser, and wow, what he could do with his tongue. Damn, my toes are curling at just the thought. “One thing led to another, and we?—”
“Oh my god! You fucked him?!” Sabs gasps. “Was it terrible? Did he come too fast? Was his dick so tiny that you couldn’t feel it, and he got butt hurt when you asked if it was in yet? Or was he really selfish?”
Kady swats her shoulder. “Give her room to breathe, Sabs!”
“The sex was good. Great, actually. But…” I chew my lip, not sure where to go next. I haven’t even finished processing the revelation that Tae is part of Jagger’s pack yet.
“We’re here for you.” Kady squeezes my knee, helping me conjure the extra bit of bravery I need. “You know you can tell us anything.”
“Bad sex and all!” Sabs nods.
I smile feebly, using the back of my hand to wipe away the tears filling my eyes. “Our date was interrupted.” I swallow hard. “By Jagger.”
“Jagger?!” I wince from Sabs’s deafening shriek in my ear. It’s so loud, even Larry yowls and scampers from the doorway,where he’d been loitering and eying up the blondies. “What was that knot-head doing sneaking around the Tea House?”
Kady’s expression darkens as she eyes the blender. “Maybe we will need to speak to Margie after all.”
“Was he following you?” Sabs’s freckled cheeks flush in anger. “How did he know you were on a date there?”
“I…” I hadn’t really thought about why he’d shown up, but it’s strange that he barged in like that without knocking. “I presume he was there looking for Tae.”
