Page 117 of Secret Spark

Mark bobbed his head encouragingly.

“It’s been all over the news that you three—well, your alter-egos—helped the Supers. There are a lot of theories about why, but the overall opinion is that you did a good thing.”

“I’ve also heard people say we wanted to take out our biggest competition,” Mark said. “So we played the Supers to get the others out of our way.”

“No one ever wants to paint us in a favorable light,” Joan said.

“I saw that, too,” Sadie said. “But the emphasis has been on all of you working together. And that time will tell what your next move will be.” She glanced at one napkin with a simple drawing of a food truck andHOT and COLD and AWESOME!written on it. “I think no more activity will send the message that you did it for the right reasons.”

Joan met her gaze, the tenderness in her eyes saying she’d done it for the most important reason of all: love.

Perry set a clenched hand on the table. “Who cares what the public thinks? We’ve lost all credibility with the people who know us.”

“We’re blacklisted,” Joan said. “None of our contacts will want anything to do with us.”

“We have to open a food truck now,” Mark said. His tone held little joy. It was still their choice, only they had no alternative now.

“At least I won’t have to lie about my job anymore,” Joan said quietly.

Sadie gave her an understanding, close-mouthed smile.

Perry fidgeted in his rigid plastic chair. He appeared to be uncomfortable, or like he was holding back.

“What’s on your mind, Per?” Joan said. “I know you’re not thrilled to have?—”

“You think? Why would I be thrilled to have my name connected to the Supers? Why would I want every contact I carefully curated for years to disappear overnight because of something you did without my consent?”

Joan and Mark looked at each other.

“No, Joanie, I’m not thrilled that I was dragged into a situation by some random texts while napping. You gave me no time to respond or think about it. You jumped in headfirst without thinking about the consequences. As always.”

“Tell us how you really feel,” Mark grumbled.

“We needed to act fast to save Sadie,” said Joan.

Perry banged his fist on the table. “How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t ever trust a Super. It never turns out well.”

“Dude, why are you so anti-Super?” Mark said. “Joanie and I have a boatload of reasons. You’ve never told us what yours are.”

Joan’s expression said she knew Perry was keeping secrets. “Otis said something the other day. He knew you wanted to work at an art gallery. How?”

Perry gave her a look. “What, you think you’re the only ones who got treated like crap by those assholes?”

“Ooh.” Mark raised his eyebrows at Sadie. “Perry never swears. It must be good.”

Sadie found herself tilting forward with interest.

The only one not interested was Perry. He hemmed and hawed as the seconds ticked by.

“Do you know those guys better than you’ve let on?” Joan asked. “Like, do you know their real names because they told you?”

“Not exactly,” Perry muttered.

“Then what?”

More seconds passed. Finally, he said, “The one time I trusted one of them, it didn’t end well.”

They waited for him to continue. Perry leaned back and crossed his arms.

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