Page 139 of Hyde and Seek

Okay, that isn’t technically 100% true, but that’s beside the point.

“Second, it’s not a social visit. I’m doing the cakes for his album drop party. I kinda have to know what they want.”

“Work through Rhys then. He might want in your pants, but at least I can trust him not to make a move.”

“Normally, I totally dig your whole big, badass, possessive thing. I really do. But not now. This is my business and I can’t let this kind of opportunity pass by just because you don’t like the client.”

“He’s not aclient,” he said with a sneer, “because it’s not fuckin’ happenin’.”

“You know what? I’ve gotta get to class.” Grabbing my bag, I left the condo, slamming the door behind me.

It wasn’t the most mature thing to do, but it was a small release.

I got in my car and took off without a backwards glance.

It’d been two and a half weeks since my birthday weekend and a few days since the interesting dinner party at my mother’s. Much like our transition into coupledom, we’d settled easily into our engagement.

The Monday after my birthday, I’d gone to see Ray. With zero hesitation or doubt, I got a cupcake tattoo on the inside of my wrist. There was a red cherry on the top with ‘Jacoby’ spelled out vertically to make the stem. Like his ink, the name placement was subtle but fitting.

That night he’d very thoroughly showed me how much he liked it. Since then I’d catch him staring at it, tracing it with his fingers, or pressing gentle kisses to it.

I knew how much it meant to him because seeing my name on his chest still made my breath catch.

I worked in the kitchen at the shop, which came in handy since business was insane. After work, we went back to one of our places, had dinner, and did typical couple things.

It was nice.

It was normal.

And, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t boring.

The only dark cloud in all the brightness had been the emails.

In addition to receiving them more often, they were also getting increasingly graphic. Gregory was working with the police to see if it was a legitimate threat that went beyond someone seeking attention.

I tried not to think about them, but sometimes they’d pop into my head and I’d get freaked. The hairs on the back of my neck would stand up and I’d get the overwhelming urge to run.

I’d also had three more anonymous flower deliveries. They only came when I wasn’t home, which was most of the time.

After the second delivery, though, Jake called his dad again. Gregory came over with some forensic people who took the flowers and put a logger on my computer.

During the last trip out, Gregory invited us to dinner. And by invited, I mean he laid a guilt trip on Jake so thick it put my mom’s to shame.

Jake’s mom, Sarah, was a lot like her husband. She was obviously a good lawyer since our conversation started out as more of an interrogation. Eventually, the tension eased and the atmosphere grew more comfortable. Even the vibe between Jake and his dad didn’t seem as tense.

The night ended with tentative plans for all of us to get together with my mother and Thomas next time.

On the bizarre side of things, Jake and I had become tabloid fodder. It was weird seeing news of our engagement in local newspapers. While I felt like it was a huge deal, I didn’t think anyone outside of our circle would.

I was wrong.

Jake was worried about the increased exposure, but I hoped it would fizzle out and we’d become old news.

Rhys had texted that morning to ask if I’d be interested in doing cakes for a launch party going on at Rye. The event was celebrating Static in the Sun’s album release. It would be the biggest order I’d ever done, both in volume and exposure. I wasn’t thrilled when he told me Green had some specific requests, but I didn’t want to give up my chance to provide cakes for such a high-profile event.

I knew Jake had a point; Blake Green was an egotistical ass and working with him was going to be a headache.

Still, I was confident I could tune him out and make it through one evening. I wasn’t going to bail just because Jake told me to.

---