Page 45 of Feverburn

“Okay, thank you,” I said, still overwhelmed.

She pulled out an old leather book from a shelf behind her, plucking out a photo serving as a bookmark and sliding it across the counter with a glossy tomato-red nail.“In the meantime, I think this will be helpful.”A playful smile spread across her face, causing me to grin back.

The next night, Kaylee showed up at 9 o’clock with no notice, only a text asking to let her in. When I opened the back door to the hardware store, she had a plastic bag and a stack of DVDs.

“Yo Ro, I’ve got greasy Chinese food from that little hole in the wall two towns over and the classic chick flicks.”

“Did we have plans?” I squeaked in worry.

“No, I can just tell you’re brokenhearted. No offense, but you’ve been a bit mopey. It hurts to see you this way! I’m still so mad Tyler’s new bitch came up here and attacked you. Of course, it happened the one night I left early!” She grumbled, shaking her head.

Kaylee and Azalea had been awesome friends throughout the loft fire and latte incident. They whipped up an herbal concoction to help me heal the burns and fussed over me each time they saw me. And they also dragged me to the Renaissance festival for a fun girl’s day.

“I think I forget sometimes you knew Tyler way longer than I did,” she said, following me up the stairs. “Some sweet and sour chicken and Kate Hudson might heal you.”

“I’ll uncork the wine.” I hugged her and grabbed the food. A couple of hours and containers of food later, I slumped in bed, trying to stay awake. Kaylee scooched in behind me, sweetly playing with my hair.

“Ro?” she whispered to see if I was still awake.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry he hurt you.”

“Yeah,” I said, emotions clogging my throat. I knew she was thinking of Tyler, but I wasn’t. I choked back a sob, causing Kaylee to wrap her arm around me.

Now she was three impossible things all at once: the other woman, unknowingly still behind enemy lines, and a damn good friend.

I opened my mouth to tell her everything but didn’t know where to start, so instead, we lay together with things too complex to be untangled.

Later that week, I was helping Kaylee wipe down some crystal balls with damp rags to get the dust off them.

“Hey, so you have asecretadmirer,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“A certain someone won’t shut up about you. He keeps talking Harley’s ear off, saying he wants to date you. He has it bad. I guess he loves the smell of your place, and he says he can’t stop thinking about it. He thinks you’re funny and sweet.”She wiggled her eyebrows and shimmied her chest with the gossip.

“Really?”I remembered Carson always telling me my loft smelledwonderful.

“Do you want to go on adoubledate tonight? I think they were already going to Tilly’s. It could be fun?”

Astupidsmile broke across my face.“Sure, that’d be great.”

Was this all going to work out? Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Perhaps he talked to Harley after what happened and broke the news to him. Could this have all been in the works? I couldn’t stop smiling.

Walking in, I realized I was a fuckingfool. The man chuckling with Harley wasn’t Carson.

It was Dane.

I was unknowingly duped.

I rifled through my recollection of the previous conversation as the shock rocketed. I never clarified; I just assumed she was thinking of Carson because I’m obsessed with the man like a lovesick idiot. An icy layer crawled over my skin as the new harsh reality set in. I deserved this. I was withholding information from Kaylee, which is only one step away fromlying. I had metaphoricallybackedmyself into this corner, and now, I had to find a way out of it.

Mygutstwisted in guilt as Dane paid for my dinner, then even tighter when he walked me home so we could talk more. Carson’s truck was still at the store, and seeing it put a ping of sympathy in my mind.

When I learned about Jamie, I didn’t intend to goad Carson again using Dane as a shield. She was gone, and Carson was to blame. And the man walking me home was the wellspring of Carson’s reputation. It couldn’t get messier than this.

At the door, Dane pulled me in for a hug.“I had fun tonight,” he said good-naturedly.

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