“Then maybe she was crazy and—”
“It’s the same mark. It can’t be a coincidence. Do you want to take that chance?”
My stomach turned and I stepped back, gripping the handle to the oven door.
“You’ll have to tell her what she is when she’s older, Lexi. It wouldn’t be fair to her not knowing what she could become, but it has to remain a secret.” Austin placed his hands firmly on my shoulders and backed me against the wall. “No one can know. Not even your mother. There are Breeds that can’t have or make one of their own. She would even be appealing among Shifters or Chitahs because she doesn’t know the rules or how women of that Breed behave, so a deviant man would find her… trainable,” he almost growled.
“I won’t say anything,” I promised. “But can you do me a favor and stop springing all this life-altering shit on me, Austin!” I shrieked.
That was it. I’d finally had more than I could take and flew out of the room to take a shower and curse as I gave myself an angry shampoo.
***
Naya was a gem and agreed to watch Maizy for the day. I actually felt more safe with her over there than in my apartment; McNeal didn’t seem to know about Maizy, so it kept her out of danger. Naya had a day planned of movies, pizza, and shopping.
I drove to Sweet Treats to check on April and see how she was holding out on her own. It was over a hundred degrees outside and I dressed for it in my jean shorts, long T-shirt, and a pair of flip-flops. When I opened the door, a cool breeze didn’t smack me in the face like it usually did. It was sweltering, and April was on her knees with her hands in a canister, lifting a gooey mess and chucking it into a trash can.
As her eyes floated up, she wiped her brow with her forearm and her lip quivered.
“What happened?” I scanned the room and couldn’t believe the disaster before me. Half the canisters were empty with smears of melted candy on the plastic as well as the floor.
And April, for that matter.
“Charlie didn’t pay the electric bill and they shut it off.”
“What?” I gasped. “Can they even do that?”
“Apparently, they can.” She glanced around and wiped her hand on the apron. “I managed to move some of the candy, but I didn’t have any place to take it. The pizza shop next door didn’t have any cooler space and I couldn’t put them in the car,” she said, throwing her hands up in surrender. April’s stylish hair was streaked with pink and chocolate. It was sticking out on one side and her face was red with sweat dripping down her temple. “Now it’s just a race to get them out of the canisters before they make an even bigger mess for me to clean up.”
“Did you call Charlie?”
“He’s not answering.”
“When did this start?”
April shrugged. “I don’t know. Bridget called in sick, so I came in around noon to open up shop. The store felt like the freaking jungle, so maybe it went out last night?”
I reached around to my back pocket and pulled out a band, tying my hair up in a ponytail. I was going into crisis mode. We had a candy war on our hands and time was of the essence.
“The candy can’t be salvaged,” I said. “He’ll have to take the loss. What you need to do is start ordering more inventory. Tally up how much we need, because we’re going to want to make sure we can quickly restock our supply when the power comes back on. I can’t afford to cover the bill for Charlie, so I’m going to drive to his house and see what’s going on. Leave the candy. Once the air comes back on, we’ll drop the temperature so the candy re-hardens. It’ll be easier to pull it out instead of you contending with ten gallons of taffy.”
April had a bright laugh—like wind chimes—but she was a control-freak and didn’t handle chaos very well. One of the canisters tipped over as she stood up.
“I’ll put a sign on the door and cancel our orders,” she said. “Maybe some of them will reschedule, but I seriously doubt it.”
“I wonder how much those canisters cost,” I murmured, deciding they were probably ruined. “Do me a favor and open up the doors. Put the sign up that we’re closed. Call the girls and tell them we need them on standby. I really don’t want everyone in here dying of a heatstroke, but if it cools down later tonight, we can start cleaning up.”
April got out her phone and a list of contacts she kept under the counter.
“Uh-uh,” I said, taking her wrist. “Change of plans. Lock up the store and go cool down at the pizza place while you make your calls. Order a few glasses of water and do not overwork yourself. Your health is more important than all this.”