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“Okay, we’ll go to Hyde’s.” With a nod to the detective, he guided me from the room.

Rhys fell in step behind us, a silent guard.

Jake touched his pockets. “I ran out of the shop without my phone. Call Ray and get her to head to your place with Edge and some of the security if he can swing it. Have her pack a bunch of your stuff for the condo, yeah?”

I nodded, pulling my phone out as we exited the station.

*******

“You need to cancel that cake,” Jake said, storming into the Hyde kitchen a few days later.

I didn't have to ask which one he was referring to.

After our argument about Blake Green, Jake had tried to be cool and supportive about me doing the cakes. More so after our skeevy and upsetting visit to the police station.

I knew it wasn’t easy for him. So, making myself a total hypocrite, I didn’t tell him any of the shit Blake spewed.

I tuned Blake out and never even showed a reaction to any of the ridiculous things he said. Since I usually wanted to laugh in his face or roll my eyes so hard I’d give myself a headache, it was sometimes tough not to respond. When it became difficult to remain professional, I’d just remind myself how many opportunities this job could bring.

I’d thought things were moving along tolerably. Based on Jake's tone, however, I was wrong.

I sighed and continued washing measuring cups without looking at him. “I’m not cancelling. What’s up?”

“You tried goin’ through Rhys but Green shot that shit down. Now every fuckin’ day he’s callin’ to talk about the cake. Needin’ to get together to change somethin’. I don’t trust him.”

“Neither do I,” I readily agreed. “Which is why Rhys is there. Or Kase is there. Or Z. Or Eli. Or Key. Or any combination of them.” Picking up a dishrag, I turned to face Jake as I dried my hands off.

“Well, next time I’ll be there.”

“No way. Not gonna happen. We don’t need a repeat of the Tools for Teens event. He’ll poke the bear. The bear will punch him in the face. Then the bear will fuck me up against a wall.” The towel in my hand flipped back and forth as I talked. I tossed it on the counter before I accidentally hit myself in the face. Again. “I’m all for the wall fuck, so can we just skip the other steps?”

“I don’t like the shit he says to you.”

“Yeah, what about Chloe? She’s still texting you, but you don’t see me bugging out.”

Jake leaned on the table and shrugged. “I ignore her shit.”

“And I ignore his.”

“Yeah, but he’s in your space. I can hit delete on a message without readin’ it. You can’t mute Green.”

“Yeah I can. He starts talking, and there’s this little black and white cow in a grass skirt that pops into my head. She dances the hula and plays a ukulele, and I don’t hear any of the white noise that comes out of his mouth. I’ve got a handle on this. I’ve gotten this far, and it’s almost done. If I do this, I’ll be a lot closer to hiring help and expanding.”

“You shouldn’t have to deal—”

“I’m dealing with this for my business, for my dream. You’re dealing with Chloe ‘cause you dipped your dick in crazy. It’ll be done soon and we’ll move on. Until then, you have to trust me.”

“Fuck, Piper, it isn’t you I don’t trust. But you’re so fuckin’ naive! You don’t get it.”

“No, I guess I don’t.” Crossing my arms, I looked up at him. “Explain it.”

“Every day that fucker is comin’ up with new shit to say to get you. To try to take my sweetness. And I’m supposed to just sit back? Fuck that.”

“You know what? I’m gonna be smart and bite my tongue right now. I’ve gotta get going anyways.” Storming out of the kitchen, I hopped in my car and drove to lunch with Ray, completely livid.

After all this time, he still didn’t trust me. There was nothing Blake could say that would make me interested in him. There was definitely nothing he could say that would change the way I felt about Jake.

Only Jake could do that.