Page 13

The afternoon prep work vibe inside Hot and Cold was upbeat, only Sadie could tell Joan and Mark were tired and slightly forcing it. Their ordeal the other night had resulted in them working out in the warehouse this morning.

Joan yawned and stretched her back. The red scab under her eye was thanks to Prowl’s assault. As if Sadie needed another reason to dislike that jerk.

She stirred the salted caramel hot chocolate, then studied her short, rounded and newly painted lavender nails. “I don’t know if I like this color or not.”

Joan glanced over. “It’s okay, but I always prefer red.”

“A dark crimson the same shade as on a former Supervillain’s suit?”

“Exactly,” she said with a cute wink.

The former Villains hadn’t returned their suits to the Supers yet.

The city’s Heroes had been too busy with increased activity from the new Villains.

Trying to get them to leave had made them more determined to stay and wreak havoc.

They were doing things in broad daylight with Squawk breaking windows and Prowl hopping in and out of stores with armfuls of loot.

The sky was frequently swirling and misty green and buzzy over specific areas.

At least Joan and Mark and Perry had tried to help. Fighting the new Villains showed they really did want them gone.

Joan stretched her arms forward, groaning from the effort.

“Sore from your workout?” Sadie guessed.

“Yeah.” She leaned in, tilting her head to Sadie’s ear. “Sorry we missed having morning sex.”

“That’s okay. We can always have good old-fashioned nighttime sex.”

One of Mark’s eyebrows scrunched low. “Ew. Why would you do sex-type things when you’re half asleep and have stinky breath?”

“We’re usually too tired after work,” Joan said. “This way, we know no matter what happens, we took care of that important business.”

After a moment, Mark said, “That’s actually a really good idea.”

“I know, right?”

“Plus there’s less chance of me dropping by and ruining the mood.”

“You’re not wrong about that.”

Sadie just shook her head. “I would never in a million years discuss my sex life with my sister. Whenever Carrie has a baby, I’m going to assume it hatched, or one of those cartoon storks dropped it off.”

“We don’t have a normal sibling relationship,” Joan said.

“Joanie’s my best friend,” Mark said. “I tell her everything.”

“Aww,” Sadie cooed as Joan drawled, “Yeah, he tells me everything .”

“You love it.”

Someone knocked on their rear entry. Sadie set her long metal spoon to the side and decreased the burner to a low simmer. Morris from Cajun Soul stood on the sidewalk in a puffy, bright-red jacket.

“Hi, friend,” Sadie said.

“Hey, Sadie. Do you have any extra honey we could borrow?”

“I think so. Let me check.”

“Thank you. I thought we had whole other bottle, but we can’t find it.”

“No problem.” Sadie ducked back into the truck to investigate. “Morris and Tenia need to borrow some honey.”

Mark chin-nodded at a high metal shelf. “There’s some up there.”

Sadie moved around containers of spices and condiments to find the bear-shaped plastic bottle. Joan followed her to the open doorway and said hello to Morris.

“You’re a lifesaver.” He accepted the bottle. “Can’t make hot honey chicken without the honey.”

“Happy to help,” Sadie said.

Morris gazed at Joan. “Ouch. That’s an angry scratch.”

“It was from an angry creature,” Joan said.

“A velociraptor?”

She grimaced. “No, a pissed-off cat.”

Sadie rubbed Joanie’s lower back.

“How’s business been?” Morris asked. “We’ve noticed things slow down once the sun sets.”

“We’ve noticed that, too,” Joan said. “I don’t think people want to be out after dark.”

“The activity’s not any worse. These Villains are just as bad in the daytime.”

Joan’s expression didn’t change, but tiny flickers sparked in her amber eyes.

A few cars behind them, Wren and Beth-Ann stepped out of Powered by Plants. Sadie waved from the doorway, causing them to wave back. They walked over, Beth-Ann saying, “Hi, guys. What’s new?”

“We were talking about how the streets clear out after dark,” Morris said.

“Because of Prowl and Squawk?”

He nodded.

“You’d think people would be used to this,” Wren said. “It’s not like we haven’t dealt with Supervillains before.”

“Yeah, but we knew what to expect from Volt and Spark and the rest of them,” said Morris. “The devil you know, y’know? I don’t know about the new ones.”

Mark joined them, wiping his hands on a towel. Sadie moved down to the long step flanked by the tall steel cabinet that housed the propane tank.

“Our old Supervillains were pretty tame compared to some of the other ones,” Beth-Ann said.

“Tame?” Mark said.

Wren nodded. “They were more like ne’er-do-wells who broke stuff.”

“They weren’t tame,” Mark insisted.

“Ice gave my sister three hundred bucks once,” said Beth-Ann. “He saw her having trouble with an ATM, and he ran back from whatever he was doing to hand her a wad of cash. She always liked him after that.”

Mark’s body temperature dropped—the chill ran through Sadie’s back. “Wait, she actually liked him?” he said.

“Well, I don’t know if like is the right word, but she was grateful.”

“Not all Villains are bad guys,” Sadie said, careful not to look at either of the Malone twins.

“They’re not good guys either,” Morris said. “They busted up the bank we had our savings account at. It took a full extra year for us to get our funds squared away to open Cajun Soul.”

Joan shifted her weight. Beth-Ann pointed to her face and said, “What happened to your eye?”

“Cat fight. The cat won.” To Morris, Joan said, “Sorry about your money.”

He shrugged. “Everyone’s got a story like that.”

Fiddling with his hand towel, Mark said, “I always thought Ice was a pretty good dude. He’d give money to small businesses that were affected by the Supers.”

Joan raised an eyebrow at him. “ Ice did that?”

“He did.”

“I heard Spark was the most generous one,” Sadie said.

“I heard that, too,” Joan said, eyes brimming with amusement.

“It doesn’t make up for everything else,” Morris said. “There’s been so much damage to the city. To every city.”

“It’s like none of the superpowered care about the little guys,” said Beth-Ann.

“Some of them do,” Joan said.

“It’d be nice if they all did.”

Morris rolled the bottle of honey between his palms. “The Villains are villains, so I don’t expect them to care. The Supers need to get their act together.”

Nodding in agreement, Wren said, “And actually care about what happens to us when our reimbursement requests get denied by the city.”

Joan and Mark went quiet. That was something that had bothered them forever.

“We don’t even know what happened with our old Villains,” Beth-Ann said. “Are they in jail? Did they bring in these new associates?”

“I think they’re all out of the game,” Sadie said. “Trick, Hide and Volt are locked up. I’d be willing to bet that Spark, Ice and Breeze got pardoned for helping rescue the person who had been kidnapped.”

“That seems unlikely. Why would the Supers just let them go?”

“To show them kindness, or mercy?” Wren suggested.

“It was a diversion,” Morris said. “They went underground. I doubt we’ve seen the last of them.”

Pointing at him, Beth-Ann said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re behind all this new activity.”

“Which sucks.” Wren rubbed at her buzzed dark hair. “Me and my wife were looking at buying a condo. Now we’re waiting to see about homeowners insurance rates.”

“Yeah, my boyfriend’s parents are trying to convince us to move back to his hometown.”

Sadie rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I understand.”

“I guess we’ll get used to these Villains, too,” Morris said. “Adjust to the new normal, like we always do.”

Sadie nodded along with Wren and Beth-Ann. Joan and Mark copied the movement.

Beth-Ann noticed a couple of potential customers reading the menu board outside Powered By Plants. “Better get back to that new normal. Good sales tonight, everyone.”

She and Wren walked back to their truck as Morris headed toward Cajun Soul.

Sadie closed the Hot and Cold door, protecting them from outside opinions.

She never told anyone she’d been the hostage that fateful day.

It would invite too many questions. Nyah and Amit only knew because of her missing work.

“Tame,” Mark grumbled, hacking his chef’s knife into a red pepper.

“That’s your takeaway from that conversation?” Sadie asked.

“No. Well, a little. I get why our old associates said we went soft. Apparently, we always were.”

“Is it hard to stand there and listen to people talk about you?”

Both Joan and Mark shook their heads. “Nah,” Joan said. “We’re used to it.”

True. Even Sadie had said some unkind things to her about Spark before knowing her real secret identity.

“I think I remember that woman at the ATM,” Mark said. “It wasn’t all thievery and mischief. We did do some good. I liked being able to help people out.”

“Because Ice was the generous one,” Joan teased. “But yeah, it felt like the right thing to do. God knows we understood not having enough money for essentials.”

“That’s the thing that separates us from the Supers. They didn’t have the struggles we did. They can’t connect with the little guy.”

“Yeah,” Joan said again. She got that lost-in-a-memory look on her face. She never shied away from talking about her past when prompted, but there were a whole lot of buried emotions she didn’t verbalize. She’d seen a lot in her thirty-five years.

Sadie rested her fingertips on Joan’s arm. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She blinked and smiled. “I can’t get over how the norms keep adjusting to Super activity. Our world was about holding grudges and bitter revenge.”

“That’s not very healthy,” Sadie said.

“Not much we did was healthy. Except our random acts of altruism.”

Mark diced his pepper strips. “Are we almost ready to open?”

“Just about,” Joan said. She tapped the countertop. “This is our focus.”

That wasn’t the first time she’d said that recently. Reinforcing how the past was not going to encroach on their future.

“It’s okay to acknowledge you did good things,” Sadie said.

“We’re doing better things now.” Joan settled her Vultures ballcap on backwards.

“It’s still okay to hear people appreciated what kindness you did as Spark and Ice.”

“Most people don’t know we did them.”

“We didn’t do it for the accolades the way the Supers do,” Mark said.

“We did anonymous donations. Like the one I gave to Vector City Coffee that caused a lot of confusion between us.”

“Maybe you should have taken the credit,” Sadie said.

Joan snorted a wry laugh. “‘Here’s some money for your shattered windows. Warm regards from the Villains who broke them.’ That doesn’t make it better.”

“At least it’s an acknowledgment. The Supers just send you to a form on an app that probably never gets looked at.”

Mark’s bright blue eyes widened. “Did you just dis the Supers? I’m so proud of you.”

“Well, no one can deny there are very few payouts to individuals or anything that’s not a big corporation.”

“Funny how Allegria Tower, the home of Allegria Insurance, got patched up in no time.”

Sadie snagged her spoon to give the hot chocolate a stir. “Maybe we should get the word out about your past good deeds.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Joan said. “We’re not in that life anymore, so who cares what people think about some former Villains who disappeared?” She took a step toward the front of the truck, then rocked back and kissed Sadie’s cheek. “But thank you for caring.”

“It’s more than caring,” Sadie said. “It’s not right that people are going around thinking the worst about you when there were glimmers of good.”

Joan gave her a slight shrug and went to the side entry.

“It comes with the territory, Sades,” Mark said. “Our misdeeds outweigh the rest. Which is fair.”

“I just wish people knew about the rest.”

The metal awning raised outside, bathing the interior of the truck in weak sunlight.

Mark scraped the diced peppers to one side. “The only way it would stick is if the Supers publicly said something. And as much as it’s been civil with them, they won’t admit they didn’t bring us to justice. Letting us walk away means they’ll let anyone off the hook.”

“Which would send the wrong message to active Villains,” Sadie murmured.

“Exactly.”

Joanie rejoined them. Concern creased the skin between her eyebrows—a worry wrinkle that was more and more present every day.

Sadie rested the spoon in the pot and held her arms open. “Come here.”

Joan didn’t hesitate to accept the hug.

“You too, Markie. Get over here.”

He rolled his eyes.

“You both need this.”

Despite his nonchalance, he squeezed his arms tightly around them. His hug held the same weight as his sister’s—the deep need for human connection.

“You two are amazing,” Sadie said. “I’ve always known that, and I am historically an excellent judge of character.”

They all laughed at that totally untrue fact.

Mark squeezed once more before letting go. “Let’s have strong sales today, Team Hot and Cold.”

Joan nestled into the hug, dislodging her ballcap. Her familiar scent of ginger and citrus wafted in the air.

Warmth flowed through Sadie’s veins. Not just from Joan’s natural heat, but from how much she loved giving Joanie reassurance. Her support meant everything. There had to be more Sadie could do to return the favor.

When they separated, she said, “I could tell people you rescued me. I mean, that Spark rescued me. I could come forward as the?—”

“No. Don’t put yourself through that. You’d be subjected to public scrutiny, which would draw attention to me, and Mark, and the food truck, and how we came out of nowhere with no traceable history or background.”

“I could speak off the record. Say something like I’m hiding my identity ’cause I’m worried about other Villains retaliating. I want your story to be told.”

Readjusting her hat, Joan said, “It’s not a good idea. And again, it doesn’t matter what people think.”

“I just…”

“Thank you, and I love you, but no. Leave it be.”

She slid the service window open, ready to start the day. Maybe it was an overstep to push her on this, but Joan deserved better. To not have the norms thinking she was in cahoots with Prowl. Prowl was awful.

Shoot. This was a complicated dance between support, respect, and not being Pushy Sadie.

Part of her wanted everyone to know how great Joan was to prove Sadie had broken her streak of bad relationships and found a truly heroic partner.

But that was putting too much focus on what other people wanted.

Or at least what she thought they wanted. People-pleasing.

What mattered more was what Joan wanted and needed. And right now, that was backing off from what had happened and focusing on what was to come.