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That night, Sadie sipped her chamomile tea and caught up on things on her phone. She tucked her feet under the bottom rung of the tall barstool at the kitchen island. It was bedtime, and she still had to wash up and hopefully find the energy to fool around with Joanie.

Joan came out of the bedroom in a loose black cotton tank and tiny matching shorts, her short, dark waves of hair begging to be gripped in the heat of passion.

Sadie’s mouth watered. A zing zipped through her belly and zoomed down, down, down. One look at her hot girlfriend was a better boost than any energy drink.

“Greta’s back in town,” Joan said. “She just texted to let me know.”

“That’s nice,” Sadie said. “You have a lot to catch up on.”

“She was like, ‘I leave for a few weeks and everything goes to shit.’”

“Seriously.”

A new text from Perry popped up.

This has your vibe.

He’d included a link to a listing for a storefront available for lease in Knollwood Village. It was in a charming vintage building that looked like it had most recently been a juice bar. Aged brown brick, big picture windows…

“Babe?” Joan said, setting her phone on the island.

“Hmm? Sorry, I was looking at something Perry sent me.”

“What is it?”

“A Sadie’s Café option.”

Joan moved beside her to take a look. The scoop neck on her top gaped to reveal her perfect little breasts waiting for Sadie’s attention. A deep throb pulsed in her lower abdomen.

“That’s really cute,” Joan said. “It reminds me of you.”

“Perry said it has my vibe.”

“It does. We should check it out.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Where is it?”

“Knollwood Village.”

Joan pressed a soft kiss to Sadie’s temple. “You love shopping there, right?”

“I used to,” Sadie said. “It’s been a while, but I did get a lot of my clothes and décor from the little shops tucked along the side streets.”

“We can make a day of it tomorrow.”

“Monday funday.” But first, tonight fun-night.

She glanced at the listing again. Her heart gave a tiny flutter. It was cute, but rent in the Village was notoriously high. It was probably way too out of reach. And anyway, her dream was on hold until everything going on in the city calmed down.

Joan sampled Sadie’s tea. “I don’t know how you make chamomile not taste like hot weeds.”

“Fresh lemon and a pinch of grated ginger root,” Sadie replied.

“You’re a genius.”

“You’re…” She set her phone down and swiveled the barstool to face the full vision of Joanie’s toned body in loose clothes. No word could describe the ache in Sadie’s bones to touch her other than, “Mine.”

A delicious chuckle rumbled in Joan’s throat. “All yours, sweetheart.”

Sadie leaned in and placed a slow kiss on Joan’s warm and welcoming lips. Joanie wrapped her arms around her. Sadie slid her fingers over the stubble of the undercut above Joan’s neck.

Their tongues met languidly, familiar and wonderful. Her favorite taste in the world was Joanie Maloney’s mouth. Well, second favorite to another special place on Joanie’s body.

Joan pulled back, tilting her head and taking in a deep breath. What she had to do to move all the fire roiling around her body to her heart. She looked at Sadie with so much love and tenderness, it almost melted her anyway.

“I really need this tonight,” Joan murmured.

“Me, too.”

They kissed deeply, sharing their mutual need.

“Wanna have some fun?” Sadie said.

“Always.”

“We haven’t used something from the toybox in a while.”

Joan smiled against her mouth. “What do you want to play with?”

A rush of liquid heat filled Sadie’s clit. The way Joan purred about playing with toys…

She nibbled on Joan’s neck, cupping one of her breasts and kneading it. “Fuck, Joanie, I want you so bad.”

Joan growled and snaked her hands under Sadie’s pink blouse, undoing the clasp on her bra. “Nothing gets me hotter than when you say that.”

Sadie licked at Joan’s collarbone, using her teeth to pull the strap of the tank top down. This was exactly what they needed to yank the first orgasm out of them both. The second (and third and hopefully beyond) would be gentler.

She freed Joan’s breast from her shirt and bent to savor it.

The front door opened. Fuck!

Joan jerked back with an angry “Damn it, Mark!”

Only Greta stood there, an amused smirk tugging at her lips.

“Damn it, Greta!” Joan amended, adjusting her shirt.

“Nice to see you, too,” Greta said in her blunt voice.

Every cell in Sadie’s body screamed at being denied the promise of release. Of course it was Greta deactivating the alarm and breaking in.

“When you said you wanted to get together,” Joan said, “I didn’t take that to mean right this minute.”

“I texted you. Hi, Sadie.”

“Hi, Greta. Welcome home.” Damn it!

Joan grasped at the air, sparks flickering from her fingertips. “Boundaries, remember? I don’t live alone anymore. You have to let me know if you’re going to stop by.”

She stalked to the alarm and pressed several buttons. Sadie pulled at her shirt, awkwardly tucking her boobs into the sagging cups on her unhooked bra. “How was France?”

“Great,” Greta said. She looked rested and refreshed, her straight black hair cut a few inches shorter. Her army-style jacket and shiny black boots appeared to be new. Hopefully purchased and not pilfered.

She lounged against the island countertop. “Am I interrupting something?”

“ Yes ,” Joan said in the same tone as Sadie did in her head.

“You’re gonna want to hear this.” Greta glanced around, taking in the melded décor of Joan’s modern tastes with Sadie’s kitschy items. “You know I tune out what’s going on when I’m out of town. But the news about what’s happening here reached my little village.”

“It’s pretty bad,” Sadie said.

“More than you know.”

Joan joined her, resting her fingertips between Sadie’s shoulder blades in what felt like a To be continued gesture.

“I spoke to some of our associates.” Greta paused. “Well, my associates. You should hear what Ether and Prowl have promised them. Carte blanche on the city as soon as the last piece of the puzzle is in place.”

“What about Squawk?” Joan asked.

“No one gets that close to him.”

“The screeching?” Sadie guessed.

“Yeah. But also, he’s a dickwad.”

Joan leaned against Sadie’s barstool. “What’s the last piece of the puzzle?”

Greta shifted her weight. “Did you hear about the gas line explosion yesterday?”

Sadie nodded. Her mother had called about the accident at a construction site on the south end of the business district. It’d almost leveled the building. Thank god no one had been injured since it was a Saturday and the crew hadn’t been working.

“It wasn’t a gas line.”

Joan stiffened.

Greta shifted again, uncharacteristically uncomfortable. “It was Big Quake.”

“What?” Sadie and Joan said together.

“Big Quake is back in Vector City.”

“He’s still alive?” Joan said.

“I thought he died after that last battle,” Sadie said.

“No one ever confirmed that,” said Greta. “I heard rumblings for years that he was doing illegal diamond mining in South Africa. Turns out, that’s true. He’s come back for vengeance. And I guess he’s just Quake now.”

“Why is no one reporting this?” Sadie grabbed her phone to check SuperWatch.

“The Supers and Mayor Thorpe are trying to suppress it. They don’t want to cause a panic.”

Joan hesitated, then said, “This is serious.”

“Very,” Greta said.

There was nothing important on SuperWatch. Big Quake was in Vector City? Big Quake? The idea chilled Sadie to the bone.

“No one says his name,” Joan said. “No one in villainy. Perry told me never to mention him because we never wanted to be associated with him in any way, shape or form.”

“Well, this new world order wants to be.” Greta crossed her arms, silver rings glinting. “Quake is going to disrupt our infrastructure, and the others are going to create chaos. There’ll be too much mayhem for the Supers to handle.”

Joan began to pace. “How is this staying quiet? People need to know about it.”

“This was a test run. They’re doing a big reveal soon.”

“We need to te—” Joan met Sadie’s eyes. “Someone should tell the Supers.”

“They already know,” Greta said.

“Then they should be warning people. The civilians they claim to be protecting.”

Sadie stood, too keyed up to sit anymore. “They don’t want people freaking out.”

“What’s worse, though?” Joan paced back and forth. “Finding out because of a warning, or because he brings down a building with people in it next time?”

“I’m just the harbinger of information.” Greta raised one thin eyebrow. “Hope it was worth interrupting your private time.”

Joan’s phone chimed with an incoming text. “Probably Mark,” she said, reaching for it. “He needs to know about this.”

Sadie caught Z as the contact. Definitely not Mark.

Emergency meeting at HQ. Ward will let you in.

Zee had sent it to Mark and Perry, too. Oh, no. Now what?

Joan typed a quick reply:

Should we bring our suits?

Three dots appeared, then disappeared. Then reappeared.

Leave them for now.

Greta walked toward them. “What’s he want?”

Joan quickly clicked her phone off. “He wants me to come over.”

“Want me to go with?”

“Nah,” she said. “It’s about this week’s menus.”

Ooh, Joan just lied to her best friend. Though she had to, right? She couldn’t tell Greta she was meeting with the Supers, both to protect her thieving pal and from letting Greta know they’d worked together again. Greta had not reacted well to that happening before.

Greta turned her sharp gaze onto Sadie. “We could hang out.”

“Oh, thanks, but…”

“Good idea,” Joan said.

Sadie raised her eyebrows.

“I’d feel better knowing you’re together now that fucking Big Quake is back.”

Sadie scrunched her brows like Are you sure?

Joan gave her a look that said I trust both of you.

She did trust Greta. Sadie supposed she had to trust her, too.

“Thanks for telling me, Grets,” Joan said. “I’ll tell Mark and Per.”

“Keep your head on a swivel,” Greta said. “I don’t know what this means for you.”

Heading for the bedroom, Joan said, “Yeah, we’ll have to talk more later.”