Page 42 of The Naughty List

“You’re dead,” he says evenly, reaching for the giant white bag of royal icing. “Good luck getting this edible glue out of your hair.”

“No, Jonah,” I squeal, holding my hands up in surrender. “For real. That icing is not the same as the colored stuff. Please don’t—”

Too late.

He squishes a huge blob onto my head.

But at least his eyes are lighter now. And he’s almost sort of smiling.

I toss a handful of red hots at him.

One sticks to the icing on his face.

Overcome with a fit of giggles, I grab the tray and run around to the opposite end of the counter.

“You think you’re funny?”

I nod adamantly. “If only your former UFC opponents could see you now.”

He grabs the bowl of gum drops. “Let’s see how funny you are, you miniature elf, you.” He starts to run to the right so I do too, until we’re once again at opposite ends of the counter.

“Miniature elf? Them’s fightin’ words,” I declare, armed with a handful of sugar sprinkles. “These are like edible glitter. You’ll still be finding them everywhere months from now.”

Unfazed by my threat, he lunges at me.

Startled, I toss the sprinkles at his face.

“Oh, damn. My eyes,” he cries out.

I freeze where I stand. It’s just like Ma said when we were kids,It’s all fun and games til someone loses an eye.

My stomach tightens. I’ve blinded Jonah X with sugar sprinkles. Only me.

“Oh God, Jonah. I’m so sorry. Get to the sink, we’ll flush your eyes out with the spray-thingy.”

I run to him, like the gullible idiot that I am.

Jonah wraps an arm around me and empties the gumdrop bowl directly onto my head with the other.

Most of them stick to the icing glob in my hair.

His eyes are perfectly fine.

I shake my head. “I can’t believe I fell for that. My brothers would be so disappointed. I should know better.”

Jonah laughs wickedly. I retrieve a gumdrop from the gooey strands on my shoulder and throw it at his chest.

“Wait, wait. If you’re going to get hired on at the WDA, you need a professional headshot.”

He grabs his phone and snaps several photos of me trying to cover my face. I give up and stick my tongue out at him.

“Okay, but seriously, if we don’t rinse this icing out of my hair, we’re going to have to shave my head.”

Jonah nods, setting his phone aside. “You could pull off the bald look. It’ll give you some street cred.”

I should concede defeat.

Half my head is covered in icing and gum drops. He barely has a tiny smear on his face.