Wild Tendy (IceCats 2)

She lets her head fall onto the table with a loud groan. “I’m gonna start calling you Self-Sabotage Sally.”

“I’m not sabotaging myself!” I throw back at her, but her face is twisted in disdain.

“You are just waiting for that shoe to drop. Aviva, listen to me. Sometimes, things happen for the good.”

I swallow hard. I want to believe that. My track record, though, it’s a doozy. The front door opens, the bell signaling, and we both look to see Dustin Sr. walk in. He looks at Jaylin, and I know he wants to turn right back around.

“Why is she here?”

Jaylin stands up, straightening her skirt. “It’s so wonderful to see you, too.”

Well, here we go.

* * *

“Do not, and I mean do not, pay the whole month. Make sure you subtract that hundred,” Jaylin says to me sternly as I sign the new papers she drew up. She grabs them from me as I sign, and my heart is still beating hard in my chest. Dustin Sr. does not like Jaylin and crumbled like a cookie when she went at him. He didn’t fight her on anything and claimed the rent amount was a mistake. If I knew this was how he was going to act when Jaylin was around, I’d have her around all the time. Still, though, I’m nervous. Things like this don’t work out like that.

“And I think we really need to look into buying this place.”

I look at her with a deadpan expression. “Yes. I’ll reach up my ass and grab the extra wad of cash I have stored up there.”

She sends a look back at me that says she’s tired of my sass. “I’ll help you get the loan—and I know, no handouts.” She mocks me with hand movements and all; it’s quite disturbing. “But it wouldn’t be a handout. It’s to help you. If we offer him a price he can’t turn down, then we’ll be done with him and your dad.”

I swallow hard, the thought of my dad making my skin crawl. “Do you think Dustin Sr. will follow through on the nondisclosure?”

The look on her face doesn’t bode well for Dustin Sr. “I wish he wouldn’t. I’ll take him to court so damn fast.” After packing up her briefcase, she reaches for my hands. “You have nothing to worry about. Everything is taken care of, and I really want you to think about what I offered. I’ll help with the loan—hell, we can get a bigger one to pay off your mom’s stuff. It would help a lot. Consider it.” She leans over, kissing my cheek. “And hey, keep smiling.”

I send her a small smile. “I will. And thank you.”

She smiles. “Anything for you.”

She sashays out of my shop, and I exhale roughly. I glance at my copies of the paperwork we all signed. I want to be excited about this. I know for a fact, though, either my dad will walk through that door or Nico will call to tell me he’s moved on. I gather the paperwork and go to the back to file it in my mini office as I consider what Jaylin said.

I would love to own this place. I could change a few things, but the best part would be I would never have to look at Dustin Sr. or Jr. again. Problem is, my mom always said, “Don’t lend money to friends.” Jaylin isn’t just a friend, though; she’s family. My mom used to call Jaylin her daughter all the time. She’s a sister to me, but could I allow her to do this for me? I just bought her car for a hundred bucks, and that is already giving me an ulcer. I just hate the feeling of owing someone something.

I hate the feeling of being helpless and needing someone to save me.

A few minutes after I step out of the office, a customer comes in, so I get to work. It’s almost an hour before it slows down enough for me to check my phone. As I lean into the counter, I grin since there is a missed call from Nico and a text.

Nico: Can you stop being a sub superstar and call me?

I laugh as I push his name, and when his voice fills the line, I want to sigh with contentment. “Hey.”

“Hey. How’d the meeting go?”

“Good, actually,” I say as I lean over the counter, watching the door. “My landlord is completely scared of Jaylin, so he basically did whatever she wanted.”

“Well, she is a badass.”

“She is.”

“I’m glad it worked out.”

“Yeah, me too.” I inhale and go back and forth with myself on whether I want to tell him the next part. I decide I do. “Jaylin asked if he’d sell the shop, and he said for the right price. So now she is trying to convince me to let her help me get a loan to buy it, but you know how I am.”