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“And you, in turn, didn’t kill him.”
“That’s a fair trade to me.” I peeled off more paper.
“And me.”
I dropped the scraper. The handle landed on my foot. “Fuck!” I leaned against the wall, grabbing my foot. “Don’t you knock?” I snapped at Chase.
His eyes sparkled. “If I knocked, I wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop on you.”
“Chase.” Sophie fought a smile as she looked at him.
“Sophie.” He returned her smile.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, still holding my foot. “Aside from trying to make me chop off my own toes.”
“Better yours than mine.”
Sophie coughed a laugh, and I glared at her.
“I just finished cleaning up and wanted to see how you were doing, that’s all. You’re almost done.”
“You sound surprised.”
“And you gave up on the trash bag. How many strips of paper did you last?”
“Five.” I raised my chin defiantly. “I want to see you eating a sock tomorrow.”
He laughed, rubbing his hand over his five-o’clock shadow. “You’d tell me you lasted longer no matter how many I said.”
I folded my arms, resting my foot on the steps we’d been using to reach the top of the wall. “Maybe I would. Maybe I wouldn’t. I don’t have cameras in here. You can’t prove anything.”
“Neither can you.” His smile was too smug.
“You’re getting on my nerves.”
“Yeah, but you’re talking to me now, aren’t you?”
I opened my mouth then stopped.
Damn it.
He was right.
He leaned against the doorframe, tucking his hands into his pockets with a shrug. “You can stay quiet now, but it’s not going to change the fact you’ve had two whole conversations with me today and only threatened me once.”
“Watch it,” Sophie said, setting the steamer down and reaching for her coffee. “She may be pretending her foot doesn’t hurt, but she can’t put weight on it.”
She was so fired as my best friend.
Chase’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
I swallowed and looked away. “It hurts. I’m giving it a minute.”
“It’s probably broken. That scraper is solid wood,” Soph said, picking it up. “Yep. Ouch.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“Then put your foot down.”
“Fine.” I put it down gingerly, watching as it touched the floor. Pain shot through my second toe, and I squeaked as I put weight on it.
Soph looked triumphant. “Yep. I bet you broke it.”
I glared at Chase. “If it’s broken, I’m going to kill you. I can’t have a broken toe!”
He walked into the store and around behind the counter where we were. “Let me take a look at it.”
“No.” I jumped back. “Ow! Shit!”
“Rae. Let me look. At the very least, let me help you sit down. If it’s broken, you can’t walk on it right now.”
“Jesus,” Sophie said. “Do it, Rae.”
I stared at him. He was not touching my foot. No way. “You’re not a doctor.”
He was silently laughing if the shine in his eyes was anything to go by. “No, but I’m the oldest of four, remember? I’ve seen more broken bones than you have.”
“The answer is still no.”
“Fine.” Instead of walking away, he bent over and launched me onto his shoulder. I screamed, kicking my legs. “If you keep kicking, you’ll hurt your toe again,” he warned firmly. “You need to sit down, you stubborn woman.”
“I’ve got stronger words for you, you fucking—” I stopped at the sight of his sister standing in the doorway.
Marnie Aarons blinked, her dark hair falling in her eyes. “I’m sorry. Did I step into two-thousand-and-sixteen?”
“No. Put me down!” I knocked my fists against Chase’s back. “Now, you animal!”
He set me down on the window seat. “There. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“First you break my toe, then you manhandle me, and now you talk to me like a child?”
He met my eyes with one eyebrow. “Don’t act like a child.”
“You are so lucky Sophie has the scraper, or I’d ram it into your dick right now!”
“Sophie’s here?” Marnie walked in and peered over the counter. “Hey, Soph!”
She looked back. “Hey, Marnie! How’s school?”
“Crap. Boys are assholes and girls are bitches. I’m glad it’s over forever.”
“Words to live by.”
Marnie snorted and walked over to me. “He broke your toe?”
“Technically,” Chase started. “She broke her own with the scraper.”
If looks could kill, he’d be on his way to the morgue. “And why did I drop the scraper, Chase?”
“I might have been in the doorway and shocked you.”
“Might have been?”
Marnie rubbed her hand over her forehead. “I preferred it like, two days ago, when you didn’t talk to each other.”
“So did I! Ouch! You—” I jerked my attention back to Chase as he pulled my shoe off.
He grinned up at me. “It’s broken. Sprained at the very least. It’s already bruising and swelling.”
“I’m going to kill you. As soon as I can walk without wanting to cut off my foot, I’m going to cut off your hair with a scraper and stab you in the ass with a screwdriver. I’m on a time limit here! How am I supposed to do this with a broken toe?” I waved my finger at him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d accuse you of doing this deliberately! You open next to me to get back at me and now you sabotage my renovations!”
