Love to Hate You (Hope Valley #9) - Jessica Prince Page 0,71

ass for a woman. Micah was so confident it was never gonna happen, he said he’d split his paycheck between them if that day ever came.”

A cold chill pricked at my neck, and the sip of coffee I’d just taken turned to cement in my stomach. If he was refusing to pay up, that couldn’t mean good things for the future of our relationship.

Before I had a chance to twist that into something nasty and painful in my head, my phone went off. I glanced down at the screen and let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Alex’s name I saw, and quickly engaged the call. “Hey Sylvia, what’s up?”

“Hey, darlin’ girl. Just wanted to check and make sure you weren’t already on your way back to the shop.”

There was something about her tone that made my brow furrow. She sounded on edge. “Well, no, not yet. But if you need me now, I can head that way—”

“No, no!” she blurted quickly. “No, don’t do that. As a matter of fact, maybe just take the rest of the day off.”

“Sylvia, what’s going on? Are you all right?” That question caught my friends’ attention, and they stopped the whispered conversation they’d been having to listen more intently to me.

“I’m fine. Just dealin’ with a little issue here at the shop. But don’t you worry, the police should be here soon enough.”

My back went straight. “The police?”

Before she could get another word out, I heard a familiar voice shouting in the background. “Is that her? You tell her to get down here right this instant!”

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “Is that—?”

“For the love of Christ, Krista? Will you just shut the hell up?” a masculine voice growled through the line.

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped.

Aunt Sylvia let out a defeated sigh. “Believe me, lovely. I wish I were.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Disconnecting the call, I dropped the phone back into my purse and shot to my feet.

“What’s going on?” McKenna asked as she and Dani followed suit.

“Alex and Krista are at the shop,” I seethed. Their mouths dropped open, their eyes bulging in shock. “I have to go. I need to get there before the cops do so I have a chance to tear them both a new asshole.”

“We’re going with,” Dani called, scrambling to follow after me.

“Hell yeah we are,” McKenna agreed. “No way I’m missing this.”

I made it the few blocks from Muffin Top to Divine Flora in record time, having power-walked at an Olympic speed. I spotted Alex’s Mercedes right away. There was also a police cruiser sitting outside the shop by the time we hit the parking lot, and next to it, surprisingly, was Micah’s truck.

I could hear the raised voices before I yanked the door open, and what I saw when I stepped inside would have been laughable if I wasn’t so pissed off.

Sylvia stood behind one of the counters with Sonya and Raul. The three of them were bent at the waist, elbows to the counter with their chins in their hands, watching the scene in front of them like they would watch a cage fight. With rapt fascination. All they were missing was a bucket of popcorn.

Front and center were Krista and Alex, engaged in a shouting match as a uniformed officer stood between them, arms out to keep them separated. Micah and Leo stood off to the side, with much the same demeanor as my aunt and our employees, only I could sense an undercurrent of anger radiating from Micah.

“What the hell is going on?” I cried just as Dani and McKenna came stumbling in behind me.

“You!” Krista shouted, pointing an accusatory finger my way.

My chin jerked back in bewilderment. “Me?”

“Why can’t you just stay gone?”

McKenna leaned in and stage-whispered in my ear. “Is that your ex-best friend?”

“Yep.”

“He traded way down, babe.”

Krista heard that and slapped her hands down on her hips. “And who the hell are you?”

“I’m her new best friend,” McKenna offered snottily.

“Yeah? Well no one was talking to you, so stay the hell out of it.” She turned her venomous gaze back to me. “You need to leave Alex alone. You two are over! Just accept that and move on already. This is just pathetic.”

“Krista,” Alex growled in warning, but we both ignored him.

I tried to hold back my laugh, which resulted in me letting out a loud snort. “Are you serious? Krista, sweetheart, you may want to get a few things straight with your man before you drive forty-five