Page 134 of Let Me Keep You

She turns on the burner, scoops a spoonful of butter, and slaps it down on the skillet.

I wince because she’s already screwing this up. “Let me help.”

She points the spatula at me. “Not happening. Want a drink while you wait?”

The butter sizzles, and I’m convinced it’s burning. “Sure.”

I might need one to swallow down her food.

She quickly reaches inside the fridge, then hands me a Whiteclaw.

“What in the hell is this?”

“That’s all I have!”

“Well, it’s no beer, but I guess it’ll do.”

I take a sip and nearly spit it out.

“Don’t you dare waste a drop of that.”

She opens a loaf of bread and puts it in the skillet.

“Will you tell me what you did in Vegas when you went?”

“Are you sure you want all the details?”

“Yes. Now that Victoria is here, I wanna know everything.”

I swallow, then blow out a shaky breath before telling her about Eric and what Victoria did to his girlfriend, Amara. It’s impossible for me to leave out the details because Gemma needs to understand how dangerous Victoria really is.

She gasps, pressing a hand to her chest. “No way.”

“So, I went to Vegas to testify in a deposition as a character witness for the case against Amara to discuss what I saw and heard when I worked for Victoria. The lawyer who represented me before went too,” I explain. “Afterwards, I flew with Serena to Sacramento and visited Liam and Maddie until the next day.”

“Do you think it actually did any good?” she asks, but before I can respond, I smell something burning.

When the smoke alarms go off, I quickly open the front door and try to fan some of it out. Gemma opens a window, then throws the burnt bread in the trash.

“Whoopsies. That was only a warmup round,” she claims.

As if she’s well practiced, she grabs the broom, and the beeping finally stops.

I walk around the island, not allowing her to embarrass herself anymore as she grabs the loaf for more bread.

“I’ll help,” I say, and this time, she willingly hands me the spatula. “We’ll do it together.”

“Perfect,” she whispers, noticing how close we are. It’s not lost on me either.

I go back to the previous conversation.

“Long story short, I don’t know if it’ll help Eric. But I suspected Victoria would retaliate at some point. I just didn’t think it would be this fast, but I should’ve known better. That woman is always three steps ahead of her enemy. She lives for this shit, and probably gets off to it when she’s alone.”

I groan. Talking about her puts me in a sour mood.

“Gross,” Gemma adds, which causes me to laugh.

I wipe out the skillet, and we get started on round two.