Malicious Compliance Chapter Fifteen

Cleaning was not Bella’s favorite thing to do. She’d spent her share of time doing it at the restaurant, between clearing tables to give the bussers a hand and keeping her workstation in the kitchen clean. However, this was a whole new level of hell. The building wasn’t filthy, per se, but the health department held higher standards for a bakery than they did a florist. What display cases she could keep had to be sanitized, and the new ones had to be unwrapped after delivery and then cleaned before she could put them in their place. Bella had taken to wearing gloves, so she didn’t leave fingerprints on the glass each time she adjusted the position of something. Too many shelves had been Windexed to death because she wasn’t satisfied with the spacing and kept changing them. 

Her time wasn’t only spent on obnoxious cleaning, though. Once she finished with that, she moved on to a job she enjoyed. Stepping back from the window creation she’d been working on for hours, Bella squinted at the placement of the faux cupcakes on their crystal stands. A few artificial flowers she’d bought from Seth added a pretty touch, along with artfully draped beads. Tapping her booted foot on the floor, she listened to the jangle of the silver buckle attached at the ankle and tried to be less critical of her creation. When the bell above the door drowned out the sound of her footwear, she glanced up in surprise. 

A weird sensation of fists clenching her intestines kept her from speaking first. 

“Well, well, if it isn’t the stray cat,” the platinum-haired bitch said as she swept in on a cloud of expensive perfume.

“Tanya,” Bella said with as much derision as she could force into her voice. “What are you doing here?”

Her bright blue eyes skipped along the scrollwork of the recently painted pink corbels, and a frown marred her normally smooth forehead. “I thought I was buying a floral arrangement from that adorable homosexual man for my mother’s birthday. I didn’t know this had changed hands to Skanks R Us.”

Patience thin enough to snap—especially at the way Tanya described Seth—Bella gritted her teeth and said, “Get the fuck out of my shop.”

She had the nerve to roll her eyes. “You can’t kick out a paying customer.” 

“Oh, yes, I can.”

As if to prove her point, Tanya moved further into the shop’s interior. The shelves gleamed under copper pendant lighting, and there were a few pastry boxes stacked on the counter by the register, but otherwise, there wasn’t anything to look at yet. 

“There’s nothing here.” Lip curled, Tanya faced Bella. “Aw. Empty, just like you.”

“I said—”

Tanya waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes. I wouldn’t buy anything from you, even if you were fully stocked. But I will give you a piece of advice.”

Bella merely crossed her arms and glared at her, wondering how long a stint in jail would be for assault. 

“Walk away from Edward now, before he drops you like the disgusting trash you are. Because I’ve set my sights on him, and I always get what I want. I’m clearly better for him than you could ever hope to be. Hell, I’ve already had Austin too many times to count since he dumped you.”

Snorting at the all-too-obvious lie, Bella said sweetly, “I thought you were above sloppy seconds.”

Tanya’s simpering laugh grated Bella’s ears. “Merely reminding him of who he should have chosen in the first place.” Licking her palm and fingers, she smeared them across the biggest display case, her long nails squeaking on the glass in the process. 

Bella clenched her jaw at the smudges left behind. “I’d like to reiterate that you can get fucked, preferably outside my place of business.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Tanya made a disapproving sound. “We both know the second I turn on the charm, Edward will be on his knees at my feet. One blow job from me, and any man is my slave. He’ll beg me to save him from you, the bedraggled alley cat.”

Fed up with any pretense of politeness, Bella stood nose to nose with the desperate socialite, her knuckles protesting as she fisted her hands by her sides to keep from plowing one into the bitch’s face. “Maybe I should charge admission to the fight you’re trying so hard to push me into. I’d love for an entire shop full of people to see me pressing your cheek to the cold, hard floor. Please, keep running your mouth. Give me a reason to shove my boot in your throat.”

Nostrils flaring, Tanya stepped back half an inch, nearly tripping in her stilettos. “You can’t threaten me, you ugly bitch.” She raised her hand as if to slap her opponent.

Just as Bella had decided jail was an acceptable outcome to the day, the door to the back room opened all the way. 

“I’d like to suggest in the nicest possible terms that you rethink your next actions.”

“Edward!” Tanya’s face paled considerably, and she lowered her hand. “Whatever are you doing here?”

He stood beside Bella, resting his palm on her lower back. “Why wouldn’t I be here, in my girlfriend’s brand new place of business?”

“I—I don’t know, baby, I didn’t think you two were that close.” Tanya made to reach out toward him, but Bella’s words stopped her in her tracks. 

“Don’t fucking touch what belongs to me.”

Pulling her arm back, Tanya propped her hands on her hips. “Ha! Belongs to you?”

“Yeah, that’s how it works. He belongs to me, and I belong to him.” Edward’s hand snuck lower, settling comfortably on her ass.

“You know what?” Tanya rolled her eyes. “That’s fine. I’ll just see what Austin is up to.”

“Oh, he’s here too.” Bella couldn’t deny the deep satisfaction of grinning smugly. “I’m still friends with him, and his new lover, too.”

Uneasy now, Tanya’s gaze darted around the shop. “That’s the sort of thing he’d normally run by me first.”

“Oh, so that’s the whore of Babylon you were telling me about.” Eric exited the back room, Austin in tow. “Yeesh.”

“Just so you know, Tanya,” Austin said, pocketing his cell phone, “Bella is my dear friend, and I found I could no longer mislead her about my sexuality. Though I consider myself bisexual, I realized my love for Eric overrode everything else. That’s the true reason Bella and I broke up.”

Whispering dramatically from behind his hand, Eric added, “I’m Austin’s partner, Eric, by the way. But you probably already figured that out.”

Tanya’s mouth opened and closed several times, tracking the movements of everyone in the shop. Her expression reflected someone who’d just been force fed a lemon.

Looking bored, Austin checked his watch. “I believe you’re done here, but I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know to steer clear of you.”

Waving her arms wildly, Tanya pointed at Bella. “You’d ruin my reputation over this—”

“Careful now,” Edward interrupted with an edge to his voice sharp enough to cut the tension in the air. “Think twice about what you say next.”

“Yes, I would, Tanya.” Austin adjusted his tie. “Just since you walked in the door, you’ve managed to insult Bella, Edward, my good friend Seth, and myself. And probably Eric, by claiming you and I are together in some way. I won’t hesitate in the least to smear your truth all around our social circles.”

Obviously defeated, Tanya let out an enraged scream.

“Time to go, child,” Eric told her, sweeping his arm out toward the door.

“The four of us have dinner reservations,” Edward chimed in. 

“Ta ta, now.” Trying her best not to shove Tanya physically out the door, Bella watched as a muscle in her neck pulsed grotesquely.

“But-but—”

Mockingly, Eric repeated, “But-but?”

Screeching again, Tanya spun on her heel and marched out. The bell clanged in a discordant rhythm as the door struck it fiercely. Once outside, Bella could see her pull out her cell and start tapping on it. Maybe she was calling for backup, but there was nothing left to defend. Vicky would probably let her cry on her shoulder for a hot minute until she realized Tanya’s ruined reputation would reflect poorly on her.

“Just so you know,” Austin said. “I’ve asked a friend to keep an eye on her. I wouldn’t put it past her to smash a window here or, at the least, graffiti the bricks.”

Bella crossed to him and pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you for putting her in her place.”

“Oh, no, honey, you did that all on your own.” Eric winked at her.

“I hope I never see her again.” Bella smiled at Edward as he moved to stand next to her again. She knew Tanya had no chance with Edward, but the idea of what she’d described doing with him still made her see red.

“I can’t believe she thought I’d be interested in her.” Edward shuddered.

“Well, I’m positive she truly thinks she’s perfect in every way. It’s obviously how her parents raised her.”

“Spoiled.” Eric nodded. “Like a toddler who can’t have the toy she wants because someone else is playing with it.”

Turning into Edward, Bella gripped the lapel of his leather jacket and whispered in his ear. “Your toy is all mine.”

He pressed his lips together, but she heard the suppressed laughter in his throat. With a fake cough, he yanked her a little closer. “If you want to bring toys into this relationship, all you have to do is say so, baby.”

“Okay, babes, let’s go to dinner before someone starts humping someone else right here in the middle of the shop floor.”

Austin let out a full belly laugh, smacking Eric on the ass. “Who’s to say it wouldn’t be us?”

Bella grinned at the gleam in Eric’s eyes. She was so happy that Austin had found the love of his life. “I’m starving, so let’s get out of here.”

Austin

Eric