A Safe Space (Someone Else's Fairytale Book 4) by E.M. Tippetts Read Free Book Online Page B

or something?”
    “Yes. Kyra brought it by.”
    Understanding snaps me to attention. “It’s Pie Pops, isn’t it?”
    He nods. “She is an evil, evil woman.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    Pie Pops aren’t really ice cream. The ice cream is just the adhesive to hold together cinnamon-sugar crumble and apple chunks and way more calories than any person should be able to eat in one sitting and still have the sleek, slender figure Kyra has. She’s always waving them in my face.
    “They’re chocolate silk,” he elaborates.
    “You must’ve really made her mad or something.”
    “Or something. Please. I’m gonna eat the whole box if I don’t get help.”
    “And by help, you mean some innocent bystander to ingest some of the calories for you.”
    “Yes.”
    “Now you’re just being evil.”
    “Come on. You’re depressed. You can help me out here.”
    “Fine,” I relent. “Where are they?”

    We end up in a corner of the parking garage, out of sight of the door, where he parks his beat-up old Honda. He plops two boxes of Pie Pops on the hood between us.
    “No way,” I tell him. “One box.”
    “There are two. Deal with it.”
    “Put one away.”
    “We don’t have to eat both.” He tears one open and tosses me a Pie Pop.
    I scowl at him as I tug the wrapper off, and he scowls right back as he does the same to his.
    “Kyra will pay?” I ask. “You’ll make her do the same workout we’ll need to do to burn these off?”
    “Yeah, okay. In that case, we should eat both boxes and really make her suffer.” Each box holds two Pie Pops.
    “That’s a pretty good justification,” I say.
    “I know, right?” he says, biting into his ice cream.
    “Since we were going to eat both boxes anyway.”
    His eyes twinkle as he chews.
    I take a deep breath and bite into mine. Creamy chocolate fills my mouth, and it’s so intense that I shut my eyes. Kyra is evil . I made the mistake of eating one of these when she first moved in and now I have cravings for them. I suppose if there’s a day to give in, now is a good one though. And if I have to give in to Devon, this is the safest way possible.
    We eat our calorie-laden popsicles in silence then lick the wooden sticks and give each other a challenging glare.
    “We don’t have to open the second box,” I say.
    “That the best you can come up with?”
    “Oh, so it’s my job to save us from what we’re about to do?” I fire back.
    “Hey, I’ve got no one else right now, so yeah, it’s all on you.”
    I pull a Pie Pop out of the second box and slide it across the hood to him like a barkeep in a Western movie sliding a mug of beer.
    He catches it in one hand and shakes his head at me, disgusted. “I thought you’d be tougher.”
    “You thought wrong. I have to live with these in my freezer at all times.”
    “Wow.” He peels the wrapper off his second Pie Pop while I fish mine out of the second box, which is now blessedly empty. The temptation is about to be gone—until I go home, but I refuse to think about that.
    Together, we eat as he raises his eyebrows at me like I’ve just forced him to shoot up with heroin.
    I scowl. I have no sympathy. He deserves this and he’s taking me down with him.
    When we finish and lick every trace of ice cream off our popsicle sticks, our gazes lock again.
    “Do you feel dirty now?” I chide.
    “I should, I guess.” He starts laughing. “You know you’ve got no trouble with the whole feisty-seductress thing, right? You’ve got the look, the timing, all of it.”
    “No I don’t.”
    “Yeah.” His tone is serious now. “You do. You’re gonna be just fine in your show.”
    I tap the popsicle stick against the hood of the car and shrug. “My costar and I don’t even really get along.”
    “So go for the love/hate vibe.”
    “How does that work?”
    Devon lifts an eyebrow and places his hands flat on the hood of his car. “People…mocking each other because…one of them doesn’t want to leave the