Chapter 1
"What's that?" Holly asked as she looked over at Jamie's worktable. It was an absolute mess as always but still Jamie always managed to come up with the best designs.
"I'm piping with three different nozzles, it creates a unique shell design..."
"Well, then what are the seashells for, or is that a starfish I see?"
Jamie sighed hopelessly. Holly liked getting under his skin, just to see if he would snap one day. He would have if he didn't find it incredibly amusing.
"I got confused for a minute. But maybe I can incorporate the starfish at the edges"
Holly was about to ask him if he even made a sketch for the cake before he started decorating the cake before someone barged in.
"How are you guys out of caramel pecan cheesecake?"
Kim shouted as she barged in the kitchen. Holly massaged her temple.
Maybe it was a bad idea giving her best friend unrestricted access to her kitchen. Kim Evans had no respect for anyone's privacy nor did she care about other people's opinions.
"How is it that you always barge in here and I forget what I'm thinking of?"
Holly asked her in bewilderment as she walked away from Jamie's table.
Kim waved her off. She was wearing gym clothes and her dyed brick red hair was in a tight ponytail. Kim was one of those people who wore their gym clothes to everywhere but the gym.
"I need me some cheesecakes. I promised my mum I'll get them for her"
Kim poked around the kitchen to see if Holly was about to make a batch of them interrupting a baker kneading dough.
"I bet she told you last week"
Kim opened her mouth to protest but promptly closed it. Holly noticed that she was pacing around nervously in that way that suggested she had something on her mind.
"Wanna talk? Let's head to my office"
Kim's only reply was a slight nod as she left the kitchen with Holly.
Holly's office was in a state of half organized clutter, mahogany desk with three drawers on the right hand side, swivel chair, mac book pro, several stacks of paperwork, pens in a tin, floor to ceiling bookshelf, books, recipes books and cookbooks alike leaning against one another in different directions, filling cabinet with paper work stacked on top, water dispenser with no cups and a few framed photos of Holly's family.
Kim collapsed on Holly's swivel chair and took a spin in it.
Holly poured some Iced tea for KimĀ who was sighing multiple times while spinning on the chair.
"Now. Now. I have one more batch of cupcakes to go and strawberry filled croissants to deliver later today. You better make this snappy"
Holly warned handing her a glass of iced tea.
"Remember that dude I told you about?"
"The super hot dude you met at your club?" Holly asked.
"Yes. and he's not super hot. At least not to me anymore" Kim replied as she glared at me.
Holly glared right back at her and Kim backed down.
"That dude. That arrogant prick! Had the nerve to dump me. He didn't call me after our third night together and when I finally get a hold of him. He told his PA to tell me that he's no longer interested"
Holly stifled a laugh with her hands but ended up laughing anyways. It was funny, that Kim was angry about a guy she herself had labeled a player right from the start.
Kim herself had once called him a 'glorified prick' and a 'sniveling asshole'.
But still proceeded to bed the handsome man.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked as she wiped imaginary tears from her eyes and stared at the iced tea with disgust.
"I need something stronger. Where's your secret stash?"
She reached for Holly's drawer but Holly was fast enough to stop her.
"No. No. Isn't it too early to be drinking? And I thought you said you weren't going to sleep with him?"
Holly asked with folded arms after finally giving into Kim's demands and letting her retrieve her secret stash of gin.
"I fell right into it. The stupid idiot wasn't only sleeping with me, apparently he was also trying to get a gold membership card from me and his idiot friends!"
Holly collapsed on an empty chair in laughter as Kim gulped down the gin straight from the bottle.
Kim was an assistant manager at one of the biggest clubs in New York, named Ecstasy. It was a club for the rich and elite and every member was usually placed on a three month waiting list to get a gold membership card. That was how exclusive it was.
"Wait, I thought you said he's like super rich. Why does he need to beg for a gold card from you?"
Kim shrugged as she took another swig.
"My boss hates him. Apparently, he slept with his girlfriend before so he didn't offer him one even when he wanted to pay like a million dollars for it"
Holly went over to meet Kim at the other side of the table to comfort her friend.
"Well, I don't know what to say. I mean I'm sorry about him but it was kinda obvious that he was a playboy the way you described him at first"
"I know! But he acted so differently, like he genuinely cared." Kim blurted as she buried her head in her hands in frustration.
"I thought he was different. I thought he liked me! We had breakfast at Tiffany's!!!"
"Wait! Wait. When did all this happen? Did I suddenly get replaced as your best friend?"
Holly asked as she patted Kim's shoulder urgently.
"About a week and a half ago. I wanted to see where it all was going before I spilled the details you know?"
Holly pretended to be mad, she looked away from Kim and pouted.
"No, I don't know. Because you never told me Kim!"
"I'm sorry!!! Can we not focus on that right now?" Kim looked up with anger brewing in her eyes.
"Okay, I'm sorry Kim. I guess all you can do is just move on?" She said unsurely waiting for Kim's answer.
Depending on how bad she was hurt, Kim found it very hard to let go. All her exes who broke up with her had paid dearly for it.
Jim broke his leg, from a freak accident orchestrated by her. She signed his cast and told him it was her.
Adam's precious golden hair got lost after she added a generous amount of hair removal cream into his shampoo. Adam would never know who did it, but could only guess it was her since he claimed that she was the 'craziest girlfriend' he ever had.
Poor Carl and his new girlfriend got a particularly bad case of food poisoning after stupidly accepting the pie she sent to them for thanksgiving. Of course she denied it to her last breath.
"How can I move on if I'm going to be seeing him every night at the club?"
"Can't you just get the gold card from him?"
"No! My boss is out of town. I can't get it back from him. Now I'm going to have to watch him while he picks up hot girls every night"
"He has to pay." Kim added with a strong resolve and Holly braced herself for the worst.
"Violence is never the answer. You don't want to add to your list of criminal offences." she said as she cringed remembering Kim's mugshot.
She had to bail her out the last time since Kim was too embarrassed to tell her parents.
"Oh! This one would be different. Much more different. And it won't even involve me"
Kim replied with a saccharine sweet smile and her voice that suddenly sounded creepy to Holly's ears.
"What do you mean?" Holly asked her becoming increasingly concerned with her best friend's insatiable taste for revenge.
"Ryder Quinlan Bates is going to pay dearly for this."