“No one was hurt,” I said. “But, no. Nothing is okay. A pipe burst upstairs and now I have a massive hole in my ceiling and the bakery has flooded and my kitchen is completely unusable.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I gotta go. I have to call the insurance company.”
“Let me know how I can help.”
I swallowed a lump of emotion. “Thanks. At the moment there’s nothing to be done.”
“I’ll check in later.”
I hung up with her and faced the group again. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Brielle, Eddie, will you please move the important paperwork from the office to the back of my car?”
“Sure thing, Brooklyn,” Eddie said.
I tossed him my keys.
Brielle and Eddie headed toward the office, leaving me alone with Jazz.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Jazz asked when we were alone.
“That this was Kurt?”
She nodded.
“Yeah. That was my first thought.”
“He won’t stop,” she said. “He won’t stop until he pressures you into selling the building.”
“I know.”
“I hate saying this, I really do, but—”
“I’m not selling,” I stated. “I refuse. You can’t let bullies win.”
“That’s not what I was going to suggest,” she said. “But we don’t have the means to get him off our asses…”
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
“Kurt’s destroyed property now. What if it—what if hebecomes physical? You’re pregnant. Come on. You know this is too much to be coincidence…”
“I know what you’re getting at. I’ll tell Slash.”
I wasn’t sure how Slash would handle any of this, but I knew he would.
At that moment, I didn’t care what he was involved in. I wanted to save my business. I wanted Kurt to back off, and I wasn’t a big enough shark to make that happen.
“I need to call the insurance company,” I said.
“God, what a clusterfuck.”
I nodded. “I need to un-cluster this fuck, like, immediately.”
* * *
Two hours later, Jazz, Brielle and I were at my house. The insurance company had been called, the claim process had been initiated and the insurance company was sending an agent out in a few days to assess the damage.
“We need a kitchen,” Jazz said.