Oh my God, I’d told him what Chad had done to me! That whole debacle still felt so utterly, miserably humiliating, so … soul-destroying … that the only person I’d ever told the whole thing to was Ezra. And even then, only because he’d found me breaking down over it, and even then, it had taken him hours of passing me tissues and holding me before he managed to coax the story out of me.

SJ … all he’d done was grab me against a wall, act all growly, and demand to know what Chad had done, and the whole thing had just bubbled out of me. And then he’d looked like he was ready to do murder when he heard it.

Was it bad that I was hoping SJ would do something nefarious to my ex? It wasn’t as if he didn’t utterly deserve it. Yes, that had to be bad, didn’t it? This was a man … no, a devil … who wanted to snatch my soul for eternal damnation. I shouldn’t be rooting for him to do something just as bad … maybe even slightly worse … to Chad.

But I couldn’t stop myself from fantasising about it.

“Ugh!” I moaned as I mounted the stairs. “And now I’m calling him SJ? I promised myself I wouldn’t do that!”

But honestly, Satan Junior was just such a mouthful that even my brain was getting tongue-tied when I thought it.

I opened the apartment door and flung myself inside, calling out, “Oh my God, Ez, we set a new record for world’s worst brunch today!”

I stopped short, finding him on the lounge, watching me warily. Oh … that’s right, I’d forgotten in all the other craziness that he wanted to ‘talk’. And there was my anxiety, ripping right back into my chest.

I approached Ezra almost reluctantly. Luci was snuggled up on his lap as he stroked her white fur like some cartoon villain. I glanced at the coffee table, noticing the white box with the very distinct green Gluten-Free Donuts logo.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, dropping my bag on the floor and collapsing onto the lounge beside him, snatching up the box. It was still hot, and the smell that wafted from it was divine. “I was so worried when I got your message that you were mad at me about something … but you bought me donuts?”

I reached into the box and tugged one out, about to bite into it when he spoke.

“I didn’t buy them for you. Your boyfriend did.” He passed over a little card.

Since you missed out on your murder parfait, I thought you might be hungry for something you will actually appreciate.

Yours absolutely not-nefariously,

SJ