Dead Heat by Kathleen Brooks

them. This is Ed Hardy. This t-shirt alone costs more than you probably make in a week.” Kandi turned as if Paige wasn’t even sitting there and started brushing up against Cole.
    “I know Don. And I know how much they cost. I have about ten of them in my closest.” Paige picked up her water and took a sip as she waited for her words to make their way through all the teased hair and hairspray and into her ears.
    “Oh, Paige. You’re so silly. It’s Ed Hardy, not Don.” Paige watched as she gave Cole a look that conveyed just how stupid Kandi thought she was.
    “Actually, his first name is Don and I interned with him and Christian Audigier while I was in design school. I just talked to him last week, actually.” Paige took another sip of her water.
    “You know, I never asked what your name is.” Kandi ignored Paige, clearly not believing her. But Paige didn’t care. It was enough to piss her off and that made it worth it. She’d have to dig out the picture of the three of them at New York Fashion Week just for fun.
    “Cole.” Cole looked at her and she just shrugged. Sometimes it was hard to detach Kandi after she leeched on to someone new.
    “Oh, what a sexy name,” she purred into his ear. This time Paige did laugh out loud. The look on Cole’s face was priceless. A mix of repulsion and fear. “I bet you’re getting real tired of her. I could always rescue you from such a boring girlfriend.” It looked to Paige as if Kandi managed to pump up her breast size again as she leaned closer to Cole’s face.
    “She’s good at rescuing things. She has built-in life preservers.” At Kandi’s shocked face she put on her best smile, “Don’t worry, they look natural.” Kandi narrowed her eyes at her, executed a perfect hair flip, and walked back to the table filled with her minions. The same minions that helped terrorize Paige in high school.
    “She’s scary.” Cole gave a quick shiver of his body as proof.
    “Thanks for trying to make me feel better. I know I am nothing compared to her physically, but I like to think I am a better person on the inside.”
    “I think you’re much better than her, inside and out.” Cole reached across the table and pulled her hand into his. “What happened between you two? Has she always been like this?”
    “Yes. She was the popular kid in school. First to have a car of her own, head cheerleader, dated anyone she wanted... Her last name was Chase, and it was the school joke that it was fun to "chase Kandi", but even better to catch her. I, on the other hand, was the tomboy on the rifle team who was a well-known virgin.”
    “How could that be well known?” Cole laughed.
    “You’ve met my brothers, right? They made sure I was off limits. While it made them feel better, it made me a social outcast. At the beginning of my senior year I somehow got the attention of the starting quarterback, Bill Rawlings. We started dating and my popularity shot up, not that I cared. We were the perfect couple, or so I thought. He earned a walk-on spot with the University of Kentucky football team and I was going to go to the design program there. We planned on getting engaged the night of our senior prom and then get married during the summer before football season started.” She stopped when she saw Cole raise his eyebrow at the mention of getting married.
    “I know, we were really young. But in a small town like this, lots of people get married right out of high school. Anyways, prom rolls around and we get engaged, but as we are about to head out to the after party at one of the farms, Kandi comes staggering over and says it’s only fitting for the prom king to escort the prom queen to the party. Kandi’s merry minions circle around me and take me off to the party. I am there an hour and Bill still hadn’t shown up, so I just went home.”
    “Ouch. He and Kandi?”
    “I’ll get to that. So, he stops by first thing the next morning and said she got sick and he had to