I stared down at the message and felt my rage boiling beneath my skin.
Scream-Pies: You’ve kept me at arm’s length for a week, sent me flowers with cryptic messages, break into my place of work, and now you suddenly have time for me?
Scream-Pies: Start with a name, Drew, and then MAYBE we’ll talk.
ImVengecock: We’ll talk soon, little flame.
ImVengecock: Also, I sent you another gift. Accept it, or we’ll be having more than words later.
I watched as his little green dot clicked offline, and I tossed my phone on the back counter. I wasn’t letting this man ruin my day. I was having a girls’ night tonight. Also, I realized that he didn’t deny that the flowers were from him. I wasn’t sure if that fact made me feel better or not.
Why be cryptic and secretive after everything we’d already been through? It didn’t make any sense.
But as soon as the thought hit me, the door chime rang and a stunning girl walked in, a bright smile on her face and a folder in her hand. As she approached the counter, I had a sinking feeling in my gut that this wasn’t what I thought it would be at all.
“Hello! Are you Ember?” she asked, her voice soft and melodic.
“I am. What can I get for you?” I replied, the uneasy feeling in my gut not dissipating one bit.
“Drew hired me! I’m supposed to start today at two and work until closing. I know I’m a bit early, but I was kinda eager.” Eager was putting it mildly. The girl couldn’t have been more than nineteen years old. She was a bit taller than me—maybe by an inch or two. She wore baggy jeans and a burnt yellow colored t-shirt that stopped just above her jeans, and all white Nikes on her feet. Her skin was a deep umber tone that matched her dark brown eyes and her long, black hair.
She was stunning, and I was so jealous she was able to pull off that yellow color that it took me a moment to realize what she’d just said.
“I’m sorry, Drewhiredyou?” Her eyes widened, and her lips parted, but nothing came out for a moment.Fuck me.“I’m sorry, I just didn’t realize he hired you. I figured he’d let me meet you first, but I guess you made quite the impression. Why don’t I grab us some coffee, and we can chat for afew minutes…” I trailed off, hoping for some sort of introduction, but she just nodded and sat down at the table closest to the counter.
I glanced over to make sure she wasn’t watching me, and I grabbed my phone, opening our text thread.
“How do you like your coffee?” I asked carefully.
“Oh, just whatever is fine. Do you do iced coffee?”
“Of course.”
“Iced coffee, one cream and one sugar. Please.”
I nodded and typed him a message before getting our coffees together.
Scream-Pies: I’m going to actually kick your ass this time. Have you lost your mind?
ImVengecock: No, I haven’t actually. Now you’ll have more energy when it’s me that’s left behind instead of roses.
I swallowed roughly and locked my phone before I could say something insane like bring it on or I’ll be waiting. I had other things to worry about now—like an interview for my new employee.
20
BOOMERANG
Wyatt
Someone else was watchingmy girl, and I didn’t like it one bit. Mind you, they weren’twatchingher the way I was, no. But they were watching.
The same old silver Nissan Sentra had been sitting out front of Buns of Delight every morning for an hour while Ember opened the bakery for the last couple of days, and I wasn’t a fan at all.
He was an older white guy, thinning hair and sunglasses that he wore rain or shine while he stared out the window at the building. No covert vibes at all from this man.
I pulled out my phone and dialed one of my old friends from high school, Danny. He was a cop now, and I was always happy to help on small cyber cases, and in turn, he sometimes did me a favor—like with Aspen’s information. Although some of that also came from Julian.
“Hey, Wyatt. How’s it going?” he answered by the second ring.
