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Lilah
“Watch me,take a good thing and fuck it up all in one night!”I scream at the top of my lungs as I sing along with Machine Gun Kelly as he blares through the surround system in my kitchen.
I’m prepping the batter for a cake I need to have done for a wedding in two days when Sasha comes barging through the swinging door.
“I think something’s fucking wrong with me!”she belts out along with me and the song.
We both giggle as I click the pause button on the remote. “What’s up, Sash?”
“I’ve closed the front up for the day. Mikey’s cleaning up. Where do you need me to start?”
“If you wanna start prepping some roses for the tiers, it’ll help shorten tomorrow.”
Turning to the industrial mixer on the left wall, Sasha starts gathering the supplies to make fondant flowers. I smile while watching, thinking about how far she’s come.
Sasha came to my bakery two years ago with no experience. She’d never even boiled a pot of water. Now, two years later, she can decorate a cakealmostas well as I can.
Emphasis onalmost. She still has lots to learn.
Every day, we open the bakery at six in the morning. Our store front is open until one in the afternoon. When we close, we start prepping for the next day.
I switch the stereo back on before turning back to the red velvet cake batter and adding more flour to the mixture. Whenever Sasha and I are in the kitchen together, we always have a good time singing at the tops of our lungs, dancing around, and making an absolute mess.
I’ve always been a firm believer that you need to make the best out of life because you never know when your last day will be. The life I was born into has made that a point over and over again.
“I’m headed out ladies!” Mikey yells over the music through the small window that separates the storefront from the kitchen.
“Bye!” Sasha and I both call out in unison.
After I get the cake pans in the oven, I sidle up next to Sasha and work on rolling the fondant for flowers.
My bakery is my baby. Owning one has been my dream ever since my Nana taught me how to bake my first cake. When I went to the club with my idea of a bakery at the end of their strip mall, they jumped at the opportunity before I even finished pitching my idea.
The back door bells jingle as my dad walks in. His heavy boots stomp against the wooden floor. Sasha turns the music off as he walks over and hugs me from behind.
“How’s my Lilah girl today?” he asks as he places a kiss on my hair, leans over, and pops a chocolate chip into his mouth.
“Hi, Daddy. Good, just trying to get this cake done in time for the Thomas’ wedding on Saturday.”
“Speaking of Saturday, Ringer is coming home. He gets out that morning. Think you could help us out and get some stuff to the clubhouse for the party?” He gives me his signature look with one eyebrow raised, which means he’s telling me what he needs me to do, not asking.
He will always be ‘Daddy’ to me, but my father is known as Reaper to everyone else in town. Daddy is the Vice President of the Desert Outlaws motorcycle club. He got his road name when he was just seventeen and started prospecting for the club as soon as he graduated high school. His daddy was the president at the time.
Daddy was doing a detailing job, following Nana from the bank where she just withdrew a large amount of money for the club. A rival club pulled up on Daddy and Nana. My daddy and another prospect fought off over ten men protecting my nana. He killed every single one of them. Since that day, he has been known as Reaper. No one crosses Reaper unless they want to die.
“What do you need? Why can’t Renee get it?” I ask with a slight attitude. No one except me would ever get away with giving Reaper any kind of attitude.
You see, the big bad Reaper has one downfall.
Me. His achilles heel. His baby girl. His kryptonite.
“Your mother,” he begins with another eyebrow raise as I roll my eyes in contempt, “has gone on another hiatus. Haven’t heard from her in a month.”
Crossing my arms, I prop my hip against the counter. “Big shocker there. Can she just stay gone this time?”
Dad chuckles, “If only we could be so lucky.”
