The fact that the asshole was pressuring her when she clearly didn’t want to marry him was making him suspicious as hell.Especially considering they were all starting to shiver thanks to the cold blasts of air coming through the shattered window.
“No, I mean no to your proposal,” she said, scrunching her shoulders in.Immediately, David stepped closer, putting his arm around her and glaring at Dumbass, who was too dumbfounded to have any sense of self-preservation.
“But… you can’t say no.”
“She just did.Is he hard of hearing?”Ashley asked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.“She said no.Now, beat it.We need to clean this mess up, and I get the feeling you aren’t the kind of guy who gets his hands dirty.”
“I…” Cash looked around, but everyone was glaring at him.His gaze finally landed on Mason, and he scowled, straightening up.He lifted his chin and sniffed as he cradled the arm Mason grabbed.“Iwillbe pressing charges.”
“Good luck with that, considering all these witnesses who saw absolutely nothing,” Claudia said casually, leaning her hip against the table she was standing beside.When she smiled at Cash, it was more like a predator baring its teeth at prey in warning—she hadn’t decided to take a bite yet, but she could be convinced.
“This isn’t over,” Cash said, shaking his head.He looked back at Audrey.“Talk to your parents.You’ll see.You’ll be picking out your wedding dress before you know it.”
He stomped out of the bakery, wrapped up in enough arrogance to carry him through Harris’ team as they gave him just enough room to go by.If he could have slammed the door behind him, he probably would have.
As soon as he was gone, everyone started talking at once.David’s grim gaze met Mason’s.
“Let’s talk,” David said, glaring at him.“I have alotof questions.”
ChapterThirty-Six
Audrey
Somehow, Audrey managed to get David to put off asking his questions until the window was boarded up and the glass swept up.Which didn’t take nearly as long as she hoped, even though Harris’ team returned to Black Fox to do whatever it was they’d been doing before they’d all come running to her rescue.As reassuring as it was to know that she had two teams of trained and terrifying people who would literally dash down the street to save her, it was also somewhat mortifying.
Especially since they’d all witnessed Cash’s absolutely disastrous proposal.
What had he beenthinking?
Scratch that, he clearly hadn’t been thinking at all.That, or her parents had put thoughts into his head.Audrey felt positively sick at the thought.She was going to have to call them and confront them, ask them what Cash had meant.Why he was so sure she would marry him.Why he thought she needed to talk to them after she’d said no.
Just saying no had felt like a monumental effort, especially with their audience.Though the audience was also those who had given her the courage to say no in the moment, rather than trying to put him off until later.She hated that she’d had to have the conversation at all.
Especially while wildly distracted by the fact that someone had thrown a freaking brick through her front window!Then, when Cash had just up to try to be protective, all she’d wanted to do was shove him off of her.
She’d wanted Mason.
Not Cash.
Then Mason had appeared, but so had everyone else, and…
She really wanted to go hide in the back office until they all went away, but she knew David would just come looking for her.She could only dodge him for so long, and he wanted answers.
As if the thought had summoned him, he appeared in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest, frowning.
“Okay.Window is boarded up.Police report has been made.”He glanced outside, where Lincoln and Ashley were talking to the cops who had shown up only a few minutes after Cash had left.Audrey was glad they’d been a little slow because if they’d shown up while he was there, she wouldn’t have put it past him to try to have Mason arrested.“The brick is taken care of.Let’s go check the cameras.”
And have a talk.
His words hung unspoken in the air, and Audrey winced.
“Do you really need me for that?”she asked.“The office can get kind of crowded.”
David just stared at her, arms still crossed over his chest, and Audrey let out a huff of air, her shoulders slumping forward.
“Come on, Cupcake,” Mason murmured in her ear, his hand coming down on her shoulder.“Let’s go talk to your brother.”
The appearance of Mason beside her, his hand touching her, even if it was just her shoulder, had David narrowing his eyes.He wasn’t glaring at her, but he was glaring, and Audrey shrank away before he banked his hard look and turned away, stalking toward the office.
