“Takes one to know one.”Ashley smirked.“Besides, your mom was cheating on your dad first.My mom and I know how to stay faithful.”
“I was faithful to Wiley!”
“Sucks to suck.”Ashley shrugged.
“You’re a fucking bitch!You can’t talk to your customers that way.I demand you fire her!”The second sentence was directed at Audrey, and now Mason thought he understood why Rebecca had been calling them both bitches.
“Rebecca, you need to go,” he said, moving around so he stood between her and the counter, his hands on her shoulders, keeping his space from her but also keeping her from being able to attempt violence.“How about I take you back to Black Fox, and you can talk to your dad?Ashley can’t do anything about her father.”
Rebecca’s eyes were still full of tears, and she sniffled, sagging now that she didn’t have the object of her ire to focus on.
“But it’s her fault.Her dad is just divorcing me to make her happy.”
“No, he’s doing it because he’s a selfish asshole you were dumb enough to believe loved you,” Ashley called out over Mason’s shoulder, and Rebecca’s expression twisted into a snarl.“I don’t care if you two stay married or not.I don’t give a shit what my dad does.”
The snarl fell as Ashley’s words hit home, and Rebecca looked lost again.
“Come on,” Mason urged gently, turning her away from the counter.“We can go to Black Fox and see your dad.This isn’t helping anything.”
He lifted his gaze as he got Rebecca turned around and headed for the door, and saw a man on the other side of the window, looking around inside the bakery.Maybe he’d just heard the commotion when he was walking by, but there was something about his stance that set alarm bells ringing in his head.
Blue coat with a darker blue collar, made of a rough canvas material.He had a white and navy checked scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face and a black hat pulled down low over his brow, though a lock of light brown hair peeked out on the right side.
Their eyes met.
The man’s eyes widened… and he bolted.
Mason didn’t stop to think; he just let go of Rebecca and ran after him, ignoring the shouts coming from behind him.
Having to get through the door slowed him down just a moment, and the man wasfast.Mason noted his blue jeans and sneakers with one part of his mind as he gave chase, but he was already behind.
The man hopped onto the back of a motorcycle, and it roared to life as Mason cursed under his breath, trying to put on an extra burst of speed… but the bike slipped out of its parking spot and barreled down the street.There was no license plate on the back, which was illegal, but obviously, the guy didn’t care.
All of Mason’s instincts were pricking at him that this was their note leaver, not Rebecca, but who the man was and why he was targeting Cupcakes and Crumbs… that was something they’d have to learn.At least now, Mason had hair color and the fact that he rode a motorcycle—a Yamaha.Neither of which meant a whole lot—there were probably a lot of brown-haired men who rode motorcycles in the area—but at least it was more than he’d had before.Even knowing the make and being able to guess at the model wasn’t going to help much.
Puffing from trying to catch up, Mason leaned forward with his hands on his knees, staring at the street even though the motorcycle was long gone.
Who was messing with Audrey’s bakery?And why?
Should he say something to David now?
“Mason?”Audrey’s voice echoed slightly as she called down the street to him.Mason straightened up and turned around.The chill in the air was clinging to his damp skin under his shirt, where sweat had beaded, making him feel even colder.He trotted back to where she was standing in the doorway of the bakery, so she still benefited from the heat inside the store.
He glanced into the area, but Ashley and Rebecca appeared to be ignoring each other now.
“Was it him?”Audrey asked, tilting her head back to look up at Mason as he approached.
“I can’t prove it, but I think so,” Mason replied grimly.“I don’t know why else he would have bolted like that when I did nothing more than look at him.”
“So, he knows who you are, too.”Audrey dragged her teeth across her lower lip, frowning as she stepped back inside so he could follow her and they could close the door.
“It seems that way.”Which meant whoever the man was, he’d been watching.He knew who Audrey’s connections were.
Yet he’d come back for a third time.
Maybe itwastied to Devlin.Maybe the connections were the problem.
He would have to look into whether any of Devlin’s team had light brown hair and a motorcycle.
