“You hate mint choc—” I glare at my best friend.
“You have good taste.” Hunter snorts.
I think I see his lip twitch into a smile, or maybe I’m losing it and imagining things.
“Have a good day, Sawyer.” His voice is smooth, and easy.
“Thanks, uh, you too.” I swallow, not trusting myself to make any more words. I’ve embarrassed myself enough.
He takes the bag, not waiting for Koda to leave the store, and Koda blows Noah a kiss before trailing after him. As soon as the door closes Noah pushes off Jamie’s lap. “You know what being all caveman like does to me.” Noah glares. “Behave yourself.”
I’m still staring at the door. “You want to come over tonight and watch the Otters game?” I faintly hear. “Sawyer?”
I peel my gaze away from the door and focus on Hunter. “What?”
“The Otters game at seven. You said you’d come over and watch it.” Right. Hockey. My first instinct is to say no, but maybe a change of scenery will be good for me.
“Yeah. Can you pick me up around six?”
“Of course.” Hunter gets off his stool, followed by his boyfriend, and I say goodbye to my friends. Then I blink into the silence they leave in my bakery once they’re gone. I feel empty. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this bakery going.
Or myself for that matter.
CHAPTER TWO
AIDEN
“Just give me one!”Koda snatches for the bag and I move it quickly away from his greedy little hands. Frustrated, he stomps—yes, stomps—then he skips backwards up the dirt path to the house. Koda is the only one who knows my car is hidden in the woods.
I didn’t want him to know, but this little fucker is sneaky and found out.
There’s a reason why his nickname is Shadow.
Walking closer to the shitbox we call home sweet home, my unease settles in. I should say “he” calls home. Mine is a rust bucket on wheels that I’ve kept running for nearly a decade. It was my mother’s car, and I’m surprised Ivan let me keep it. I guess it’s convenient for him for me to have it.
I’m not allowed in the house unless Ivan asks for me either. When he does, like he did this morning, I like to make sure I don’t show up empty-handed. So when we followed Jane to that bakery, I wasn’t coming back without something special for Katya.
Koda attempts to grab the bag again, and I slap his hand away from it. “Fuck off.”
Not quite sure why Ivan uprooted us all in the middle of the night in the middle of fucking winter and moved us to Bumfucksville upstate New York, but here we are.
I’d say it’s a lot safer here, but this house looks one stiff breeze away from collapsing.
“Noticed that baker giving you the old fuck-me eyes.” I roll mine as he blinks his, fluttering his lashes dramatically.
“Shut up.” No he wasn’t.
Ignoring the idiot who is not my brother I walk into the house and see one of Ivan’s dumbasses sitting on the sofa. Dominic’s playing with one of his knives, twirling it in the air. It’s so fucking cliché, like a bad action movie. I almost hope he slips and stabs his eye.
Tagar sits beside him reading one of his romance novels.
There’s something about a nearly seven-foot-tall man with face tattoos and a missing eye reading a pink book with a cartoon couple on the front that is just too amusing to ignore. He notices me as he lifts his eyes from the pages. “Did the girl have it?”
I ignore them both and head for the stairs. I don’t answer to them. Unfortunately, I hear the throat clear of the dickhead I do answer to.Fucking fantastic.I turn around, bag in hand, and see Ivan towering in the doorway.
“What? You said if we followed the girl I could see Katya.” I try my best to stand still. Don’t falter. Don’t show weakness. I steal my spine straighter.
Ivan is a big stocky guy pushing nearly fifty. The thick beard on his face hides the permaclench of his jaw. He’s scary as fuck.
