I hold my breath as the men meet at the door separating the back and front, staring through the plexiglass window. The panic button is up by the register, and I kick myself for telling Tucker it wasn’t necessary to put one in the back by my desk.
“Where is she?” Ryan asks.
“Maybe she had to run out for something,” a man with an impossibly deep voice says.
My heart pounds as I do what I can to stay curled up in the corner and out of sight. Tucker will come. I know he will. I just need to stay out of sight.
“Check the cooler,” Ryan orders.
The door opens, and I hear the boxes hitting the ground. Ingredients and various baked goods land on the floor, and I almost cry. More money down the drain.
Tucker hasn’t officially billed me for the security system, and I’m doing what I can to watch my money. I didn’t have a lot of extra to begin with, and I have even less now. It won’t take much of a profit loss to tank my business.
“Where the fuck is she?” Ryan calls out.
“Look. There are cameras. She probably saw us coming.”
Laughing, Ryan punches a wall, and I hear the drywall break. “Fucking Tucker. If he just fulfilled his family responsibilities, we wouldn’t even be in this two-horse town and dealing with an annoying bitch who doesn’t make any fucking sense with him.”
“I kind of like her.”
“Like her?”
How in the world does he know me? Has he been in here before? Did I serve him and not realize he was one of the men watching me to get to Tucker?
“I think she’s got spunk. And that can be a lot of fucking fun in the bedroom.”
Oh, great. Someone helping Ryan terrorize me thinks I’d be great in bed. I think I’d prefer he find me annoying. Like most men. Including my exes.
“How far do the cameras go?” Ryan asks.
They click around, and I hate them messing with my system. With my computer.
“No, she couldn’t see us soon enough to get away. She’s still here.”
My heart races, and I hate that I don’t know if I have my phone on silent or not. And even if I do, the light will give me away, and I press it further under my leg.
Panic sets in, and I can’t breathe. The small space that felt so comforting begins to close in around me, but I can’t move. If I do, I’m dead.
“Check the restrooms. Is there a back hallway? Did she go that way?” Ryan barks out.
Footsteps walk away, and I focus on them. Try to count them. But how the hell can I count footsteps of six people I can’t see?
Even though my body screams to move, I’m staying right where I am. I won’t move. Maybe they’ll overlook the space above the walk-ins. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and they’ll assume I left then leave themselves.
“Hallway’s empty. There are doors to other businesses around here. Think she got into one of them?”
Ryan doesn’t respond, and it makes me anxious. Does he know? There’s no way he could, right? Please don’t let him know.
“Hello, Sunshine,” Ryan says, his head popping up into my view.
A large hand grabs my foot and pulls me down from my hiding place. I scream as I try to kick my foot away, but he’s too strong. I’m dragged down, my phone falling and shattering on the ground, and I want to cry.
Another cost.
I’m dusty and dirty, and my mind immediately makes a note to clean up there. Assuming I live to do so.
Motorcycle engines fill the air, and we all look at the cameras to see motorcycle after motorcycle park both in the front and behind the building.
