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“You plan to huh?”
“Oh yeah, I gotta make ya sweat a little, ya know?”
“I could think of a few other ways to work up a sweat, love.”
Oh, I had no doubt that he could. I could too if I were being honest. They’d be so much more fun than cleaning…but work first. Then we could play.
I turned to him, lowering my voice. “The sooner this place is cleaned and prepped for the morning, the sooner we can go home and get to those workouts you have in mind.”
“Tease.”
“Aww, baby, if you think that’s teasing, just wait ‘til you see what I have in mind for your sexy self… You might not survive.”
He leaned in and stole a kiss before I slid into the shop. If I didn’t want to scare or scar the kids inside, I’d have to control myself ‘cause god knows this man of mine made my brain short-circuit on a good day.
“That’s the last of them,” Lacey said, wiping her hands on her apron. “Mom is in the back stacking pans to wash. I tried to stop her, but…”
I chuckled. “No worries, today I will most definitely take the help.” I looked at the clock. It was ten minutes after 11:00am. It felt like it was 5:00pm already. “You start the clean-up out here. Nich, flip the sign and lock the door for me.”
“Sure, love.”
While he did that, I moved to the teachers so they would know we were not rushing them, just preventing anyone else from coming in. They could take their time; we were in no hurry. It would be a couple of hours before I could get out of here anyway.
Chapter 9
Cindy
Yesterday tested every nerve in my body and made me think twice about having kids of my own. Good god! My store looked like a tornado had hit it, and I was too exhausted to clean it before I left last night, so I knew what I'd be doing first thing tomorrow morning. Today was my day off, so the aftermath of Kid-Apocalypse could wait another day. Don't get me wrong, I loved kids, but I also loved to watch them leave. I was leaning more towards the aunt duties. Sugar em' up and pass em' on.
"Knock knock. Cindy? Babe? You here? I just saw your shadow from under the door, so you have ten seconds to open up."
Well, wasn’t she just a bit of sunshine and rainbows this morning? I barely got the door open, and Dana was pushing her way past me, heading straight for the bathroom.
"I see how it is. You didn't come over to see your best friend; you came over to use her shitter? Good morning to you too, friend."
Dana came out of the bathroom a few minutes later with an absolute look of relief painted all over her face. She gave me a hug, then had me follow her to the kitchen table. Pulling out a manila envelope from her bag, the look of relief she’d had a few minutes prior was gone. That couldn’t be good.
"Spill it, girl. What's in the envelope that has you sweating bullets? We promised no more secrets between us, and I meant it. Did you?" Damn. That came out a lot bitchier than I intended. I was sure this had something to do with Stefan, and anything to do with him hit a nerve.
"Nich got the info on your not-so-lovely ex. Cindy, he's been living right outside of town for almost six months now. He's been renting an Airbnb, and the owners had nothing but praise for the fucker. Told Nich he's been doing handyman work for them, keeps to himself, and is a joy to have around. Needless to say, he's been keeping his nose clean."
It didn’t really surprise me. He could charm the pants off anyone if he put his mind to it. Stefan was always very careful to keep his public persona on a good note. He never wanted people to know who he was behind closed doors, specifically our closed doors. He also made sure that it was crystal clear that no one would believe me if I did try to say something. It worked. I was isolated in our house with nowhere to go and no one to save me.
"Do you have an address?"
Dana stared at me in disbelief. Trust me, I got it. She knew I was about to do something very stupid, and she also knew she couldn’t stop me.
"You can either give me the address and come with me, or step aside and I'll do it alone. Either way, it's time for me to talk to Stefan, face to face. No more games. I'm so tired of all the fucking games, Dana."
This was a really bad idea. Was I still going to do it? Yep. I wanted to hear what Stefan had to say. He'd found me, and it was time to figure out what he planned on doing. His little notes were child's play, and there had to be an end game. What was it? I had no clue, but I was going to find out, one way or another.
"Over my dead body am I letting you go alone. We take Beethoven with us, and I'm letting Nich know too. Before you get all huffy, Nich would kill us for keeping this from him, and I'm not about to lose him over some asshole who wants to play games with my best friend. Got it? If Stefan's as conscious in front of other people as you say he is, we shouldn't have a problem. Right?"
We were going to be a sight to look at for sure. Two white chicks rolling up with a growling dog on our arm, who didn’t take kindly to strange men, and I was totally okay with that. This was the side of me that Stefan's never seen. The one that's not afraid of him anymore. Did I believe my own words? A hell of a lot more than I did a week ago, and it's about damn time! My baby steps were turning into teenage steps.
Dana sent Nich a text and within seconds, he was calling her phone. He was not happy, at all, but agreed to let us go if Spencer followed us in his car. Good thinking. If Stefan saw that he was with us, there was no way in hell he was going to say a word to me. Hell, I didn’t know if he'd say a word period. Lately, he'd been all bark and no bite, so we'd see what happened.
"Are you sure this is what you want to do, babe? Nich can't do shit right now because, technically, he hasn't broken any laws. Motherfucker isn't as dumb as he looks. Yet. He'll crack eventually, and when he does, I'll be right by your side to watch him burn."
