Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Audrey
Mason was acting oddly. Not bad oddly, exactly, but oddly. He watched her intently over breakfast. He kept glancing at her when he drove her to the bakery. And for a moment, she thought he was going to say something when he dropped her off, but then he pulled back.
If Alexis hadn’t been walking up right at that moment, she might have gotten up the courage to ask what was up with him.
He didn’t seem like he’d lost interest in her overnight or anything; he was just… off.
Maybe it was everything at work.
“Good morning,” she said to Alexis, getting out of the car after getting a very thorough kiss from Mason that left her cheeks bright pink and not because of the cold slap of air.
“Looks like you’re having a very good morning,” Alexis joked. She’d gotten a lot more comfortable with Audrey and Ashley during their days working together, and it showed in moments like this.
“I am.” Audrey grinned. She’d had an even better night last night. Part of her wished she could have had a similar kind of morning, but she’d slept so hard, they’d woken up too late for fun times.
Eventually, when she had more employees, that might be an option.
And if things kept going the way they were, she might be able to look for more employees sooner rather than later, which would be wonderful.
She was just hesitant to rely on the viral videos to keep foot traffic coming in.
It would help if they went for a little bit without another viral video, and she could see what regular foot traffic and income looked like.
She and Alexis got to work, heating the ovens and getting started on the various doughs.
Ashley came in a couple hours later to prep the front and open things up.
Though she put on her usual smile, Audrey could tell she was worried.
The FBI thing must have thrown her as much as it had the Black Fox team.
“Hey A-Team,” Ashley said, hanging up her coat and grabbing an apron. “All quiet on the bakery front?”
“Thankfully, yes.” Audrey had checked the doors and the cameras. Nothing of note was going on.
It was a busy but uneventful day, to her relief. Plenty of customers and quite a few of Black Fox’s team stopped in throughout the day to check on her. None of them was Mason, to her disappointment, but she still felt protected. Not just the team, either.
Almost as soon as they opened, Jennifer came in to get a muffin and an order for the office.
Cassidy joined David for a quick trip after lunch, and they did not bring Grandma with them.
Apparently, she was having lunch with Mick, and it was ‘running late’.
The way David said the words, he feared what they meant but also didn’t want to think about it too hard.
Naomi and Yasmine came in mid-afternoon to pick up an order to bring to a special finances class Yasmine was doing for Naomi’s shelter.
She felt incredibly supported, which she appreciated. She didn’t think it all had to do with Mason, either.
Yasmine definitely hadn’t stopped by for Mason’s sake.
Some guilt still lingered when it came to Yasmine, but Audrey was trying not to let it affect things. If Yasmine could be friends with Audrey, then surely, she could get past her own guilt to be friends with Yasmine.
By the afternoon, she was feeling pretty good overall.
Still a little sore from the night before, but in a good way.
Still wishing her parents could be different but happy she had family and a support system here.
Still not sure how things would be with her bakery in a few months but feeling like she was on the road to success.
It was good.
Which was why she was humming under her breath when she stepped out of the back of the bakery with the giant trash bag. Even taking out the trash felt like a good task. Because it was her trash from her bakery.
And maybe she wasn’t really paying attention because she was feeling so happy about Mason, and her new friends, and her bakery, which was why she didn’t see the man standing on the other side of the dumpster until she was practically right beside him.
Freezing in place, she stared at him, so shocked that she didn’t notice the gun until it was pointing at her face.
“Don’t scream,” he growled.
Mason
“Hey, Zeus, can I talk to you?” Mason asked, ambling up to the other man in the hallway where he was standing just outside of Lincoln’s office, looking over some folders he was holding.
He had just finished a meeting with Lincoln, Mason knew, which was why he’d chosen to come talk to him now where he could catch him.
Since he hadn’t been able to on the fly, more casually, he’d decided to seek the other man out for a more official invitation to a discussion.
The bald man looked up, his gaze stoic and unbothered as always. He closed the folder.
“Sure.”
“My office?” Mason gestured, and Zeus shrugged, falling into step beside him.
He was not a man who was uncomfortable with silence.
A lot of the time, just not saying anything could push someone to talk, but not Zeus.
He was nonchalant for the entire walk, all the way until he was seated in the chair across from Mason’s, giving the office a quick once-over before focusing on Mason and waiting.
Got it. If Mason wanted to talk, he was going to have to kick it off.
Leaning forward on his elbows, Mason cleared his throat.
“I wanted to check in with how you think you’re adjusting to your new position,” he said. “I know it’s been a bit of a rough start.”
Zeus shrugged.
“It’s been fine.”
Mason raised his eyebrows, but Zeus didn’t expound upon that.
“You think it’s been fine even though Drew revealed that Noelle was cheating on you in a meeting? And it’s been clear there have been some trust issues with the team.”
“I’m glad I found out.” Zeus shrugged again. “And I knew there might be issues. I’ll do my job, regardless.”
He was so incredibly blasé; he either really didn’t care, or he was an incredible actor.
Mason studied him, looking for any crack in his armor but not finding one.
Maybe he really didn’t care what the team thought of him.
He was calm, collected, and confident, even if no one trusted him.
That, or he didn’t care because he was ballsy enough to fool all of them.
Brenda would probably say that he had a fat dick spirit.
Goddammit, he really hoped that would get out of his head, eventually.
“I’d like to help you integrate with the team, if that’s something you’d be open to.
” It was his job, after all, even if he didn’t fully trust Zeus yet, either.
But he needed to try to make sure they were working well as a team.
There was wariness in Zeus’ eyes, but maybe something else, too.
Hope? Desire for connection? Or maybe Mason was projecting because he wanted there to be something he could do to help.
Before Zeus could answer, Mason’s phone started blaring. Loud. Not the bakery alarm.
Audrey’s panic button.
He was on his feet, phone in his hand, screen on before he could blink.
She was at the bakery. Behind it, maybe.
“What?” Zeus was already up and bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to meet whatever the threat was.
“Bakery.”
That was the only word Mason could get out before he ran.
Flat-out ran, heart in his throat, terror ripping through him because he couldn’t imagine what might have caused her to push it.
Audrey
I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die.
“This is a stick-up,” the man snarled, brandishing his gun at her. “Gimme all your money.”
“I don’t have any!” Her voice came out in a squeak as she stared at the gun, unable to look at anything else, even though her brain was telling her she needed to try to look at him.
Even though his hat was pulled low over his head and he was wearing sunglasses and a scarf.
She should try to get some kind of identifying features in case she lived through this.
God, she hoped that pressing the little button in her apron had worked. There wasn’t any kind of notification that, yes, someone was on the way to help.
“You run a bakery! You have to have money!”
“It’s all inside!” Tears welled up. Oh God, she was going to die. He wouldn’t let her go into the bakery to get money, even though she would. “I can… I can…”
She couldn’t think of what she could do.
“Hey! What’s going on there?” Someone shouted from the end of the alley. A man. It was a familiar man’s voice.
It took her frantic brain a moment for her to place it, and Audrey watched, dumbfounded, as the bad guy turned and pointed the gun at Cash, who was now rushing down the alley, heedless of the danger.
He ran straight at the guy and grabbed his wrist, shoving the gun up in the air.
Her mouth dropped open as they danced around, ending with Cash between her and the gunman as they grappled over the weapon.
Behind her, the back door to the bakery slammed open.
“Audrey!”
“Mason!” His name burst from her lips with pure relief as she turned toward him.
The gunman let Cash have the weapon and took off sprinting down the alley toward the street.
Two men, who had come out of the bakery right behind Mason, took off running after him.
Bald with facial hair—Zeus, from Lincoln’s team.
Full head of hair and a large, fluffy beard—Aiden, from Harris’ team.
She barely had enough time to recognize them as they went flying past her before Mason was pulling her into his arms.
“Hey! I’m the one who saved her! Audrey, I saved you!” The whine in Cash’s voice sounded like a child as he complained.
Astonished—because she couldn’t believe Cash had gone running toward an actual gun—Audrey turned in Mason’s arms, still clinging to him as her racing pulse finally started to slow.