Chapter 1
Chapter One
AVERY
Present Day . . .
The alarm goes off, and I hit the snooze button while groaning. I sometimes hate having to get up at such an ungodly hour in the morning. But it’s a must. I don’t have but two people who work for me, and both of them don’t come in until later in the day.
Quinn has a kid to take care of and put on the bus and also works nights.
There’s no way I could ask her to get off work at two in the morning and be at the coffee shop at four-thirty to prepare for when we open at five.
She needs to be able to get some rest for herself; this is why I have her come in at eleven and work until closing.
Willow, she’s my other girl and is in school working on getting her degree. I have her come in at seven right before the mad rush of people coming in. And she works until two when she has to head to her classes. Then she spends the rest of her evenings studying.
So yeah, there’s no way I could ever ask either of them to open for me. They have their own priorities to take care of, and I won’t hold them back from doing what they have to to get them done.
No way.
I’ve been in their shoes, struggling to manage everything.
It’s why I moved away from the toxic environment I’d been living in and started fresh here in this small yet not so small town in South Carolina.
I opened Rise-N-Shine Coffee almost a year ago and learned quickly it is a profitable location due to the traffic that flows through here.
Some are farmers who come in wanting to grab a cup while heading to the feed and seed store down the street from me.
Women come in before going to the hairstylist across the way from me.
Then there’re the people that come in for the mad rush looking for their brew of the day.
I supply anything from, I need a jolt to wake up all the way to the strongest you can get that will literally keep you up for days.
Oh, and I can’t forget about the couple of bikers that come in every so often.
A lot of people shy away from them, sure they scare the hell out of me, but I’m not about to show my fear.
I learned a long time ago to show no fear.
That and to keep your head down. But when it comes to customer service, I make sure they leave satisfied with their order and want to come back for more.
To me, it’s about the profit of each cup I sell, along with the pastries.
It’s why I have to be up at four to get to the coffee shop by four-thirty. I have everything ready to go the evening before; I simply have to get there and put them in the oven to bake them.
The alarm goes off again, and I know this time I have to get up.
Otherwise, I’ll be late, and that won’t do.
I work seven days a week, only closing early on Sundays in order to go get things I need to restock for the following week.
This is a must-do, considering I go through a lot of stock each week, I have to replenish weekly.
The good thing is the coffee shop is becoming even more of a hit, and I can afford to get more items to make sure I don’t run out.
Best part, I get to spoil myself with takeout on Sundays.
With working so much, I don’t go out and party, nor do I go anywhere to eat. If anything, it’s to the grocery store then home. I buy myself the bare minimum of what I need to survive. I guess you can say I live and breathe my store, but oh well, it’s who I am these days.
Growing up in a rundown home with a family who kept sucking me dry tends to teach you to survive with as little as possible.
When I moved to get my fresh start, I did this to get away from all of them.
My mom and dad are drug addicts, preferring to get their fix rather than taking care of their kids.
I have two brothers and three sisters. Out of all of them, I swear I’m the only one who decided to never join the bandwagon of booze and drugs.
My two brothers, let’s just say it’s not been good.
Adam, my oldest brother, is in jail right now due to his stupidity.
He’d been busted for stealing a car. My other brother, Aidan, is a part of one of the local gangs, and I don’t see good things in his future.
He’ll either end up dead or right next to my brother, Adam.
Andrea, Aubrey, and Alexandra, well, they simply can’t keep their legs closed.
They think this is how they need to get through life.
Andrea, by the time she turned eighteen, already had a kid and was pregnant with the second one; now she’s on baby number four.
She at least is with the same man even if that man is five years older and a deadbeat.
Aubrey decided she’d get into the porn business, but not any kind of porn business.
No, this one is shady, as you know what.
She does this for her pimp slash boyfriend.
How that works is ridiculous if you ask me.
Then there’s Alexandra, she so high all the time she doesn’t know what she’s doing half the time.
I’m surprised she hasn’t killed herself by overdosing.
I thank my lucky stars, I didn’t end up like any of them. But until I finally got the nerve to leave, they always came to me for money. To them, they saw me as nothing but a wallet. I knew if I wanted to finally do something for myself, I had to run.
Which is exactly what I did without telling them a thing.
I up and left in the middle of the night, got in my car, and high-tailed it out of there as quickly as I could.
At twenty-five, I couldn’t do it anymore.
Not after the car that Adam stole, was my boyfriend’s at the time.
And then Aidan, along with his gang, jumped another guy who simply asked me out on a date.
Oh, let me not forget the fact, my sisters.
Aubrey offered to suck one guy off, and Alexandra pocketed another’s wallet.
Any time they thought I would find happiness, or I started seeing someone, they’d take it upon themselves to do something to make them dump me. Andrea would sneer down her nose at me, stating I thought I was too good for our family while the others laughed.
This is only one of the reasons I left when I did. I didn’t want them to be able to mooch off of me anymore. Nor did I want them to do what I’d heard them talking about. I won’t be used in such a way. No way. Not happening.
Shaking my head, I climb out of bed and head to the shower.
I need to get cleaned up, dressed, and out the door within the next twenty minutes to drive over to the coffee shop.
Two months after I opened Rise-N-Shine Coffee, I found a cute little house for rent and was able to move out of my office and into my little two-bedroom cottage-style home.
I absolutely love it. My neighbors keep to themselves, which is a great thing.
This means I get to stick to myself as well.
Though my one neighbor across the street who is rarely home but when he is, we all know it—the reason being the thundering roar of his motorcycle when he pulls into his driveway.
I would go over there and say something to him about him constantly revving his motorcycle when he pulls into his driveway or when he’s leaving again; I’m not wanting to draw his attention.
Tall and broad-shouldered, he seems to be my age, but I’m not sure.
I don’t get close enough to him. I do know he wears the same vest type thing as the men who come into my coffee shop.
My alarm goes off again while I’m in the shower, and I finish up quickly, knowing I won’t have time to blow dry my hair.
Sighing, I turn the shower off, grab my towel and dry off.
I rush into my room, turn my alarm off, and get dressed.
Bra and panties in place, I grab a pair of my super fade jeans with holes in the knees.
I refuse to get rid of these because even if I’m not trying to attract anyone’s attention, I do love the way the material fits me.
Buttoning the jeans, I snag my Sublime shirt.
I don’t worry about anything else but running a brush through my hair, putting it up in a messy bun, and then slip my feet into my shoes.
Before leaving the room, I unplug my phone from its charger on my nightstand and head for the door.
By the front door, I reach up and pull my purse and keys off their hooks and unlock the front door with my key.
You can never be too safe, so I’d changed out the deadbolt with a key lock rather than having the sliding deadbolt.
This way, I felt safer at night when I’m asleep.
I make sure to lock the house back up and turn to head for my car. I climb in and start her up. It takes a couple cranks, but she starts, thankfully. I just need my car to bear with me another month or two, and I’ll get her to the shop to be fixed.
Backing out of the drive, I put her in gear and head in the direction of my shop.
Time’s ticking, and I’ve got to get it together.
I might be exhausted, but I pride myself on owning my own business.
And it’s worth the lack of sleep. Maybe one day, I’ll take the time to have a life, but it won’t be today. Or tomorrow.