it. Last night, the money in the register hadn’t matched up with the sales we’d done, and I’d gotten so fed up running through transactions trying to find the error that eventually I’d just given up.
I was starting to resent the business part of the business, and caught myself reminiscing about the days when all I did here was bake. Because that’s half the reason I’d bought the bakery in the first place—so I could bake what I wanted, when I wanted and brighten peoples’ days with it.
With the coffee well on its way to being done, Mary darted into the back to pull on a plain white apron to match mine and tied her long box braids into a bun at the top of her head. She paused and whistled at the sight of four dozen muffins cooling on the rack beneath the pastry oven. “Hey, Dante, what are all these muffins for? Special order?”
“I’ve got a meeting with the Hell’s Ankhor president later today,” I said. “Figured I’d try to smooth some feathers. There’s no meeting that some blueberry muffins won’t make better.”
Baxter, Ryder, and Trip had caused a hell of a lot of trouble for Hell’s Ankhor. The club had helped fix up Ballast and paid for the damages, but Liberty hadn’t paid our dues fully yet. Even if it was in a roundabout way, our guys had almost gotten two of theirs killed—it was going to take more than money to set things right between us. As vice president, I’d do my best to get us back on good terms. Even though Liberty Crew was established before Hell’s Ankhor, we were a smaller club, and our turf was technically on their territory.
“True,” Mary said. “Was the cake a hit?”
The cake. I’d spent a hell of a lot of time on that cake, carefully sculpting it into the shape of a cowboy hat, and covering it with fondant—which I hated working with—and carefully decorated it with the kid’s new tag. Which happened to be The Kid. Very appropriate.
The Kid had caught my eye the moment I saw him outside the Liberty clubhouse with the rest of the Hell’s Ankhor inner circle, and I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off him. He could’ve been plucked directly from my fantasies, everything about him pieced together just for me. His platinum blond hair had been a little mussed from the ride over, falling into his big brown eyes, and he’d stood with his narrow shoulders curled forward like he could make himself even smaller.
He’d seemed shy that day, a little cagey, standing halfway behind Priest like the Hell’s Ankhor vice president was a shield. I’d immediately wanted to pull him into my arms. He’d looked like he’d fit perfectly.
But he’d made it very clear at his patching-in party that he wanted nothing to do with me—if not with words, certainly with his actions. I’d been excited to bring the cake over and maybe talk to him a little, introduce myself properly. No expectations, just friendliness as I helped smooth over the tension between our clubs—and if I was lucky, maybe we’d hit it off. But when I’d approached him, he’d literally cringed away from me, stumbling backward like I was a rabid dog approaching.
So Heath was not an option. The last thing I wanted to do was make him uncomfortable. Anyway, he was just a hot guy—I could find those anywhere. I had no trouble getting laid, and I didn’t have time to waste chasing after some guy from another club who obviously had no interest in me. I’d simply have to push the kid from my mind and focus on work.
I shouldn’t get mixed up with a younger guy, anyway, and the fact that I apparently hadn’t quite learned my lesson made me a little uneasy. I’d really thought I had something special last time, and the blow had been devastating when it ended. I wasn’t about to get roped into something like that again.
“Earth to Dante,” Mary said, waving her hand in front of my face.
I blinked, pulling myself back to Stella’s kitchen. “Not sure. Mal and I left before they checked it out.”
“That’s a shame,” Mary said. “I’m sure it was a big hit, though. You make the best cakes. And the best muffins, too.” She eyed them with interest.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said.
“You didn’t drop any on the floor? No stragglers I can rescue from the snack bin?”