UNDER REVISION - Road Rage, Dark Shadows MC (Book 1)

The Sweet Tooth - Silver

Silver

The air is cold today and the trees are losing their leaves, proof that the seasons are gradually changing. I breathe it in, knowing my nose will already be red from the cold, but feeling like all the cobwebs are being cleared out of my mind. I don't have room for anything else but my to-do list that I have, especially now that I've set a date for the bakery opening. I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time because if I let myself think too hard about it all, I get so overwhelmed and panicky. It feels like if I cross one thing off, ten more magically show up to replace it and with Chloe out for the count this week...

Nope, not getting stuck on that. I'm perfectly capable of getting things done myself. Today, I've already crossed off several major things. All my potential employees have been called and offered positions, the planning has begun for the soft opening and I'd made agreements with several suppliers, as well as organizing the first delivery for next week–just in time for me and Shae to get familiar with each other in the kitchen. So, to celebrate, for the rest of the day, I'm going to lose myself in my happy place and get my bake on. I'd found a new recipe for lemon raspberry bars that might even be enough to tempt Chloe away from brownies.

The Sweet Tooth sign comes into my line of sight and a smile, pride washing through me. No matter what else might be going on, I've achieved something here.

I own a bakery. I own a bakery.

I head inside, shutting the door behind me and flicking the lock before looking around the empty space, taking in the soft pink walls, with gold accents and white trims–it's feminine and sweet, which doesn't feel like me, but it's also exactly how I pictured it. Walking into this bakery feels like home, something that I never really thought I'd have. I love living with Chloe but it's her place and even if I'm there a year from now, it'll still be her place.

The walls here are pretty bare. I add a note to my to-do list to look into some local artists who'd like to sell prints that I can display on the walls as I head into the kitchen. Tucking my bag away, I fish my earphones and phone out, ignoring any and all notifications before clicking into my favorite baking playlist. As the music starts, I spin around and begin grabbing all the ingredients and utensils, placing them on the counter.

It doesn't take much for me to lose track of time as the music fills my head. I make a batch of lemon raspberry bars, making notes alongside the recipe with little adjustments I'd like to make. Once they're setting in the chiller, I get the ingredients for triple chocolate brownie, hoping that they'll cheer Chloe up. As I'm mixing the dry ingredients, there's a pause in the music as the song changes and in that brief moment of silence, I hear a noise. I yank my earphones out, head cocked but I can only hear the muted sounds of my music from inside my palm.

Shrugging it off, I reach up to put the earphones back in but freeze when I hear a loud crash. It's muffled, coming from out the back of the building, and I head to my office where there's a window looking out that way, because I'm so not going to be the girl that goes to investigate outside and gets ambushed. If someone's doing anything out there, making noise to lure me outside or something, well...I'm perfectly content sitting on my ass inside and waiting for them to get bored.

I need to stop listening to true crime podcasts. Chloe got me hooked on them when I first moved here but this paranoia is next level.

Peering through the murky glass–adding cleaning the windows to the list–I can just see the side of one trash can lying on its side. There's no sign of anyone out there so I step back, brushing sweaty palms against my pants, telling myself it must've been the wind... even though the other trash can was still upright and there'd only been a mild breeze on my walk here earlier.