Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2) (9 page)

“I was just asking him to leave because he has been following Cath around and she was upset that he was here. He asked me and Jack if we were sleeping with her, which we said we were not, and the next thing I know his fist is in my eye. I hit him and then he hit me again...you know how these things work.”

“So he hit you first? Because he is saying you hit him.”

“Ask Jack. I didn’t start this.” I say defensively.

Chloe sighs. “I’m not saying you did. You just...you know out of the four of you, I get the most calls about you. You definitely don’t make my job easy!”

“Your job isn’t easy? He popped me in the moneymaker...twice! What am I supposed to do if it leaves a mark?” I exclaim.

“Ask Abby to teach you how to use cover up.”

“Have you completely lost it? I am not putting on makeup!”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that drummers are in the back!”

“You’re an evil woman. You know that right?”

“I know but...you’re kind of stuck with me,” She says with a laugh. “Alright, I have to go field some calls. Try to keep yourself out of trouble.”

“I will. I promise and you have...”

“Your word. Yes, I know. Goodbye Tyler!” Chloe says before she hangs up.

––––––––

“T
y?” I call out as I walk in the door.

I know he’s home because I saw his car parked in his normal spot but the apartment is dark and unusually quiet.

“I’m on the couch.” He answers.

I frown. I wonder what is going on. This isn’t like him to just lay around in complete silence. I put my stuff down on the counter in the kitchen and walk into the living room where it is so dark I can barely make out the outline of the furniture. I hope I won’t be getting home this late on a daily basis after the bakery opens!

“Are you okay?” I ask as I flick on the light.

Tyler is sprawled out on his back on the couch. His eyes, or at least one of them, are closed. The other one he has covered up with a bag of petite sweat peas. I rush over to his side, kneeling down next to the couch. One side of his lower lip is swollen and there is still a little bit of dried blood in the corner of his mouth.

“Oh my gosh! What happened?” I gasp.

Tyler waves a hand through the air as if this appearance was normal for him.

“I’m fine, it’s okay.” He says.

“What happened?” I asked him again.

“Oh you know...I was out saving the world from ne’er-do-wells.” Tyler says as he moves to sit up.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“Translation?”

“This guy has apparently been following Cath around and I asked him to leave her alone.”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes...well...that isn’t entirely accurate. I wanted to fight the urge, I really did, but he said the “C” word and the eye roll is a natural response to that. Tyler puts his ice pack peas down on the coffee table and pats the seat on the couch next to him. I sit down and he turns to lay down with his head in my lap. He looks up and gives me a mischievous grin.

“Hey...do you want to play nurse?”

“No, not so much.” I reply.

“Don’t be mad.” He says.

I take a deep breath in and let out a loud sigh. “I’m not mad. I just don’t get why you feel the need to constantly stick up for her.”

“It’s not like that. He was bothering her. I felt bad. I would do the same thing for you?”

“Cath bothers me. Are you going to go punching her in the face?”

“Well...no... she’s a girl.”

“Fine, then can I punch her in the face?”

Tyler laughs. “Would it really make you feel better?”

“It depends,” I say. “Let’s say I go in to your studio tomorrow, walk up to her and punch her right in the face...whose side would you be on?”

“Yours,” Tyler says without hesitating. “I’m always on your side Abby Jayne.

...

––––––––

“H
ey Abby, there’s a couple of guys here wanting to know if there is any way they can put in an order for a cake.” Marco says as he walks into my office.

I look up from the paperwork in front of me and frown.

“We haven’t even opened for business yet.” I say.

Marco shrugs. “I told them that but they won’t take no for an answer.”

“Where are they at? Are they outside?”

“No, Marci told me to let them in. They are sitting at one of the tables.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head.

Are you kidding me? What the hell is Marci thinking?

“Could you tell them I’ll be out in a few minutes?”

“I will tell them.”

I pull out the binder containing the list of cake, icing and filling flavors we offer and a photo album containing pictures of cakes I have made in the past as well as pictures Juan Pablo and Carolyn have contributed. Now, I just need to find where I stuck the order forms that came in the other day.

“Uhhh, Abby?”

I look up at Marco. “Yes?”

“They told me to tell you they are terribly busy and important and don’t have all day to wait for you.”

My jaw sets hard like stone and Marco looks as though he is trying hard to not laugh. I snatch up the stuff I need for a consult and grab a pen, fighting the urge to grab anything that could do bodily harm to someone.

Okay, you are a professional. No matter how difficult these guys are, just remember you are a damn professional.

I pause by the door that leads into the bakery to take a deep breath. Just as I am about to push through the swinging door, I hear a male voice say “It’s atrocious how long you have to wait for someone around here.”

My eyes narrow and I run my tongue across my teeth. I push through the door, walking confidently and purposefully into the bakery.

“You know, you can feel free to take your business elsewhere,” I say motioning towards the door with my pen. “There are plenty of other bakeries you can bother.”

“Aw, but Abby, we only want to bother you.”  Tyler says, flashing me a toothy grin.

“And bothering me you are. So I’m dying to know which one of you is terribly busy and important.” I point back and forth between Tyler, Jack and Noah.

“I’m terribly busy...terribly.” Says Jack.

“And I am important.” Tyler pipes in.

I shake my head and laugh. “Well I can’t argue with you there Ty. Did you guys actually need something or are you just here to bother me?”

“We need a cake, bothering you is just an added bonus.” Noah says.

“We’re having a birthday party for Dean in a little over a month. Could you make a cake for us?”

“I can but you know, you don’t have to place an order so early. I just need at least forty eight hours’ notice.”

“We aren’t sure how busy we are going to be for the next few weeks so we want to get everything squared away now.” Jack says.

I nod. “Makes sense. What kind of cake are you thinking of?”

“What’s good?” Tyler asks.

“Well, salted caramel is pretty popular right now. I could do that as a filling with vanilla cake. I don’t have any samples but I can always make a small cake this weekend at home so you can try it.”

“What kind of bakery doesn’t have any samples?” Noah says. A look of mock disgust crosses his face.

“The kind that isn’t open yet. Had you guy waited until we opened, like normal people, you would have samples to try.”

The front door opens and Caroline comes walking in with a couple of bags from The Bake Depot in her hands.

“Hey Abby, I have to show you...”

We all glance up at Caroline and she stops dead in her tracks. Her face turns bright red as she stares at Noah, who is staring right back at her.

“You okay Caroline?” I ask.

“Huh? Uh, yeah,” She looks flustered as the blush coloring her cheeks turns a little bit deeper shade of red. “I was just going to show you this stuff I got but it can wait. I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Real quick, Tyler and his friends are throwing a birthday party for their band mates birthday. Do you think you could sculpt something for the top of the cake?”

“Yeah, if you give me a picture, I could sculpt a miniature image of the birthday boy. I’m assuming it’s the fourth member of the band seeing as there are only three of you here.”

Noah nods. “Yes it’s for our guitarist Dean.”

“If you get me a picture of his guitar, I can make that too.”

“You’re amazing.” Noah says gazing at Caroline. She blushes again and he shakes his head in an attempt to regain his composure. “I mean that you can do that. The fact that you can do that is amazing.”

“Oh well, I mean, it’s pretty easy.”

Jack clears his throat and Caroline and Noah both jump a bit.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna go put this stuff away.” Caroline says as she slightly lifts the bags in her hands.

“I’ll drop those pictures off to you.” Noah says quickly.

Caroline nods and glances at me quickly before walking in to the kitchen. We all turn at the same time and stare at Noah.

“What was that?” Tyler asked.

“What?” Noah shrugs. “I was trying to be nice.”

“She’s single.” I say.

“Is she?” Noah says in a bored voice, as if he could care less what Caroline’s romantic status was. His emerald green eyes sparkle though, contradicting the blasé sound in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter since, as we all know, Noah Walker doesn’t do commitment.” Tyler says.

“Yeah, well that’s a whole other issue that I don’t have time to get in to. Caroline is great. That’s all I’m going to say.” I lean back in my seat and hold my hands out in front of me, my palms facing Noah.

Jack and Noah glance at Tyler, raise their eyebrows and cock their heads towards me.

“Abby my love,” Tyler pauses to give me a toothy smile. “Would you be willing to do one more small, tiny favor?”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes because I am pretty sure this small, tiny favor is going to be anything but small and tiny.

“What’s that?” I ask warily.

“We were wondering if you could also make loads of delicious treats for a table.” Tyler says.

“For how many people?” I ask.

Tyler, Noah and Jack look at each other, making a big production of shrugging their shoulders, bobbing their heads from side to side and making mumbling noises.

Just as I am about to ask them to just spit it out, Jack opens his mouth and says “Just a few hundred.”

“How many is a few hundred?”

He shrugs. “Don’t know, like two or three maybe.”

“How do you guys even know...never mind. I don’t even want to know. I’ll have the cake and three different types of pastries. Do you have something in mind or can I just give Juan Pablo free reign to make whatever he wants?”

“Dean loves those mini éclairs you make. Other than that, we don’t care. Thank you so much Abby. You are a total star.” Jack says.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I press the palms of my hands onto the table and push myself up. “As much as I would love to sit here with you boys all day, I have to get back to work.”

They stand up and Tyler pulls me into his arms for a tight hug. I inhale deeply, the clean scent of the soap he uses fills my nose.

“I’ll see you at home later?” he asks.

“I love how you ask, like I might say no.”

He feathers kisses across my cheek and whispers into my ear. “Be prepared to receive a little bit of...motivation for agreeing to do this for us.”

“This is a pretty big order. I may need
a lot
of motivation.”

Tyler’s fingertips slip underneath the hem of my t-shirt and graze across the skin on my lower back. He glances down at me, his brown eyes shining with want and need. He runs his tongue across his lips and opens his mouth to say something but Jack cuts him off, clearing his throat.

“You are my best friend and she is practically my sister. Can’t you guys save it for when you’re in the privacy of your own home?” he asks.

I blush as I remember that, not only are Jack and Dean standing there, but Marci, James and Marco are standing behind the counter organizing boxes and bags. I let the guys out, locking the door behind them and walk into the kitchen where Caroline is washing the utensils she just purchased.

“Make sure you give me a copy of your receipt so I can reimburse you.” I tell her as I examine a set of sugar paste modeling tools.

Setting the modeling tools back down, I walk over to the stainless steel island in the middle of the room, sit down on the stool beside it and run my hand across the top of the fondant sheeter.

“So,” I am trying to sound nonchalant but it comes out more like I am trying to force a conversation. “Noah’s cute huh?”

Yup, that was really smooth and uncalculated sounding.

Caroline pauses at the sink and glances over her shoulder at me.

“He is.” she says hesitantly.

“The four of us should hang out sometime.” I say.

She scrunches her nose but doesn’t say anything.

“Ummm...I was out there just now so don’t even try to tell me you aren’t attracted to him.” I say.

“Of course I am obviously attracted to him. It’s not that. It’s just...my last boyfriend.” She shakes her head and turns back to the sink. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I’m not looking for a commitment right now.”

“Well that’s perfect cause neither is he.”

“I don’t know...this could get messy.” She says. “I’ll think about it though.”

––––––––

“W
e’re all going out to Barnaby’s for a pint. Are you coming with us?” Noah asks as he walks up behind me and slaps me on the back.

“Absolutely Mate.”

After being stuck in the studio since really early this morning, I could go for a nice, cold swig of anything resembling alcohol. I grab my metal colored army jacket and pull it on. Reaching in to my pocket, I pull out my cellphone to send Abby a text to let her know I am going out. I would have invited her, since the only thing better than an ice cold pint is a gorgeous woman in your arms, but she has plans already. 

“Don’t have to rush home to your girlfriend?” Cath asks. There is a bit of a sneer in her voice that I just brush off.

“Uh no, Abby’s having dinner with her sister tonight.”