Page 24 of All Mine

“Yeah.”

“How well do you know Eden?”

“Not well. Why? You want to ask her out?” I teased.

“No. Not that.” He blurted, then fell silent.

“Then what?”

“Those guys that came in the bar that night and pulled the gun… They were looking for a girl who had that deep, brilliant red hair.”

“You think it was Eden?” Is that why she was on the run?

“That’s not a common hair color.”

“How’d you know who they were looking for?”

“They were flashing around a photo on a cell phone. I didn’t get a good look…”

“It’s probably not her.”

“If it is, she’s in trouble.” Adrian’s hands gripped the steering wheel.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said, but didn’t believe a word that came out of my mouth. Should I tell Eden? Did she already know? I didn’t want to scare her off if she didn’t know.

“Maybe so,” Adrian said, breaking the silence. “But I think I’ll keep an eye on her anyway. At least for as long as she’s here. I don’t like any of that.”

“Hopefully, those guys have moved on, and we can go back to absolutely nothing happening here.”

Back inside the bakery kitchen the warm aroma of cinnamon washed over me, Sloane prepared a tray of muffins for the display case. And on the plus side, nothing smelled burned

“Hey, you’re back,” Sloane said. “Is he still alive?”

“Yeah, stupid Adrian wouldn’t let me kill him.” I motioned behind me.

“I don’t know what it is you thought you were going to do,” Adrian said, coming in the door.

“Talk him out of it.”

“He’s the middle man,” Adrian said. “He’s doing whatever his client wants.”

“Thanks.” I sighed and took the tray from Sloane, walking it to the front counter. There had to be another way to save our businesses.

“Lauren, you’re back,” Eden said from behind the front counter with Bethany. That was sweet. She didn’t have to pitch in, but she had.

Jonah came through the door from the dining room wearing my apron and holding a pot of coffee. It would have been humorous had I not been in a foul mood.

“Oh, thank god you’re here,” Jonah said. “The rest of us are woefully ill-prepared for your job.”

“Hey, coffee wench,” Adrian called to Jonah, holding up a to-go coffee cup and shaking it in an impatient manner.

Jonah scratched the side of his head with a middle finger.

“Come on with the coffee,” Adrian said, “I gotta go.”

I stocked the case with muffins and ignored the two of them, intending to wallow in Camden’s betrayal and figure out what I could do to stop him.

“Are those fresh?” a lady asked, approaching the counter.

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