Page 16 of After Midnight

“Did you talk about it with him at all?” She asked and sighed. “Or did you just bang him senseless overnight and then leave for the day in the morning?”

“How bad is it if I said option two?”

“Dream,” she gasped, this time with real indignation.

The bell over the front door chimed loud enough for us to hear in the backroom, and I placed my handle on the doorknob. “We’ll continue this later,” I said and opened the door as Jeanette rubbed the spot on her arm where I issued corrective measures a second earlier.

“Welcome to Dreamy Bake Shop & Café,” I said as I stepped through. “What dream can we make happen for you today?” It was the opening greeting I expected everyone who worked with me and for me to use, but when I stepped through the door and came face to face with Victor across the counter, it was the first time I wished I’d never come up with the slogan.

“Well now, how delightful,” Victor said and stared hard at me. “I thought we’d already discussedmyparticular dream.”

“How can I help you, Victor?” I asked with my eyes narrowed. Carl was beside and another, larger man rival only by Monroe was on the opposite side. Behind him was Ted, with bandages over his left cheekbone and nose, and a serious bruise under his right eye.

“Well now, it seems like a couple of my boys came in here yesterday and were denied service. I was wondering if you could...help meunderstand why this was?”

My eyes narrowed till they were slits. “I don’t have to helpyouunderstand anything.”

Jeanette walked up behind me and placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Yourboys, as you called them, came in here threatening Dream,” she informed him and used a motherly but stern tone. The kind of tone a mom would use right before dealing a punishment out to a disobedient child. The kind of tone no one liked to hear.

Victor didn’t blink. “And what happened to them? Was it you? Did you have anything to do with how one of my boys was handled so roughly that he’s on crutches?” Victor chuckled and patted Carl on the shoulder. “I mean, you’re a feisty little woman, what with the way you’re speaking tome, so it must’ve been you that took down three of my best boys. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” Jeanette responded.

Victor nodded. “I do. Just like you’d better remember who you’re talking to. I don’t put up with that kind of tone, so you be careful now, you hear?”

“I hear you,” Jeanette said with a nod. She removed her hand from my shoulder and grasped my hand down at my side.

“Now,” Victor continued, his tone lowered and deliberate. “I want to hear you say it. Who hurt my boys? If it wasn’t you, then it must’ve been good ole Dream here, because you know what they say. There’s three sides to every story. There’s their side,” he said and pointed to Ted, “your side,” said while pointing at me, “and the truth. And that’s all I’m asking for. All I want to know is the truth.”

The bell above the front door chimed. “The truth is, these ladies had nothing to do with it.” Dustin had opened and stepped into the doorway.

Carl and the large Monroe lookalike pivoted on their heels and opened their stances. Victor shifted so his back was to the counter and leaned on it, with both his palms on the glass supporting him.

“Oh? Well, hell. You must be a witness?”

“I am,” Dustin answered as he stepped fully into Dreamy and placed his bag on the table closest to him. “In fact, I was more than that.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yup. You could say I was the reason.”

“Huh,” Victor said with a slight nod. “I think I’d rather hear you say that.”

Dustin alternated making eye-contact between the three men before he returned to Victor. “Nah, I think I’ll pass on that. Something tells me you four gentlemen came equipped with more than just his good looks,” he goaded and pointed to the bruised face of Ted.

“And something tellsme, you couldmorethan handle it if we did,” Victor answered back.

“I might. You know, here in Dreamy Bake Shop & Café, we try to give the customers what they want.” Dustin took a step forward, tilted his head and tensed his jaw. “What do you fellas want anyway?”

A creepy smile crossed Victor’s face. “You have a good day,” he answered and gave me a two-finger salute of his temple. “Dream, I’ll be seeing you soon. Let’s go gentlemen, we don’t want to take up any more of their time.”

Dustin remained motionless and unflinching as Carl, Ted and the new guy walked past him. Each one glared at him until they were through the door.

Victor walked with a casual gait past Dustin and smiled. When he stepped to the opened door, he paused. “Dream,” he called to me over his shoulder. “Do reconsider my offer. I’d hate for anything bad to happen to this place while you still own it. It has a certain charm.”

And then out the door he went, leaving the veiled threat behind like an undetonated bomb, and me to wonder.

Did Dustin just lite the fuse?

TO BE CONTINUED...