Big Bad Billionaires [Volume 1]

by Naughty Aphrodite

  I collapsed on the floor of the classroom, panting heavily. Looking up at Nathan and Tim; who stared down at me, grinning and panting lightly. They looked at one another smiling.

  “Well,” Tim grinned at Nathan, “I’ll take that over a fight any day.”

  We all burst into a joyful laughter. Maybe this was just what we needed after all.

  THE END

  New Beginning

  Chapter 1

  HEATHER

  I’m standing in my shop early in the morning. I stare at the sky; it’s gray, a sign that the sun still hasn’t made its way up there. I’m doing my best to stop a yawn, even though waking up so early every day is my job. After all, I’m a baker and I own a small bakery business in a rural town just outside of L.A. People expect their bread crispy and their cookies soft, and to do that, I have to be up before anyone else.

  The good thing is that my apartment is located on the upper floor of the same building. I don’t have to walk or use my car to get there. The bad thing is that I had never been an early starter throughout my life and it’s still very difficult for me to get out of the bed in the mornings. Especially in the cold days; God, I hate waking up early when it’s cold outside.

  Nevertheless, I walk into the shop and head behind the counter, straight into the kitchen. On my way there, I turn the lights on. I have several things to do, one of them being to clean before starting. A dirty kitchen isn’t a functional kitchen as my mother used to say. Luckily, my place is small enough to not even need an assistant to take care of these things.

  I just pop up half an hour earlier, take care of the chores myself, and then start baking. The time always flies by from the moment I start pouring the flour in the mixer to when the first batch of bread is ready. The first couple hours of the day are a silent meditation accompanied by dough and chocolate cookies.

  It’s peaceful and calm at this time; I might not like it, but it helps me put my mind straight before the customers start barging in the shop.

  And just as the smell of fresh bread starts spreading around, the doorbell rings. I sigh and wipe my hands clean on my apron. I hurry to the front part of the shop. An old lady is waiting for me.

  “Good morning,” she says with a soft, yet strict voice.

  “Good morning to you too, ma’am. What can I do for you today?”

  “I’d like a loaf of bread and three bagels. My grandchildren get really hungry when they wake up,” she continues while pacing around the shop.

  I rush back to the kitchen and grab the things she asked me for. However, by the time I return, the door bell has rung again. This time, a familiar face walks in.

  “Morning, Heather,” a plump, dark-haired man says loudly. The old lady from before seems annoyed by his rowdy entrance.

  “Good morning, Frank,” I reply to him. I put the old lady’s order in a paper bag and pass it to her. “That will be six dollars,” I continue after I give her the receipt.

  She hands me the money and turns to leave only after commenting. “I hope you have a nice day. See you, Frank.” Her face turns to a mask of disdain when passing next to him.

  He notices the woman’s reaction but doesn’t seem to give a damn. On the contrary, he turns and mockingly bows to her behind her back. “Snobby bitch,” he mutters when turning to face me again.

  “Who was that?” I ask him.

  “No one. Just an old woman that thinks she’s above us all just because her husband left her a small fortune when he died. There are not many of them ladies left, nowadays. Nevertheless, I’ll have the usual Heather. I hope she didn’t ruin your day.” By the time Frank ends his rant, I’ve returned with his order: two loafs of bread, and a box of cookies.

  His family loves my bakery and he’s one of the main reasons I have so many customers only after two years of starting my business. Frank is also the one that always pushes me to expand even further.

  “Here you are, Frank. Now tell me, how is June? The kids? Are they all doing okay?”

  I run back to the kitchen to continue with the preparations for the rest of the day. Frank is talking loud enough that I don’t have to be in the same room as him to hear him.

  “They’re all doing great. Kristina and Jason are doing great in school and June has just got a promotion.”

  I lean back my head and stare at him through the kitchen door. “Really? Wait a moment, don’t leave,” I say. I rush to the back of the kitchen and take a couple of chocolate cupcakes and bring them to him. “It’s not much, but tell June this is a congratulation gift from me. Tell her I’m still waiting for her to visit.”

  “Yeah, yeah. She knows. I’ll tell her again, though. She doesn’t have time to even see the children. Nevertheless, did you hear what happened?”

  I’m in the kitchen again, using my hands to grab the dough and spread it on the counter. Mechanically, I reply to him: “No, what happened?”

  Frank is known for being well-informed in the matters of the town’s social life. Well, in short, he likes to gossip, but in a good way. He won’t break out a story that has been trusted to him nor lie. He’ll say things he knows are true, so when I hear something from him, I know that it’s the real thing.

  “Ol’ Dwayne from next door? He left. Last night.”

  I stop what I’m doing and rush back to the main room of the shop. “What? Who? I mean...what?”

  “The man that was renting the shop next door, left last night. Some say he got bankrupt and returned to his hometown. Others say that he just retired and left. Either way, Heather dear, this is your chance to expand your little bakery.”

  When the words came out of his mouth, my hands were already shaking. “He left? But...how? I’m living upstairs, I should have heard something, shouldn’t I?”

  “Well, sweet Heather, when someone wants to disappear like he did, then the first thing that comes to their mind is how to avoid the neighbors. Never mind that now, though. You have to make a move this week or else someone else will snatch it through your fingers.”

  “But...oh, dear...what about the money? Equipment? What if...what if...?” I stutter, unable to form a complete sentence in my head.

  “Look, Heather, I have to go now. But think about it. If someone rents the place, it might be half a lifetime until it’s free again. This is your chance. You know how people love your bakery,” he says and gives me a wide smile.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll think about it later. Thank you for letting me know, Frank. See you later,” I say and crawl back to my kitchen without waiting for Frank to greet me.

  What now? What am I doing? Do I go on with it? What if it fails?

  But then again, I had the same kind of thoughts when I started this business two years ago. It was a risk that paid off, a risk I’m willing to take once again.

  “Fuck it, I’m going on with it,” I mumble to myself as I pour the chocolate in the mix for a new batch of chocolate cookies.

  ***

  MITCH

  The drive to this town out of L.A. is a drag. The bus is half-empty, the scenery is boring, and... I have no fucking idea what I’m doing. Damn you, Dwayne. Why did you have to leave out of the blue like that?

  I check my phone and try to kill some time by playing a game. Soon, I feel carsick and decide to put it down. At the same moment, the bus comes to a stop outside a small town. A middle-aged mother, holding a child in each hand, boards the vehicle.

  “Mom! Mom! Look! There are empty seats in the front! Can we please sit here?” one of the two brats says, practically screaming.

  I’m sitting in the back and still I can hear his voice like he’s screaming next to me.

  “No, Toby. It’s too cramped in here. We’ll sit in the back where it has more space,” she replies to him with a similar, loud voice.

  “But why mom? I and Shaun want to sit here. You go back.”

  The young boy has suddenly decided to make a scene. Even the bus driver is staring at them, annoyed by all the noise they’re making.r />
  “Listen to me, young man, you’ll do as I say or no ice-cream for you today. Am I clear?”

  That’s when the dreaded crying came. He started pushing her out of the way, then trying to pull his hand free, and finally, screaming like a young chimpanzee. This is happening for five minutes and the bus isn’t moving until they find a seat. The driver is doing nothing to confront them and the other passengers, dumbstruck, are waiting patiently for this scene to end.

  But, I can’t see an end to it anytime soon. With a deep sigh, I stand on my feet and head to the front. “Ma’am, can you please take a seat already? Some of us want to arrive at their destination, today,” I say.

  The woman turns and faces me with an expression full of dread. Even if I held a gun to her face she wouldn't be scared so much. “Excuse me! What’s your problem?” she shouts at me.

  I jerk my head back and continue. “Are you fucking kidding me? What’s my problem? You can’t control your children, ma’am. The whole bus is waiting for you to sit your fat ass down to start, and you’re asking what’s my problem?”

  Only after I hear the words that came out of my mouth I understand that I’ve gone too far. I was too loud, too rough, too...I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have said a thing.

  “Sir, please sit down,” the bus driver says to me.

  My brows arch from the surprise. “Are you taking her side? You have to be fucking kidding me.”

  One of the passengers behind me shots on his feet. “Dude, sit down or get off the bus. Harassing a mother is a crime, don’t you know that?” he says.

  The other passengers around him agree, all of them now attacking me for no reason at all. The woman in front of me, with a smug expression on her face, continues. “You’ve heard them. You’re wrong, boy, so you should sit down now and leave us alone.”

  I press my lips together, holding back from saying another thing. I can’t afford to lose my patience over a stupid woman and the monsters she’s raising. I can’t go on creating troubles or else...I will end up back there. And that’s something I decided I won't ever do.

  I turn my back to them and head to my seat. On my way, I hear the whispers of the rest of the passengers.

  “Look at all his tattoos. He’s a criminal. He could have killed her,” one man says to the one behind him.

  “Yeah. And did you hear how he talked to her? He didn’t mind that the woman had two young children with her,” the other one replies.

  “Men like him deserve to be shut in jail for all eternity,” they both agree.

  What did I do wrong? The woman was freaking annoying to everyone. I was even nice to her the first time. They should have defended me, not her; they should have agreed with me.

  I sweep the vehicle with my eyes only to see that they’re still looking at me like I’m the monster, like I was the one that created the scene. Only then it finally hits me: I wasn’t wrong...I was an easier target than a mother with two children. Just because I looked the part of a criminal, I became the scapegoat to their confusion.

  I slide deeper into my seat and force myself to turn my head to the bus window. I see the meadows extending in the distance, the mountains rising on the horizon. People are quick to judge me, to point fingers, but they don’t know me.

  They don’t know what I had to do to earn this freedom, what I had to go through to be here.

  Sometimes I wish I never got out of the jail if this is the world I returned into. Sometimes, I wish I knew what I'm doing.

  Opening a tattoo shop in a town in the middle of nowhere is one of those things.

  Chapter 2

  HEATHER

  I couldn’t sleep last night. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep another night until I take a decision. Do I go on with the expansion plans or do I stay put and wait for a better opportunity to arise? The town is big enough for new lots to open up every other day. If I decide to expand now, I won’t have another chance to search for a better deal. I’ll have to stick with my choice and defend it to its end.

  I have to decide soon, though. It has been two days since Ol’ Dwayne has left and Frank already told me that a couple from the other side of the town is considering taking the place to make it a small cafe. Something like that wouldn’t be too bad for me, but it’s not the same as owning the whole place by myself. Baking is my passion but there is only so much I can do in one day. I am full of ideas- from introducing a range of traditional Italian breads to baking wedding cakes- but to do that, I need a bigger kitchen and eventually some help too.

  Ahh, I’m such a scaredy-cat. Frank is right. Everyone I’ve asked is right. This is an opportunity like no other. I don’t get to decide if I want to do it. I have to do it.

  In the end of this endless inner dialogue, I find myself next to my apartment door, ready to turn the key and head downstairs to the bakery when I hear steps in the hallway.

  “What the hell?” I mutter. No one is living next door. That place has been abandoned for years, even before I moved in.

  Too scared to get out of my apartment, I decide to use the peephole on the door to check the hallway. I lean closer and place my head against the door just in time to catch a glimpse of a silhouette unlocking the door opposite mine.

  “Who are you?” I whisper as I’m trying to observe more details about the mysterious figure in the hallway.

  “He’s a man, judging by the shape of his body. Broad shoulders, an endless back, muscled hands, and short-cropped hair. He’s huge,” I mutter to myself. “He has the key to the apartment’s front door, so this means he either owns the place or knows someone that owns it. Either way, he hasn’t packed too many things so he won’t stay for long,” I guess.

  After I realize I’m stalking a man like a nosy neighbor, I pull back and take a step away from the door. I look myself in the mirror and see my face flushed from the embarrassment. My black hair is ruffled and my brown eyes are still glistening from the drowsiness.

  “So, a new neighbor. That can be nice. Except if he’s loud. Then it won’t be nice, not at all.”

  Not losing any more time, I take a deep breath to muster my strength and head to the door once again. I unlock it and step outside. The man has vanished inside his apartment. I didn’t get to meet him, but by staying so close to one another, I’m sure I’ll end up meeting him sooner or later.

  The rest of the morning (from cleaning up the shop to baking the bread) goes by in a flinch. Like every other day, Frank is one of the first customers I get. “Good morning, Frank. Today, I have a surprise for you. I know something that you don’t,” I say to him joyfully.

  “Before that, I have bad news for you, Heather. I hope you didn’t decide on expanding next doors,” he says.

  I freeze on the spot. “The couple got it first, right? Did they sign a contract? I can top their offer. Just--”

  “It’s not the couple, but someone took up the shop next door. And I’m not sure you’re going to like it, Heather, but...they say he’s going to make it a tattoo studio.”

  “A what?” I say and hit the dough with excess strength. The flour spreads in the air around, a veil of white powder.

  “Yeah, I know. I don’t have more news for you yet, but I’ll ask around today and come back later and tell you everything I learned. Okay?” he says.

  I pass his usual order over the counter and head behind the register. “Yeah, thank you, Frank. I owe you one,” I mumble behind my teeth.

  “No, you don’t. I was the one that got the idea in your head in the first place. I feel awful. If I knew that someone would have taken the shop this soon, I wouldn’t have said a thing,” he continues.

  I nod before replying to him. “Don’t worry, Frank. Maybe it’s for the best.” I smile to him and head back to the kitchen, a subtle sign that he has to get going now.

  After Frank is out, I know that more customers will be arriving soon. I try to focus on the cupcake mix, but my mind is far away. “Should I have been faster? Was there something I could
have done?” I say to myself. Sullen, my hands return to their work mechanically. “Well, that’s life.”

  It takes me five minutes of rethinking Frank’s words to figure it out.

  “Wait, he said that he is going to make it a tattoo studio. Could it be? Did he mean the man that just moved in next door?”

  At the same time, the doorbell rings as usual. It’s easy to forget that I’m in my shop when the only thing separating it from my apartment is a staircase and two doors. Nevertheless, I shake my head and put on my best smile when I walk out to the front.