FUTURE RISK

by MEGAN MATTHEWS

  Law sighs. It’s deep and long, a sign he is near his end as well. “Anything you’d like to add, Anessa. Anyone want to tell me why they’d be looking for the bakery girls?”

  I twist my tongue and roll it behind my teeth biting slightly. Without Ridge or Bennett here, I’m not sure what I should tell. Bennett and I haven’t had the talk about what the hell is going on. Do I tell Law about the money and the bakery or will it get Ridge and Bennett in trouble? Why the hell didn’t we go to the police?

  Life was so much similar back home when the worst thing to happen during the week was one of my family members trying to boss me around.

  “I take that as a no.” Law throws down his pad of paper. It lands in a spot on the table wet with condensation.

  The main entrance to the club, the one we all walked through earlier tonight, swings open, the heavy wooden door hitting the wall behind it. The crash is so loud half the people in the club flatten their hands over their ears and half duck thinking it’s more gunshots. The disruptors barge into the room and I’m saved answering any questions about Bennett or Ridge because, like two overbearing grizzly bears, they waltz in looking as if they belong.

  Bennett, with Ridge right behind him, continues toward our group. Bennett’s eyes never leave mine, and the stern look on his face doesn’t dissipate even as I toss him my best smile.

  “Don’t worry, Law, we got it from here,” Ridge says not sparing Law a second glance, his eyes steadfast on Tabitha.

  I drag my attention away from Bennett long enough to see Law roll his eyes. “Last time I checked, you weren’t part of the force, Jefferson.”

  That comment gets Ridge’s attention. “This is my girl and I’m gonna handle it.”

  “Three men pushed their way into a nightclub and discharged their weapons into a crowd of people. This is a matter for the police. I’ll let you know the next time we have a bail jumper.”

  Ridge stands next to Law the two almost bumping chests. “Fine. Do what you have to do. But I’m taking Tabitha home.”

  “When I’m done getting her statement. You need to learn your place in this town,” Law says shoving his pen in his coat pocket.

  “My place? My place is taking care of the mistakes your police force makes.” He inches closer, the two now just millimeters apart.

  Bennett steps in between the two men, a hand on each of them to push them apart. “Back it up, boys. This isn’t the schoolyard.”

  Bennett steps back when the tension recedes enough it doesn’t appear the heated situation will come to blows. Both Law and Ridge have stopped the chest puffing intimidation trick.

  “Do you need more information from anyone here?” Bennett asks.

  Law steps back retrieving the notebook he threw on the table earlier. “No, we’ve got it.”

  Bennett stands beside me, wrapping an arm around my back. He places a quick peck of a kiss on the side of my head, but I feel it all the way in my toes. Here I am standing in the middle of the what a few minutes ago was a shootout situation with the stupid grin on my face because some cute tall guy gave me a kiss on the head. I’m hopeless.

  I have serious priority issues.

  They’re something I’ll have to deal with later because right now all I care about is Bennett. He walked over here right away. He kissed me on the head. Whatever stupid messed up decisions I’ve made, he must be willing to look past at least a few of them to give me another chance.

  “If you have questions, Anessa will be at my house.”

  “I will?”

  His face furrows, eyebrows pinching together. “Yes. Ridge is right. You’re never leaving my sight again.”

  I lose the smile. “What?” There’s no way he actually said what I think he said.

  “Especially when Katy is around.”

  Well then.

  “Hey! I had nothing to do with this.” Katy faces off with the three men, her hands on her hips in our corner of the room.

  Bennett doesn’t give either of us a second to explain. With the arm I found sexy a few minutes ago, he gives me a gentle push toward the door.

  White lights flash through the windows as an ambulance comes to a stop at the curb. “Was anyone hurt?” There wasn’t any blood and no paramedics earlier, but I should have stopped and asked ten minutes ago.

  Bennett keeps walking. “No.”

  “Why is there an ambulance?”

  “Standard procedure on this kind of scene, but no one was shot. Few bumps and scrapes from the running crowd. Sounds like weapons were discharged at the ceiling.”

  I stop walking at the top of the steps to the main entrance. “Don’t you think I should stay and make sure everyone gets home?”

  Bennett doesn’t even slow.

  “Did you hear me?”

  He finally stops and turns “Yeah, I don’t care how anyone else gets home. You’re my only responsibility right now.”

  “They’re my friends.”

  Bennett takes a deep breath and from the look on his face and the way his mouth moves, he may be silently counting to five…or ten.

  “Anessa, you are the only one who had a gun held to your head tonight. You’re the only one who had a threat made against you. You’re the only one I’m concerned with.” He walks down a few steps. “Now I have to get moving so I can send Delores home before we all have to get up in the morning and figure this out because you forgot about the twenty thousand you stashed in a cupboard.”

  He’s right. This is all my fault.

  “I’m sorry. It’s not like I’ve found myself in this situation before.” I follow him down the few steps as quickly as possible to catch up.

  We walk the last few feet in silence until we’re standing outside and Bennett unlocks the black company SUV he’s driving tonight rather than his normal black truck. I’m sliding into the passenger seat and buckling my belt when something he said triggers my memory.

  “How did you know I had a gun held to my head?”

  He puts the truck in gear and he reverses out of the space. “Spencer saw it happen.”

  I let his words process for a few seconds. To make sure I heard him right.

  Spencer?

  Either Spencer was at the club, which none of us saw him, or Ridge has cameras in The Loft.

  It’s an absolutely crazy idea. Regardless of what Tabitha may think about Ridge having cameras all over town, it’s impossible.

  There’s absolutely no way.

  It’s unbelievable.

  By the time we round the corner to Bennett’s house I’m telling myself there’s absolutely no way Ridge has cameras in The Loft. Yet, the longer we ride together in silence with Bennett not offering a better solution, the more confidence I lose. We stop in Bennett’s driveway and he turns off the vehicle.

  “Do we need to go back to the bakery for the money? Do you need my key?” I ask.

  “I don’t need a key.”

  “You have a key to the bakery?” Yes, I let Ridge install a few cameras at the front and back entrance, and one security panel, but I live in the bakery. This is totally overstepping his boundaries.

  Bennett sighs. “There’s no need for a key because we don’t need the money right now.”

  “How do you plan to give it to Frankie?”

  Bennett jumps out of the truck. “Anessa, Zanetti’s men broke into a club in our city. And shot off bullets at Ridge’s girlfriend while taking you hostage. The entire team is pissed. There’s no way any of us will give Frankie a dime.”

  “Oh.”

  “And Tabitha is going to end up with a full-time bodyguard if the three of you can’t stay out of trouble. You too.” He slams the door, leaving me alone.

  And I get mad.

  My entire life has been spent with everyone telling me what to do. How to be better. How to find someone to take care of me. Because apparently even in today’s society women are unable to do things without a man. I just thought the people on the West Coast were outdated. I thought by moving to the
East coast I’d be around enlightened people. This was my chance to make it on my own. Prove myself. Take care of things. Practice my woman roar and all that.

  It seems Bennett and the rest of the guys who work for Ridge missed the women’s Lib memo.

  It’s a bunch of bullshit. And I’m sick of it. I don’t need another man telling me what to do. I get out of the truck and slam the door twice as hard as Bennett did. If he can slam car doors, then so can I.

  “What the hell does that mean?” I ask stomping after him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Bennett doesn’t stop to give me an answer. Instead he walks to the house like I didn’t even ask a question. Delores meets us on the other side of the front door.

  “Oh, Anessa, I’m so glad Bennett saved you,” she says, wrapping herself in a thin summer jacket. “Liam is sleeping. I left you dinner in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

  My lips pinch together in annoyance, but she’s too sweet and nice of a lady to tell her Bennett didn’t do anything to save me tonight. I was perfectly fine by the time he showed up. It seems a little petty, so I smile and nod like I was taught to do in these situations. But as I stand there grinning like a fool, I get more and more annoyed with Bennett.

  He’s technically not even doing anything wrong right now. Just breathing the same air, but it’s enough.

  I keep up the farce until Delores is happily on the way out the door with promises she’ll return in the morning.

  It isn’t until Bennett turns the deadbolt, locking us in, that I take my fighting stance. My back straight, one hip popped to the side with the other leg bent, and a hand on each hip I prepare myself for battle. “What do you mean?”

  He turns around, his eyes wide. “Shhh. Liam’s sleeping.”

  Right. The sleeping child. It’s never been an issue I had to worry about before. “Well,” I whisper yell this time. He’s not getting away without giving me an answer.

  “You went out tonight and found yourselves in a bunch of trouble. Why is it the three of you can’t get together and not have it fall to shit?”

  “What the hell, Bennett? I went out with my friends. None of us did anything wrong.” Plus, we hang out all the time and nothing bad ever happens.

  He throws his hands up in the air. “Anessa, three guys entered The Loft and shots were fired. Do you not understand how serious this is?”

  I mimic his frustrated expression, my hands leaving my hips to swing out. “Yes! I’m the one who had a gun held to my head.”

  “Exactly!” he yells and this time it’s me shushing him.

  “What? So I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life without Tabitha or Katy?” His argument doesn’t even make sense. I’m the one who got us into the mess. Leasing a bakery with money stashed in a wall and then forgetting to give it all to Ridge. This is no one’s fault but my own. “You can’t live your life that way, Bennett. Plus, you’re the one who said everything would be fine. You and Ridge had it under control.”

  “So now it’s my fault you didn’t give us all the money? I thought I could trust you.”

  “You can trust me.” My hands go back on my hips. “I messed up. I understand that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry my stupidity put other people in danger.”

  “I’m doing the best I can here, Anessa. I’m not like all the other guys who don’t have responsibilities at home. I have to think of Liam with every decision I make.”

  I’m clueless to where he’s going with his new argument. I’m not a good decision for Liam? Is he saying his child could get hurt just being around me? He’s annoyed he had to leave him home tonight to help me? The entire conversation is twisted and it sounds like I’m the only one fighting about what happened here tonight.

  “What does Liam have to do with this?”

  Bennett scoffs, cutting me off. “How do you not see it? Do you know how worried I was when Spencer called? I’ve never cared about another human being so much besides Liam.” He pushes past me a few steps. “And you stand here and act like it’s nothing major.”

  “It is major, but I’m not going to worry over small stuff. You can’t obsess over the things that could go wrong.”

  He scoffs again, this time three times louder. “Says the girl who straightened my dishes because they didn’t line up perfectly with the edge of the cupboard.”

  My mouth drops open, completely shocked he would sink so low as to bring that one random event into the argument. “That’s completely different.”

  “No, it’s exactly the crux of your problem.”

  “My problem?”

  “You refuse to ask other people for help and think if you make everything look perfect, then it will be. But that doesn’t work for me. Liam’s five.”

  “I’m aware.” If we’re going to stick around and throw out faults I could find a few to mention.

  “Are you going to let him in your bakery? Have him put his fingerprints all over your shiny glass? How will you handle that, Anessa? Because that is my life.”

  It’s a question I don’t have an answer for. Not because I’m not concerned with Liam’s fingerprints on my glass, but because Bennett is. Bennett thought about whatever we have between us enough he’s concerned about Liam getting my bakery full of little five-year-old finger marks.

  My heart fills with happiness. I totally forget we’re in a fight and focus on the fact Bennett wants to bring Liam to my bakery and let him get it all dirty.

  But then he keeps talking.

  And ruins everything.

  “I’m smart enough to know when I need help. I’ve asked people for help with Liam. So when you find yourself in a situation with guns and bullets flying around, maybe you need to be smart enough to figure out you should let us handle it.”

  “Oh you mean I should sit back and let the boys deal with the situation?” Or I would if I was smart.

  “Yes.”

  Men are so stupid.

  “So basically what you’re saying is I’m not smart enough to understand the situation.”

  “Yessss….” his answer continues on and on as he slowly figures out what he said.

  “Because I’m stupid.”

  His face falls as he continues to catch on. “Not that…”

  “Maybe I’ll move in with you and let you take care of me. You could make all my decisions. You know, since I’m not smart enough.”

  “Now wait a second. That’s not what I said.”

  “I think you did. There’s probably a camera somewhere around here. We can call up Spencer and ask to watch the replay.”

  “When it comes to guys with guns, you need to step back and let us handle it.”

  “I can’t believe I thought you were different.” And don’t think it passes my notice that he doesn’t answer my camera comment.

  Bennett rolls his eyes, which does nothing but piss me off further. “Different than what?”

  “Than every guy who wants to boss around women.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  He didn’t?

  He totally did.

  Annoyance and anger compound in the pit of my stomach, growing into a hard ball and tightening my muscles. I’m at the point of frustration where you lash out and say whatever the hell is on your mind.

  “If you’re serious in this conversation, then I guess we’re done here. I’ll see you around.” I turn on a heel and head to the front door. Ready to get the hell away from here and from him.

  “Stop. Where do you think you’re going?”

  I whip back around “Home.” Where does he think I’m going? For a slight jog on the beach? Maybe somewhere to get myself shot.

  “Anessa, you can’t go home. It’s not safe.”

  His words stop me in my tracks. He has a point. I did have a gun held my head this evening.

  “Fine, but I’m sleeping in the guestroom. And in the morning you take me back to the bakery and then leave me alone.”

  Not waiting for him to show me the way — I’ve slept
in the guestroom before, after all — I half sprint my way up the steps. Doing my best not to actually stomp on them and make noise that might wake up Liam but with enough power he realizes how upset I am. It’s a delicate balance.

  “Anessa,” he calls from the living room and I turn before I realize. “Just so you know, we’re not done here.”

  Pfts. Men.

  We’re definitely done here.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Bennett’s truck slows at the curb to my building and I have the front door open before he completely stops.

  “There will be someone stationed out front all day and Spencer’s eye in the sky if you need help,” Bennett rushes the words out probably fearful I’ll close the door before he can finish.

  It was my plan. “Whatever.” I jump out from the truck and yell a quick thanks before shutting the door. I may be pissed, but I have manners.

  I stomp to the store, my boots from last night too high heeled to make much noise especially with Bennett’s door closed, but I don’t care. There’s no way he doesn’t realize I’m pissed. Yet, he does nothing about it.

  He lets me walk to the bakery door.

  He lets me unlock the front door.

  He lets me walk into the store.

  He lets me close the door behind me.

  Half-way to the kitchen his truck drives away from the curb and I look back scowling, but he’s too far away to notice.

  The bell jingles from my hard slam. The loud noise is too annoying so early in the morning. My first few steps into the bakery are stompy from anger, but by the time I reach the back they’ve softened. I’ve turned the oven on to warm up and pulled out racks of premade dough before I question my decisions over the last few hours.

  I can’t believe I broke up with Bennett.

  I can’t believe I was actually dating Bennett.

  Stupid.

  Stupid.

  Stupid.

  I’m not sure if he’s being stubborn or if he doesn’t care I’m pissed off. He didn’t say anything to me all morning long. I was downstairs in the living room getting ready to leave and walk to the bakery when he came down the steps with Liam in his arms. He put Liam in the truck and then he put me in the truck, the SUV from last night parked beside it. There were a few short grunts and one stern don’t-give-me-any-crap look, but he didn’t say more than a sentence to me.