Dimitri (13 page)

Chapter
Seven

Still feeling groggy, I gulped the last of my
coffee and refilled my travel mug. I'd been up for an hour but I
couldn’t get moving. Last night had drained me, emotionally and
physically.

After I'd finally stopped crying, Dimitri had
whispered such sweet and tender things to me. He'd made love to me
again, this time gentler and with such intensity that I'd had tears
in my eyes again when we were done. Even though I'd protested, he'd
followed me home and walked me inside the house. Apparently he took
his promise to protect me very seriously.

It had been so very painful to hear Dimitri
tell me the unvarnished truth. Even though I'd reacted so badly, I
understood he was trying to protect me by being brutally honest.
He'd said aloud what I'd been secretly dreading for so long. The
business wasn't going to be profitable in this location. Something
had to change.

Change? That seemed to be the only way to
describe the current state of my life. I was in a constant state of
flux. The bakery's future was up in the air. Johnny kept dodging my
calls and refusing to come home. Dimitri seemed to want to pursue
something long-term with me.

Confusion welled inside me as I dumped a hot
cocoa packet and a scoop of sugar into my coffee. The spoon whacked
against the inside of the mug while I tried to get a handle on my
wildly vacillating emotions. I had to get a grip!

The front door opened, the hinges squealing
loudly. After it was pushed closed, I heard the telltale creak of
the floorboards in the living room. I rolled my eyes and cleared my
throat. "Johnny?"

With a guilty look on his face, he slinked into
the kitchen. Even with the island between us, I could smell the
sour scent of alcohol and weed rolling off of him. I wrinkled my
nose and held a hand to my face. "When was the last time you had a
shower?"

He put a self-conscious hand on his chest.
"Yesterday."

If that was true, I didn't even want to think
about where he'd spent the night. To smell that awful, he must have
been in a terrible place. I prayed it wasn't one of those low-rent
whorehouses the Hermanos were purported to run.

Hoping to avoid a fight, I gestured to the
short stack of breakfast burritos wrapped in aluminum foil. "I made
breakfast."

"I'm not hungry."

We stared at one another. With a sigh, I said,
"Okay. Let's just clear the air. Why did you steal from the
business?"

"I didn't steal. That's my money,
too."

"It's not your money. It's not my money. That
money belongs to the business. That money belongs to our employees
and our vendors."

"It was three hundred fucking dollars, Benny!
It's not a big deal!"

I gawked at him. "Not a big deal? You stole
from your family, Johnny! That's a big deal."

He swore nastily and reached into his back
pocket. My eyes widened in shock when he pulled out a dirty
envelope. Hundred dollar bills fluttered onto the countertop.
"There! There's your fucking money! Happy?"

I swallowed hard as I stared at the cash on the
counter and the cash still in the thick envelope. "Where did you
get that, Johnny?"

"Don't ask me stupid questions like that,
Benny. Just take the fucking money and shut up."

My jaw clenched. "Don't talk to me like
that!"

"Or what? You'll call Dimitri to come kick my
ass?"

"I've never asked Dimitri to hurt
you!"

He laughed. "You're so full of
shit."

"Believe whatever you want, Johnny. I know the
truth."

"Yeah? Well I know you're fucking him. I saw
your car there last night and the night before that. Is that how he
pays his rent now?" He shouted it at me, his lips curled with
disgust.

I took a step back. The disdainful look on his
face made my cheeks and ears burn. "It's not like that,
Johnny."

"Then how is it, Benny?"

"It's none of your business. I’m allowed to
have a personal life and privacy, Johnny."

"Yeah? So am I." He waved the envelope. "My
personal life. My business. You stay the fuck out of
it."

Angered, I gathered up the money he'd thrown on
the counter and squashed it into a tight ball. I threw it at him,
hitting him in the chest with the dirty money. "Then take your
money and get the hell out!"

He scowled at me and picked up the
money I'd thrown at him. "I'm not going anywhere. This is my house.
Why don't you go move in with your
gringo
?"

"I'm not moving anywhere, Johnny. Like you
said, this is my house too."

"Not for long," he snapped back. He reached
into the front pocket of his jeans and produced a folded stack of
papers. My mind flashed back to the moment I'd discovered the
stolen money. Hadn't my desk drawer been open?

"Is that our business contract? The one we
signed just before Abuelita died?"

"I talked to a lawyer about the guy who wants
to buy the bakery building. He said you can't stop me from selling
my share. He's going to help me get my half of the house
too."

My blood ran cold. "Johnny, what are you
saying? You agreed to sell your share of the bakery to
UpStreet?"

The briefest glimmer of regret
flashed across his face. It vanished quickly and his expression
turned hard. "It's mine. I can do what I want with it. I want the
money. I
need
the
money."

"For what?"

"It's none of your damn business,
Benny."

"The hell it's not! You're giving
away our family's history to a man who wants to tear it down and
build a stupid shopping center. You're pissing on the memory of
everything that Abuelita and Abuelito and Mom worked for their
entire lives. I want to know
why
?"

He slashed his hand through the air. "I don’t
have to tell you shit, Benny."

Turning his back on me, he
practically ran out of the kitchen. I chased after him.
"Johnny!
Johnny
!"

"Fuck off, Benny!" He dashed upstairs and
slammed his door shut. The walls rattled when he turned on his
music and blared the reggaeton beats.

Shaking and on the verge of puking, I stood at
the foot of the stairs and fought the urge to run up there and
smack him. How could he do this? The betrayal of Johnny going
behind my back and making a decision without even consulting me cut
so deeply. If we were going to sell, it should have been done
together, as a unified front, so we could get the best price. I
shuddered to think what kind of stupid deal he might have agreed to
sign.

Every step of the way, I'd included him in
discussions about the bakery and the house. Even when I knew he
wasn't listening or didn't care, I'd still taken the time to sit
him down and go over the accounts. When I'd stopped taking a
salary, I'd talked it over with him first and shown him the balance
we had to live off of in our bank account. When it came time to
consider selling the house, I'd put it all on the table for him.
We'd talked about real estate agents and a listing
price.

I thought we were partners. Apparently, we
weren't anything.

Feeling hopeless, I returned to the kitchen and
pushed the lid onto my travel mug. I switched off the coffee pot
and stared at the burritos I'd made for breakfast. My stomach
lurched at the thought of eating so I tucked them into the
refrigerator. With my purse in hand, I left the house and locked
the door.

The early Saturday morning traffic was light.
My mind wandered as I drove. I would need a lawyer and quickly.
There were contracts in place protecting the business and
delineating our rights as owners. I didn't know how long it would
take to untangle all that mess but I assumed it would be expensive.
If Johnny had been talking to UpStreet about selling his share, I
felt certain they'd probably agreed to provide him with a business
attorney.

Dimitri was right. I was going to get screwed
six ways to Sunday.

* * *

After a fitful night of sleep, Dimitri slid out
of bed and into a hot shower. Though he and Benny had made up and
parted well, he couldn't shake the worried feeling twisting his
gut. Coming home to an empty apartment felt bleaker than usual. One
night with Benny in his arms and waking to her feel her pressed
against him had spoiled him. Now he wanted that all the
time.

What would Benny say if he casually mentioned
getting a place together? If she sold her house and the bakery
building, they'd both need places to stay. Wouldn't it make sense
to live together?

As he got dressed, he wondered if that was a
conversation they were ready to have. They'd been friends for years
but this romantic entanglement was so new. She'd given him the
"moving too fast" speech last night but he didn't think she really
meant it. Yuri's talk of establishing boundaries and seeking
reassurance made sense now.

He was drinking his first cup of coffee when he
heard the bakery van beeping loudly as it backed into place at the
loading dock. Certain they could use his help this early in the
morning, Dimitri put on his shoes and headed downstairs. He found
Marco and Adam looking over a list and discussing the best way to
load in the mountains of bakery boxes.

Marco immediately put him to work. He was happy
to do it, knowing full well it would ease some of the stress on the
team as they tried to juggle the event and the usual day-to-day
needs of the bakery. Dimitri desperately wanted this to be a
success for Benny. Even if she ended up selling and moving
locations, this would still be a good way to introduce herself to
new customers. Lena was smart enough to get them to follow Benny
wherever she moved.

Half an hour into his work, he checked his
watch. Benny was running late. A quiver of concern pierced his
chest. Was she simply running behind or was it something else? He
wanted to whip out his phone to call her but decided to give it
another ten minutes.

He was sliding the last rolling tray of cookies
into the truck and latching it into place when he finally heard her
sweet voice. Heat streaked through him as her silly laugh echoed in
the backroom. She chattered away in Spanish, making little jokes
with Marco and letting Adam tease her.

Dimitri had picked up enough Spanish during his
five years living over the bakery to understand that Adam was
talking about him. The two older men, Marco and Adam, treated Benny
like family. He'd been expecting some push back from them but only
Marco had given him the side-eye so far. Dimitri hoped his
willingness to volunteer this morning would put him in Marco's good
graces.

Hopping from the truck to the loading dock,
Dimitri finally caught sight of Benny. Instead of her usual bakery
uniform of jeans and a shirt, she wore a flirty little dress. It
hugged her body in all the right places. His gaze flicked to the
playful hint of cleavage. It was just enough to tease
him.

One look at her face and he knew she was hiding
something. She smiled but there was such sadness in her eyes. There
was only one person in the world who could hurt her that
badly—Johnny.

"Lupe has breakfast for us." Marco consulted
his watch. "We have half an hour before we leave. You should
eat."

Benny shook her head. "I'm not
hungry."

Marco caught Dimitri's gaze. He understood what
the older man was silently asking. Clearing his throat, Dimitri
said, "Well I am. Let's have breakfast before you
leave."

Benny frowned and glanced between the two men.
She seemed to realize they weren't going to let her spend an entire
day on her feet without a good meal in her belly. With a dramatic
sigh, she acquiesced. "Fine."

They made their way to the kitchen and grabbed
two bottles of orange juice and breakfast burritos from an
insulated cooler. She spoke to the ladies in the kitchen, talking
to them about the day's business. He waited patiently, but the
moment she was free, he took her hand and dragged her into the
office.

Wanting privacy, he locked the door behind him.
She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He pointed to her
desk chair. "Sit and eat. We'll talk when you're done."

She plopped down in her chair and dropped her
breakfast on the desk. "I don’t really feel like talking anymore
this morning."

Putting down his food, he leaned against the
desk and stared down at her. "What did Johnny do?"

Her gaze jumped to his. "How did you
know?"

"He's the only person who gets under your skin
like that." Dimitri steeled himself for the worst. "Tell me,
Benny."

She blinked rapidly, her dark eyes shimmering
with tears. "He came home stinking like booze and weed. We fought
about the money he stole. He pulled out this envelope that was
stuffed with cash and started throwing hundred dollar bills at
me."

"Did he say where he got the money?"