He climbed off his bike and sauntered up the walkway to the front steps. Without a word, he pulled me into his arms and buried his face in the crook of my neck.
“You smell like cake batter,” he mumbled.
I sighed and leaned into him. All the adrenaline I’d been running on drained out of me and my legs felt wobbly.
Slash pulled back. “Gotta talk about some things. Don’t we?”
“Who called you?”
“Duke. It should’ve been you.”
“Why? I had my hands full already. And I knew I would tell you when you got home.”
Before I could move, he gently reached out to grasp my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I’m sorry about your bakery, and I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
I frowned in confusion. “You couldn’t have prevented it.”
He paused. “No. But I could’ve been here to help.”
“I got it sorted.” I wrenched my chin from his hold and walked inside. He followed and shut the door.
“You’re pissed.”
“Damn right I’m pissed,” I said. “That building, that bakery, is my everything.” I moved into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “Do you want to shower? Get comfortable before we have this conversation? There’s something I need to discuss with you and—”
“Now.”
“What?”
“We’ll have the conversation now. Everything else can wait.”
“Okay. But you have to promise me something.”
He raised his brows and waited.
“You can’t get mad at me for how I chose to handle things.”
His expression soured, but he cut his head to one side in agreement.
I took a deep breath and told him about Kurt Antol, about my suspicions even though I didn’t have any substantial proof. I explained his offer to buy the bakery and Ella’s story about how her business had failed so similarly to mine.
I mentioned the Smith Corporation and that I hadn’t been able to figure out who was behind the entity or how to get them to back off.
Slash curled his hands into fists by his sides and then he began to pace. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I’m telling you now,” I said evasively.
“Brooklyn. Why?”
“Because I hate admitting I can’t figure out a solution to a problem. Because I’ve been nothing but a financial drain on you since we got together.”
“This fucker is targeting you and you were worried about being adrain? Christ, woman.”
“Slash, listen to me. Dumping this shit in your lap means I’m a fucking hypocrite, and I hate that.”
“Hypocrite? What do you mean?”
“I mean I had to wrap my head around the club and your illegal activities, and here I am, needing help, which means I’m asking you to fix this. And I don’t carehowyou fix it anymore; I just want it fixed. That makes me part of something I’ve never been part of before.” My shoulders slumped. “I’m so tired. I’m getting my ass handed to me by this guy. I don’t have the right weapons to deal with him.”