Page 62 of Ravish

Lara dashed up the steps with Colby right beside her. “Aunt Tammy, what’s wrong? I told you to call me if you needed me,” Lara said, speaking softly and touching her aunt’s arm.

“I would have called, but I knew you were already on your way home. Your father and brother are inside.” Aunt Tammy jerked her head toward the kitchen. “They won’t leave.” Her aunt’s face was lined with worry, her voice full of tension.

Barging into her aunt’s house as if they owned it and refusing to leave? Lara’s blood pressure rose. She should just call the cops on them for trespassing and harassing an older person and a half-dozen other crimes. But she took a deep breath instead. This was family. She would deal with it privately. “It’s okay. I’ll take care of this.” She guided her aunt inside and had her sit down on the sofa. She glanced at Colby. “My fight,” she whispered.

He gave her a sharp nod and a look that said he had her back no matter what. “I’ll stay with her.”

“Thank you.” He understood. Lara straightened her shoulders and marched into the kitchen. Her brother and father sat at the table. Interesting that her other brother wasn’t involved in this, at least not yet.

“It’s about time,” Keith said.

“Where were you last night?” her father, Lawrence, demanded.

“None of your business.” Lara put her hands on her hips. “Why are you bothering Aunt Tammy?”

“We’re not. We wanted to talk to you,” her father said. “But you weren’t home.”

She planted her feet and crossed her arms. “We’ve got nothing to talk about. Now get out. You will not barge into Aunt Tammy’s home ever again.”

“Actually, we do have something to talk about.” Her father stood up. Not a strand of gray hair out of place.

“I doubt it, but in any case, we will do so outside. I won’t tolerate this invasion of Aunt Tammy’s privacy.”

“Oh, I don’t think this is something you want your neighbors hearing.”

“You meanyoudon’t want them hearing. What is it? Spill it, then get out.”

“Keith and Walter tell me they tried to help you rid yourself of the bikers that frequent your café.”

“They gave some of my customers a hard time, and I had them removed.” Lara put her hands on her hips.

“That doesn’t say much for your business if you have allowed riff-raff in.”

“Thatriff-raff, as you call them, are kind, friendly, paying customers. I won’t have them ridiculed in my shop.”

“It doesn’t look good to have those kind of people hanging around your café. It’s a blemish on our family name and is bad for appearances.”

“I don’t care one whit about our family name or appearances. I care about my customers.”

Her father huffed. “If you won’t follow even a modicum of sensibility, I’ll have to make you. So here’s the deal. My bank holds the loan for your café. If you don’t stop allowing those horrible bikers in, I’ll call in your loan.”

Lara’s jaw dropped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.Don’t let emotions get in the way.They’ll use it against you.“You can’t do that. It’s written into the loan contract.” Thank goodness she’d had the foresight to have that added.

“You need to get rid of the bikers, Lara,” her brother said. “They’re hurting the family.”

“Oh really?” She glared at her brother. “The only one hurting the family name is you and your prejudice. The bikers are fine. And I’m not about to ask them to stop coming into the café.”

“Then I’ll sell the loan to another bank,” her father said.

Lara shook her head. “You can try, but it’s also in my contract that you cannot sell the loan without giving me ninety days written notice and a chance to pay it off before it is sold.” She was tired of this crap.

She never should have used her father’s bank to finance the café, but at the time, it was her best option. Now, the business had established an excellent credit history and profit margins, so she could easily find another bank to carry the loan, maybe not with as favorable terms, but the café was doing well financially, so if she had to pay more on a mortgage, she would.

“There are ways around the contract,” her father said.

“Do you really want this to become a court case with all the publicity that will go with it?” She wasn’t bluffing. Even if it meant taking out a second mortgage on the café, she wouldn’t let her father control her business. Enough was enough.

“Get rid of the bikers, Lara, or face financial ruin.” Her father stormed out of the kitchen.

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