Page 39 of Against the Autumn Pines
WasI slowly losing my mind? Yes. Indeed, it did seem so.
Did I care? Not so much.
I’d put my bike away today and gotten my SUV out of the garage. Why? Because stalking for prolonged amounts of time from a motorcycle wasn’t easy, and people did stare at you. Who’s the guy over there just sitting on his bike, staring into the bakery? Seemed easy to spot.
However, an actual enclosed vehicle? Less suspicious. Tinted windows went a long way for the man who didn’t want to be seen stalking the woman he was determined to call his own.
So me sitting inside my SUV half a block away from the bakery? Totally fine, and no one was the wiser. Right now though, my goal was to try to find out when she left this damn place so I could put in the cameras. It appeared to be harder when she worked all day, every day, and lived above her work. I really needed to find her a new employee to help manage the place—that was high on the list of priorities.
How was a man supposed to stalk the love of his life if she never left, so he could actually put in the proper equipment to do the stalking?
Well, desperate times and all that. Pulling out my phone, I dialed the only number that wouldn’t be able to judge me in my desperate times.
“Hey bro, what’s up?” Rowan asked.
“Remember all those absolutely deranged things I helped you do to get Aspen?”
I was met with silence before I heard him moving around, and what I thought was a door closing. I assumed he was walking away from his newly upgraded fiancée. She knew about most of the shit now, but I wasn’t sure she knewallofit. “Cut to the chase, Wyatt. You know I’d help you without the blackmail speech.”
I chuckled. “Not blackmail, never with you. Just a reminder before I tell you what I need, that you’ve done some crazy shit.”
“A reminder that I’m nuts when it comes to this woman? Not necessary,” he replied. “So what are we doing to the poor bakery owner? Nothing harmful, right? If Aspen can’t get her bagel in the morning, it’ll be my head on the chopping block, and you’ll be forced to hide me until I can find her a satisfactory bagel along with a girl to chat with while she gets it.”
I wanted to laugh, but it didn’t happen. Simply because I knew he was being serious. Aspen would maim his ass if she found out he had anything to do with anything happening to Ember. Not that I had any intention of hurting my little flame, no. Quite the opposite really. I wanted to take care of her. However, she was a spitfire, and accepting help wasn’t in her resume. So it had to be slightly forced and maybe without her knowledge.
So no, there was no laughing on my end of the phone as I told my twin brother the plan and what I needed from him. There was, however, laughing on his end of the phone, but he agreed to help me—as if I gave him much of a choice.
Rowan was sittingin the passenger seat of my SUV, and our plan was simple enough. We’d go inside, order some pastries and coffee, grab a table, and then on the way out, we’d have to get some to-go stuff for Aspen and Rowan would ask to use the bathroom. I’d distract her, and he’d sneak upstairs to set up the cameras in a few corners of her apartment.
Simple. Easy. We could do this.
“Okay, so you just set this in a place that she shouldn’t notice, ensure it’s turned on, and I can manage the rest,” I explained to him.
I’d already set up the outside one’s last night when I couldn’t sleep and started this insane stalking endeavor.
“You realize this is insane, correct?” Rowan questioned, but I wasn’t letting his negativity bring me down. “All I did was set up cameras around my own house, notherhouse.”
“No. It isn’t like I’ve asked anyone for a tracking device, Rowan.” I stared across the car at him, into the eyes that were identical to my own, but he just shook his head and let out an annoyed huff.
“She doesn’t get a tracking device?”
“No, she just doesn’t leave my fucking sight,” I replied as I held up my phone with an arched brow.
“Fine. Point taken. Are you ready?”
“Born ready. Let’s do this.”
Rowan shoved a few of the small cameras into the pocket of his hoodie, and we walked across the street and into the bakery. Strolling through the front door, my eyes were drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
How did I ever miss it? Well, I knew how. I didn’t think the fates would ever bless me this much, with the absolutely perfect partner.
Ember was standing behind the counter, ringing up a set of women, a gentle smile curved along her face as she chatted with them.
The bakery wasn’t overly busy, but there were a few tables taken, and she seemed as if she’d been busy recently. As she walked away to make her latest customer’s coffee, I took the time to take in her overall demeanor. She was wearing a pair of ripped-up jeans that cupped her ass soperfectly. A black t-shirt that was tucked in, but I wondered briefly if it was a t-shirt or one of those body suits she loved so much.
Fuck, I hoped it was the later. What I would pay to peel that material off her curvy body.
Her hair was up in a scrunchie today, a few pieces had fallen out and around her face, with a pen stuck up in her messy bun as if she’d stuck it there to take pastries out of the oven and forgot about it.
