The Cupcake Coven by Ashlyn Chase Page A

Rebecca’s father shook his hand.
    “Close. Texas,” Dru said.
    “Ah. Well, if you’ll excuse us, I have personal business to discuss with my daughter.”
    “Oh. Of course.” Dru backed out of the kitchen, but Rebecca could see his plaid sleeve lingering close to the doorway.
    “So, do you have that check for me?”
    “Getting right to the point, aren’t you?” She knew she was frowning but didn’t care. “Hi, Dad. I’m fine, and how are you doing?”
    He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and sighed. At last, he opened them and focused on her with an intensity she’d never seen before. “I’m in trouble,” he said.
    Her heart and voice softened. “Why? What’s going on?”
    “If I don’t get that money in twenty-four hours, I won’t be able to walk in here on two legs.”
    “Oh, Daddy! What have you done?”
    He paced with his hands behind his back. “I owe people money. Some very bad people.”
    She almost didn’t dare ask. “How much?”
    He stopped pacing and hung his head. “A lot. A couple hundred thousand.”
    Dru whipped around the corner and gawked at him. “Two hundred thousand dollars?”
    “No, Rupees,” Mr. Colby snapped. “Of course dollars. What business is it of yours?” He rounded on Rebecca. “Who is this guy?”
    “He’s a friend, Daddy. Dru, can you, um, cut up some samples to take out on the street for me? I need to deal with this alone.”
    He grumbled but respected her wishes. She had to give him props for that. She hadn’t known Dru very long, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if he threw her father out on his butt.
    She lowered her voice. “You know I don’t have that kind of money lying around.”
    “What about the deed to the building? I’d just be using it for collateral. Once I win the money back…”
    “Dammit. I knew you were gambling again.”
    “Yes. You were right. Is that what you want to hear? Your old man failed you again.”
    “No. Of course not. It’s just that my whole life is in this building. My job. My home. If they—whoever they are—take it, I’ll be unemployed and out on the street.”
    Tear shimmered in his eyes. “Don’t you think I know that?”
    “Who are they, anyway? I think I have a right to know who’ll be tossing me out. The Mafia?”
    When he didn’t answer her heart lodged in her throat. “Seriously?” she hissed. “You borrowed money from the friggin’ Mafia?”
    “No. They’re not the official Mafia.”
    Rebecca slapped her hand over her eyes. “I don’t fuckin’ believe this.”
    “Watch your language, young lady.”
    She peeked through her fingers. “You’re asking me to hand over my home and business and you have the nerve to tell me not to swear?”
    He crossed his arms and tipped his head back, looking down his nose at her. “I’m still your father.”
    Dru strode into the kitchen and got right up in her father’s face. “If you really cared about your daughter, you’d find another way. Give them a down payment and work out the rest, or let them break your legs. A loving father would do anything but drag his daughter down with him.”
    “And what do you know about it?”
    Dru leaned back and crossed his arms. “Enough.”
    Mr. Colby whirled on Rebecca. “You told him?”
    “Dru needed to know why I couldn’t pay him. He’s been kind enough to help me out for free until I could hire another baker.”
    Her father regarded Dru with narrowed eyes. “He’s probably hoping to take his pay from you on your back.”
    Rebecca didn’t have a chance to say stop before Dru laid her father out. Mr. Colby’s fall was broken by a stool, but his head still made a sickly crack as it hit the linoleum floor.
    “Dru!” Rebecca sucked in a gasp and rushed to help her father.
    “He called you a whore.”
    “So what? If he called me a light bulb, would that make me a light bulb? I’m not a whore. You know it, I know it, and even he knows it! He was just being a jerk. I detest violence. Don’t