Love for Dessert (Contemporary Romance) (8 page)

**

After work, Anastasia dropped by the bakery to see if Darren was there. He had told her he would be staying until closing, but the only people who were in the bakery were four men, three of whom looked like patrons. Well, they didn’t really look like typical bakery-goers. They wore completely black jackets which looked suspiciously identical. Their dark baggy jeans hung low and they had sunglasses on, even though it was nighttime. The fourth man was wearing a bakery uniform, and she assumed he worked there.

As she entered, all of them turned to look at her. It seemed as if she had interrupted an important meeting. The man with the uniform looked at her impatiently. He looked young, and scraggly.

“Hi, I’m looking for Darren?” she asked quietly, feeling very out of place and somewhat scared.

“He’s not here,” the younger man answered curtly, in a very rude tone.

Anastasia looked confused. “He told me he had to close, because of the uh…”

“Heart attack?” The guy scoffed. “It’s my old man’s time anyway. Darren’s not here,” he said in a tone that clearly said “leave.”

Anastasia was completely confused as to why Darren would lie to her a second time, but she couldn’t argue with this guy, as the other men looked incredibly dangerous. She was also incredibly disgusted by his attitude towards his own father’s condition. Sighing, Anastasia turned around and headed out of the bakery, not sure what to feel.

She pulled out her phone and called Darren, but he didn’t answer. Sighing again, she headed home. Darren texted her late at night.
Hope I’m not waking you up. Sorry about not being able to be with you today, how’s tomorrow? Please say yes.
He even added a smiley face.

Being lonely and not wanting to believe that Darren would lie to her on purpose, Anastasia pushed this incident from her mind, too, against her better judgment. She texted him back like nothing was wrong. It was the right choice, she thought.

The month passed by without much happening. Darren was the perfect boyfriend, attentive, caring and romantic. Though Anastasia noticed odd irregularities sometimes, like an official-looking police badge in Darren’s apartment, which he swore was a prop for Halloween, and sometimes he disappeared off to who-knows-where. But he always came back with a small present or flowers for her.

It was nice, and they were still in the cute honeymoon stage. Erica had even met Darren and approved of him. To her, he seemed like a nice boy, with an interesting job. And a gorgeous body. Erica had even begun to praise the bakery immensely, which made Anastasia very happy. Ariana and Peter’s wedding was set for the next month, and Ariana’s tensions were running high as she prepared for the big day.

Anastasia headed to work, a big smile on her face. The bakery had been doing well, and many patrons had said that ever since the kind elderly man in the bakery across the street had retired, his son had taken over all the operations. There were somewhat terrifying-looking men in the bakery at all hours now, and it was highly suspicious. Therefore they preferred her bakery. Anastasia worried about Darren, but she could tell that he could take care of himself.

A good thing was that Anastasia found herself actually making a large amount of profit from the bakery. It was beginning to become more and more of a valid career option, and Anastasia was really excited about seeing it go places. She had already had Peter help set up a website for Ana’s Sweets, and after that her customer group grew even more. Her relationship with Darren was going fine.

Anastasia smiled and hummed a light song as she whizzed around the shop, working. She had wanted to hire an assistant, one that could help her keep up with her many customers’ demands, but she couldn’t. Ariana had already told Anastasia that once the wedding was over, she was quitting her job as a legal assistant. It was starting to get dull for her, and Peter made so much that he was able to support the both of them easily.

Ariana had agreed to help Anastasia out, in exchange for a share of the profits. Ariana had put a lot of hopes into the bakery, and funded some of the extra renovations and materials needed. Anastasia felt truly lucky to have such an amazing friend. But unfortunately, as the wedding was still a week away, Anastasia had to carry the weight of helping the customers and making sure they were all happy by herself.

She was still in a good mood from the bachelorette party she had thrown for Ariana. It certainly was a party to remember. Anastasia had picked out one of the best restaurants and rented out a private room. Then she had gone a little on the wild side, renting a bar, with a very sexy bartender named
Brad.
A lot of glitter, two young buff male strippers and many, many dollar bills later, Ariana had passed out on the couch in a state of absolute bliss.

The next morning, Ariana had raved madly about the party. Of course, she had to keep the strippers a secret from Peter. But secretly, she suspected for Peter’s bachelor’s party there had been some strippers of his own. Ariana was all ready for her wedding, and she was unbelievably happy.

Anastasia prepared for another day at work. She had sold out so many times that she was always running out of flour, and only had one day’s worth left. Unfortunately, when she tried to order flour a couple days ago, they had told her that due to an unforeseen equipment failure, they were unable to provide her with the amount that she needed and that she would have to order from another company for a while.

Anastasia had decided to try out a new company temporarily, and she had used the supplier for Darren’s bakery. She had seen their truck outside during deliveries, and believed them to be a trustworthy company because Darren had not complained about them whatsoever.

The shipment was supposed to arrive today, and she waited by the back door for the boxes. At eight o’clock, on the dot, a large truck pulled up. Two burly men came out, one carrying a large box and the other carrying a smaller one. “Where’s the man?” one of them asked gruffly.

Anastasia was confused. “It’s just me.”

The men looked at each other. One looked at his watch. “Shit, we’re going to be late. Boss is gonna kill us. Go.” They dropped the boxes, having no time to argue with Anastasia.

She opened the larger box to find the flour. “Oh, good.” She grinned and brought the box to the storage room. She assumed the second box was also full of flour, but she had to pull it open to check. Anastasia stuck a hand in it, making sure it was the quality stuff.

Her hand hit a sharp corner.

“What the heck?” she exclaimed as she pulled out a package, surprised. It was a huge zip-lock bag, almost full with what looked to be flour. “Why is it in a bag…?” She peered at it, completely confused. Anastasia opened it, curious. It was flour, right? She knew one way to test it. There was no smell, and it was in small crystals. The flour was obviously supposed to smell like flour.

“Shit.” Her mind leaped to the worst conclusion. “Cocaine?!” For obvious reasons, she didn’t want to test it to make sure, but there was nothing else it could possibly be. But then this brought up new questions. Why was this brought to her?

This was dangerous.

Obviously this powder was meant for someone else. And since it was shipped inside the flour… Her mind was whirring so fast, her head was beginning to spin.
Was this meant for the other bakery? Is that why those men were there?
And then she reached the most terrifying conclusion of all.
Is he in on the operation too? Darren…?
It would explain why he was sometimes incredibly mysterious. Damn. Her heart was pounding fast, and she longed for her hypothesis to be completely and utterly wrong.

But it was almost time to open, and she didn’t have time to think on that now. She got to work. The rest of the day went smoothly, but Anastasia kept thinking about the bag of god-knows-what. She didn’t dare drop by Darren’s workplace, for she was frightened of those men that had been there last time.

The next day, Anastasia wasn’t expecting anything surprising to happen. There was no reason to, after all. But suddenly, around one in the afternoon, she heard an incredibly loud noise. Anastasia rushed out of the bakery to see what was going on. She watched as two men yelled at each other on the street, anger on their faces. It was evident immediately to Anastasia that they had just come out of the other bakery.

“What do you mean there was no shipment!?” one of them yelled, completely furious. He shoved the other man back roughly.

“Shut up!” the second one growled, pushing him back with even more force. “People are staring.” They were clearly discussing something they didn’t want heard. Shipment? That word clicked in Anastasia’s mind. Yesterday, she had decided to leave the small bag of the mysterious white substance in the bakery. If it had actually turned out to be cocaine and in her home, it would be very bad for her indeed.

Anastasia bit at her nails nervously as the conclusion that Darren was part of the drug ring became even more certain to her. It couldn’t be possible… could it? The one man she had fallen hard for these past few months couldn’t be a drug dealer, could he? Anastasia cursed her “lucky” stars for bringing this situation upon her.

Darren texted her then, but she didn’t answer. She was too confused about the entire thing, and scared. She knew that people involved with drugs were usually ruthless and powerful. But Anastasia didn’t have time to make up her mind, for she had to get back to work. She would figure this out, hopefully, later.

**

When Anastasia didn’t reply to his texts or return his worried calls for days, Darren decided that he would have to see her himself. He didn’t know what he had done wrong for her to behave this way to him and he was determined to find out. So, just as Anastasia was closing up shop, he went to her bakery.

“Ana?” he called as he stepped into the bakery.

Shit,
Anastasia thought as she hid in the kitchen. She wasn’t ready to see Darren yet, and was still conflicted about the whole cocaine business.

“Ana, I know you’re in there.” And unfortunately, she knew he was right.

Anastasia sighed, and stood up. “Hi, Darren,” she mumbled.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you returning my calls? What did I do?” There was genuine concern on Darren’s face, and he didn’t know what to do. Seeing the look on his face, Anastasia was truly finding it hard to believe that Darren was part of the drug dealers. But there was no other conclusion to make.

She steeled herself for what she was about to do. “This… isn’t going to work out,” she muttered. “Us, I mean.” She hadn’t managed to come up with an excuse.

The look on his face was one of utter devastation as he listened to her words, praying that this was just a dream. No such luck. “A-are you sure?” he squeaked. She could almost literally see his heart breaking.

Anastasia couldn’t even speak, she was afraid she would start crying. So she just nodded and kept her eyes on the floor as she heard him walk away. The door jingled as he pushed it open and left. Her heart felt incredibly heavy, and all she could imagine was his arms around her, holding her safe against his warm chest. But no more. This was for her own safety. That’s what she told herself, over and over again. But it still hurt, and she could picture the look on his face in her mind clearly. That’s what hurt the most.

**

The next couple days crawled by, and Anastasia missed him. Morning to night, she missed him. She couldn’t think about the bakery, about new recipes, about her customers. Everything was about Darren. She kept mumbling to herself that it was the right decision to make, hoping that eventually, she would believe those lies. She swallowed dryly as she stood at the bakery counter. He was right there, across the street, yet it felt like he was galaxies away.

Anastasia attempted to distract herself by creating a new dish for the menu. There weren’t many customers since it was close to closing, and she was experimenting with different types of ingredients. Quiet music filtered through the stereo speakers. It was a calm night, or so she thought.

Three men walked in, burly-looking men. They wore short-sleeved shirts, showing off their bulging muscles. Anastasia swallowed her fear, and clutched her phone, prepared to call for help at any moment. “Hi, welcome to Ana’s Sweets!” she greeted them cheerfully.

“Cherry cupcake,” one of the men growled. It sounded weird to hear such feminine words spoken in such a voice.

“C-coming right up!” Anastasia murmured quietly as she moved behind the glass counter, grabbing it and placing it in one of her new specially made cupcake containers. Her adorable containers for cakes and cupcakes were especially popular with the younger crowd, who frequently cleaned them out after eating the contents. They decorated them and used them to hold miscellaneous items. It was cute, and they sometimes brought them in to show her.

It seemed odd to her to hand him the small, brightly colored cupcake. “That’ll be three fifty please,” she said politely.

As he rifled for change in his wallet, another one of the men spoke up. “Are you the owner?” His tone was indecipherable, and seemed to be a mix of impatience and rudeness.

“I am, yes,” Anastasia replied as she took the money and put it away in the cash register. “Enjoy your cupcake.”

“W—” The man was about to say something.

“What kind of flour do you use? Your supplier?” the third man cut in, and the one that had originally been speaking shot him an incredibly dirty look.

“I use Tamera,” Anastasia said honestly. She knew that the company Darren’s bakery used was Honeymelt, and was smart enough not to mention them at all.

“I see.” They didn’t say anything else, and left, muttering among themselves.

Anastasia knew that it had been an abnormal encounter, but she had no idea just how important that meeting would be in the days to come.

Almost another day had passed, and Darren hadn’t contacted her at all. Anastasia wasn’t sure if she should be unhappy or glad of that fact. At least it was Saturday, and tomorrow she wouldn’t have to work. Eventually, all the customers filtered out, and Anastasia collapsed against the counter, staring at the ceiling. But she couldn’t do nothing forever.

She pulled herself out of her slump and began to clean up, wiping down the counters. She still had to pour the flour into the storage bins. And she still had no idea what to do with the packet. Sighing, Anastasia trudged into the kitchen, when all of a sudden, she heard her door swing open and slam against the back. The bells jingled furiously.

Anastasia went out into the front. “Sorry we’re clos—” She was interrupted midway when she saw Darren, running towards her at full speed.

“We have to go. Now!” He pulled her arm and dragged her into the kitchen. He had a completely terrifying look on his face, a mix of panic and concern. “Where’s the back door?” He was basically yelling.

“What?” Anastasia pulled out of his arm. “What the hell are you doing? I’m not going anywhere with you. What’s this about?” She glared at him.

“Your life. You’re in danger. Grab whatever you need, we’ll go by your apartment. We need to get out of here, now,” he instructed, as he checked around the front of the store.

“W-what’s happening?” she cried as she grabbed her bags, and cellphone. “Tell me what’s happening right now!” she commanded, but it was no use.

“No time. I’ll explain later. Go!” He grabbed her hand and the pair ran out of the small bakery. He had a car waiting, and they sped off towards her apartment. He was driving so quickly, she was certain that they were going to crash.

“Why are you going so fast? Darren, explain!” Anastasia pressed.

“Hold on. We’re almost at your apartment, grab a couple things that can last you for a couple days,” he said as they pulled up in front of her building.

She did as he said, and was out of her apartment in less than five minutes.

“Now can you explain what’s happening?” she muttered as she clutched her head.

“Yep, in just a minute.” He sped out and soon was on the highway.

Anastasia scoffed. “It’s been a minute.” She tapped her watch and then crossed her arms.

“Sorry about scaring you earlier… It was an emergency. An emergency of…” he paused, and grinned. “Fun.”

Anastasia’s entire face changed from panic to confusion, then to utter disbelief and anger. “You mean to tell me… you made me completely and utterly panicked for
nothing?!”
She yelled the last word. “You’re unbelievable.” She scoffed loudly. “So where the hell are we really going…”

“To a hot spring.” He grinned.

For a second, it seemed like everything was back to normal. But Anastasia remembered that they were still broken up. “Wait. We’re not dating, I’m not going
anywhere
with you.” She glared at him.

Darren sighed. “Anastasia…” He stopped at a red light and turned to look at her. “Anastasia, I love you. Whatever made you have these hesitations about us, please tell me. I will sort them out. I want to be with you. Please. Just enjoy the weekend, okay, and then you can decide. If you still want to be separated, then I’ll never bother you again.” Sincerity rang loud in every syllable he uttered.

Her heart melted, but she still tried to stay strong. “Really?” She glared at him, finding herself unable to say anything. They sat in complete silence for several long, pregnant minutes until Anastasia finally spoke. “W-what about the bakery? Tomorrow is my only day off.” She settled into her seat, which smelled like him. She liked it.

“Ariana has promised me that she will take good care of it for you, don’t worry. Just have fun.” Darren’s smile reassured her of this fact. 

Anastasia shook her head, slightly laughing at how worried she had been that something was happening. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Though she had been terribly upset about Darren earlier, now it seemed like all of a sudden, it all became okay. She knew that she probably shouldn’t have given in so easily but there was just something about him, that made her so weak.

Darren stretched his hand out and took hers within his. “Don’t worry. It’ll all work out.”

They drove for another two hours or so until they reached a hotel. He stopped the car in front of a Japanese-styled place. It looked very authentic. Japanese hot springs were definitely one of her favorite things and she couldn’t believe that Darren remembered that she liked them. It was a rather far place, and Anastasia was completely confused as to why he would take her so far away, when there was a hot spring much closer to the city.

She sighed as she followed him into the hotel. He was being so amazing, and nice to her, even though she knew she probably didn’t deserve it. Darren opened the door for her, and checked them in. She watched him as he checked in. He kept looking around, searching for something. Anastasia thought about texting Ariana, but just as she pulled out her phone, Darren returned. “Let’s go up to our room.”

Anastasia followed Darren up to a room. She put her large duffel bag down, and sat on the soft bed. “Are the hot springs still open at this hour?” she asked Darren.

“Yep, they should be.” Darren was unpacking. His phone rang, and he answered, beginning to talk very quietly. So quietly, that Anastasia couldn’t hear him. He was peering out of the window, in a somewhat weird manner.

“I’m going to take a soak.” Anastasia grabbed a towel, and left the room. She walked down the hallway, thinking about all the events that had transpired. She still loved Darren so much, but if he was a drug dealer… It was a deal breaker, no matter how strongly she felt about him. Anastasia made her way down to the coed hot spring, which was the only one open at this hour, and stripped down to her underwear in the change room. She wrapped the towel over her body, and walked out into the beautiful hot spring.

It was a gorgeous, authentic-looking hot spring pool, with steam rising so thickly that part of her vision was impaired. Anastasia felt herself relax almost immediately, as she removed her towel and sank into the hot water. All her muscles ached as she closed her eyes, feeling the water take all her cares away.

Anastasia was awoken by loud splashing. She hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep, and rubbed her eyes, staring at whomever had entered the spring. Who could it be at this hour of night? “Anastasia?” She didn’t have to wonder long, as Darren called her name softly.

“Yes?” Anastasia murmured as she crossed her arms. She still wasn’t sure what to feel about him, and what she should do. Yes, it was a very sweet gesture, taking her to the hot spring but her thoughts were still in a complete mess.

Darren appeared beside her, in the water. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she murmured, not knowing what to say.

“Can we talk?” He looked at her with sincerity in his eyes, a look that melted her heart.

“I need some answers, Darren.” Anastasia’s face was contorted into a look that he could not decipher, and it scared him. He didn’t want to lose her, no matter the cost.

Darren nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“Are you a drug dealer?” Anastasia figured that there was no point beating around the bush, and got straight to her point.

“No. But, I’m not a baker either,” Darren confessed as he wrung his hands together nervously. He desperately hoped that once the entire truth had come out, she would understand and not leave him. Darren reached for her hand under the water, and he held it tight within his. “I’m a police officer. Undercover. My real name is Francis Darren Hall. But I usually go by Darren.” He felt her tense up, but she didn’t pull away. That was a good sign.

“So why were you working as a baker?” Anastasia sighed as she stared into his eyes, sensing his distress.

“I was placed in the bakery to expose a drug ring that has been using the bakery to smuggle in the drugs.” No wonder he was so incredibly muscled, and looked nothing like a regular baker. “I’m sorry I had to lie to you so many times, I had to meet up with my handler, and I had to check in at the precinct.” Darren sighed as he admitted his true identity to her.

There was a long pause, as Anastasia thought. “So what are we really doing here then?” she finally said, now somewhat suspicious that this trip was just an innocent getaway. She was correct.

“You… received a package, yes? A bag of white powder?” Darren ran a hand through his hair, his lips turned down in a frown. Anastasia nodded truthfully, seeing there was no point in lying. “Well… As I’m sure you’ve already figured out, it was cocaine. There is an elaborate drug- running operation set up in that bakery, with the original owner’s son now under the control of the kingpin, Carlos.”

Anastasia nodded as she thought about it. It was nice to finally know the truth after being kept in the dark for so long. Darren continued, “As you can imagine, having such a witness to the drug operation is dangerous.”

“A witness like me, you mean,” she said smartly.

“Yes… So he wanted you, to put it in his words, ‘silenced permanently.’” Darren sighed as he spoke these words. “And he asked me to do it.”

A chill ran down Anastasia’s spine as she understood the full weight of his words. “I see…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do it. But your life is definitely in extreme danger now that you have been put on their hit list. Don’t panic, I have a plan. I have evidence that is enough to bring down the drug kingpin. His entire ring. Once I do that, you will be safe, for sure.” Darren used his free hand to cup Anastasia’s cheek comfortingly. “But of course, I can’t go and bring all the evidence back to the precinct. I can’t leave you alone, and I’m definitely not going to take you back there with me. Our only choice is to go to the nearest police station, in the next city. As long as Carlos thinks I’m on his side, you’ll be okay.”