Scrumptious: A Friends to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Camos and Cupcakes Book 3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  I slip out of bed and head into the bathroom. After relieving myself and brushing my teeth, I walk over to the bedside table and grab up my phone. Still nothing from Savannah. I can’t blame her. I was a total asshole last night.

  It wasn’t even that big of a fight. It was a small disagreement, but I’ve seen her freeze people out before. She is definitely going to try and take a step back from me. From us. Leaving her last night just gave her more space to do just that. I’m such an asshole.

  I know I should go out into the living room and thank both EJ and Harry, but I sink down on the bed. I have fucked this up royally, and I might have lost Savannah in the process. Over pride.

  There is a knock at the door, and I slip the sheets over me. I only have my knit boxers on.

  “Come in.”

  Harry pops his head in. “Oh, good, you’re covered up. My woman would like to speak to you.”

  Before I can open my mouth to object, EJ steps into the room. She’s still wearing PJs, her hair is up in a ponytail, and she’s not wearing any makeup.

  “Hey, Fritz. I have some people who want to speak to you.”

  That’s when I notice the iPad in her hands. She turns it around and I find three of my sisters staring at me.

  “Oh, god, please tell me you’re not naked,” Avery says.

  I roll my eyes and take the tablet from EJ, who sits on the bed in front of me. Harry comes in and hands me a coffee cup. I draw in a deep breath and the scent of the fresh coffee and sigh.

  “So, what happened?” Liv asks.

  “Nothing.”

  All three of them snort. Why are the women in my life always making it so difficult?

  “We had an argument.”

  “And you ran away like a little boy?” This comes from Cora. Seriously, she is the meanest out of all of them, but she says it was because she was the oldest. She says we drove her to it.

  “I didn’t run away.”

  “You’re hanging out at Harry’s like a loser.” Avery is such a pain in the ass.

  “I am not a loser, and I only spent the night. You’re acting like I moved in with them.”

  “You might have to after being an ass,” Cora says.

  “Who says I’m an ass?”

  They all stare at me, then I lift my gaze to EJ. She shrugs. “Sorry. I texted with Savannah last night. I wanted her to know that you were okay.”

  “Was she worried?” The moment I ask, I regret it. Even I can hear the neediness in my voice.

  “Of course, she was, but she told me about the fight. Fritz, you practically forced her to pick between you and her family.”

  “Her family sucks.”

  “Yes, but they’re in crisis.”

  “Hey, is there a reason I’m here?” I look at the tablet again and frown at Cora. She shares my eyes but has lighter brown hair. “I mean, Mike took all the kids out with Mom and Dad, and I could really go for some homemade mimosas.”

  “Those aren’t mimosas. They’re tequila sunrises that you put into a champagne glass so your neighbors don’t know you’re a whore for hard liquor,” Avery says. “And I would so love one. Fuck the champagne glass because I don’t give a shit about your neighbors.”

  “I think I need to spend more time with your sisters,” EJ says.

  “Yes!” Avery screams.

  “Listen, Fritz,” Liv says, her voice filled with understanding. “I know this is hard for you since you haven’t had a serious relationship, well…almost never as an adult, right? Savannah needs you right now.”

  “She said she’d take care of everything on her own.”

  She sighs. “She can, but I promise you she doesn’t want to be there by herself without you having her back.”

  For a long moment, I stare at Liv. She’s come a long way from the girl I grew up with. She found love, then lost him thanks to an IED. She’s raising those kids on her own, and I know she’s sad. But…she gets me.

  Maybe because her husband was military, but those words seem to click inside of me. My brain races through all of the memories, the things I know about Savannah, and about myself. She gave me an out because she had expected me to leave her. She expects people to leave her. Her parents never claimed her. Her brothers never protected her. My heart starts to bleed for her.

  “Fuck.”

  “Ohh, do you kiss our mother with that mouth?” Cora calls out from somewhere in the kitchen

  “Thanks, Liv. I love you.”

  “What about us?” Avery demands as she comes back into view. She has a drink in her hand.

  “I love you too, but not as much as Liv.”

  “Get bent, Fritzy,” Avery says with little to no heat.

  Cora returns, a champagne flute in her hand. “Really, Fritz, stop fucking around and go fix it with your woman. You don’t want us to tell Mom, or worse, Grannie Pam. That woman will flail you alive.”

  Liv laughs. “Yeah, she will. Go. And, EJ, do what we told you to do.”

  EJ smiles as the screen goes dark. As she approaches the bed, she continues to smile. I think I’m going to get a hug. Instead, she reaches out and smacks me upside my head.

  “Ow, fuck, EJ.”

  “Your sisters told me to tell you to snap the fuck out of it, Fritz.”

  I sigh as I rub my head. “I will. I’m not sure what time she’s going to meet with them though.”

  “Less than thirty minutes.” I let one eyebrow rise up and she rolls her eyes. “She told me when they were meeting this morning. Get up, get dressed, and go get her.”

  “She might not want me there.”

  She sighs and sits down on the bed again. “She does. She wants you to have her back.”

  “I tried.”

  “No, you told her what she should do. What she wants is support. That no matter what, you’ll be there.”

  She needs someone to guard her six. Dammit, I’d forgotten all my training.

  “Okay, gotcha.” I don’t move.

  “What? Why are you sitting there?”

  “All I have on is my boxers, and I don’t want Harry to fail by comparison.”

  She chuckles. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen with the third leg he sports. Hurry.”

  Then she shuts the door behind her. I pop off the bed, grabbing my clothes. I have a woman to go stand by, and I have no time to waste.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Savannah

  My eyes are gritty, and my head is pounding when I park my car outside the front door of La Trinidad. The only other car there is Austin’s, but that’s to be expected. I’m so damned tired, and I’m definitely not in the mood for this. Truth is, I’ll never be in the mood for this. There’s a massive boulder sitting in my gut, and I feel that familiar churning. I can’t believe that in less than a couple weeks, I’d forgotten just how horrible being at this restaurant made me feel. I’d grown accustomed to the anxiety that was now churning in my belly. It’s hard to understand how I lasted so long.

  With a sigh, I grab my purse and slide out of my car. I’m not even sure if my keys still work, so I’m glad when I find the door unlocked. I have no idea if Dallas or Lou even have keys to Trinidad. They really had nothing to do with the restaurant itself, even if they are owners in the overall business. I step into the restaurant and it takes a second or two for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. The lights are on, but it’s a sunny day. The dark interior tends to leave you stunned when you first step inside. It’s something that Austin and I have been wanting to change for the last two years. Both of my parents disagreed.

  Once my eyes adjust to the surroundings, I look around for Austin. I hear a noise in the kitchen, so I walk through the dining area. I see that he’s set up one of the biggest tables for our meeting.

  I expected sadness but what I feel is relief. There is a part of me that is sad over that fact. It was some place I loved, mainly because of Tito, but I’m so happy that I don’t have to be here to work. It was Tito’s pride and joy, and I had tried my best t
o keep it going. It’s flourished under my direction but now that I’m here, I wonder why that was so important. I believe in taking pride in your work, but why did I put myself through that? For the memory of a man who couldn’t be honest with me?

  I haven’t been here since I was fired. It’s been less than two weeks, but it feels like a lifetime. So much has changed in my life during that time, but the one biggest change is not a what but a who. Fritz. I don’t even know if we will be able to patch things up after this.

  I push that thought aside. I can’t think about him and what’s going to become of us. I just don’t know what to do with that right now. At this moment, a family business, one that employs hundreds of people—some of whom I have known my entire life—is my top priority. If we didn’t do this right, they could easily lose their jobs.

  Austin comes in with the coffee urns, setting them on the table. “I thought they would be here by now.”

  I roll my eyes. “Our family never shows up on time for anything except their own funerals.”

  “You do.”

  I look up at him and that sadness hits me again. He’s the oldest and I’m the youngest, so we shouldn’t have been as close as we are. But we were. Are. Fuck, I have no idea where we stand.

  “How long have you known?”

  I hate that I ask it. I can hear the neediness in my voice, and it embarrasses me.

  “I told you the truth. Mom and Dad had a big fight with Tito before he came out to see you. They thought it was a waste of time to tell you. I had shown up on a Sunday morning to work out the bar schedule and play with some ideas I had for cocktails.”

  It’s something that he does on a regular basis. “What were they fighting about?”

  He sighs and sits down next to me. He faces me, waiting for me to look at him. When I do, I see the same sadness I feel in the depths of my soul. This was something he never wanted me to know.

  “He was going out there to San Francisco to see you.”

  Yes, the trip that made no sense as he had never taken the trip before. He’d missed my graduation from the CIA, all of it. He had stayed behind and let my “parents” come see me for that.

  “He wanted to tell you.”

  I blink up at him, embarrassed, I feel unshed tears in my eyes. I hate crying.

  “He did?”

  I know he mentioned it yesterday, but I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth.

  “Yeah, that’s what the fight was about. He wanted to claim you. I guess they hadn’t told you before because they were worried about how you would take it. You were so young when you left. But Tito had said you were an adult and you deserved to know.”

  “He never told me.”

  “Yeah, they were holding something over his head, or maybe Dad guilted him. He’s good at that.”

  I nod and look away, but Austin grabs my hand, urging me to look at him.

  “He was so proud of you. He said you were the star of the family, that you were a testament to Marilyn.”

  Marilyn would be so proud of you.

  I can’t hold back the tears, and he pulls me into his arms. I feel the brush of his lips on the top of my head.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Diego demands as he stomps into the restaurant.

  I look at him. He’s followed by my other two brothers, all three of them angry.

  “We were just talking.”

  Diego reaches down and pulls me into a crushing hug. I’m so surprised that I laugh.

  “What?”

  “I can’t breathe,” I joke. He loosens his hold.

  “What did he say that upset you? We’ll beat the shit out of him for you.”

  “Don’t be an ass. He’s your brother.”

  “You’re our sister,” Diego insists.

  I shake my head and there’s a growl from behind him. I think it came from Lou.

  “You will always be our sister,” Dallas says quietly, but there is no doubt where he stands on the issue. I look at each one of them and they all nod.

  “Come on, Savannah, you didn’t think you could get rid of us,” Austin says with a smile.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Maybe you can explain why we’re having a meeting and why you’re here,” my mother says. I don’t know how I should think of her now. She was my mother for twenty-eight years, so it’s going to be hard not to think of her that way.

  “We need to have a chat,” Diego says, waving his hand at the table. I sit down, my brothers all taking up seats surrounding me. They might not have done it on purpose, but it sends a very direct message to our parents: they’re on my side in this argument. Truth is, my parents have no idea what this is about. My brothers made sure that they were vague about the meeting when setting it up with them. More than likely, my parents think I’m here to fight for my job.

  Once everyone is settled, Austin fills the coffee cups as my mother studies me with narrowed eyes.

  “So, you went crying to your brothers.”

  “Actually, no, they came to me.”

  “About what?” This comes from my father. He isn’t as openly hostile to me as my mother.

  “There seems to be some money issues with the Martinez Holdings,” I say. “You’ve been fucking around with the funds.”

  “I don’t like that kind of language,” my mother says.

  “I…don’t...fucking…care.”

  Her eyes widen, and she looks at Austin as he sits down next to me. Then, her gaze takes in the other three.

  “I think you need to be careful about what you reveal.”

  I hear the threat and want to laugh in her face, but I don’t get the chance. The door bangs open and we all turn around to see who it is. We did this early enough that the rest of the employees wouldn’t interrupt us. We might be assholes, but we don’t air our dirty laundry in front of our employees. But it isn’t an employee. It’s Fritz.

  He’s holding his helmet under his arm, his hair is a mess, and he’s striding toward me like a conquering hero. Joy shimmers through me as I feel tears threaten again. Jesus, I’ve turned into a wimp.

  “Who the hell is that?” my father demands. I ignore him because I only have eyes for Fritz. He’s so fucking sexy.

  He stops behind my chair. “I need to talk to you.”

  “We’re in the middle of something here,” Austin says.

  “Fuck off.” He doesn’t move his gaze from me. I guess I shouldn’t think of him as studly when he’s telling my brother to fuck off, but damn, I can’t help it. The way he’s staring at me sends heat surging through my body.

  “Give me a second,” I say. I know I should still be mad at Fritz, and I am. But the truth is, seeing him here has my heart beating out of my chest. Also, there is nothing sexier than Fritz dressed for a ride. He always seems to have an extra bit of swagger to his walk when he’s been on the bike.

  My family isn’t happy, but I ignore them and step away toward the bar. “What are you doing here?”

  He sighs. “I’m sorry.”

  Before I can respond, his eyes narrow as he takes in my appearance. “Who made you cry?” Then he looks around me, giving the evil eye to my family.

  “Fritz.”

  It takes him a second to tear his gaze away from the table and back to me. “What?”

  I draw in a deep breath, forcing myself to ask him the question even though I am afraid of the answer. “What are you sorry about?”

  “I shouldn’t have tried to tell you what to do. I should have listened.”

  “And you had to be here to tell me that?”

  “No, I have a couple reasons I’m here. One of them is that you need to know that I have your back.”

  “And the second?”

  He looks uncomfortable the moment I ask, and I instantly regret posing the question. Then he sighs as I wait for him to tell me that his support doesn’t mean he’s sticking around. He leans closer and says, “I love you.”

  For a long moment, I can’t
say anything. My brain is bleeding at the words, trying to wrap around them and figure out what they mean.

  “What?”

  He chuckles. “I came here to tell you that I love you and no matter what you decide, I will be behind you.”

  I open my mouth to say something, but no words come out. I can’t think. He just told me he loves me. Fritz ‘the Manwhore’ O’Bryan just pledged love to me, and I can’t think. At all.

  His mouth twitches. “Well, I think I stunned you.”

  “We don’t have all day to wait,” my mother calls out.

  I want to turn around and tell her to fuck off, but Fritz stops me. Leaning closer he whispers, “I hope that you love me too, but you can show me your appreciation once you’re done kicking your parents’ asses.”

  He nods, a grin transforming his face. Those dimples are in full force and his blue eyes are twinkling at me. God, he is pretty.

  “Savannah?” Austin is now irritated with me, but I really don’t care. All that matters at the moment is Fritz. I want to tell him my feelings, let him know that I adore him. Instead, I lean forward and press my lips against his.

  “Thank you,” I say. I grab his hand and pull him along with me. He comes willingly, leaving his helmet on the bar, grabbing a chair and placing it in between Diego and me, who was sitting to my right. He gives Fritz an annoyed look, but Fritz ignores my brother.

  “Now that you’ve let some man paw at you, I guess we can get down to business,” my mother says.

  I thought about breaking it gently. But that comment stirs all the memories of her shitty comments, the way she treated me for years. Fuck being nice.

  “I don’t have time to ease into this. You will both be removed from the hierarchy of Martinez Holdings.”

  For a second, no one responds. The silence is almost deafening. Then, my mother narrows her eyes, taking in all of my brothers, before she settles on me.