Cade

The sound wasn't a crash. It was an explosion.One second, I was wiping down the steam wand, mentally calculating how fast I could lock the doors if I skipped sweeping the patio. The next, the world dissolved into a cacophony of shattering safety glass and screaming metal.A cloud of dust and debris rolled over the counter. I just stood there, holding a milk-crusted rag, staring at the gaping hole where the storefront used to be. Lying amidst the wreckage of the display table and crushed biscotti jars was a man.He groaned, rolling onto his back. He coughed once, sending a puff of drywall dust into the air, and then sat up. He looked like he’d been thrown out of a moving car, which, judging by the skid marks on the pavement outside, might have been exactly what happened.He wiped a smear of blood from his cheek, shook the glass shards out of his hair like a wet dog, and locked eyes with me. He didn't look scared. He looked... annoyed. And then, he smiled. A crooked, arrogant, charming smile that had absolutely no business being on the face of a man bleeding on my floor. I looked at the man. And all I felt was a deep, exhausting desire to lie down on the floor and never get up…