“Yeah, Pops. This is Ryker. He saved me today.”
“Saved you?” Lenny asks. “Saved you from what?”
I jump in my seat. Holy shit. Where did he come from? Does he have magical powers? I peer around him and notice he’s joined by Barney, Wally, and Sid. Are they all graduates of Hogwarts?
“Did you guys apparate in here or travel by the Floo Network or something?” I ask as I look around for a fireplace and residue of Floo powder. So, sue me, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. When your sole means of escape is in your head, you tend to read a lot and fantasy books are the best sort of escape.
“First people talk about an alien abduction day and now traveling by Floo network. I think I’m missing out.” Barney scratches his head.
Sid smacks him. “She’s talking about a book.”
Pops, Lenny, Barney, and Wally gaze at him with their eyebrows raised. He shrugs. “I have kids. It’s impossible not to know about Harry Potter if you have kids.”
Lenny returns his attention to me. “Don’t make me ask you a second time, Doll.”
Geez. Maybe I was wrong about this overprotective thing making my stomach warm. “It was no big deal. A rottweiler was chasing me. Big guy here threw me over the fence.”
Lenny growls. “You threw her over a fence?”
While I cower from Lenny’s growl, Ryker is completely unaffected. He grunts. “It was the quickest way to get her out of danger.” He notices me cowering in the corner and reaches out to squeeze my hand. “You’re scaring her. Cut it out.”
The uncles and Pops are on instant alert. “We’re scaring her?” Pops snarls.
My eyes widen at the standoff between Ryker and Pops. Uh oh. Time to wade in. I say the first thing to pop into my head. “When did the Browns get a dog anyway? And how do they have a dog? They never let the poor thing out. I would have seen it. Some people don’t treat their pets right.”
“Not sure babying a Rottweiler is the ‘right’ thing,” Ryker says.
“Taking a dog for a walk is not babying. Dogs need to be walked.”
Uh oh. I let myself get distracted. Stupid. Because now the uncles have all pulled chairs up to our booth and are sitting around us. Don’t get me wrong. I love the uncles. I have a huge extended family back home. No. Not back home. In my previous life, I had an extended family. But no one cared about Phoebe. Except for how they could use her to get what they wanted.
“What are your intentions with our Phoebe?” Sid asks.
I need to shut this down. “Um, guys, Ryker has no intentions. We’re not on a date. I asked him for a drink to thank him for helping me close the case.”
“Close the case?” Hailey pushes the uncles out of the way to sit down next to me. “Did you get a picture of Stan Brown?”
Suzie claps and starts singing We’re in the Money. She’s dancing as well, except the woman can’t dance. No, her version of dancing makes her look like she’s having a fit of some sort. She runs into Barney’s chair and takes a nosedive into his lap.
“Glad you could stop by,” Barney says as he rights her and puts her on her feet. He stands and sets her in his chair. “Stay.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“Speaking of dogs, where’s Lola?” I ask. Where Hailey goes, Lola goes.
“In the kitchen, where else?”
“Lola!” Suzie shouts.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever comes barreling out of the kitchen and runs straight to our group. She doesn’t stop until she finds me and starts humping my leg. My face heats as the men chuckle.
“I told you dogs love me,” I tell Ryker.
The corners of Ryker’s lips tip up in an almost smile. “You showed me.”
Aiden arrives and grabs Lola’s collar. “Come on, girl. Leave Phoebe alone.” Lola whines, but he doesn’t give her a choice as he pulls on her collar. “And that goes for the rest of you as well,” he orders.
“What?” Suzie looks around. “What are you talking about?”
Aiden motions to me and Ryker. “Leave them alone.”
“Why? Are they on a date?” Her eyes round as she takes me in. “Are you on a date?” She squeals. “Pound town party of one!”
Hailey holds up a finger. “Put the pause on crazy for a second.” She looks at me. “Did you close the case? Seriously?” I nod. She raises her hand to high-five me. I may be feeling awfully proud of myself, but I still don’t do high-fives. I wave with both hands instead and end up looking like I’m doing jazz hands. I’m doing an awesome impression of a total idiot.
She stands. “I want to hear all about it tomorrow.” She addresses the uncles. “Come on, break it up. Break it up.”
“But I want to hear about how she got the picture now,” Suzie whines.
Hailey grabs her arm and hauls her to her feet. “Too bad. You can’t always get what you want.”
Suzie pouts the entire time Hailey drags her away. The uncles stand. Each one glares at Ryker before winking at me and walking off. I wait until every last one of them has left before speaking.
“I’m sorry. I’m sure this isn’t what you had in mind when I offered to buy you a drink to thank you for your help.”
He chuckles. “It’s fine, Princess. It’s good you have family to protect you.”
“They’re not really my family.”
He freezes. “They’re not? Where’s your family?”
I wave his question away. I don’t talk about my family. My former family that is. “I don’t have a family.” Before he can ask me another question, I cut him off at the pass with a question of my own. “Are you from around here?”
“You’re an orphan?” Ugh. Can he not see I don’t want to talk about it?
“Not exactly,” I hedge. “What about you? Where’s your family?”
“Grew up in care.”
My eyes widen. I’ve never met anyone who grew up in foster care. Before I hit him with one of the thousand questions rolling around in my head, his phone beeps. He mumbles sorry before grabbing it from his back pocket.
He frowns. “Gotta go. A skip is in on the move.”
“A skip?” What’s a skip?
He reaches over the table and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear before leaning over and kissing my forehead. “Sorry, Princess. Raincheck?”
My head bobs in agreement before I can remind my body we want nothing to do with men, and he saunters off. My eyes can’t help but watch his very fine behind as he leaves.
Suddenly, I don’t mind the nickname Princess anymore.
Chapter 6
When crazy comes calling, keep your eye on the door and lie through your teeth. ~ Phoebe’s rules for becoming a better person
“Hey, Phoebe,” Hailey calls before walking into my office where I’m writing up the report on the investigation into Stan Brown. “Good job with the Brown case.”
I smile as my whole body warms. Getting praise from anyone – let alone a boss – is a new experience, and I like it. “Thanks.”