“He’s gonna kill us,” Derek retorted. “No, I take that back. He’s gonna kill you. We’ve saved your ass only for you to fuck it all up because you nailed his baby sister.”
“Hey!”
“Men are so predictable,” Claire chuckled beside me. “Of course your brother is going to kill him. Because you’re a woman and completely incapable of deciding what you want without his approval.”
She had a point.
Derek spun around in his seat. “Claire, this is Parker we’re talking about. He’s all about family?—”
“You’reallabout family. Every single one of you.”
“And we’re involved. We stole his baby sister from the hospital!”
“I really wish you would stop calling me his baby sister.”
“And we’re all gonna be dead,” Sinner agreed. “Dead as a doornail. You know, I never really understood that phrase. A doornail was never alive to begin with, so why is it dead? It’s an inanimate object.”
“He’s not gonna kill us,” Rob finally spoke up. “It’s a misunderstanding. We’ll just explain that to him.”
“Right,” Derek huffed out a laugh. “Because Parker is always so understanding about misunderstandings. Did you forget how we came to know him?”
“That wasn’t a misunderstanding,” Rob said. “He was set up. Totally different situation.”
“He won’t see it that way,” I muttered.
“See?” Sinner said. “Even she knows this is not gonna go down the way you want.”
“Look, let’s just take things one at a time. We’ll figure out who’s trying to kill us and why. We’ll solve that problem, and then take her home. We’ll explain what happened, and everything will be fine.”
A huff of laughter burst from me at his explanation. “Right. I’ll go missing for days on end, but when you return me with an explanation, everything will be fine. Michael will probably congratulate you.”
“It sounds like you’re being sarcastic,” Rob muttered.
“Because I am. You need to call him now and explain.”
“Ever heard the phrasetaking your life in your own hands?” Sinner asked. “Just saying.”
Spinning, I looked at the only other rational person in the vehicle. “Claire, you agree with me, right?”
She looked up from her book that laid open on her lap with a tiny lamp turned on at the top. “Hmm? Oh, I got bored and stopped paying attention. Good book.”
“That’s my girl,” Derek chuckled.
“Look, it’s my fuck up and my call,” Rob said. “Let’s just get to Vegas, and in the morning, we can figure out the rest.”
Leaning back in the seat, I sighed heavily. “I hate to point this out, but you guys dragged me out of the hospital without my purse or my coat.”
“We’ll get you everything you need.”
The reassurance in his voice should have soothed any worries I had. After all, they seemed more than capable of taking care of me. But why did I have a horrible feeling churning in my gut that things would never be the same once this was over?
11
ROB
“Parker’s baby sister?”Sinner hissed from the front seat. “Seriously, man. You really know how to step in it.”
I glanced at Krista, asleep on my shoulder. How the hell did I not recognize her? Then again, I must have recognized her in Vegas. Everything was so fucked up in my head, it really wasn’t that surprising that I somehow didn’t recognize her.