Page 30 of Property of Riptide
While they have their spat, I stay tuned to Icer, wanting to know how he’ll explain it to her in a way she’ll understand.
“It means you’ll stay short and won’t get any taller, your eyes will cross,andyou won’t be as strong as Mulan,” Icer tells her.
Now it’s Elodie gasping. “I don’t want my eyes to cross! And I want to be just like Mulan when I grow up. I’m going to eat all of my vegetables from now on.”
“He’s the kid whisperer,” Van says, slack jawed.
“That’s it! He’s invited to dinner every night,” Zoey decides. “She looks at her dinner like I’ve poisoned it. Especially if there’s anything veggie related on her plate.”
“I should just build him a room at our place so he can be the live-in nanny,” Indiana states.
“Don’t push the boundaries, sir,” Zoey says, pinching his side. “I already have to deal with you, I can’t handle another wild card in the house.”
“I should be offended, but I’m not,” Indiana mocks, before turning to Van, stating, “I’m not that bad. She’s a drama queen.” Then we hear an ‘oomph’ leave him as Zoey’s elbow connects with his ribs.
“Come on you two, Icer and the kids are fine. We need to go grab some food before things kick off,” I propose, turning around and pulling Van along with me.
“How did Issy manage to get so many vendors here?” Van asks me as we sit down with our meal. We both went with the brisket drizzled in barbecue sauce with fries on the side.
“She’s been around for a while and has a lot of connections,” I answer.
“I bet everyone loves her,” Van muses.
“Issy’s always had that adorable thing going for her. People just can’t say no to her when she asks for something. All she has to do is look at someone beneath her eyelashes with her bottom lippuckered and they race around like chickens with their heads cut off to give her what she wants,” I inform Van.
“She needs to add some carnival rides and sell tickets, they’d make a whack if she did,” Van says. Indiana and I turn to her and give her a stunned look because if stationary rodeos considered adding that attraction, they’d never go out of business. “What? I’m in marketing, I know what sells.”
“And you’re moving to Canton, Texas? On purpose?” Indiana asks, sounding just as confused as I am. “I didn’t realize marketing jobs even existed in that area.”
“Itisa small town,” Zoey adds. “There aren’t many conglomerates or headquarters there. It’s mostly wide-opened spaces with abandoned warehouses.”
“The company I work for is branching into two separate locations. It’s run by two brothers and one of their wives is being relocated there so they decided to open up another location. It’ll mostly be remote work and I won’t have to go into the office but once a week to turn in my reports,” Van explains.
“What’s his wife do?” Zoey asks Van.
“Marilee’s an agent with the FBI. She’s being sent there to investigate the town. It’s been reported to the agency that there are some scandalous things going on with the officials and she’s being sent in to investigate and clean things up. From what I overheard, they are sending her in to gather enough evidence to file charges against them,” Van tells us, not realizing she just obliterated our minds.
“Where did you hear that, Van?” Indiana asks, a fry dangling midair.
“One night, I went in after closing to drop off a report I forgot to turn in and accidentally ended up eavesdropping on a conversation between the bosses. Julian was telling Owen about it. He’s worried because she’ll be going undercover and it could be dangerous.”
She has no idea how dangerous it could end up being. I’m going to have to keep my eye on my woman and make sure she doesn’t get tangled up in it. It’s bad enough I’m worried about her catching the eye of the Dragons, and she just unknowingly added an extra layer to my worries that I wasn’t anticipating.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Van
The atmosphere became tense after I opened my mouth and inserted my foot. The last thing I should’ve done was tell them about Marilee. It could be detrimental to her health if word gets out about her and what her goal is with moving to Canton.
Sitting in the bleachers of the arena, I lean into Riptide and beg, “Please don’t tell anyone about Marilee.”
“Don’t worry, Van. As long as she’s not there to take down my club, she’s safe from us,” he promises. I know with who he is and what club he presides over, I should take those words with a grain of salt, but Riptide, as well as his brothers, are men of their word and if he’s vowing to not go after her, I believe him.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should’ve never told y’all about her,” I mumble.
“It’s because you trust me and know that I’m not going to do anything nefarious with that information,” he conveys. “WhichI won’t. But I am worried about you knowing this information, Van. It puts you in a compromising position.”
