Page 96 of The Body in the Backyard
“The hell you will. I have yelling to do,” Nick snapped.
“Don’t you tell my friend what to do.” Jasmine stepped in front of Riley and crossed her arms. Jasmine’s idea of conflict resolution was to throw as much gasoline on the fire as possible until everything exploded.
“Don’t criticizemyfeelings about my girlfriendputting herself in the literal line of fire!”
“Don’tyoutellmewhat to do!”
“Wow. She really has no sense of self-preservation at all,” Josie said, hopping up on the kitchen island to get a better view of the argument.
“I forgot to tell you the best part,” Mrs. Penny said over the shouting. “So the guy pulls the trigger right as I’m knocking him out…”
“I also requested sparkling water for my afternoon snack, not tap water,” Griffin yelled over the commotion.
“Fred, your balls are on the table,” Josie noted.
He peered down at his short shorts. “Oops!”
“What the hell is going on in here?” Brian wheeled into the kitchen and paused. “Why do we have extra dogs?”
Nick tried to peer around the seething Jasmine. “Riley Middle Name Thorn, you better have a good explanation for why you would willingly run toward an armed man, steal two dogs?—”
“Don’t forget the breaking and entering,” Mrs. Penny piped up.
“You did the breaking and entering first,” Riley argued. “I was just coming to rescue you!”
“Pfft, I would have had us out of there in no time,” Mrs. Penny argued.
“Yeah, with a body count,” Josie shot back.
“And another thing! You don’t get to get mad at Riley when you’re the one who spent the last however many weeks obsessing about another woman,” Jasmine yelled at Nick.
Nick was still trying to dodge his way around her best friend to get to Riley. “If you don’t get out of my way, Patel, I will physically remove you from it!”
All the dogs were barking, and everyone was yelling at once.
“I also don’t care for this plate made of paper! I feel like I’m eating off a napkin,” Griffin announced over the shouting.
“Everybody shut the hell up!” a voice of authority snapped.
Everyone looked toward the kitchen door, where Weber was standing looking almost as pissed off as Nick.
“Who let you in?” Nick demanded.
“The Denzel Washington look-alike,” Weber answered.
“How much did you hear, copper? You have to tell us. It’s the law,” Mrs. Penny said, brandishing a french fry.
“Hey! I’m not done with you, Santiago.” Jasmine drilled a finger into Nick’s chest.
“And I haven’t even gotten started yelling in concern at Riley,” Nick said. “If you don’t step aside right now, Patel, I’ll cut your bangs.”
All the women in the room gasped together.
Weber was suddenly standing between Nick and Jasmine. “Back off, Nicky,” he growled.
“I can take care of myself,” Jasmine snarled at the cop’s back.
“Oh really? Because from what I heard, so far today, it’s been breaking and entering, abducting dogs, and encountering a shooter.”
