“I thought you ditched me,” Ryker teased. “It must’ve been a long text.”
I was about to relay my father’s message when my jaw went slack.
Ryker tensed, or more like dug his fingers into my arm.
Beverly Sims smiled as though she’d just found the Holy Grail. “I knew I would see Ryker here, but not you.” She said the wordyoulike it was a swear word.
Confusion clouded my brain as to why she was at a high school art festival until a middle-aged woman glided up, dressed in a flower-patterned sundress. My jaw bounced off the floor.
The beautiful blond woman had the same genes as Beverly, the same blue eyes, and the same seemingly fake smile plastered on her face. “You must be Ryker. I’ve heard all about your sister’s talent. I’m Lorna Sims, the guidance counselor here.” Then she swung her attention to me. “Haven, right? Beverly told me about you.”
I doubted that. But I knew someone who had probably filled her in about me.
“Are you new here?” Ryker asked. He hadn’t let go of me, although he’d lost some of his tension. He’d probably thought Beverly was following us until her mother showed up.
As for me, my muscles were strung so tight that if they snapped, they would fly around the room and sting someone.
“I started at the end of last year,” Lorna said.
I wanted to ask where her other daughter was, but my tongue had gone to sleep while my mind scattered, wondering if Lorna Sims knew I’d seen her and my father together… or more like I’d seen my father’s lips stuck to her neck and his body pressed to hers when I’d walked into the kitchen.
I had to hand it to my father. He had balls if he would corner a woman in our house while his wife entertained dinner guests. I couldn’t say for sure if my father had screwed Lorna, but I would bet my trust fund and more that he had.
The Sims sisters were out to snag a rich man. I imagined their mom wasn’t any different.
“Mom, we should mingle,” Beverly said.
Lorna fixated on me. “Are you two dating?”
“We are,” I said as my tongue suddenly woke up.
Ryker’s chuckle was a little ragged.
Beverly gasped and narrowed her eyes at Ryker. “Since when do you date?” Her tone was mean and dirty.
Ryker clutched me to him like I was his lifeline. Little did he know he was mine, because he was holding me upright. I was a second away from freaking the heck out. But one thing came into focus—Beverly and Tabitha were the moles that my father had hired. I would bet everything I had on that fact.
As polite as he could muster, Ryker said, “It was nice to meet you, Ms. Sims.” He ignored Beverly. Then he guided me over to his sister’s painting.
I stumbled as I gave the Sims family one last look. Beverly’s features were tight and red, and her nostrils flared. I wanted to jump up and down for joy that I’d driven a proverbial knife into her chest.
My happiness died a quick death when I thought of my father. Sure, I knew he had hired someone to watch me. I’d also suspected Beverly or Tabitha of being the spy. Yet confirming that fact made me want to scream. I now wondered if my father wanted me to stay away from Ryker because of the Sims sisters. Maybe he wanted to make sure he kept them happy and not me.
Ryker’s breath fanned my earlobe. “That was weird.”
Not weird but unbelievable.
“Don’t let go of me.”
“I got you, dollface.”
Normally, I didn’t like that nickname. But now that we were friends, “dollface” wasn’t so bad, only because “I got you” held more weight and substance than “dollface.”
I sighed as Ryker’s aftershave wafted around me. It smelled like a cool spring day, and it helped mask the anger that had taken up a home inside me.
“This is Leigh’s,” he said softly.
I zeroed in on a picture of him, a perfect canvas of Ryker James in a football jersey that had Woodcreek stitched on the front. The detail had been done to perfection, right down to the angle of his jaw. I swallowed hard at how Leigh had captured the happiness in his gray eyes and the cockiness in his expression.
