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I’m too far away to hear what he says, but she nods at him then turns toward my mom again. This fucker is asking for trouble, sticking his nose in my business, sniffing around what isn’t his. A silent smile blooms across my face as I walk to the fridge and pretend to look in it.
“Mom, do you mind if the boys hang around for dinner tonight? I think Taylah and the girls will be here too.” I grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and lean against the bench, never for a minute taking my eyes off my tiny little dancer. I knew that Mom really wanted to have a quiet dinner tonight, just the four of us, but I had different plans.
As if on cue, I hear the boys running down the stairs toward the kitchen. With a sigh of disappointment, Mom just nods at me. “I guess that’s okay. I was really hoping that it would be the four of us tonight, considering you just got home today, and Phoenix is still new here.”
“Oh, I’m sure she wouldn’t care, Mom,” making a point to look at Phoenix, silently daring her to challenge me. “It might even give her a chance to meet some people she’ll be going to school with.” I try to appear as though I actually give a shit, when in reality, I only want my friends and the girls to get a good look at their target.
“Afternoon, Mrs. D, it smells good in here. Whatcha cooking?” Stryker looks over Mom’s shoulder as he reaches around to steal a strawberry off the fruit plate from the bench. His gaze lingers on Phoenix, throwing her a smirk that makes all the girls at school go gaga. He extends his hand to introduce himself with a wink. “Name’s Stryker, and what do I call you, beautiful?”
This fucker is flirting with her. I watch her reaction, and just when I think she couldn’t get any more uncomfortable, her entire body goes rigid under his stare. I’m not the only one that sees it. Tentatively extending her hand to him, she shakes it rather quickly before dropping her hand back into her lap.
“Nice to meet you,” it’s barely a whisper, but she continues. “I’m Phoenix.” Stryker narrows his eyes at her and looks to me, silently asking me a question I don’t know the answer to. I register the look in his eyes, and clearly, he’s going to be a problem too.
I watch her interactions with my other two friends as they all introduce themselves to her. Each time she is quiet and withdrawn, a far cry from the person who I watched only minutes before. It was almost as if she knew to fear us.
She leans into Jonah, saying something to him before they both get up to leave. “It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Ducane,” he says sweetly. Yeah, I don’t know what his game is here, but I will be damned if I let him get anywhere near Phoenix in any type of way.
“Oh, Jonah, the pleasure is mine. Don’t be a stranger, son. And thank you again for looking out for our girl here today,” Mom says warmly as she comes around the bench and gives him a hug.
I turn to look at my friends, and each of them mouth ‘our girl’ silently as I just shrug in reply. I’m not happy that Mom is becoming attached here, it’s only going to make it harder when I ruin her and she runs.
