Page 52 of A Protector For Phoebe (Love will OUT 2)

The door to the bar bangs open and Suzie enters. “I’m home!” she shouts before skipping to us.

When she sees Ryker, her eyes widen. She rushes to him. As soon as she’s within arm’s reach, she lifts her bag and slams it down on his head. Good thing he’s sitting down. The munchkin would never be able to reach the giant’s head otherwise.

“How dare you?” She hits him again. “You hurt our girl!” Another hit.

She raises her arm to clobber him with her bag again, but Sid pulls her into his arms. “Calm down, crazy girl. Ryker has important information to share.”

“How are friends like condoms?” Barney asks, and I look at him like he’s lost his mind. Does it look like now is the time to make stupid jokes? He ignores my withering look. “They protect you when things get hard.”

Hailey giggles and high-fives him. When I glare at her, she shrugs. “What? It was funny. You’ll laugh later.”

I don’t plan on laughing again in my life. Ever.

Sid wrestles Suzie into a chair. “Can everyone calm down and listen to the man now?”

“How do you know what he has to say is important?” I sit back and cross my arms over my chest. There. Take that!

Lenny scratches his beard. “He came to see us this afternoon.”

“What?” The men cringe at the high pitch of my voice. “You talked to him? Why didn’t you arrest him? Or, I don’t know, throw him in a dark cellar he could never escape from?”

Aiden clears his throat as he joins our group. Oh good, the gang’s all here to watch my humiliation. Yippee. “Please don’t tell me if you decide to do anything of the sort. And don’t get caught.”

Wally sniffs. “As if we’d get caught.”

Ryker’s being awfully quiet. I glance over to see his gaze is on me. His eyes are full of regret. Nope. I shake my head. I’m seeing things. The big bad bounty hunter regrets nothing. I narrow my eyes at him before pulling my gaze away.

He clears his throat. “Can I talk to Phoebe alone?”

Pops snorts and his arm around my shoulders spasms. “You’re lucky you’re here. If you think you can talk to my girl alone, you are wrong.”

“I don’t care what he has to say. He has done our girl wrong. He’s out.” Suzie stands in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. Someone must have taken her bag away from her.

Hailey pulls on Suzie’s arm. “He’s not Toby, Suzie.”

Toby is Suzie’s ex. He put the A in asshole. He hurt Suzie to the point she’s given up on men. She hasn’t dated a man in years according to Hailey.

“No,” Suzie snaps. “He kidnapped our girl.”

“Thank you!” I clap. “Finally, someone remembers.”

“I was wrong, okay?” Ryker shouts and pulls his hands through his hair. “Your husband—” I growl. He raises his hands. “Sorry. Theodore fed me all this shit about you being a spoiled little rich girl and I bought it.”

“Clue in! Even if I were a spoiled little rich girl having a hissy fit, it doesn’t give you the right to forcefully take me against my will.”

His head drops. “Fuck.”

“And if I’m just a spoiled rich girl, why not kidnap me at the start? Why pretend to be friends with me? Why kiss me?” Him kissing me and making me feel all kinds of things I’ve never felt before is what slays me. I know I’m crazy. Kissing me bothers me more than him kidnapping me. Obviously, I’ve lost my grip on sanity.

“I couldn’t not kiss you. You look up at me with those green eyes and plush lips and I lose all control.”

Suzie sighs and I glare at her. “What? It’s romantic.”

“Says the woman who thinks men are scum.”

She shrugs as if she’s not the world’s biggest hypocrite.

Ryker interrupts our stare-down. “I need to tell you something.”

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