Chapter 8

• Everly's POV
• "I hope you locked up Angel," I told Lily as we welcomed yet another person into my house. I stood in the doorway of the front door and had not yet changed out of clothes much to Lily's dismay.
• Most of the "guest list" as Megan had called it, I knew because I worked with them and then there were the people I was actually close to like Lily's parents, Ryder's father and stepmother, and others.
• Lily waved me off. "Angel's not here," She told me.
• Angel, being Lily's long time pet that she got off the black market. Lily named her Angel because-in Lily's eyes at least-she was the perfect angel. Perfectly well behaved. None of us believed that. Why? Well because Angel was an alligator.
• I stared at her, waiting for her to inform me where on earth she decided to stash a twelve-foot long alligator last minute.
• She looked up at me when she felt my stare on her face. She shrugged. "My friend's watching her."
• "What friend do you have that willing volunteered to babysit an alligator?"
• Her eyes lit up with devilish mischief. "Who said he knew he was babysitting an alligator? I simply asked him if he could watch my pet for a few days."
• I shook my head. "Of course," I said.
• Lily looked down at her phone and began typing across the screen. "Nicky and Ryder are coming up the drive right now," She told me.
• Nicolette (Nicky) Moore was a hacker. The best in the world. Once upon a time, she'd been a very bad person, but she'd been one of the good guys for quite a few years now. She'd been working for the FBI for almost a year after Ryder had gotten her in.
• Ryder Stevenson was FBI and he'd been assigned by the FBI director to protect Nicky. They'd ended up dating, after he'd gotten over the initial shock of finding out who she really was. He was also a dear friend of mine and Lily's older half-brother. He could be just as devilishly mischievous as Lily. As he proved time and time again.
• She gave my clothes another disapproving glance and shook her head. "What are your guests going to think?" She asked me.
• I shrugged. "Considering everyone has been greeting me and giving me hugs without even batting an eye at what I'm wearing, I think the only one who cares, is you." I narrowed my eyes at her. "And I saw what you left out for me to wear and no way in hell is that happening."
• Lily snickered. "It matches your eyes."
• "Explain to me how that dress matches my eyes. I don't even know which part of it is worse, the style that leaves nothing to the imagination, or the fact that it is covered in flamingos of all things."
• She smiled widely. "Flamingos are cute."
• I shook my head. "You are ridiculous." I looked out at the sky. The sun was just beginning to set, casting shadows across the yard and a chill was setting into the air. "Who else did you invite?" I asked her.
• "I invited Jackson Storm," Lily said with a wicked glint in her eyes. "But he was otherwise occupied. Said he was truly sorry he'd have to miss it. Also said he'd make it up to you."
• "I would rather he didn't."
• Jackson Storm was . . . not exactly a friend, but he wasn't an enemy either. Mostly he was someone I only dealt with if I had to. He was a charismatic pain in the ass conman. And he spent the majority of our dealings trying to convince me to crawl into bed with him. He also felt that the law was put in place as a friendly suggestion.
• "I invited Cody but he already used his only days off to go to Chase's wedding and since he's still helping out in the training program he couldn't get any more time off. He says happy birthday and he wishes he could be here if only just to see your reaction to the dress I picked out." She winked at me. "I sent him a picture of it."
• I gave her a flat look.
• "And yes."
• I frowned at her in confusion. "Yes, what?" I asked.
• "To your unspoken question," She said as she once again began typing on her phone. "He's coming. He said he was running late. Got caught in traffic on the way out here."
• I knew who she was talking about, she knew I did but just as I was about to respond to her, a blue car pulled into the driveway and parked behind several others. I watched as Nicky stepped out of the driver's seat and came walking over. She shoved her keys and phone in her pockets and walked up the steps to give both me and Lily a hug.
• "Yes," She said as she hugged me. "I realize it's no longer your birthday but happy birthday nonetheless."
• Lily peered over Nicky's shoulder with a frown. "I thought you and my brother were coming together."
• Nicky gave Lily an overly sweet smile. "Yes, that had been the plan."
• As if on cue, a black SUV came speeding up the driveway, nearly crashing into the blue car Nicky had driven up and Ryder came out of the driver's seat at a near sprint.
• "You can't stay mad at me forever, Carrot top," Ryder said as he came to stand by her side.
• She glared up at him coldly. "Wanna bet?"
• Ryder swore at her and ran his hands through his hair in visible frustration. "I didn't even do anything!"
• Nicky shot him another glare before smiling at myself and Lily once more and walking past us into the house We watched her walk away and then Lily immediately turned to Ryder and punched him in the arm.
• "Ow!"
• "What the hell did you do?" Lily hissed. "How am I supposed to get her as a sister-in-law if you keep screwing this up?"
• "What do you mean keep screwing it up?" He questioned her. "I have literally done nothing. She's completely overeating."
• "Overreacting to what?" I asked just as Lily raised her fist to hit him again. Ryder reacted by throwing his hands up in what I was assuming was supposed to be some kind of kung fu gesture.
• He looked at me. "We were talking about background checks-"
• "Good Lord why?" Lily questioned.
• "It's an FBI thing, you wouldn't understand," Ryder replied mockingly as he patted Lily's head like she was a dog.
• I snapped my fingers at him. "Ryder," I said. "Focus."
• He took off his-sorry my­-sunglasses (he'd stolen them from me years ago) and glared at me. "Look, I didn't do or say anything. But we were talking about background checks and I happened to ask her if she'd ever done one on me, like when we first met. She said yes, so then I asked her what she found because I was genuinely curious since this is the girl that could find out that you placed third in the spelling bee or science fair or whatever when you were like twelve-"
• "Getting a little off topic," Lily told him.
• He let out a breath of annoyance. "So, I asked her what she found but she took it as me asking what she found like I was trying to make sure there was something she didn't find. So now she's convinced I'm hiding something about my past-which I'm not-and she's refusing to talk to me until I tell her what it is. But dammit I'm not hiding anything!"
• "You feel better?" I asked him once he finished rambling.
• He blew out a long breath. "No."
• "Well, are you hiding something from her?" Lily asked him.
• He glared down at his little sister. "I will drop kick you," He said.
• "I figured I'd ask."
• "If I was hiding something from her, you'd already know it," He told her. He groaned and dragged a hand down his face. "Could you please talk to her for me? Make her see reason?"
• Lily let out an overexaggerated sigh. "I'm only helping you out because I want her as a sister-in-law."
• "Jumping the gun a bit, aren't you?" Ryder questioned as Lily walked away to go find Nicky.
• I turned to look at him. "So," I said as I stared up at him.
• He looked down at me. "So," He replied.
• "What are you hiding from Nicky?"
• He had the nerve to feign innocence. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Happy birthday by the way. Would you like to see the gift I got you?"
• "Changing the subject is not going to work."
• "How do you know I'm hiding anything from Nicky?"
• "Henri."
• Ryder made a face. "I told him not to tell you."
• "And?"
• "And," Ryder mocked. "I'm handling it. There is no reason for you to get involved. Just please don't say anything to Nicky."
• "You're unbelievable," I told him as I shook my head. "She's going to find out eventually."
• "Yes and by then I will have come up with a believable lie."
• I shook my head and turned to walk away from him. "Good luck with that."
• He started walking as well, keeping pace next to me. He smiled down at me. "I see Lily was unsuccessful in getting you into the dress."
• I turned to give him a flat look. "Was the dress your idea?"
• "No," He kept his eyes ahead of him as we walked toward the kitchen. "However, locking you out of your room may have been my idea."
• "I hate you."
• He threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me into his side. "I think I'll live. So, how was South America?"
• I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I don't recommend it unless you're there for vacation," I said. "and even then I'd stay out of the jungles. Lily tell you that was where I was?"
• Ryder shook his head. "Nope. I found out like a week after you left."
• "Of course, you did," I replied.
• If you wanted someone found, Ryder was the guy to ask. He was like a human bloodhound. He could find people even when they didn't want to be found. And whenever anyone asked him how he did it, he'd just smile devilishly.
• Now, Nicky could find nearly anyone as well. But it drove her insane that he could somehow find them faster than her, or in the event that she truly couldn't track someone down, he could. And he refused to tell her how he did it.
• "How's work been?" I asked Ryder.
• He shrugged. "Same as usual. I've been dying for an interesting case." He let out an overexaggerated sigh. "but it seems as if there are no murderous psycho killers on the loose right now."
• I shook my head. "You could pretend not to be so disappointed by that."
• "I've been stuck doing nothing but paperwork and online investigating for the last three months. At this point, if someone doesn't go a murderous rampage across the states I'm going to be the one doing it."
• "I'll let your sister know," I told him. "She'll probably help you out."
• "Yeah, but that's not fair to me. All she has to do is wave her badge around and she basically gets away with it. No one for me to arrest."
• "Such a shame."
• "It is. People don't take their crime seriously like they used to."
• I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. "You really are unbelievable."
• "So I've been told," He looked down at me. "My sister doesn't still have that alligator here, does she?"
• "Not today," I replied. "She said she got a friend to babysit Angel. You wouldn't happen to know what friend is crazy enough to babysit an alligator, would you?"
• "If it is in fact one of my sister's friends, then yes. I actually do."
• "Mr. Stevenson," Henri greeted Ryder when I slid open the back door leading out to the backyard to join the rest of the party. "I trust you are going to behave yourself?"
• Ryder smiled devilishly back at Henri, his green eyes sparkling in amusement. "Don't I always?"
• Henri narrowed his eyes at Ryder. "I do recall a certain incident with the cars the last time you decided to visit."
• "Oh look!" Ryder shouted as he pointed to the table full of appetizers and snacks. "Chips." He took off before Henri could say anything else.
• Henri shook his head and crossed his arms as he watched Ryder scurry off. "I worry about that one."
• "And you don't worry about Lily?" I questioned.
• "There's still hope for her."
• I laughed.
• "By the way Miss Kingston," Henri said as he pulled his phone from his pocket. "The security system alerted me to another guest arriving a few moments ago." Henri smiled knowingly at me. "There's a young man here to see you."