Page 32 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

“I know. Parker called me and told me. We’re going to throw them out the window and try to hit pedas-pedauch-pedashians.”

“Pedestrians?”

“Yes. Pedestrians.” She smiled.

“Um...no we’re not,” Aunt Brooklyn said. “How about we have a tea party instead?”

Alora shrugged. “Okay. We can do that first.”

Aunt Brooklyn ran after her.

I laughed.

Jacob walked in last and closed the door behind him.

“Hey.” He smiled down at me.

“Hey.”

“My jacket does look good on you.”

“You don’t need it back or anything, do you?”

He frowned. “Why would I need it back? ”

Because you’re in love with Olivia?

Liam laughed. I was pretty sure he knew exactly what I’d been thinking.

“As fun as this is, we should go watch Sophie distract Axel,” Liam said.

“What is she distracting Axel for?” Jacob asked.

I really didn’t want to rope anyone else into this mess...

“Get this,” Liam said. “Scar and Soph were babysitting Parker last night. They snuck into Axel’s room to look for clues to see if he was the kiss thief.

But then they checked the men’s locker room footage on Axel’s computer.

And when Aunt Hails and Uncle Tyler came home, they panicked and forgot to ex out of the footage.

They’re trying to make sure Axel doesn’t go to his room before Henley gets here to pick the lock on Axel’s door. ”

“Um...that’s a lot,” Jacob said. “Are you sure he didn’t already see his computer last night?”

“I’m sure,” I said. I really didn’t want to go into more details about why I was sure. But I already knew Jacob was about to ask.

Luckily Sophie walked back into the hall.

Wait. Not lucky. “Soph, where is Axel? You’re supposed to be watching him.”

“Parker’s on Axel watching duty. She pretended to cry so that Axel would draw with her. She’s such a little con-artist.”

I walked into the family room. Parker and Axel were indeed sitting on the floor drawing. Parker looked up at me and winked. And then she sniffed like she was still almost about to cry if Axel dared to move.

Jacob put his arm around my shoulders. “So...Henley’s coming, huh? Wasn’t he on your list?”

“Yeah. Suspect number one. Henley the Jealous Lock Picker.”

“Are you going to kiss him so you can cross him off your list?” He looked down at me.

I stared into Jacob’s eyes. I had no idea what he was thinking. But when Jacob’s arm was around me, I didn’t want to think about kissing someone else. “In front of my boyfriend? Absolutely not.”

“But you should,” Sophie said as she joined us. “Although my money is on Luis the Cheater being the kiss thief. Get this. He was cheating on his girlfriend last night with Georgia. In the men’s locker room. That’s what we were watching on Axel’s computer.”

“And you’re sure Axel didn’t see it last night?” Jacob asked.

“Yup,” I said. “Hey, what were you up to this morning? Before coming here?” I was slowly dying thinking of him making out with Olivia all morning.

He shrugged. “Not much.”

That was not an answer! “Were you hanging out with someone? Alone with them at your house perhaps?”

“I’m pretty sure Friday night was the first time I’ve ever been alone in my house. Well, without my family I mean. Obviously you were there with me.”

“I remember,” I said. I pressed my lips together. He hadn’t really answered my question. But he’d brought up Friday night instead. I’d had so much fun with him on Friday. Until he’d dropped me off and I’d felt so...defeated.

There was a knock on the door .

“I’m gonna go get that.” I ducked out from under Jacob’s arm and hurried to the door.

Uncle Mason and Aunt Bee were already letting themselves in though.

“Sup?” Nova said as she walked past me while texting. I wondered if she was texting Chloe.

Onyx stopped and looked up at me. “Can we play tag again?”

“Um...yes,” I said. “Later though.”

“Okay. I need time to find a rope here anyway.” He ran off.

Uncle Mason laughed like his son had just said the most hilarious thing in the world. “Hey, Scarlett. Wait.” He stopped before hugging me. “Is that Jacob’s jacket?” He eyed the number 18 on the sleeve.

“Yeah. We’re dating.”

“When did that happen?”

“Monday.”

“Why did no one tell me this? Yo, Matt!” he yelled and walked past me. “James! What the hell?! No one thought to tell me that my nephew and niece were dating?”

Aunt Bee laughed. “Well that sounded weirder than he meant for it to. And I also think he meant to say congrats. Scarlett, that’s so exciting. Your first boyfriend!”

I nodded. My first fake boyfriend. Something I had to keep reminding myself of.

“Congratulations,” she hugged me. “How is your father handling the news?”

“He’s been weirdly cool about it.”

“Huh. I would have expected the opposite.”

I laughed. “I know, right?”

“Party time!” Uncle Rob and RJ said at the same time as they walked into the apartment.

“We’re actually a bit late,” Aunt Daphne said.

“No party starts until we get here,” Uncle Rob said and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, baby doll,” RJ said to me. “I’ve heard you’ve gotten yourself in a bit of a pickle.”

RJ!

“What kind of pickle?” Uncle Rob asked. “And why did you just call Scarlett baby doll? Are you in the middle of an operation?”

No, we’re not!

“Trust me, you don’t want to be associated with it, Dad,” RJ said.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Aunt Daphne said.

“Mom. Please. I’ve got this.”

She laughed. “I think I need a drink.” She looped her arm through Aunt Bee’s and they headed to the kitchen.

“You sure you two have got it covered?” Uncle Rob asked.

“Yeah. Don’t worry. It’s not another V21 explosion situation. We used V22s for this.”

“Good boy. I’ll leave you to it.” He followed my aunts into the kitchen.

“Why does your dad never freak out about stuff?” I asked. “My dad is always freaking out.”

“Because my dad is the cooler brother. Is Henley here yet?”

“No. Liam didn’t tell him it was an emergency.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you, baby doll.” RJ pulled out his phone and started typing. “Just sent him a quick text. ”

His phone buzzed with a response.

“Great,” he said. “Henley is on his way.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, RJ. You’re the best.”

“I know. I am going to need a favor in return though.”

“I already owe you a favor.”

“You sure do, baby doll. Now you owe me two.”

I sighed. “Fine. Whatever.” I hated owing RJ favors. But how much worse could two be than one? He’d probably cash them in at the same time.

“One little detail though,” RJ said as we walked toward the family room.

“What?” I asked.

“Henley wants to make out with you or Soph. And he wants a picture. So he can show everyone in the locker room on Monday.”

“No,” I said. “Absolutely not.”

“You said it was an emergency. I had to negotiate quick.”

“RJ!”

“It’s no worse than those pictures you’ve sent the kiss thief.”

“It’s so much worse than that. I’m not kissing Henley.”

“Then Soph can do it.”

“Stop whoring out your sister.”

He laughed. “I’d hardly call a kiss whoring someone out. You live a very sheltered life, baby doll.”

“Hey, kids,” Mr. Tanner said as he walked up behind us.

Aunt Ash gave me a quick hug as the twins ran past me.

Skadi ran over to the back of the couch and tapped on Jacob’s shoulder.

He turned around to see her, but she ducked behind the couch.

When he turned back around, she tapped his other shoulder and ducked.

While she was pranking Jacob, Thorin slipped on something and crashed into the coffee table.

He only knocked over one tray of food though. So that was a win for him.

“Oh my,” Aunt Ash said. “I should go pick that up. It looks like it’s going to stain.” She hurried off to help pick up Thorin’s mess.

“No worries,” Mr. Tanner said. “Nigel? Nigel, where are you?” He snapped his fingers. “Nigel?”

Nigel came running up to him.

“We need a new carpet in this room,” Mr. Tanner said.

“Now?” Mr. Nigel asked.

Thorin crashed into another tray.

“Eh,” Mr. Tanner said. “Let’s wait until after the game is over. Get the same one. But more stain resistant. And maybe order some more hors d’oeuvre to arrive shortly?”

“Excellent.” Mr. Nigel jotted the requests down in a notebook.

I stared at Aunt Ash trying to pick up the food.

And for some reason, all I could think about was the top nude story Jacob had told me.

I hoped no one asked how Jacob and I started dating.

Because then he’d repeat the story he’d stolen from Aunt Ash and Mr. Tanner. And they’d at least know it was stolen.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Mr. Nigel said. “I need to confer with my grandson.” He pocketed his notebook and walked off .

I’d completely forgotten that Mr. Nigel had said he had a grandson.

It was one of the reasons why he couldn’t get us that video footage from Odegaard.

Because he’d been hanging out with his grandson.

Which made no sense. Because his daughters were super young.

At least they seemed interested in playing with the dolls though.

They’d found the box and seemed very happy.

Mr. Nigel plopped down on the floor next to Parker.

Well, that didn’t make any sense. Parker was a girl. And about the same age as Nigel’s kids...

“Did Mr. Nigel just refer to Parker as his grandson?” RJ asked. “He does know that she’s a girl, right? I guess the name Parker could be a boy’s name. But...she’s obviously a girl.”

“Yeah, I have no idea what’s happening.”

We both watched as Mr. Nigel laughed and then put Axel in a headlock. He rubbed the top of his head, sending his hair in every direction.

“Or is Axel his grandson?” I asked.

RJ laughed. “Axel and him basically look the same age. That can’t be right. But I rarely have any idea what Mr. Nigel is talking about. He does make a mean cup of hot chocolate though. I wouldn’t mind having him as a grandfather.”

“I don’t think our grandpa would appreciate being exchanged.”

There was a knock on the door.

RJ and I both turned around.

“That’s not Henley already is it?” I asked.

“Probably. He was already en route.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he was like five minutes away.”

“Then why did you tell him I’d kiss him if he was already on his way?!”

RJ shrugged. “How was I supposed to know he was already on his way, baby doll?”

Gah!