Ben offered me a lazy smile. “I’m glad you came. You should come more often.”
His words hung in the air and collected dust before I answered. “I only come when I want to, not when I’m told.”
“Mee-ow,” he purred, biting his lower lip.
Wheeler’s eyes centered on his plate while he slowly scraped the icing off his dessert.
“Are you off tonight?” Ben continued.
“No, I have to work.”
“Dilemma. Maybe I can… get you off.”
The more his mouth flapped, the less funny he became. Innuendoes were my guilty pleasure in life, but his were incessant and borderline creepy.
When he touched my arm with his index finger, Wheeler shoved his plate forward. The legs of his chair made a terrible noise as he scooted back. “Why don’t you check out the video poker in the back?”
“Busy,” Ben replied absently, admiring the dark curls of my hair.
Wheeler crossed his ankle over his knee and clenched his jaw.
“Melody!” Izzy blurted out.
I looked over my shoulder and watched William stroll through the front doors with a little girl holding his hand. Izzy and Jericho’s little girl, to be exact.
Unlike Hope, Melody looked like a handful. Someone had braided only the ends of her tangled hair, so she had flyaway hairs up top and skinny braids at the end. She hadn’t inherited Izzy’s red hair but looked the spitting image of Jericho, from his milky-green eyes to his brown locks. Melody had Izzy’s lips and outgoing personality. She let go of William’s hand and strutted toward the table, just as sassy as any three-and-a-half-year-old could be in her white tights, black moccasin boots, and neon-pink shirt. That girl owned her strut and even did a hair flip.
“That one’s going to be a handful,” Reno murmured. “I don’t envy you, brother.”
“That doesn’t go together,” Jericho grumbled at Izzy. “Why do you let her dress herself? It’s one thing around the house…”
Izzy patted her hand on the table. “She’s stubborn and takes after her father. At least she washes her hair more often.”
A sexy grin curved up his cheek. “Baby, you and I make beautiful children, but that girl does not take after me. See that walk and the attitude on her face? That’s all you, Isabelle. You’re either born with a sense of style or not,” he said, pinching the tattered concert shirt he was wearing.
Melody tugged on a balloon string. “Can I have some cake?”
“Is your tummy better? Maybe you should just sit here for a while and then we’ll see.”
She nodded and Izzy scooted back to let her sit on her lap.
William flipped a chair around next to Trevor and took a seat with his arms draped over the back. “Mustn’t worry about her having a little cake now. She started feeling better an hour ago and already ate a jelly sandwich.”
“Thanks for watching her.” Izzy pulled Melody’s hair back and kissed her head. “That was a big help. I would have stayed, but I already volunteered to set up the table and decorate.”
“Say, can I get some of that cake before it’s all gone?” he asked, brushing a large curl of his brown hair away from his eyes.
From what I knew about packs, everyone bonded with the children and helped look after them, so it wasn’t uncommon for parents to go out and leave their children in the care of the pack.
Trevor slid his plate in front of William. “You can have mine. It’s too sweet.”
When William turned to look at Trevor, I couldn’t see his face anymore. But I saw Trevor’s, and his cheeks bloomed with color before he sat back and started retying the laces on his oxfords.
Just as I felt Ben’s finger swipe down my arm, Lexi appeared and handed me my purse. “Your phone keeps ringing.”
I opened my white handbag and pulled out my slim phone. “Hello?”
“It’s Daphne.”
“Tell me this isn’t a work emergency. I’ve already talked to Dean about it and he promised me the day off without any interruptions. Darling, please have someone else fill in.”
“Skye is missing.”
My breath caught. I turned my back on the group and covered my right ear. “What do you mean?”
Ben got up and wandered off.
“One of the girls was going outside and heard a scream. She said a van sped out of the parking lot, and we haven’t seen Skye since.”
“What makes you think something’s wrong? That could have been anything. Maybe it wasn’t her.”
“I thought so too, but Tina found Skye’s purse, a bottle of pepper spray, and her red shoe in the empty parking spot next to her car. She caught a glimpse of a struggle before they took off. Do you know if Skye was having problems with a boyfriend?”