Chapter 42

Ryker leaned back in his chair by the fire, watching Jo as she talked with Lexi and Aaliyah while they played a vicious game of Uno. She seemed happy, a smirk dashing across her face as she laid down a couple cards that had Aaliyah groaning and pulling cards from the pile.

Dinner had been fantastic; he had eaten three burgers by himself and then finished off a massive scoop of Jo's dump cake along with a slice of the pecan pie Aaliyah had made. He had sat on one side of Jo during dinner while Lexi had claimed her other side. It had been a good dinner and not an interrogate-Jo kind of situation, which was what he half-expected from his dad. Malcolm had asked her a few questions during dinner, mostly about her dad and how he was doing.

Apparently Malcolm and Jacob had known of each other back when they were younger, but Jacob had been a few years younger than Malcolm. He'd never met Jo's mom, Maira, but he had heard about them getting married through the small town grapevine.

Overall, this first meeting seemed to be going well. Now they just had to worry about the next meeting. The one with Duncan.

Ryker flicked his thumb across the arm of the wooden Adirondack chair and glanced over at Brett, who was sitting beside him, keeping an eye on Conner while he roasted a marshmallow over the fire. Talon was playing with a set of old Lincoln logs on the ground, sometimes adding sticks and rocks to his messy masterpiece.

"Are you going to the meeting with Duncan?" Ryker asked.

Brett's forehead broke out in wrinkles. "Let's talk about that later." Reaching over, he grabbed another one of the metal marshmallow sticks from their container by the fire and held it out to Ryker. "Here. Marshmallows first."

Right. Probably not the best thing to talk about with the kids around, not that they would really understand what was going on. Then again, Conner was sharp, and he always knew when something was off, so even if he didn't truly get it, he would realize everything wasn't okay.

Ryker took the stick and let Brett pop a couple marshmallows onto the end. Lazily, he reached out and held the marshmallows over the fire.

"Do we got chocolate?" Conner asked, bobbing his own marshmallow up and down, nearly touching it against the burning hickory chips and old logs at the bottom.

"Go ask Grandpa," Brett said, "And graham crackers too, those are important."

"Are we making s'mores?" Lexi called, the Uno game halting at the possibility of more desserts.

"If we've got everything, yep," Brett said.

"I don't know about graham crackers, but I know Lexi has a secret stash of chocolate," their dad said, moving back from cleaning the grill. "If she's willing to share..."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lexi said, suddenly very focused on her cards again.

"Well, guess there won't be any s'mores then," Jo said, leaning back on her hands to grin at his sister.

Lexi tensed for a long moment as everyone watched her then gave a dramatic sigh as she threw her cards down.

Damn, his girl was good.

"Fine, I'll get it, but you all owe me at least one Copperfield Road try!" she grumbled, standing up to head to the house.

"Tell Marcus he's got five minutes to get here before there aren't any s'mores left," Malcolm said, chuckling. Aaliyah's dad had some kind of faculty committee meeting and so was coming late to the cookout today.

Aaliyah's fingers flashed across her phone. "There, good daughter deed done." She and Jo went to add marshmallows to some sticks and as soon as Jo got close enough, Ryker stood, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her up against his chest. Instantly, it was like a tension he didn't even know he'd had seeped out of his muscles.

Jo turned her head, kissing his jaw for a quick moment, then leaned to shove her marshmallows right into the fire.

"You're going to burn them!" Ryker said, laughing.

"What can I say, I like my food a little charred," Jo said, eyes twinkling as she glanced back at him with their inside joke. It was to her exasperation that in training sessions lately that she seemed to be all or nothing when it came to her fire. She'd actually been getting better, but his Jo was stubborn and wanted to get it just right.

But it was hard when her fire was just as bold as her.

"Nah, everyone knows golden on the outside, gooey on the inside is best," Ryker said, carefully rotating his own stick. "Everyone else just claims to like it black because they know they can't do better."

"Well, in that case..." Too stunned to react, Ryker watched as Jo tilted his stick up, plucked the second marshmallow off the end, and plopped it into her mouth. "Thang you fu makin su delicious snag fuh meeee," she proclaimed around a mouthful of marshmallow.

"Thief!" Ryker roared, tightening his arm around her waist and swinging her around. Conner cheered his uncle on, giggling at their antics.

"Put me down!" she was laughing, hand in front of her mouth as she tried not to lose the last of her marshmallow. "I could choke!"

Ryker quickly set Jo down, glaring at the cheeky look she gave him as she finished swallowing the stolen marshmallow. "You fell...oh, huh," she paused, stopping to pull her buzzing phone out of her pocket.

"One second, sorry, it's my mom," she glanced at Malcolm, probably thinking it was rude to take a call during a family dinner. "She doesn't call without texting first usually," she explained, before stepping away to take the call. He watched her walk away, quite aware he probably looked like a lovestruck idiot, but unable to help himself. She looked beautiful always, but especially tonight--the fire was making her skin glow, adding a depth to her dark hair...

"What happened? Mom what? ....Did you...no...are you and dad okay...no, I don't...did you call the police?"

Concerned by the direction of the half-conversation he was overhearing, Ryker moved toward Jo. Instantly, she leaned against him, an arm wrapping around his middle as if seeking comfort from his presence. Something was going on.

Ryker looked at her questioningly but she was focused on the phone call. Understandably so. "Did they even take anything? But why...okay, okay...I'll come home tomorrow. No, I can skip school, they'll understand. I know, but I want to see you guys--okay. Okay, fine. Yeah, no, I get it...Okay. Love you. Bye."

Jo's eyes were wide as she looked up at him. "Someone broke into my parents' house," she said, worry dripping from every word. "They--nothing was stolen. They wouldn't have noticed it if the lock hadn't been broken. Some stuff was moved around, and things were gone through, but nothing was missing."

Ryker tensed. That sounded weird. What was the point of that?

"Are they all right?" Brett asked.

"Yeah, they're fine. They were both at work, which is good," she said shakily. Ryker tightened his hold on her.

"Do they know who did it?" Ryker asked, drawing Jo into a hug.

Over her head, he locked eyes with his dad. It couldn't be Duncan, right? Charlotte wasn't far away. He could've got there in the time since he had stalked Aaliyah and the kids, but it didn't seem likely. Still, with him being such a pain in the ass lately, it did cross his mind.

"No," Jo said, leaning back so her words weren't muffled against his chest, "Some investigators are going to come by and talk to my parents." She ran her hand over her face, though she wasn't crying. Tentatively, she looked around at the others. "I'm sorry, y'all, I didn't mean to bring the mood down."

Ryker's family quickly shut down her apologies.

"We're just glad they're okay," Malcolm said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Are they sure they don't want you to go there tomorrow?"

"They said not to," Jo said. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and shook her head. "They don't want me to skip class. Which is crazy, since they're dealing with a home invasion..."

Ryker ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it back as he thought. He could see where her parents were coming from. They knew she'd be upset, and they probably thought it'd be better for her to keep up her routine. But Jo would most likely be worrying about them the whole day anyways, whether that's what they wanted or not.

"Come on, let's...let's eat some s'mores," Jo said, attempting a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She glanced over at Talon and Conner and then back to Ryker, a silent plea to act like everything was normal for the kids. He bent down and kissed her temple, quietly agreeing for now.

They stayed another hour, conversation slowly picking back up as they made s'mores with his family. He kept close to her side, trying to not smother her while also letting her know he was there for her. Jo was quieter than usual, her thoughts obviously elsewhere, and eventually they made their goodbyes.

"Let me know if your parents need anything," Malcolm said gruffly, giving Jo a stern look. "I mean it."

"Okay," she said, offering a bit of a smile. "Thank you."

Malcolm arched an eyebrow at Ryker, and Ryker shook his head. He wasn't going to be back tonight. He was going to spend the night at Jo's, whether it was on the couch or the porch or wherever she chose. Unless she just plain kicked him out and told him to get lost, he was going to keep an eye on her.

On the ride home, Jo leaned against the door but she kept her fingers intertwined with his. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, wanting to talk but hoping she would open up first. Instead, she watched the dark forest blur by while ACDC played.

As they pulled up to her driveway, he turned off the truck and they sat there for a long moment, the song of the last frogs and insects of the season chirping outside. Jo squeezed his hand.

"Can you stay?" Her dark eyes were tired and sad and scared. "And just hold me?"

Ryker nodded. "Of course."

They took their turns in the shower to wash off the hot, humid evening--Jo going first. Ryker hurried, not wanting to leave her alone too long, then moved across the hall to her bedroom. He was wearing a simple pair of gray sweatpants since he wasn't sure how comfortable Jo would be with him just wearing his normal boxers to bed. Jo was sitting on her bed in a pair of faded green shorts and a slinky tank top, arms wrapped around her knees as she rested her cheek on them, face turned toward the window.

"Hey," he murmured, situating himself behind her as he put an arm around her. She leaned back against him, nestling herself in his arms as she rested against his back.

"Hey yourself," she replied, voice quieter than normal. She sounded like she was trying to be teasing but utterly failing, and it made him frustrated with whoever had done this to her family, and indirectly, to her.

In that moment, he felt resolved. Jo was going to see her family.

Rubbing her arm, he leaned forward a little to kiss the top of her head. "Try to get some sleep," he said, running a hand through her hair. "We got a long day tomorrow."

"We do?" Jo asked through a half-yawn, turning a little to snuggle against his chest. His heart thumped strangely at her movements, the protective instinct rearing up. He could hold her like this forever given the option.

"We do if we're heading down to Charlotte after your classes." He did the calculations in his head. "I'm thinking we could be there by dinner time, you could spend time with them until they head to bed and we could get back around midnight." He shrugged. "Or later. Whatever works for you, I'm used to staying up late for patrol nights and you can always sleep in the truck."

Jo's eyes were wide as she looked at him, and with her lack of response, Ryker wondered if he'd gotten this wrong.

"If that's okay?" he asked, studying her expression for a clue.

She nodded silently. "Are you sure you're real?" she asked, her eyes softening. Reaching out, she gently rapped her knuckles against his chest. "You're too good to be real. Except your temper."

"I don't have a temper."

"Yeah okay." Jo snorted, and he hugged her tight, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

"It's not that bad."

"You punched a guy--"

He kissed her to distract her and drew her down into the covers, looping his arms around her waist. The kiss broke off, and he tucked her head under his chin. After a while, her breathing slowed down and softened, settling into the edge of sleep.

Ryker nuzzled Jo. He would always take care of her, and there would be hell to pay for anyone who messed with her. This was a whole new kind of contentment, holding her in his arms while she slept. He could definitely get used to this life.

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