“Yeah, I’d really like that,” I said.
I felt so pathetic. Here this guy had been nothing but fucking weird with me from the moment I met him, yet I couldn’t help but be intrigued.
As we headed down the alley together, the girl asked, “What are you, Keeg?”
“He’s Ash Ketchum,” Oscar replied.
“It’s cute,” she went on. “I like him, Owen.”
“Owen?” I asked. “I thought your name was…”
“Oops,” Reggie said.
Owen—or Oscar, or whoever the hell he was—looked guilty as hell. Had he given me a fake name because he wasn’t interested? God, how desperate was I to have bothered coming out to find him when he gave so few shits about me? I should have taken one of the billion other hints he’d sent me before dragging my ass out there.
“Well, you have Peter Pan’s phone now so…”
Just then, Sexy Lying Robin looked off into another side alley and called out, “Frederick! Hey, Frederick!”
He halted, looking to me. “Hey, Keeg, I will explain all this. I promise. But do you mind staying with her real quick? I just need to go grab him since he doesn’t have his phone.”
I should have walked away then. I didn’t have to babysit for him, especially when he didn’t even want me to know his real name. Of course, I wanted an explanation more than I wanted to walk away, and it wasn’t his niece’s fault that her uncle was a total asshole.
“Um, yeah, totally.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
He hurried down the alley, calling out after his friend.
“Can we get some gelato?” Reggie asked.
“What?”
“Over at that stand,” she said as she walked right along into Town Square, pointing to a gelato stand not far from us. “I want some more gelato.”
“Um, do you think your uncle would be okay with that?”
“I usually get things that I want, especially from him.”
I looked back into the alley. “Hey, Reggie, I think we should stay here so your uncle doesn’t lose us, okay? Once he comes back, we can ask. Is that fair?”
She sighed and folded her arms together. “Yes, I suppose that will have to do.”
I was relieved she stopped, because she seemed like the kind of girl who wasn’t used to being told no. As we waited for Asshole Robin to return, a man approached us from the side. I glanced over, noticing him holding the collar of his button-down close to his face, like he was talking into a mic.
“I think we might have a hostage situation here,” he said.
“What?” I asked, loud enough for him to hear me.
As if my day wasn’t fucking weird enough.
“I’ve been made,” he said, reminding me of Owen’s comment in the restroom earlier.
I looked to Reggie, who said, “Hey, Officer Mallow. This is my—”
The guy whipped out a gun, aiming it at me, and I threw my hands in the air, truly thinking that was what you had to do in such a situation.
“Step away from the princess,” he warned me.
