I turn away from him to face the shelves again. Cameron protecting me from arealthreat is a delicious thought but saving me from my annoying brother is completely unnecessary. I force my way into Scott’s one-sided conversation to try and wrap it up.
“I’m fine. I’m so sorry that I didn’t call when I got here, but I’m alive and well, I promise.”
“I’m happy to hear it, Drew. But you, of all people, should know that you can’t just go off grid like that. You can’t even imagine the scenarios that we considered when the driver said that you never showed.”
“What are you talking about?” I say, risking a glance back over my shoulder. “Cameron picked me up from the airport just like Gabe asked him to.”
Cameron pushes off his desk at the mention of his name but pauses his forward motion when I hold my hand up for him to stop.
“Gabe hired a local driving service to pick you up, and they called us back a half hour ago to say that you never showed, and we haven’t been able to get a hold of you since. We were about to call the cops and file a missing person’s report, but Monika went all true-crime and told Gabe to use his real estate background to find the phone number attached to the sale of Ravenwood. I’m not sure if what he did is even legal, but since we were able to get a hold of the homeowner to demand to speak with you, I decided not to ask questions.”
I keep my eyes on Cameron as I respond to Scott, posing my response to both of them. “Wasn’t Delaney’s phone number listed in the paperwork? I’ve been with her almost the entire time since I arrived. Why didn’t you just call her?”
“She isn’t answering her phone!” Scott roars, and I wince at the decibel he managed to reach.
Cameron’s shoulders rise and fall with a frustrated breath, but he stays where I stopped him just moments ago. I turn away again so that I can focus on de-escalating Scott and stop being distracted by how attractive I find Protective Cameron.
“We called Delaney’s phone a thousand times, so I almost started to worry abouthertoo,” Scott says, which is strange since she claims she left us to work on the group chat. Maybe she wasjust ignoring his calls so that she didn’t mess up on entering one of our numbers.
Scott is positively fuming, but I can’t help but laugh at the entire situation.
“What part of this is amusing to you?” he demands.
“Pretty much all of it,” I admit, failing to stifle more laughter.
“Drew, it’s not funny. You have no idea—” Scott starts, but this time, I interrupt.
“For someone who insists that I am not bad luck, you sure jumped to the worst-case scenario rather quickly.”
The other end of the line is silent for a few seconds, and when Scott speaks again, his voice is cautious. “You aren’t bad luck, Drew. I was just worried about you, like any big brother would be about their little sister going on a solo trip.”
“I’m twenty-eight, not eighteen, and you are the one who set it up,” I say. But after I am met with even more silence, I decide to take mercy on him. “It’s going good so far, by the way. I just ate the best meal of my entire life.”
“Really?” he asks, his voice brightening.
“Really. And I drank this fancy coffee called a chocolate-covered strawberry latte on the way over too. It was delicious.”
“I am guessing the curse is obeying, then? Nothing crazy happening so far?”
“Other than this conversation?” I tease, but quickly add, “The curse seems to be behaving, mostly. Nothing I can’t handle.” I discreetly knock on one of the wooden cubbies of the record shelves, though, just to be safe.
“How about the house and the other guests?”
“House is incredible,” I say, but lower my voice to whisper the next part. “I’m not too sure about the other women yet, though.”
“Eh, it’s only a few days. Try and make the most of it.”
“I will. Any baby news? Is the mother in labor yet?”
“Not yet. But keep your phone on you from now on, just in case.”
“I will, I promise. I need to go, though. We have a reservation for wine tasting, and I need to get changed out of my travel clothes.”
“Okay. FaceTime us later, please.”
“I will as soon as I can. Love you.” I hit the red end button and turn back to face Cameron. I can’t help but blush at the concern that etches every part of his face.
“Sorry about that. I forgot to check in when I arrived, and my brother can be a little extreme at times.”
