Brock’s heart clenched at that. He couldn’t imagine how hard it would be having to live with his cousins because his parents were in and out of jail. But just the idea of his mom and dad doing anything more exciting than Friday night bunko and bowling made him grin inside.
April dropped her arms to her sides. “Of course now that pot’s legal, they’ve gone legit. They got backing from what’s left of the old commune so now Uncle Brian runs a dispensary and Aunt Luna has an actual growers license with a warehouse and they’re raking in the cash.
“Then there’s Brian.” She clasped her hands. “He’s supposedly helping them with security but half the time he doesn’t even bother showing up. I’m pretty sure he’s stealing from them, too.” She shrugged. “Not that I could prove anything. And it isn’t really my business to pry or get involved, you know? Best we can do is that my family looks out for Bri since she has no interest in working there.”
April looked over her shoulder. Brianna was hugging Kevin, then she stood up and headed back to them, smiling. “You didn’t hear any of this from me,” April added quickly under her breath. “I’m only telling you because Bri must trust you one hell of a lot to bring you here. Or she needs your help.”
When Brianna reached them she looked from her cousin to Brock and back again. “Everything okay?”
April smiled widely. “Yeah, great. Just catching up with how you’re doing.”
“So, gossiping about me?”
April’s eyes went wide. “Oh, no. You know. Just…talking.” She shrugged. Brock tried to shift his features into neutral.
By the look on her face, Brianna obviously wasn’t buying her cousin’s terrible attempt at covering up their conversation.
Well, lean into it, Brock thought. “Hey.” He put an arm around her shoulder. “Is that your uncle over there?” He nodded toward an older man behind the counter with his back to them as he stacked clean mugs on a shelf. The guy looked as big as Brock, though nowhere as fit.
Brianna looked up at Brock through her eyelashes, totally unconvinced she hadn’t missed something important. She seemed to weigh something in her mind, but whatever it was made her decide to introduce him to her uncle.
“Yeah, that’s him. Let’s go say hi before he decides we’re ignoring him.”
Brianna set her fiddle case down on the counter just as her uncle turned around. His gaze landed on Brianna, love and concern shining clearly in his eyes before they shaded over with sternness. Without a word, he came around the counter, never breaking eye contact. She tucked her chin in and looked up at him through her lashes. Brock took a step closer to Brianna.
But when her uncle reached her, the big man opened his arms and folded her in. He closed his eyes and rested his cheek on top of her head. “We heard there was some trouble.” He opened his eyes and it was Brock’s turn to endure his stern gaze. Brock returned it with a friendly smile he hoped conveyedno enemy here.
Brianna broke away from her uncle and his gaze shifted back down to her. “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” she said lightly. “As you can see, I’m fine. It was just a couple of joyriders, that’s all. Sergeant Williams is hunting them down right now.” She turned and gave Brock a chin lift, acknowledging him. “This is Brock Jones—”
“Better known as Badger,” April called over her shoulder as she walked by with a tray.
Brianna gave her the quickest glare before continuing. “Brock’s working festival security at the farm, and he can tell you that I’m perfectly safe, can’t you, Brock?”
Damn. Way to put me on the spot. But he brushed aside his annoyance realizing that if he didn’t downplay the incident, she was going to have a fight on her hands.And no one fights harder than a papa bear. There was no mistaking that’s what her uncle was.
“Sir—”
“Name’s Sonny.” He reached around Brianna to shake Brock’s hand. Sure enough, it was like shaking a bear’s paw, one that had come out of hibernation on the grumpy side and nothing at all sunny like his name. Brock did his best not to wince. Uncle Sonny must have been a linebacker in his day. It was damn near impossible for Brock to imagine this guy growing up in a granola-crunching hippie commune.
“Sonny…?”
“Taylor.” When Brock glanced at Brianna, Sonny added, “My sister kept her maiden name and gave it to the kids.”
Brock nodded. “Mr. Taylor—”
“Told ya to call me Sonny.” He folded his meaty arms and lifted his chin.
“Everyone does,” Brianna added in a soft voice that made him think she had doubts as to this going well.
No way to go but straight through. “Sonny. I’m just gonna get to it. What happened today is being investigated as a case of theft and they’ll probably throw in a vandalism charge once Williams finds the car along the side of a road somewhere, which is what he’s confident will happen. Brianna and Rachael Collins were just innocent bystanders, not targets. And this has nothing to do with the workshop. Didn’t even happen there.”
Sonny grunted and Brock got the message that he was now dismissed. The big man’s eyes went from Brock to Brianna, who had looked increasingly hopeful as Brock spoke. “All the same, you left us high and dry here, Little B.”
Brianna’s face fell. She opened her mouth to speak as Brock silently begged her to stand strong. She glanced at him, closed her mouth, and blew out a hard breath through her nose. “Uncle Sonny, I love you. But with all due respect and love, I didn’t leave you high and dry. You always hire extra help for the summer and around the festival anyway and I talked you into hiring an extra person this year, didn’t I? I did that the second I heard I’d been accepted because I didn’t want to leave you in the weeds. I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t even notice I was gone.”
Direct hit, though the big man tried to hide it. “How could you ever think I wouldn’t notice you were gone?”
“I didn’t mean thatliterally.” She crossed her arms. “I just meant that you wouldn’t be short-staffed. I didn’t want to burden you.”
