“It’s fine,” I call out. “Lincoln’s awake. We’re all in the kitchen.”
“You’re never going to believe what happened,” she says as she storms into the room and heads straight to the coffeemaker. “Remember how I said I was working late last night because someone booked the coffee shop for a private party?” She climbs up on the counter and grabs a coffee mug from the cupboard before hopping down and pouring herself a cup.
“Charlie, use a stool for crying out loud,” Mom says, attempting to talk some sense into my petite and utterly reckless sister. “You’re going to fall and break your neck.”
Charlie waves her off. “Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that, but thirty-one years of climbing on counters without incident says otherwise.”
Mom finishes washing the blender and grabs a towel to dry it. “You haven’t been climbing counters for as long as you’ve been alive, Charlie,” she says with a roll of her eyes.
“Pretty damn close,” I say. “She can’t have been much older than two when she started climbing to the top of the fridge to get us the cookies that you always tried to hide from us, Mom.”
Gavin laughs.
“When I first met your mom, she told me all about your love of climbing to the top of tall furniture,” Warren says. “It’s not surprising that you were a flyer in high school.” His face falls at his screw up.
Charlie freezes at the mention of her old cheerleading days. She only lasted a season and a half and she hates talking about it. We never found out what made her quit. But we usually know better than to talk about it.
“So you were telling us something that happened?” I hurry to distract her. “Was it at work? Did Xena pull out her sword?”
That works, and she rushes to continue into her story. “Okay, so did I already say I worked late for the private party?” I nod and she continues, “Turns out it was for a bachelorette party.”
“A bachelorette party? At a coffee shop?” That sounds bizarre. I need coffee to live and not even I love it that much.
She shrugs. “I guess the bride is trying to quit drinking and wanted an alcohol-free venue, so her mother booked Bump & Grind for a private party. Too bad her soon-to-be mother-in-law didn’t get the memo. She brought champagne and then she and the bridesmaids all got shitfaced.”
“No,” Mom gasps. “That poor girl. She relapsed?”
Charlie shakes her head. “I don’t know, but she looked like she was having a terrible time at the beginning. I think she might have had a drink when no one was looking because she’s the one who started the obnoxious chant demanding their entertainment. They were stomping so hard the floor was shaking.”
Gavin stops chugging his protein shake and looks up. “Entertainment? What kind of entertainment can a coffee shop offer? Do you invite some performers from open mic night? A local high school marching band?”
“Nope,” Charlie says with a pop. “But we found out why Xena calls DevonTiny Dancer.”
I turn to her, my eyes wide. “Wait. You’re not saying—”
“Oh, that is exactly what I’m saying. Check this out.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and cues up a video. “This is from when he first arrived.”
I take the phone from her and press play. Sure enough, there on the tiny screen is Devon in all his gyrating, hip-thrusting glory. He’s dancing toPonyby Ginuwine, the mainstay of male strippers all over the world, not that I can hear it well over the chorus of screams in the background. Who knew the guy had such slick moves?
“That’s only his first dance. I left after a neighbor came by to complain and say they were calling the cops.” Charlie is sitting at the table next to Warren now, drinking her coffee with a grin on her face.
“Someone called the cops? How rowdy were these women?”
“I wouldn’t say they were rowdy, but they were pretty loud. I can’t be sure what they did after I left, though.”
“What happened with the cops, do you know?”
“That’s the thing. Xena was sure Kaden would take care of it, like he always does when she gets reported for her rubber sword, but something happened when he got there and now everyone is in shit. I went to the shop this morning to help Xena dispose of all the perishable foods because Bump & Grind is closed pending the investigation. Shit. That reminds me, there’s a bunch of boxes full of cookies and stuff in my car. Gavin?”
“On it.” Gavin abandons his protein shake and heads out to the driveway.
Mom stands next to me and looks over my shoulder. “That man is enormous,” she says with a voice full of wonder. “How does he move like that?” She tries to imitate the hip roll Devon does in the video, but her hips make a loud popping noise and she grimaces in pain. “That cannot be real. Bodies can’t really move like that, can they?”
“I’m not sure. But it makes me wonder if private investigating is the right way for him to go? With moves like that, he could make a killing stripping.”
Warren looks up. “That’s your P.I.? You hired a stripper to look into Lincoln’s father? That seems a little irresponsible, don’t you think?”
I snort a laugh. “No, he’s not a stripper. He’s the head of security for the band that I do media management for. But he also trained to be on the police force with Xena’s brother, Kaden.” Warren squints in confusion. “The police officer friend who also looked into Archer for me,” I clarify.
