“Why?” Todd asked. “We can help.”
“I know you want to, but I’m in a lot of trouble, and there’s nothing you can do to help.”
“Look, we’ve had your back our whole lives. That’s not changing now because shit gets tough.”
“She’s right,” Parker said from behind me. “You guys can’t help on this one.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Doug asked, stepping forward to intimidate Parker. The thing was, while Doug was a big guy, he was small in comparison to Parker. While Doug was fit, Parker had the body of a fighter and the size to go with it.
“I’m her man,” he said, pulling me back against him. I rolled my eyes. This was not the time to lay claim to me.
“I’m her father,” my dad stepped up. “If you’re with her, why haven’t I heard of you until now?”
“This is fairly new between us. We met when she shoved me through a window.”
“Hey,” I said indignantly. “That is not fair.”
“It’s pretty accurate,” Parker grinned.
“Hey, we fought for at least three to five minutes before I shoved you through that window.”
“Semantics,” Parker said teasingly.
“Wait, you met her while she was kicking your ass and now you’re with her?” Matt asked in confusion.
“There is nothing sexier than a woman that can hand you your ass,” Parker grinned.
“Watch it. That’s my little girl you’re talking about.”
“Alright,” I said, stepping between my dad and Parker. “Dad, Matt, Adam, Todd, and Doug, this is Parker. He’s in my life for the foreseeable future and I’d like to keep him there, so don’t do anything to change that. And Parker, this is my family. I already told you that they’re a little crazy and overprotective. Here they are.”
“You told him about us?” Adam grinned. “Wait, you didn’t tell him about the thing with Kelly Anderson, did you?”
I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “No, I didn’t tell him about that. We didn’t get into that in the past week that we’ve known each other.”
“What are your intentions with my daughter?”
“Dad! Did you not just hear me say ‘the past week we’ve known each other’?”
“That doesn’t mean jack shit.”
“I plan to keep her with me. That is, if we can get out of this clusterfuck that we’re in.”
“Keep her?” Matt asked.
“Yeah,” I jumped in. “Keep me?”
“Marry her. Whatever the fuck you want to label it. She’s mine, as long as I don’t end up in prison.”
“Marry you?” I asked incredulously.
“Why would you end up in prison?” Todd asked.
“Why would I marry you?” I asked, thinking that was the more important question.
“Because we were caught breaking into a lab to get information we needed.”
“That’s a slap on the wrist,” Adam said. “They don’t send you to prison for that unless you have a record.”
“I have a record,” Parker said.
“Um…Can we get back to the whole marriage thing?”
“What were you in for?” my dad asked.
“Dishonorable discharge from the military. Rape.”
“You’re marrying a rapist?” Todd asked incredulously.
“I’m not marrying anyone!” I shouted.
“Yes, you are,” Parker said, pulling me into his side. “I think we already talked about this.”
“We talked about a lot of stuff, but I’m pretty sure marriage never came up.”
“I take it you aren’t actually a rapist,” Doug said, “otherwise my baby sister wouldn’t be marrying you.”
“I’m not marrying him,” I insisted, “and I’m older than you.”
“I’m bigger than you,” he challenged. “And it sounds like he’s pretty sure that you’re getting married.”
“Only if I agree. You can’t force someone to marry you!”
“Eh,” Knight said. I hadn’t even realized he was there. “It can be done.”
“No, it can’t,” I argued. “I would have to consent.”
“There are ways around that. Ask Craig,” he said to Parker. “He’ll tell you how it’s done.”
“So, are we thinking a summer wedding?” Adam asked. I shot him a death glare. “What? I’m just trying to think ahead. I’ll have to find a girlfriend to take to the wedding, but I can’t be dating her for too long before. I don’t want her getting any ideas.”
“Angie Smith is available,” Matt said.
“I thought she was with that douchebag from the feed store.”
“They broke up last week. She caught him in bed with an older woman,” Matt grinned.
“I could ask her, but I need to know the date first. We’re still too far off if it’s a summer wedding.”
“Three months,” Todd said. “That’s not too far.”
“Yeah, it is,” Adam corrected him. “I’m not taking anyone that I’ve been seeing for longer than five weeks. Six weeks is too much time. At six weeks, women are planning their own weddings.”
“But they’re not at five?” Doug chuckled.
“Not from my experience. It takes a lot of research, but I’ve documented it over the years. You can always tell. So, what I need to know is what dates we’re looking at.”
“Would you all knock it off!” I shouted. “There is no wedding. Parker and I have known each other for a week, and despite what he thinks, I’m not just running off and getting married. Besides, we have this little thing hanging over our heads called jail!”
“Sis, you really need to calm down,” Matt said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’re just messing with you. Now, what’s all this shit about jail time?”
“I can’t tell you. I don’t even know myself what’s going on. I know my boss was trying to bury something and when I wouldn’t comply, he fired me.”
“The agent that stopped by said that you stole classified documents,” Todd said.
“I stole information, but it was not classified. They wanted me gone because I wanted to investigate a lead into a senator and they didn’t want me to. I took what I needed and ran into Parker along the way.”
“How did you end up here?”
“That would be because of me,” Knight said irritatedly. “Not that this isn’t all fascinating, but I really don’t think we should be out in the open like this.”
“Out in the open?” Doug asked. “We’re in a parking garage.”
“And you can see the street from here. If we can
