Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

Smart plan.

“How could I be grouchy with the two greatest sidekicks of all time right here?” He ruffled Lexi’s hair right as she bit into her pastry. But neither she nor Bella looked thrilled.

“You’re our sidekick, Uncle Jake. Bella and I talked.”

“Ouch, so I’m demoted to Robin?”

“You can still have a bear claw, if that helps,” Lexi offered.

“It does,” he said and took a fresh claw from the box.

“Well, sidekick, any chance you can hang out with these two while I run to the clinic? There’s a half shift needing coverage and . . .”

And she could use the extra money.

It was the one statement Erica said often, but never out loud. Because she said it silently with worry in her eyes. Jake knew her situation. She was a hard worker, raising two kids on her own and doing a damn fine job. And it tore at his heart that she took on extra shifts just to have a bit of financial wiggle room. He offered her money, help, anything, any time, but Erica was proud and would always take extra shifts before his money.

“Of course I’ll watch them. My favorite nieces ever, after all.”

“Aren’t we your only nieces?”

“Yeah, and the best.”

Bella preened. Lexi didn’t care—she was way into her bear claw. They were a lot like Jake and Erica. The same in some basic ways, yet totally different with how they went about their personal situations.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Erica said and hugged and kissed the kids good-bye.

A few hours and peanut butter sandwiches later, Jake and his favorite kiddos were making an epic fort out of blankets and couch cushions when his phone rang.

“Hang on, Empress Master Fiend,” he said to Lexi, who insisted she be called that when referring to her fort self. “This is Jake Lock,” he answered his cell.

“This is Russ,” the grouchy voice rang out.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Well, not great, considering I don’t have my sawdust that was supposed to be here an hour ago.”

Jake frowned. His crew of four was working today to deliver the sawdust. It was the only delivery, and otherwise Mannie, his crew leader, was just going to oversee the warehouse today.

“I’m sorry, Russ, my guys should have been there.” They never missed an order, especially one like Russ’s—a recurring, large, and lucrative order.

“I’m sorry, too. Obviously your business is already going in the crapper. I need my supplies today, and if you can’t deliver like you said you would, then I’ll find someone else who will.”

“I can,” Jake said. “I’ll have this straightened out and the sawdust to you this afternoon. I’m really sorry about this, Russ.”

Russ grumbled and hung up, and Jake wanted to throw his phone. What the hell was going on? He called the shop, but it went to voice mail. Then he called Mannie, his lead guy, and got his voice mail, too.

“Okay, kiddos, you have to come with Uncle Jake to the warehouse for a minute,” he said to the kids.

Packing them up, he got to the shop and it was dead. Not a soul in sight, and sure enough, Russ’s sawdust was lying there, not even loaded on the truck.

“What the ever-loving hell?” Jake said, going through the warehouse. No one was there.

“You said a bad word, Uncle Jake,” Bella said. Shit, he had.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Don’t tell your mom.”

He needed to find where his guys were and fast. Had something happened? Maybe they were at the job site with the gravel that was due Monday and got confused? Not likely, since this shipment was like clockwork every month, and Russ was one of their biggest moneymakers. But he had to start somewhere.