Seeing her cousin Carmen at an illegal dog race which was really an illegal dog fight was not surprising. Seeing her cousin Carmen clinging to a familiar handsome man in need of a haircut, shocked Rowena.
Carmen's eyes narrowed as she spied Rowena. She smiled, her red lipstick still staining her teeth. When would the woman ever learn about smudge-proof lipstick?
"Is that your evil cousin Carmen?" Cross whispered.
Abby, who was standing beside them, leaned forward, her head squeezing between her brother and Rowena. "Your evil cousin Carmen who came to Sweeter Homes and made you ring up over a hundred towels and forks on your register only to tell you she didn't want anything but a single throw pillow she then paid for in pennies?"
"How did you know that?" Cross asked.
"I told her," Gina said. Little Mikey was next to her eating a hotdog. "I also told her about how her evil cousin Carmen made a complaint against Rowena for flirting with her ex-husband. Rolando, our boss, knew she was lying. Rowena is not a good flirt."
Rowena came to her own defense. "I am too!"
"Ehhh...." Abby was shaking her head. "I saw you try to flirt with Little Mikey and it wasn't that great."
"You were flirting with another man?" Cross rumbled.
"You were flirting with my man?" Gina's eyes narrowed.
"You were flirting with me?" Little Mikey asked, inadvertently showing his chewed-up hotdog to the group. "Has anyone told you cursing people is not considered flirting?"
Reed barked twice.
"Can you all cool your jets? That wasn't even real flirting. In my defense, I was only trying to get information on Casey's illegal bets. Besides, it worked, didn't it? Little Mikey shared what he knew and here we are...undercover."
"You cursed me," Little Mikey reminded her. "You gave me horrible diarrhea."
Matt coughed up the hotdog he was eating. "Do you mind? I'm eating!"
"I had to twist his arm to help you," Gina muttered, ignoring Matt. "Besides, I've seen you flirt with customers. It was like watching a slow trainwreck."
"That's not true!" Rowena protested.
"You flirt with customers?" Cross was turning a shade of red behind his fake mustache. "Did you really flirt with your evil cousin's ex-husband?"
Gina laughed. "Of course she didn't. Carmen was just lying to get Rowena in trouble."
"As if I'd flirt with the man who stole all my money to invest in a failing alpaca farm," Rowena mumbled. "I didn't even get to pet an alpaca."
"He did what?" Abby gasped. "He stole your money? Please tell me you had him put in jail."
"No. By the time we tracked down Carmen's ex-husband, it was too late. Apparently, he realized he was asexual and petitioned for a divorce. He became a monk and now lives in Tibet. I figured it would be bad karma to get a monk in trouble. He does occasionally send me postcards with alpaca pictures printed on them. He thinks it's funny. As payback, I randomly send him pictures of Carmen's lipstick-stained teeth."
Gina shivered. "I bet they give him nightmares."
"After Carmen's lies, our boss made a rule that workers couldn't ring up family members. Eventually, she stopped coming to Sweeter Homes," Rowena said.
"It's a shame that handsome guy is her date," Abby whispered. "She's all over him."
Rowena smirked, catching sight of Carmen's date. He was handsome in dark jeans and a tight black shirt. His dark eyes spotted Rowena and widened. He winked at her. Rowena winked back.
"So, that's your evil cousin Carmen?" Matt asked, finishing the last of his hotdog.
"Can I just say how much it warms my heart that everyone is referring to Carmen as my evil cousin? I didn't even have to bribe you to do it." Rowena's smile began to fall as she spotted her cousin making her way toward them. "Oh no, the she-devil must've heard us taking about her."
"Am I allowed to join you all yet?" Liam asked. He was standing five feet away holding a red balloon while in his Pennywise outfit. Strangers were taking pictures of him. Where had he gotten the balloon from?
Cross glanced his way. "No."
Abby snickered.
"Well, well, well...if it isn't my loser cousin, Rowena," Carmen said loudly. "Did you think this was a Halloween party? Or were you hoping you'd finally evade arrest if you tried to dress like a cop?"
"For your information, I'm not doing anything illegal yet."
"Yet being the operative word," Carmen muttered. She sneered at Rowena's group of friends. "Even your friends are losers."
"Darling, aren't you going to introduce us?" Carmen's date asked. His eyes were dancing with laughter as he glanced at Rowena.
Carmen grinned. She placed a hand on her date's muscular shoulder. "I was just about to, handsome. This is my cousin, Rowena." She grimaced. "And her very odd friends." She tilted her head and pointed at her date. "Rowena, this is my boyfriend. He's a very successful lawyer. His name is Jeremiah."
"You're a lawyer?" Rowena asked, truly surprised. "Why didn't you say so when we first met?"
"No," he answered, grinning. He looked down at a shocked Carmen.
"You two know one another?" Carmen asked, nervously pointing a finger between the two.
Jeremiah nodded. "We met a few days ago. Sorry, Carmen. Rowena knows what I really do for a living. We met in jail."
Carmen's cheeks turned a bright pink and she let go of Jeremiah's arm. "What! She knows you're a hooker?"
Eyes turned toward them. If they didn't have everyone's attention with their costumes, they definitely did now.
"I'm not a hooker," Jeremiah hissed. "I'm an escort. There's a difference."
Carmen had her hands on her hips. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"
Jeremiah shrugged. "I don't have to sleep with you after our date."
"I want a refund!" Carmen shouted. "This is the worst date ever!"
Jeremiah sighed. "First of all, this isn't a date. It's a transaction. You wanted arm candy and I'm here to sweeten your appearance. Second, don't you know? Hookers don't give refunds."
"This is an illegal dog race," Rowena said. "Why are you here, Carmen? The family is going to go nuts when they find out you're attending illegal dog fights."
"It's not a fight! They're just racing," Carmen corrected her.
"No, they're allowed to claw, bite, and decimate one another to get to the finish line first," Rowena said. "That's a dog fight more than a dog race."
"Well, you're here too. I'll tell your parents you dragged me here."
"As if they would be surprised. I've been arrested before, remember? If I tell them you brought an escort to an illegal dog race, they may disown you," Rowena said. "Then I'd never have to see your lipstick-stained yellow teeth."
"You wouldn't dare!" Carmen was high-pitched.
"You'll finally know what it feels like to be the reject," Rowena said, grinning.
Jeremiah cackled. "I can't believe we finally meet again and I've been hired to take your cousin on a date. I'd be lying if I said this was the only dog race I'd ever been to."
"Did you ever see Casey Sloane here?" Rowena asked.
He shook his head. "No, I can't say that I have. Should we exchange numbers?"
Cross popped in between them. "Rowena doesn't need any more phone numbers. Her phone has too many as it is. It's full."
"Cross!" Rowena couldn't believe him.
"That's right," Little Mikey encouraged. "Don't let her have any other man's number. That's how it all starts. A call here. A text there. The next thing you know, they're getting married behind your back in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator officiating!"
Little Mikey's eyes were wet.
"Are you crying?" Matt asked.
"His ex-girlfriend married his best friend," Gina said quietly.
"Please don't tell me his ex-girlfriend was Casey," Cross muttered.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me trying to seduce Rowena," Jeremiah said loudly. "I'm not even into women. I just date them for money."
Cross was making an angry humming noise.
"Are you two seriously going to exchange phone numbers and have a conversation with me standing here?" Carmen shrieked. She turned her fury-ridden eyes on Rowena. "This is all your fault. You've been bad luck since you were born. I hate you!"
"That's so dumb," Rowena laughed. "How can someone be bad luck since they were born? You really need to grow up, Carmen."
"That's enough," Cross said, taking a threatening step forward. Dressed as an MC president, he looked more intimidating than usual.
Carmen's mouth snapped shut. She gave Rowena a scornful look. "You're going to regret this, Rowena. Truly regret this."
"Are you threatening my soulmate?" Cross asked, his arms crossed at his chest.
"Could you please not call me that?" Rowena whisper-yelled. "It's not normal."
Cross turned to her. "But we are soulmates."
"So? You don't go around referring to someone as your soulmate. It's not a normal endearment."
"Maybe you don't but I do. Well, I do now. I've never had a soulmate before. Besides, what's so great about being normal?" Cross asked. "We need to live our lives being us, not how people expect us to be."
"Is this your new boyfriend?" Carmen smirked. "Your millionaire mayor dumped you and you hooked up with a wannabe biker?"
Rowena and Abby shared a look. Carmen actually fell for his disguise?
"At least I didn't have to pay him to come out with me," Rowena spat back.
Carmen pointed a finger at her and grunted. "You and your weirdo friends are going to regret this." She scowled at all of them before pointing her finger at Jeremiah. "I'm giving you a bad online review."
"You have something right here," Jeremiah said, pointing at his own teeth.
Carmen lifted her chin and stomped off.
"Do escorts really have online reviews?" Rowena asked.
Jeremiah shook his head. "No, I have no idea what she was talking about. Besides, I've already spent four hours with her today when we were only supposed to be on a fake date for three."
"Why didn't you just leave?" Matt asked.
Jeremiah shrugged. "I kind of wanted to see how long she'd go around with lipstick on her teeth."
"I can answer that," Rowena piped in. "All day. Every day."
"Can I come closer?" Liam whined. Somehow, he had a second red balloon in his hand.
"No," Cross answered, his eyes still on Rowena.
An announcement was made that the dog owners would need to gather at the back of the warehouse. Betting would be closed in thirty minutes. Rowena sighed. "I feel like we didn't learn too much here, and I really don't want to see these dogs fight one another in a fake dog race. If someone asked me to put Kitty in a cat fight, I wouldn't stand idly by."
Reed barked.
"What do you want to do?" Abby asked.
"I want to stop this," Rowena answered.
Cross gave a single nod. "Then we'll stop it."
Ten minutes later, Rowena, Gina, and Abby screamed, "Fire!"
"Run!" Abby yelled.
The back wall of the warehouse was on fire and the crowd panicked. Everyone was rushing out of the building to be stopped by Donnie and some of his trusted police officer friends along with animal control, who were waiting outside. It was probably the biggest bust in Clarkton in the past few years.
"I've never been on the right side of the law," Little Mikey said as he watched more people running out of the warehouse. He coughed as smoke slowly started to fill the space. The wail of the firetruck was getting closer.
"Technically, we committed arson," Rowena reminded him. "So, it's more accurate to say we're in a gray area." She smiled. "Who knew I'd wake up this morning to commit arson?"
"I honestly can't say I'm too surprised," Gina mumbled.
Abby was still trying to get through the crowd. "Well, Cross is already out there paying for the building. He wanted us out before we started the fire. He's going to be so mad Rowena's still in here."
"Then we wouldn't have been able to cause pandemonium," Rowena reminded her, also trying to get through the crowd without falling.
"We need to get out of here before the fire gets worse," Gina said. They were at the back of the crowd, waiting to get out.
A beam from the ceiling fell and Abby shouted, "Forget an orderly line to get out of here! Run!"
Everyone ran in different directions out of the warehouse. Rowena was running behind Gina when she suddenly felt someone grab her ankle. The sirens were so loud, that she couldn't hear herself yelling.
She screamed and looked back. Someone hidden by the fire's smoke was pulling her back into the burning warehouse. She screeched in pain as she fell to the ground, her wounded shoulder hitting the floor. She tried to open her mouth to yell for Cross when the pain from her shoulder knocked her unconscious.