MAY 10

I frowned as I got out of my car – I'd just gotten back from visiting Jon, Charlie, and Roman – and heard a bunch of yelling and laughter coming from my backyard. As far as I knew, nothing was going on today. I wasn't sure why there was so much commotion. I made my way back there, and then stopped and stared at what I found.

Mom and Dad were sitting in two deck chairs, watching what was going on. Kensley was sitting in Dad's lap, though she was obviously trying to escape. There were several hula hoops scattered throughout the yard. Bex, Jax, and Cay were all standing in various hoops, watching my girlfriend carefully.

Willow stood in the middle, eyeing each of them in turn. She looked ready to pounce. She stared at Bexley. Then, suddenly, she yelled, "Shark attack!" and lunged toward Cayson, who obviously wasn't expecting it.

Bexley and Jaxson both ran toward different hula hoops.

They both made it safely.

Cayson tried, but Willow managed to scoop him up into her arms. She pretended to chew on his arm, and then set him back down on the ground. Cayson then proceeded to give a pretty convincing performance of a man slowly bleeding to death. A very vocal performance.

"My arm!" he cried out, clutching the arm that Willow had pretended to bite. "The shark ate my arm! I'm dying! I'm dying! Save me!"

Mom shook her head. "Sorry, Cay!" she called. "You're already dead. The shark killed you. Get over here! You're out of the game."

Cayson dramatically pulled himself with one arm through the grass to sit near Mom's feet.

Willow, catching sight of me, smiled and waved, but she didn't move toward me.

I moved toward where my parents were sitting. "Go get 'em, tiger shark!" I hollered.

She snorted, shaking her head. "That was corny!" Then she looked at Bex and Jax. "Shark attack!" she said.

I leaned against the back of Dad's chair, watching as Jaxson and Bexley raced toward new hula hoops, trying to escape Willow. They both managed to make it there safely. "How in the world did anybody get Bexley to play Shark Attack?" I wondered. Twelve-year-old Bexley didn't enjoy these kinds of silly games, so she said. Well, she wouldn't be twelve for another eleven days. But whatever. Either way, she wasn't a fan of childish games.

Dad shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think your girlfriend might have bribed her with some cash."

"Ah. That would do it. How long have they been playing?"

"About an hour," Mom replied. "Willow stood by shortly after you left for Jon's. She wasn't sure how long you'd be over there, so she decided to entertain your siblings. Cayson was the first shark. Then Bexley. Jaxson hasn't managed to be a shark yet."

I grinned, my attention back on the game. Willow may have caught Cayson, but I was pretty sure that that was mostly because he wanted to get caught. He really loved putting on a show. And he absolutely loved pretending to die. Bexley and Jaxson were doing a really good job of evading her, it looked like. They were both fast runners. And they were both very competitive, so they weren't about to let themselves be caught just for the chance to pretend to die dramatically.

"I like her. She feels like part of the family," Dad said. "And the twins absolutely adore her. They're always asking when she's going to be coming over."

"I think Jaxson might even have a little crush on her," Mom stated. "So be careful, Stryk. You might have some competition. And I'm pretty sure that Kenny has decided that Willow is her favorite person in the entire world."

As if to second that thought statement, Kensley clapped her hands together and said, "Wiwow."

I chuckled. She really did like my girlfriend. Whenever Willow came over, Kensley always ran straight to her. And if someone was holding her, she'd try to get down about as fast as she could.

"Even Bexley likes her," Dad told me. "And you know how reserved she is about people."

"Oh, I know." Bex was a lot like Mom in that regard. It usually took her a while to approve of someone. A long while. She hadn't liked Brittany at all. She might have liked Mal, given a little more time. But Willow…She loved Willow. "You know what she told me two days ago, though? She said that if I ever broke up with Willow, she would kick my butt for being such an idiot. And she told me that I better marry Willow someday so they could be sisters. If I don't marry her I will get, and I quote, 'my butt kicked so hard I will forget my own name.' Those exact words."

Dad stared at me. "Bexley said that? My daughter Bexley?"

I nodded. "Yep. She sure did. She looked pretty serious about it, too."

Mom whistled. "That's pretty impressive."

"I know." I looked back at my girlfriend. She had almost caught Bex.

So close, yet so far. I dropped my keys into Kensley's hands. "Here, Kenny. You can play with these for a minute. I've got a shark to help."

Smirking slightly, I yelled, "Shark attack!" and ran toward Jaxson. Willow went for Bexley in the same moment. We didn't even have to say anything. We just knew what the other person would do.

"That's cheating!" Bex yelled. "There can only be one shark!"

But Willow and I weren't listening. We were too busy tackling Bex and Jax to the ground.

Guys, seriously. I'm starting to wonder if you all hate this story now. Do you not like Willow and Stryker together? I have no idea. All my reviewers have gone strangely silent again...I do like to hear what you guys think.

I'm really enjoying where this story is going, but I have no idea how you guys feel about it. By the way, I love this particular chapter. Willow is so great with his siblings.