"With that mouth of yours, you must''ve pissed off half the town by now, haven''t you?" Susanna shot him a look.


    "So what? Upset that I ticked off your dad or something?" Barnaby replied, unbothered.


    Susanna''s expression darkened. "He''s not my father."


    Barnaby just shrugged. "There you go, then. I''ve crossed him-big deal. It''s not like I''m about to start groveling at his feet."


    Susanna bit her tongue, immediately regretting that she''d started this conversation. Sure, it was satisfying to hear him trash-talk Derek, but at this rate, she was bound to catch some of the friendly fire herself.


    Xander hadn''t gotten much sleepst night, either.


    He and Hull had been working together seamlessly, but Hull liked to do things in the dead of night, forcing Xander to keep ridiculous hours.


    So it was no surprise when his phone started vibrating off the nightstand at dawn. Half-asleep, Xander assumed it was Shawn. He answered without looking. "Let me guess, Hull''s up to something again? Just roll with it."


    He was dead tired. Plus, after making off with so much from ck Gate, the whole thing had lost its novelty.


    But it wasn''t Shawn on the other end—it was Dan, and he was practically screaming, "Xander, you son of a bitch!"


    Xander snapped awake, suddenly alert.


    Dan''s voice boomed through the receiver, furious. "Are you even a man? You can''t exin a simple thing? Because of you, I keep getting beaten up, over and over!"


    "So tell me, are you gonna fix this or not? Can you finally clear things up for me, or what?" Dan''s shouting grew more and more heated his


    voice nearly shaking with ange


    sounded like he desperately wished he could reach through the phone and throttle Xander himself.


    Dan''s relentless tirade finally cleared away Xander''s sleep-fogged mind. He dragged himself upright in bed, raking a hand through his mess of hair. "What now?"


    "You''re really asking me what now? How long am I supposed to keep taking the heat for you? Are you ever going to get this off my back or not?”


    Xander was silent. Right. That again.


    f


    "What the hell did you tell that crazy woman, Yvonne?" Dan barked. He''d give anything to know, because every single time, it was Yvonne dishing out the punishment. At this point, Dan was ready to believe Xander was deliberately stirring


    things up or at the very least, refusing to clear things up-just to


    keep dumping all the trouble on him.


    Xander, half-awake and still piecing things together, finally saw the light at the end of


    Dan''s long, angry rant. "Yvonne went after you again?”


    He climbed out of bed and went straight to check Yvonne''s room. Sure enough, the sheets were strewn everywhere and the bed was empty. He touched the mattress- it was cold. Clearly, she''d stormed out early.


    When Dan caught Xander''s question, his anger nearly boiled over. "You-Xander, you bastard! You absolute menace!"


    Dan was seething, so furious he could barely see straight. How had he ended up saddled with this jackass? It was enough to make him want to wring Xander''s neck.


    Xander-who wasn''t exactly seeing


    this as a life-or-death crisis-just let Dan rant for a while as he tried to fully wake up. It finally dawned on him Yonne hadn''t calmed down overnight She''d gone to tay into Dan all over again, first thing in the morning.


    That was Yvonne for you always throwing the first punch.


    "How is she?" Xander asked, and this time his tone turned anxious-he couldn''t help thinking of what he''d learned yesterday, about her pregnancy.


    Dan, hearing this, blew a fuse. "You''re asking about her? She just beat the living crap out of me, and you have the nerve to ask how she''s doing?"