“Yes, you did. Where is it? You heard me promise Landon I would make him a full breakfast last night. Now everything has gone from my fridge.”
“He can make his own damn food. Did you know Maddox ate my breakfast yesterday?”
“You weren’t even awake,” she screeches. “He was hungry.”
“He’s always fucking hungry,” Reid snaps.
“So, this was payback?”
“Has Landon asked you to blame me?” Reid asks, his lips twisting, but there’s no denying he did it. I can tell by the twitch of his lips and the way his eyes crease with suppressed laughter.
Her lips pull into a hateful smirk as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“No. Because I raided Mum’s fridge for the ingredients that were missing, so don’t expect your breakfast.”
“What?” he roars, outraged. “I’ve got work all day. I need sustenance.”
“Yeah, so did Landon. You can eat the porridge I kindly left for you on the kitchen side,” she snaps, as Landon steps into view, grinning at his girlfriend.
He kisses the top of her head.
“Babe,” he mutters, his lips twitching.
“No, Landon. He needs to learn boundaries.”
“And you could have taken food from your kitchen downstairs in your bed and breakfast,” Reid argues.
Hands on her hips, my sister steps forward, poking him in the chest.
“Yes, I could have, but then I wouldn’t have taught you a lesson.” She turns on her heels, her expression morphing into a wide smile when she spots Evie. “Hey Evie.”
“Hey Paisley,” she greets softly, her voice silky, smooth.
“Come to the bed and breakfast for lunch. Landon’s sister and cousins are coming, but you’ll like them.”
Jaxon steps forward, his ears perking at that.
“Is Lily going?”
“Do not speak to me, Jaxon, not until you control that,” she snaps, making me grin when she points to Reid, who is still sulking.
“Um, I’m good. I have a packed lunch,” Evie explains.
Paisley waves her off. “You can eat that another day. I’ve had the cook rustle us up something. You are always busy.”
“I, um—I…” She helplessly looks around, and my gaze narrows on her.
“You don’t want to have lunch with Paisley?” I ask, an edge to my tone.
As much as I’d love to fuck her, I won’t have anyone stick their nose up at Paisley, not when she’s done nothing but be kind.
Something tells me, though, that this isn’t about Paisley but more to do with the fact she doesn’t want to talk about herself.
She looks to me, her eyes flashing. “No, I—”
“You don’t want to have lunch with me?” Paisley whispers, and Landon’s gaze hardens, his jaw clenching.
“I just don’t want to intrude if you have your friends coming over.”
Sagging against Landon, she gives Evie a bright smile.
“They’ll love you. I’ll come over and walk over with you, so you don’t forget. Being in here you can sometimes forget the time.”
The smile looks forced on Evie as she runs her hand over the mouse mat on her desk.
“Then I’d love to.”
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Paisley tells her, before turning to me. “Did you find Cluck?”
“Cluck?” Evie blurts out, but then her eyes widen, and she clamps her lips closed, looking down at the desk. “Sorry. Carry on.”
“My duck. Well, he’s technically the farm’s now. Has been ever since Charlotte stole him and brought him here.”
“Ah, you have a duck,” Evie gushes, smiling wide when she gazes back at Paisley. “I love ducks.”
“Not this duck,” Landon mutters.
I clear my throat, drawing their attention.
“No, I didn’t. He always comes back though. I’ll ask Earl if he got back onto his land,” I promise.
She nods, sucking in her bottom lip. “Call me if any of you see him.”
Reid snorts. “Afraid Landon cooked him?”
Landon grins but loses it before Paisley can see. “I don’t like duck.”
Rubbing a hand over his chest, Paisley sends a smug smirk at Reid. “See, he doesn’t like duck.”
“Let’s get the last of these boxes on the van,” Jaxon orders, and we move.
I lean over the desk slightly, a smile pulling at the corner of my lips. “Later, Evelyn.”
“It’s Evie,” she murmurs, her gaze still on the door Paisley and Landon left through, her expression somewhat lost.
CHAPTER TWO
WYATT
I down half of the bottled water, spraying the rest over my head to cool myself off. The breeze is just a teasing shimmer in the air, fluttering the leaves on the trees around us. It’s doing nothing to cool my heated skin from lugging boxes and furniture out of the house.
I press my back against the box on the back of the van, taking five for a breather.
It’s only half one in the afternoon and already we have got most of it done. With only four vans on the job, we had to do more than a few trips each. Now there’s only one van left, but all that’s left is stuff either being skipped or taken to the charity shop, both of which can be done once Eli returns with his van.
There were a lot of belongings in the nine-bedroom home to go through. However, with the extra help Jaxon hired, we’re getting ahead of everything and should be finished before dinner.
The house isn’t a mansion, but it’s as close as, especially around here. It has so many rooms and hallways it’s surprising no one got lost.
The one thing we have been grateful for is the lighting. The house is creepy enough, it doesn’t need to be gloomy on top of that.
Large open bay windows span the building, and though the ones upstairs are clouded with dust and grime, they still allow for plenty of light to flood the inside.
From our time here, I have come to the realisation that the man who used to own the property never used downstairs. Instead, he converted the old study into a bedroom and shower room.
A window on the second floor creaks open, rust falling in flakes to the gravel below. I look up in time to see Reid stick his head outside, just as the handle breaks off in his hand. He grimaces.
“Whoops,” he mutters, throwing it on the inside windowsill before leaning back out and yelling, “I can’t find any secret passageways.”
I turn to Tim, one of our team leaders, and roll my eyes, before answering Reid. “Did you really expect there to be?”
He arches an eyebrow. “Well, yeah. I know there’s one here.”
“It’s just a house, Reid,” Jaxon yells, stepping outside the door, eyes on me. “Throw us a bottle.”
I lean back into the van, reaching into the cooler for a bottle of water before throwing it his way. “I’m going to go up. Keep him from knocking any more walls down.”
Jaxon grits his teeth at the reminder, and I wisely don’t mention the window handle.
“The owners are okay about it. They were planning to do some touch ups before selling anyway.”
“I can’t believe the idiot actually thought it was a hidden door,” Tim mutters, before taking a swig of his drink.
“Apparently, the bedroom and the shower room used to be one big study until they put the studded wall in, which is why they aren’t too bothered. They want to restore it as best they can,” Jaxon explains.
Reid’s head pops out of the window again. “I’ve removed every fucking book from that shelf and a door didn’t open.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jaxon mutters. “Tell me again why we let the others go for lunch but not him.”
“I’ll go,” I tell him, chuckling under my breath.
I leave Jaxon cursing at Reid and head inside. My footsteps echo on the hardwood floor as I walk through the foyer to a wide set of stairs that wind up to the second and third floors. There’s another set just like it towards the back of the hous
e, yet they aren’t as wide as the main ones.
My boots hit the red carpet runner that leads all throughout the upstairs until it reaches a door. Some rooms are carpeted, and some are laid with dark wood floorboards partially covered with old, tattered rugs. The house is ancient and the guy who lived here clearly struggled to maintain its upkeep. From what I’ve seen of the interior, no one has been upstairs in years. There’s dust and cobwebs in every corner and surface up there, whereas downstairs, although outdated, is clean and tidy.
Turning left at the first hallway, I stroll towards the door leading to the library. I can hear Reid cursing from here, so when I reach the doorway, I’m not surprised to see him still half-hanging out of the window.
The soft beige curtains are pulled open, and although visibility is skewed by the dust and grime living on the glass, it doesn’t take away from the breath-taking view of their land. Two blossom trees sit on either side of the main gate, the arched branches elegantly bowing and bobbing in the wind. The place has character, a sense of home, even if it does need a lot of work done to it.
I scan the large room. The once full honey-coloured shelves that span the entire room, from floor to moulding, even above the door, are now empty of books. The boxes left are dumped in various places, not even taped and ready for transport. A few boxes are stacked upon the large, unpolished oval table that sits idly in the corner.
I head over to the shelf with the ladder leaning against it, fascinated by the sight. I’ve never seen one in my life, only in children’s movies. It’s off its runner, but once upon a time, you would have been able to slide this to whichever bookcase you needed to grab a book from.
I move over to the next shelf, where a book still lies on the floor. I bend down, picking it up, when the scuff marks dented into the wooden floor pulls my attention.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, gently placing the book in the nearest box, not making a sound.
Straightening, I take in the edges of the shelf, seeing at a closer look that they are different to the others, thicker and wider. I run my finger over it, feeling a rougher edge than the others.
Reid was fucking right.
I grip the shelf edge and the tiny bit of frame and pull, taking a step back once I feel the shelf come away from the wall.
“Hey, Lily,” Reid yells, still unaware of me in the room.
Grinning, I step inside quickly, briefly taking in the set of concrete stairs before slowly shutting the door behind me, leaving only the tiniest of spaces for me to see Reid.
“Oh alright. Fucking hell. I’ll get back to work,” he yells, before pushing himself away from the window. “Reid, you can’t do this; Reid, you can’t do that. I’m the fucking man, Jaxon, not you.”
I struggle to keep the laughter at bay, but I manage, waiting for the perfect moment to jump out. He steps towards the box I threw the book inside, his brows pinched as he goes to lift it. Knowing this is my moment, I push the door open, screaming, “Boo,” in his face.
He screams, dropping the box and falling flat on his arse, trying to backwards crawl away from me in terror.
I roar with laughter, my hands on my bent knees as I take in his petrified expression. Seeing me, he lies back on the floor with a thud, his arm covering his eyes.
“Fucking hell, I think I’ve shit my pants.”
“Your face,” I tell him through laughter.
He lifts his arm away, glaring at me, and before he can open his mouth, his gaze goes over my shoulder, widening in wonder.
“Holy fucking shit. I was right.”
He gets up, standing next to me as we both stare down the stone steps.
“It’s pretty dark down there,” I pointlessly tell him, knowing he can see for himself.
“Bro, I’ve seen the horror movie. Now I’ve found it, I’m not sure if I want to go exploring, if you know what I mean. I’m too fucking handsome to get killed by some whacko with mummy issues. You go down first.”
I turn to him, my eyebrows pinched together. “Are you fucking serious?”
“You found it,” he snaps.
“You wanted to find it,” I snap back, pushing him down the first step. He grabs onto my arm, pulling me with him and down another step. “Let the fuck go.”
“Wyatt, you’re older than me. I’m still young. Girls need me. Just be a big man and go down first.”
“Put your torch on,” I mutter, rolling my eyes.
“You put your torch on,” he snaps, flinching his arm away from the wall as if some ghostly presence brushed against him.
“Fucking hell, are you going to argue about everything?” I ask, pulling my phone out of my back pocket and turning the torch on. I shine it around our surroundings, seeing clipped up string lights going along the bricked wall and down a spiral staircase. “There should be a switch.”
Reid looks at the wall nearest the door, finding something hidden in a hole.
“Got it,” he tells me, just as a buzz fills the air, and one by one, the bulbs begin to flicker to life. Some aren’t working and some continue to flicker, but it’s still brighter than my phone.
We take a step down the spiralled stairs, brushing cobwebs out of the way as we follow the path the lights are taking us, coming to a stop at the bottom, where we find ourselves in a corridor.
Reid comes up behind me, leaning down so his breath blows across my ear. I shove him away.
“What did I tell you? I heard about this place.”
“What did you hear?” I ask, knowing this should be good.
“Not much as it was a while back and I was too busy staring at the chick’s tits. We had to do a project in history on historical buildings or a historical monument that hit the papers in our town. The chick did this place, mentioning hidden tunnels underground.”
“Let me guess, so the owner could murder people?” I interrupt, coming to a stop at a door.
“No, originally it was used as a bunker, but later on, when it was passed down to his son, it was used to home his mistress. You have to give him credit. He hid her good. She even gave birth down here, from what I remember.”
“Tits?” I ask, knowing that’s why he doesn’t remember.
He smirks, nodding. “Yeah.”
He reaches for the door, twisting the handle. It clicks, but when he pushes, nothing happens. He tries harder, and the door creaks seconds before it flies open, slamming against the wall. He loses his footing, nearly falling to his knees.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, shining my phone around the room.
To the left of the room is a large wooden desk covered in spider webs, dust and who knows what else. It looks like it’s been left there for centuries. It has little shelves and pockets to store stuff inside on the back edge of the desk. On the other side of the room is a bed without a mattress, the springs rusted and broken in places. Candle fixtures and lights line the bricked walls, similar to the ones on the stairs, which must have been added years later.
I head over to the desk, seeing a black and white picture of a man and a woman who are sitting on a bench in a garden, with a little girl in their arms, smiling wide. It’s definitely old; I can tell by the man’s suit and the girl’s plain, long dress. The woman’s hair is up in a fancy do like they wore during the Second World War.
Reid wasn’t the only one to pay attention in history.
I jump when lights suddenly turn on, making a crackling sound, and turn my glare at Reid.
“Sorry, found the lights,” Reid mutters, soaking up the room.
There are two more openings with stairs, one leading further down and another leading up. We must already be cellar level. The stairs were too steep coming down for them to travel just one floor.
I aim my phone into the one leading down, and it does nothing to give us a guess as to what is down there. It’s nothing but darkness.
“As much as I’d love to explore, there is no way I’m going down there,” I tell Reid, my voice echoing, bouncing off the walls.
; And I won’t. I’m curious and intrigued, but I’m not stupid. And going down there would be seriously stupid.
“Me either,” he mutters, and I turn to him, dubious. He shrugs at me. “At least, not until I’ve gotten my torch and Eli and Luke are back.”
“Let’s get back before Jaxon has a hernia.”
“We should go back up those ones, see where they lead us. Could be another hidden room. We want to make sure it’s empty for the family who own it.”
I give him a nod and flip the switch, turning the lights back off before following him up the stairs, my legs aching by the time we reach the top. He pushes open the door with more struggle, nearly falling into one of the bedrooms towards the back of the house. We’re back on the second floor.
“How the fuck did I not see that?” he growls, turning to look at the panelled walls as I shut it behind me. It’s a room we already emptied.
“I didn’t either,” I tell him, amazed at how hidden it is now I’ve shut it. Even now, knowing it’s there, I can’t see the lines.
“If I had the money, I’d totally buy this place.”
“I don’t think you’d earn enough in this lifetime to purchase this house,” I state, chuckling.
“Maybe I could get Maddox to tear it down a bit and tell the owners it’s a waste of time. I’ll get it cheap then.”
“Maddox hates you more than he hates the rest of us,” I tell him as we leave the room.
We’re nearing the next room when I hear voices. I stop Reid, putting my finger to my lips when I hear Jaxon and Lily.
“Okay, here is private. Now you can tell me why you’re really here,” he orders her softly. “Are you okay? You look pale.”
“Jaxon, do you remember me asking you if you were scared about me being alone with our child?”
I turn to Reid, who seems to be as confused as I am. We keep quiet though, neither of us bothered about eavesdropping on a private conversation. Jaxon will tell us anyway.
Maybe.
“I do, Lily, and I meant what I said. I have no doubt in my mind that you will be a fantastic mother. I meant every word when I told you our baby would be safe and well-loved in your care. What is this about? Has Aiden upset you? I know you were meant to have Sunday today. If he’s said something, I’m going to break his fucking neck, your brother or not.”
Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2) Page 2