Milo motions for Mr. Rudd to follow him and continues telling him his plan for the lower level, which includes a small mudroom. I think he’s even going to have them put in a shower down here.
I bump my shoulder into Ares. “Hey, handsome.” He looks down at me, his lip quirked up along with his brow. “We got this,” I tell him reassuringly.
“I know,” he responds. His confidence is coming back, and for that I’m grateful.
“The guys are all unloaded,” Ollie calls into the garage. “Dante said we’re good to get started.”
Ares kisses the top of my head and turns to face the open bay doors. “Let them in.”
A shrill whistle rends through the air. I hear the groan Dante lets out, even though he’s still outside. “Grab whatever you need and bring it in,” Ollie directs the crew.
Dante stalks over to my side, his face almost in a sneer. “I hate it when he whistles like that,” he grates acerbically.
I pat his shoulder and arm. “I know. I can hang out down here for a bit. Why don’t you go finish your food?” Dante grumbles then heads up the stairs.
Ollie wisely waits for Dante to leave before walking over. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” he says, sulking a little.
A grin comes to my lips. “Not like last time.”
Ollie cutely scrunches up his nose. “That was pretty dickish of me,” he concedes. “Where’s Milo?”
“He’s showing Mr. Rudd the gym.” I tip my chin in the direction they went, expecting them to return anytime. It’s really not that big of a space.
“He told him about the shower, right?” Ollie looks down at me.
“I think that was the plan, but I didn’t hear him.”
“He did,” Ares confirms. “I have a few calls I need to make. You guys okay down here for a little bit?”
Ollie drapes his arm over my shoulder. “You know it.”
Ares looks around at the four men all bringing in various tool bags and boxes like he doesn’t want to leave them down here without his supervision.
“Go. Work. We got this,” I urge him.
“Fine, call me if you need anything.” He turns and hops up the first step.
“What about me?” Ollie calls out to him. “What if I need something? Can I call you too?” Ollie bats his long lashes at Ares, who doesn’t even give him a backwards glance.
“No, get it yourself,” he quips, but I can hear the smile on his lips.
Ollie clicks his tongue. “See how he treats me?” He pouts his bottom lip. I roll my eyes in response.
“No stall, just put a drain in the floor, with at least two shower heads on each wall.” Milo comes out of the gym area. “Oliver already has the tile picked out, he has a list somewhere.”
“Well, we’ll need to get it ordered, especially if you have anything that is special order, since those can take weeks to come in,” Mr. Rudd informs us.
“I’ll run and grab the list. If we picked anything that isn’t in stock, I’d rather find a substitute. I’m not interested in waiting.” Ollie gives my back a quick rub. “I’ll be right back.”
That leaves me alone with Milo and the work crew. Instinctively, I step a little closer to Milo. I’m still not used to being in the middle of a group of people. But this was the plan, make it look like we’re not taking the threat of Leon seriously.
Milo crosses his arms over his chest and his biceps flex with the movement. “What’s your usual time frame on a project this size?”
“Just the stuff down here, or the whole job?” Mr. Rudd hooks his thumbs in the front pockets of his pants and leans back a little, making his round belly protrude even more.
“Whole job,” Milo clarifies.
“Could take three weeks, a month, maybe more. Depending on materials and how many other jobs I have at the time.” Mr. Rudd looks around, watching the small crew unload their tools. “Mr. Costa already expressed his desire to have the work completed quickly. That’s why I wanted to let you know about the tile, I can’t control the distributors.”
“We can deal with that,” Milo replies. “You guys ready to get started?”
“Yup, I just need to go over a few things with the guys. We should be able to finish up these walls by this afternoon.” Mr. Rudd steps away from us and heads to the guys waiting on the other side of the room.
“Two shower heads on each wall, huh?” I look up at Milo. His cheeks go a little pink.
“I just wanted a nice, big shower. The ones upstairs are cramped, and I’m not sure how much we’re changing right now,” he defends.
I step into his space, my toes touching his. “I’m not complaining about your need for cleanliness.” My voice is light and teasing. “But just how many people were you planning on getting in that shower at the same time?”
Milo looks down at me with narrowed eyes. I like teasing him a little. I’m used to being the one blushing, so I love it when it’s Milo.
He unfolds his arms and draws me closer to his chest. I can feel the hard planes of his abdomen against my breasts. My body responds to his, my nipples tightening against my bra.
“How does two… or three sound?” He bites the corner of his bottom lip. And just like that, the tables are turned, and I am the one who’s blushing. Before I can form a response, Mr. Rudd calls out to Milo.
“These guys are ready to get started. It’s going to be noisy,” he warns. “If you have that list, I can get started measuring to order the materials.”
The swift topic change is like pouring cold water on my head. Not ready to let Milo go, though, I wrap my arm around his back and lean against his side. The four men on the crew skirt around us as they get busy inspecting the wall to see where to start.
Milo looks down at me. “Can you go help Ollie find the list? I know that’s what’s taking him so long.”
“Sure, you want anything from upstairs?”
“Nah, we have a case of Gatorade down here.” Milo rubs my shoulder before releasing me.
Before I’m even up the stairs, I can hear the conversations start to pick up from the other men. “Ollie, where are you?”
“I’m up here. I can’t find the stupid list. I had it last night.” I hear a small thump as something lands on the floor from the upper level.
“I’ll check down here really quick then come help you. It was in one of Dante’s sketch books, right?”
“Yeah, the one with the black cover,” Ollie hollers down.
“They all have black covers,” Dante scoffs, before shoving half a of piece of toast in his mouth. Just the smell alone has me salivating.
I find myself staring at his mouth as he raises the rest to his lips. I watch as he pulls it away, then almost takes a bite again. His tongue darts out to lick his bottom lip. He’s teasing me.
In two quick strides, I’m in front of him. Not even speaking, I snatch the toast from his fingers with my mouth, keeping my eyes locked on his as I do it.
Dante’s lips part and his eyes dilate before his gaze goes heavy-lidded. He still has a small piece of bread left between his fingers. I open my mouth and angle my head so I can take the last morsel. I don’t bother going for just the bread, though, I wrap my lips around his thumb and finger, too.
Dante gasps, and his rigid posture softens as I pull my head back, releasing his fingers.
“Thanks for the toast,” I rasp. Before turning away from him, I make sure the entire front of my body comes into contact with his, rubbing against him.
Dante lets out a pained groan as I exit the kitchen and it puts a smile on my lips. I pause when I reach the living room and it takes me a moment to remember why I’m even here. Oh yes, the list. With one quick glance, I know it’s not in here. The card table and lawn chairs don’t offer much concealment for a notebook.
I make my way down the hall to the master bedroom where the door is slightly ajar. Without knocking, I walk in and ask, “Hey, have you seen the list Ollie made for the tile and flooring?”
Ares keeps h
is head down with his hands poised over the laptop keyboard, but his eyes lift to meet mine. “Just a moment,” he mutters, and his voice has an angry edge.
“Oh, okay,” I respond quickly, my back straightening.
“Not you, Cara. What are you looking for?” His voice is much warmer as his entire focus lands on me.
“Are you on a video call? I’m sorry,” I whisper loudly.
“Don’t worry about it. What did you need?”
“Dante’s notebook with the material list.” I keep my voice hushed.
Ares lifts a few papers next to his computer on the small table. I wonder what the people he’s speaking to think about him being in this barren room instead of his office. “Here it is.” He lifts the black notebook from under his pile, extending it to me.
I walk over, mindful of keeping to the side of the laptop, but my curiosity has me peeking at the screen to catch a glimpse of who he’s talking with.
There are several people on the screen, all too small for me to recognize—not that I would, anyway. They’re seated at a large, oval table and not making a sound as they wait for Ares’s attention. I can see his face too, in the bottom right corner, but he’s watching me as I approach.
“Sorry, I should have knocked,” I mouth with a wince.
“You don’t need to be sorry or knock. Everything okay?” He raises his brows as he poses the question.
“Yes, everything is fine. I just needed this.” I take the notebook from him. “I’ll let you get back to it.” I nod to the computer. His lips lift in a tiny grin. It seems as if he’s enjoying my discomfort.
I look over my shoulder while heading out of the room, and he’s still watching me. After I clear the doorframe, I hear his voice. “Where were we?” His tone is firm again. I get a thrill knowing the softer side of him is reserved just for me.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I call up to Ollie. “I found it!” I hear another thump then Ollie comes out of our room. He pushes his long hair back from his face and stomps over to the stairway. “Where the hell was it?” he asks, exasperated.
“It was in the room with Ares.”
He lets out a huff. “He must have stolen it. I know I was looking at it last night before bed.”
“I can run it down. I know you mentioned wanting to take a shower,” I offer, since Dante or I need to be with the crew while they’re here anyway.
Ollie wraps his arm over my shoulders. “You’re a goddess,” he purrs into my ear. “Wanna join me?”
I backhand his chest. “You know I can’t. I need to get back downstairs.”
Ollie lets out a forlorn sigh. “Well, it was worth a shot.”
I turn and place a soft kiss on his lips before sliding out from under his arm. His face is in a full-on pout as I walk away.
“Find it?” Dante asks around a bite of food. I lift the book in my hand as an answer. “I’ll be down in a minute, after I finish up and take a piss.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. It’s weird that they just announce it like that. I’m still half hiding that I do things like go to the bathroom. Not that it’s a real secret, but I’d rather just pretend it doesn’t happen.
“Okay, see you in a bit.” I wave and pull the kitchen door closed behind me. I bounce down the stairs in a hurry to get back to Milo. I was gone longer than I thought I would be.
When my foot hits the cement floor of the garage, all the men’s heads turn in my direction before quickly averting their gazes.
Milo meets me halfway and takes the notebook from my hand. “Want to go over this with us?” he suggests.
“Sure,” I accept, happy to have something to do other than stand around. The noise of a car coming up the drive captures all of our attention before Milo can even open the book for Mr. Rudd.
“That will probably be Marcus, he was running behind this morning,” Mr. Rudd tells us, as Milo pokes his head out of the garage.
“Blue truck?” Milo inquires.
“Yeah, should be him and his son, Billy,” Mr. Rudd responds, disinterested.
The moment the door opens, I feel it, something’s off. “Milo,” I croak, my eyes wide as I try to tell him without words that something has been tainted by Leon’s influence.
I wring my hands together, the plan we made last night feels much scarier now that it’s actually happening.
Mr. Rudd steps out into the sunlight, and he shields his eyes and calls out, “Everything work out okay?”
“Yeah, sorry we’re late,” the man, Marcus, I assume, replies, already lifting a large red bag out of the back of the truck. His son, who looks pretty young, doesn’t look over at us, instead he walks around the back of the truck to meet his dad. “Probably ran over a nail at the last job or something.”
“It happens,” Mr. Rudd replies.
“You had a flat?” Milo inserts himself into the conversation.
“Yeah, I sent Billy outside to start the truck and he noticed. We had a spare, but it ate up time.”
I walk over to Milo and tug on the back of his shirt. He spares me a glance but turns back to face the group, sliding his hands into the pockets of his gray joggers.
“Hey, Billy, you go to Franklin, right?” Milo tilts his head.
Billy nods his in response, keeping quiet. An awkward silence falls briefly before Marcus, with his brow furrowed, says, “Well, where should we start?” Then he glances over at his son.
“The rest of the crew is in the garage. They can fill you in while I get the materials ordered,” Mr. Rudd responds, dismissing them.
The sounds of drills and nail guns, and compressors begin filling the hushed morning as the guys get to work.
I have a moment where I want to stop Billy from coming in. Everything about him feels wrong, off. But I hold my tongue as he passes us, his head lowered.
I tug on the back of Milo’s shirt again. He watches the two men enter the open bay doors. His lips are pressed into a hard line.
Should we really be letting him in? I don’t have a chance to examine the plan further before I hear loud shouting. We all take off in the direction of the sound.
“What the fuck, Billy?” One of the men is standing with his mouth open in shock and a nail gun in his hand. He’s looking around as if to ask if anyone else is seeing what he is.
Billy has a hammer in his hand and he’s pounding holes in the drywall that has already been hung. He swings wildly when one of the other guys yells for him to stop and grabs his shoulder. The guy pulls back just in time to not get clobbered with the hammer in Billy’s hand.
Everyone takes another step backwards and watches in horror as he tries to ruin all the work that’s already been done. The loud commotion has Dante running down the stairs, and his eyes meet mine before he, too, watches Billy wreak havoc on the basement.
“It’ll wear off,” Milo promises, moving so he’s standing between Billy and me. I can’t do anything but watch in horror as he screams and bashes everything he can.
Ares appears a few feet from me, his eyes running over me before he focuses on Billy. “Can you stop him?” I inquire.
“I won’t risk touching his mind right now.” Ares folds his arms over his chest. The men from the crew and Mr. Rudd are all hollering for Billy to stop, but none of them want to get too close now that they know he’s willing to hit them, too.
I back up a few more steps, hating the fact that all we can do is stand here and watch him. A hand clamps over my mouth from behind as I near the entrance of the garage. I kick my feet, but the scuffling can’t be heard over the loud yelling and crashing sounds of Billy’s destruction.
I stop fighting, making my body go limp as arms wrap around my torso, squeezing in a punishing grip.
A buzzing energy fills me, until I feel like my entire body is vibrating with power. I resume fighting, my instincts kicking in. A whiteish glow fills the dim garage and every head turns in my direction. Billy is almost forgotten as the men stare at me with shock on their faces.
>
My guys don’t look surprised at all. They do, however, look mad as hell as they form a line and walk toward us.
“She’ll end up killing you if you don’t release her,” Ares warns almost flatly. I can see the cracks in his façade, but they’re so minimal I’m sure the person holding me has no clue how close to the edge Ares really is.
Milo tilts his head to the side, and the veins running up his arms thicken along with the size of his shoulders. A feral growl rips from Dante’s throat, but none of them move closer to me. I don’t think any of us expected Leon to try something so soon, even though we hoped he would. It still comes as a surprise.
His arms loosen around me. “I don’t want any trouble.” The man’s voice comes out shaky.
Ollie lets out a bark of a laugh. “Then why the fuck are you here, with your hands on our Synergist?” His voice grows dark as he peers behind me from under his brow.
“He has my wife,” the man confesses, using me as a shield now.
Dante looks over at Ares. “He couldn’t have thought this would work?” Confusion is clear in his tone.
“Maybe he’s desperate?” Milo mumbles.
“Release her or I’ll kill you.” Ares threatens, and there isn’t an ounce of hesitation in his tone. The man behind me almost shoves me away from him. I stumble forward, looking over my shoulder as Ollie grabs my hands and pulls me close.
“Tell us what you were supposed to do,” Ares demands, as the man slowly backs out of the garage.
“I was just supposed to grab the girl when the kid had you guys distracted. I wasn’t ever going to hurt her,” he promises.
“Where were you supposed to take her?” Dante takes one menacing step forward.
“I was supposed to call once I got her in the car.” He looks between the guys. The noise behind us has finally died down. It seems either Marcus was able to subdue Billy or Leon’s influence has worn off.
“Don’t move.” Ares points at the man and he freezes.
Infinity Chronicles Book Four: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Series Page 15