Chapter 16
Thomas
Chapter Sixteen
I went back to my room, looked around, and grabbed the hockey stick placed in one of the corners before I closed the door behind me. As quietly as I could, I made my way to my brother’s room, where the walls were still covered with green dinosaurs, which Connor had been obsessed with since we were little. I checked every possible part of the room where someone could have been hiding and made sure the window was locked. I didn’t bother to look around in my parents’ old room as the key to their door was still resting in the pocket of my sweatpants. Instead, I turned to the bathroom, the only room left on this floor. I only needed to open the door to know it was empty, and I headed downstairs, turning the lights on as I moved.
For a moment I thought I heard something and stopped in the middle of the stairs, but the house seemed hollow, so I moved on. The ground floor only had three rooms, and the kitchen and the living room could almost be counted as one. There was only one last place I hadn’t looked, which was the tool room. The image of Kinsley spread out to me on my father’s armchair flashed into my mind, and I stretched my neck to keep myself focused. I walked the narrow hallway leading from the living room to the tool room, gripping the hockey stick in my hand. I stopped in front of the first wooden door and pushed it open. The stairway was empty, and when I opened the second door; the stillness of the room felt almost loud around me. I circled the deck boat in the middle of the tool room and looked in every corner, but I was alone.
So, someone snuck into the house and then left. There was one thing pulsing in my mind. Did they find what they were looking for?
I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me the same time a loud noise came from the living room. I rushed back up then down the hallway and followed the sound, which was now coming from the kitchen. I slowed my steps before turning the corner and raised the hockey stick in my hands. I took another step and bumped into?—
“What the fuck!” Connor shrieked as he made his way out of the kitchen with an ice cream in his hand.
“Fuck.” I let out a sigh.
“What the fuck?” Connor asked again, stepping backward. “Why did you want to take me out with your old hockey stick?” He glanced at the visibly short stick in my hand.
“Someone broke into the house,” I replied, and his eyes widened.
I watched as my brother tried to form words, opening then closing his mouth, the expression on his face changing from surprised to confused then to upset. “Wait, what?” He looked behind his back at the empty kitchen, as if he was expecting someone to jump on him, before he sat down at the kitchen island.
“We were in Mom’s old room,” I explained. “And when we finished, Kinsley went back to her room and found the window open.”
“Finished with what?” He grimaced, and I rolled my eyes.
“Reading through Mom’s old notebooks. We found them in the floor under the bed.” I placed the hockey stick down on the counter next to Connor and turned to the sink to pour myself a glass of water.
“Makes sense.” He furrowed his brows. “I guess,” he added, and I snorted into my glass. “And are you sure it wasn’t Kins who opened the window?” He asked, eating from the ice cream.
“Do you think I would walk around the house with my twelve-year-old hockey stick if I thought it was her?” I made a face.
“Okay. So, we are back to square one, which is what the fuck?” He rested his back against the counter.
“I know.” I sighed, emptying the glass in my hand.
“And what about the cleaning lady? She has a key.” I lifted a surprised brow at him.
“She’s on a paid holiday for two weeks.” Connor frowned. “Alright, but someone could have still stolen her key.”
“If someone would have stolen her key, they wouldn’t have used the windows instead of the door” I motioned at the front door and Connor closed his eyes. “Right. Then I think we should invest in some security cameras,” he proposed, savoring his ice cream, and I tapped my fingers on the surface of the counter.
“What happened?” Kinsley ran down the stairs and Connor trembled.
“Shit, you scared me.”
“I heard someone scream,” she stated, and I snorted, glancing toward my brother.
“I did not,” he resisted, dropping the empty ice-cream stick into the trash. “I was just saying that we should get security cameras.”
“One. I already called the shop in town, and they are out of stock. They said it could take a few days to two weeks for them to arrive, and two,” I turned back to Kinsley, “I told you to stay in your room.”
“And I told you, you aren’t my father,” she replied, and I grumbled.
“I’m sorry, two weeks?” Connor chimed in, and we turned our heads toward him. “I forgot how slow small towns are,” he added, and I nodded in agreement.
“We should get some sleep,” I said, and Connor suppressed a yawn.
“How can you think about sleeping when this just happened?” Kinsley asked.
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” I quoted, and she made a face at me.
“Benjamin Franklin.” She scrunched her nose, annoyed, and I nodded, biting the corner of my mouth to hide my smile. God, I loved how her brain worked.
“You guys are weird.” Connor grimaced, and Kinsley and I shared a look before she turned and walked up the stairs.
“Do you want me to stay in her room?” Connor stepped next to me when Kinsley was out of hearing range, and my eyes widened.
“No,” I answered, and a small laugh burst out of him.
“Chill. I just asked.” He made his way toward the stairs, and I made sure the front door was locked before I moved to follow him. “I just thought you were still in your keep-her-at-an-arm’s-length era.” He glanced back at me over his shoulder with a cocky smile, and I made a face at him.
We parted ways in the hallway, and I waited for him to disappear behind his door and lock it before I went through my own door. I planned to rest, as I had said, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to, so instead I took out my chess set and set it up on the bed. Playing against myself had become a habit for me, and it was useful when I wanted to keep my attention away from something or someone. I sat down onto the chair next to the bed and made my opening move.
???
I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and stood up to stretch my muscles. It was past four in the morning, and I had played multiple matches. It was time for something else. I opened my door and looked across the dark hallway. The white door of my parents’ bedroom across the hall seemed bright in the darkness. I closed my door behind my back and made my way toward Kinsley’s bedroom. I made sure that my brother’s was still locked before I tried hers. At first it surprised me that I found it open, then I remembered that the guest room’s key was placed somewhere else. Kinsley was breathing evenly under the thousands of blankets she had thrown over herself. I had no idea how she didn’t catch on fire when we were in the middle of summer. I looked around the room and noticed she put her stuff away, leaving only her crossword and my mother’s lilac notebook on one of the nightstands. I turned my attention toward the only window in the room, the one someone used to break into the house. I tapped on the flashlight on my phone and ran my fingers over the window’s frame again, making sure that I hadn’t missed anything earlier. I opened it just enough so I could take a good look at the outside of it too. Still, I found no scratch or crack that could have given away that it was pried open. This didn’t mean that Kinsley was remembering it wrong, and she had opened it. It wasn’t that hard to learn how to crack a window open without leaving a trail behind. The cool summer air crept into the room, and Kinsley squirmed in the bed.
“Thomas?” she breathed, cracking her eyes open when I closed the window. The hairs on my arms rose from the way my name sounded from her mouth. I walked to the bed without thinking through what I was doing, and I sat down next to her, onto the mattress, smoothing over her silky hair.
“Everything’s all right,” I whispered, my fingers getting lost in her hair. “Go back to sleep, Sage.” My heartbeat quickened when she closed her eyes again.
I watched her lie there, breathing softly with her cheeks flushed, probably from the multiple blankets she had on. That was when I made my decision. I didn’t want to pretend anymore. I didn’t want to lie to both of us.
I wanted her.