Chapter 17 Jett
Ash pushed the handle of the door down, and silently, the three of us entered the house. We knew the residents of the house were on vacation, but that didn’t mean we should be careless.
“What’s the point of alarms if no fucker sets them?” Gray hissed in a temper as we crossed the large living area, heading for the stairs.
“I already disabled it,” Ash whispered back. “Did you not notice who makes their alarm system?” He gave us a cocky grin, and Gray let out a low chuckle.
Ash’s dad had shares in an alarm security company despite knowing next to nothing about it.
However, his childhood friend, Bill, our “uncle,” did know about it, and it was from him that Ash caught the coding bug.
The fact that we were breaking into a house with our family’s security company coverage was slightly ironic, and I saw Gray smirk at the paradox.
Santo Security Systems didn’t just provide alarm systems, but anything someone may need for security, whether that be a house intruder alarm system, a panic room, a simple wall-mounted safe, or the more elaborate editions that only the truly paranoid needed.
“Where’s the office?” Ash asked us quietly as we climbed the stairs. Suddenly, Gray held his hand up in a tight fist, indicating we stop.
Frozen on the stairs, we listened. And then I heard it.
A soft, drawn-out moan.
Gray looked back down the stairs at us as he pulled his hood low and covered the lower half of his face with the black bandanas we all wore, his eyes narrowed in accusation on Ash, who had assured us that the house was empty.
The moan came again, louder, and you wouldn’t need to be a genius to know exactly what was going on in the room halfway down the hall.
“Fuck, baby, this ass is so fucking tight.” The male voice was loud in the silence.
“Fuck my ass,” came the answering moan, and Ash turned to look at me with surprise before he, too, covered his face with his bandana.
Gray stealthily moved up the stairs, and I caught Ash from reaching forward and grabbing him.
Shaking my head, I pointed ahead. Just because there were people here didn’t mean we wouldn’t go forward with the plan.
I watched my cousin clench his jaw as he debated whether we were being reckless, and then he followed Gray.
“Baby! Baby, I’m going to come, I’m going to fucking come up your ass on this bitch’s bed.”
Tightening my jaw to stop the laugh from escaping, I realized at least we knew which half of the owners was on vacation, as her husband cheated on her with whoever the lucky recipient may be.
At the top of the stairs, Gray waited, and when the headboard banging off the wall reached fever pitch, he pushed the study door open, the slight squeak covered by the rhythmic thumping.
Gray stayed by the door, leaving it open a fraction. With them being in the house, we should really have had it more open, but none of us really wanted to listen to the sound of their fucking.
“It’s under the desk.” Ash was barely audible, but the two of us headed to the desk and very quietly rolled the office chair back. “We need to lift it,” he told me, and we both hesitated.
Was it worth being caught?
“You got this?” I asked him as we considered the options.
With a terse nod, we looked at Gray. He held up his hand and flashed his fingers. Ash and I glanced at each other, and then, with a nod, we moved the desk, but then we followed Gray’s instructions and waited.
The headboard banging stopped, we heard the shout of pleasure, we heard the answering groan, and still we waited. Gray stayed at the door, and all three of us dropped when we heard footsteps in the hall.
“You want anything?” the guy called out.
“Only you,” came the answering call from the other man.
Ash pretended to put his fingers down his throat at the cliché reply. We waited as we heard him move downstairs, and we waited more when he came back up the stairs, never once coming near the study. That didn’t mean we weren’t anxious at the thought of it, though.
“I got strawberries, cream, and . . . a banana.”
Gray choked on his laughter, pressing his hands to his mouth to stop the giggle. Ash was bent over, his body shaking, and I could only hope that my own fit of hysteria would stay silent as my shoulders shook with laughter.
As we strained to hear the low murmuring of voices, I nudged Ash, and he uncovered the floor, pulling the rug back, which hid the safe underneath.
Quietly, we lifted the hatch, and with a look to my brother, I saw he was fully focused on the door.
“Does this beep?” I suddenly whispered to Ash.
“No, it’s the latest model, only installed two weeks ago,” came his low reply.
“Still default code?” I said with surprise.
“Fucker deserves to be robbed,” Ash said quietly. “Actually robbed.” He sat back on his haunches as we heard another moan. “Was hoping they’d sleep,” he admitted.
With a grin for my cousin, I opened the safe.
Ash pointed his phone into the safe, and we both stared as he took a quick photo.
Money was stacked neatly in one corner. A folder of documents, which Ash pulled out and quickly started to go through.
A long jewelry box, which I opened and nudged Ash when I saw the black memory stick nestled between a gaudy diamond ring and diamond stud earrings.
Gray jerked suddenly, knocking the seat by the door, and we all froze, waiting to see if the bedroom gymnasts had heard us. I saw the reason my brother reacted — a black and white cat moved slowly across the floor, looking as confused at our presence as we were by it.
“Meow.” It looked straight at me as it stopped in the center of the room.
Gray glared at it, then me. He wasn’t fond of cats.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Ash murmured as he handed me a piece of paper.
Reading it, I looked up at him in alarm. He shook his head, and I carefully folded the document, slipping it under my hoodie.
With another shake of his head, he let me know there was nothing else of interest. Quickly, we reassembled the safe, and as I closed the hatch, the cat brushed against me.
It stood at my feet and then began to weave in and out of my legs.
I thought they only did that in cat food commercials. Was it hungry? It could fuck off.
I stared at it. It stared back. Neither of us moved.
“Meeeow.”
Ash gave out a sigh as he bent down, picked the furball up, and placed it to the side. Swiftly, the desk was put back, and then the stupid cat meowed again.
“It’s the bitch’s cat.”
Gray was pressed against the door, ready to burst through it if he needed to.
“Should we see where it is?”
I think all three of us held our breath for what seemed like eternity.
“No.”
“Maybe it’s hungry.”
“I’m hungry.”
I rolled my eyes at the dude as Ash and I crossed to Gray, and he slowly opened the door. The door creaked. Again, we froze, but when we heard a murmur about the stupid pussy, Gray looked over at me, and with a firm look, he slipped out into the hall.
At the top of the stairs, he disappeared, and then Ash followed him. Pressing against the wall, he waited until Gray was at the bottom, and then he was gone too. With a deep breath, I followed their lead.
“Meow.”
I hesitated for a moment, and then I was moving across the hall and almost threw myself down the stairs just as the bedroom door opened.
“Kitty! Shut up!” came the harsh voice of the owner.
I was half crouched on the ground floor hall, completely exposed. If he looked over his banister, he would see me.
Gray and Ash were at the kitchen door, eyes wide as we all waited.
“Meow.”
I had never wished harm on an animal until that moment. All it needed to do was run down the stairs after me, and I was busted.
I saw the guy clearly then as he walked toward the cat, and as he passed, his back to me, I flew across the floor to the safety of the kitchen.
“We have seconds, if that,” Gray whispered as we raced to the door.
With a slow, calm precision none of us felt, Gray softly opened the back door to the yard, allowing Ash out.
I could hear Kitty’s owner coming down the stairs, and as the lower lights went on, my brother and I exchanged a panicked look before we were both through the door.
All three of us dropped to the grass outside.
We crawled across the grass on our bellies, our heads low to the ground. At the side of the house, we raised ourselves to a crouch, and again one by one, each of us left the yard.
I was the last one to the car, and when we were in, with Gray checking the area to make sure there were no observers, I started the engine and we pulled away.
When we had enough distance between us and the house, Gray started to laugh. “A banana?”
“A fucking cat?” Ash started to laugh too.
“Always knew pussy was likely to be the end of us,” I joked before we all dissolved into laughter.
“What’s on the paper?” Gray asked me when he sobered.
Ash looked out the window, his lips pursed, and with a sigh, I pulled it from my hoodie and handed it to Gray.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gray exploded in the back seat as he read it. “Take us back, take me back right now.”
“You need to calm down,” I told him as Ash turned in his seat to look at Gray.
“Calm down?” Gray was still staring at the paper as he practically vibrated with rage in his seat. “This will destroy her.” His eyes snapped to mine, and I nodded.
“I know.” I held his stare in the rearview mirror. “Gray, we’re going to fix it.”
“Fucking asshole,” Gray growled. “We need to end him.”
“Gray,” I cautioned him as I drove, my eyes flicking once to Ash in warning.
“We’ll get him,” Ash assured my brother. “We can’t tell her about this.”
“Of course we don’t tell her,” Gray fumed in the back seat. “Why would this be in that guy’s house?”
“We have a memory stick. Hopefully, it tells us more.” Ash rubbed his hand over his face.
Thirty minutes later, we were making our way tiredly up the stairs to our rooms. I heard low moaning on the second floor coming from Jamie’s room and smirked back at Ash as I carried on past.
“Not working it hard enough,” Ash called out as he passed the door, thumping it loudly. “Work it hard, get your freak on. Girl, you even alive in there? Make him work for it, baby!”
With a grin at Ash, I hesitated on the stairs. “Jesus, Elise told me you were shit, but I never believed it. No wonder she only moans for the Devils.”
Gray snorted as he climbed the stairs. The moans got louder, and my brother’s laughter echoed down from the top floor as Ash and I jogged up the stairs after him.
In Ash’s room, we kicked off our sneakers, and Gray held his hand out impatiently for the memory stick.
“Wasn’t keeping it off you,” I murmured as I placed it in his hands.
Ash swiped it out of Gray’s grasp with a wink. “I’m quicker.”
“Heard that about you,” Gray quipped as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling. “Remember to wipe the image from your phone,” he said to Ash as he sank down onto the couch.
I’d taken the edge of the bed, but Ash had hit an encryption, and as he worked on it, I lay back, my eyes closing. When I heard his grunt of satisfaction, I sat up as the film began to play.
At the end, I turned to look at Gray, whose face was white with fury. “At least this girl walked away.”
“Yeah,” I agreed as Ash remained quiet. “What is it?”
“The file says it has three more minutes.”
We waited as the camera remained pointed at the bed. Ten seconds before the end, a face came into view and turned the camera off. It was a sloppy mistake, but one we needed.
“Harry, what have you got yourself involved in?” I said quietly to the silence of the room.
“We go back to Harry’s?” Gray asked as he stood.
“Yeah, and we beat the shit out of him,” Ash growled as he turned in his seat. “He wasn’t in the first one, but is it because he’s the cameraman?”
“We need more.” I stared at the floor, knowing my brother was never going to agree to what I was going to say next. “We need to show her.”
“No.”
“Gray—”
“I said no, Jett.”
“I agree.”
I turned to look at Ash. I hadn’t been expecting him to agree with Gray after seeing the film. “You do?”
“She sees this, she’ll freak out.” Ash met Gray’s look. “She doesn’t need this shit in her head.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s bad enough it’s in ours, she doesn’t need it.”
“It’s already in her head,” I reminded them both.
“We said no.” Gray’s look was pointed; his tone brooked no room for argument.
“Fine.”
“Let’s get some sleep,” Ash, ever the peacekeeper, suggested. “We still have tomorrow to prepare for.”
I walked to the bedroom door. “We hit the bar first. We need to know about this Wade guy.”
“Class, practice, bar, fuck shit up,” Ash said as he ticked the items off his fingers. “Got it.”
Gray smiled suddenly. “Time to remind this place who we are.”
“It is indeed,” I agreed.
“You ready?” Gray asked me as he bounced on his feet in anticipation.
A slow smile spread across my face. “When am I not ready, little brother?” I gave a low laugh as I left them. Tomorrow night, this campus will remember what it meant to have the Devils at this school.
It was time to cause Mayhem.