4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
Aras
A ras took the ride through Baltimore to the suburbs to get his head back on straight. A lot easier when there wasn’t a cute, twinky, redheaded lighting grip to draw his attention. Ever since that job in Three Rivers, Dane had been on Aras’s radar. Not that there was anything wrong with checking Dane out—he made it difficult with his seemingly endless selection of baggy clothes, but that made the little peeks of his actual physique all the sweeter—but Aras knew it wasn’t just checking him out. He kept inserting himself into Dane’s work little by little.
And no one should have Aras’s bad mood thrust onto them. He’d agreed to the show, but that didn’t mean he was his best self when he had to be around so many people. It was selfish to keep going over to Dane. He did his best to keep a handle on it when he was talking to Dane, but was he successful? Aras had little confidence in himself in that regard.
They pulled up to the jam-packed driveway of their next job. The neighbors here weren’t as subtle as they had been on previous sites. No surreptitious peeking through closed blinds. They were out on the sidewalk, chattering with each other and pointing to Caroline’s new house. And the trailers, multiple cars, and cavalcade of cameras and contracting crew swarming it.
When they came to a stop and everyone piled out, Aras chided himself as his gaze instantly latched onto Dane. Which was a stupid thing to get annoyed at. It wasn’t as if he’d tried to find Dane. The lighting and camera guys from the meeting at the hotel had been ahead of them, so when he got out and looked toward the house, Dane happened to be in his line of sight.
Aras could have controlled how much he leered as Dane stretched side-to-side, lifting up his shirt and jacket just enough to see a peek of pale skin on his lower back. And he didn’t. For that, he could chide himself.
They’d never removed their mics—in case there was some interesting conversation in the car—so once everyone had scrambled out of the two SUVs and the cameras had swung back around, they moved toward the single story new construction home. The lawn was absolutely a postage stamp, Ozzy had gotten that right. A driveway ran up one side—no garage, attached or otherwise—which left a foot-wide empty bed that could take some plants. Then the rest of the front yard was all of about six square feet, with the grass cut down the middle by a walkway leading to the front stoop. Just eyeballing the dimensions of the back yard, from the front fence to the one behind it, that wasn’t much bigger, and had to include the patio.
The siding had been painted a pale slate color, and the door was a navy blue. White trim, and the walkway and driveway had been finished in the same color. Aras rolled his eyes when he noticed. Whether it was a paint or a stain, in these conditions, she’d probably get about five years out of that. Which wasn’t nothing, but when it started to fade, it looked even worse than regular, boring old concrete.
Not my circus, not my monkeys. Ozzy could handle that…and then they could all hear about it, since he would feel the same way. Aras shifted his attention to his own wheelhouse. A simple sconce hung by the front door. They’d gone, as expected, with the absolute most stereotypical fixture, a squared off hanging lantern in black. He’d need to check and see if this place was under an HOA—most new construction was—but he’d change it out in half a heartbeat if he could. No external outlets in the front, but he made a note to check around the back. Sounded like Caroline wanted low maintenance outdoors, so she probably didn’t need them, but it was part of his checklist. Plus, in the event you needed an external outlet, they were entirely too convenient to ignore.
“All right,” said Eliza, hands clasped in front of her. She’d shucked off her dark jacket, so now she was just in a white blouse and black slacks. “I think we’re ready for the walkthrough. Not much work for the crew to do right now.”
“We probably don’t need a crew.” Aras shrugged. “We used to do worse houses than this on our own. Working on new construction should be a treat.”
“I’m aware. But I’m sure you’ll find a use for them.”
Doubtful . If that had come from any of the actual Pine Point crew, he would have responded out loud, but Eliza didn’t sign up for that. Besides, maybe she was right and they wouldn’t constantly be underfoot. Again, doubtful.
Mason led the way, followed by Bunny and Evander. Ozzy had pulled Robinson aside and they were talking with a single camera trained on them. Aras went next, and Jake took up the rear. It was standard practice not to have the owner in the house when they did this. Part of the process was saying whatever the hell they needed to, since the footage would be replaced with a voice over and some fancy music anyway. If the client was there, they had to mince words a little more.
There wasn’t much to mince, though, since there wasn’t much of anything . All the walls were contractor white. LVP flooring in the same gray wood grain that everyone and their grandmother used nowadays. Shiny new countertops, shinier new light fixtures—all bargain basement again—and plastic film still on all the windows. When she’d said new construction, she’d meant it.
It was a three bed, two bath, with a master suite. Aras checked all the lights as he went through, and they all turned on. Nothing smelled like burning. Nothing got weird with every light in the house on. He didn’t check every single outlet, but one in each room, and they all came back in good shape.
When they were all heading back to the front door, Aras stopped Mason and looked straight at him. “Is this what we’re doing, now? Evander decorates the place and we’re all just muscle?”
Mason shrugged. “Getting paid to make Ev do most of the work seems pretty nice, doesn’t it?”
In theory sure. In practice, Aras’s skin tightened at the thought of sitting around doing jack shit.
Mason apparently interpreted his silence correctly, since he carried on. “You were talking carnival stuff with her at the hotel. Focus on that. Since I’m pretty sure none of us know what the hell it is.”
Aras rolled his shoulders. He had to admit, it scraped at him a little. They should have had some idea about carnival glass. He’d been collecting it since they were all in high school. But hell, maybe he didn’t talk about it enough for any of that to break through. Or maybe they don’t care enough.
“I’ll focus on the carnival stuff , then.” Aras sucked his teeth, then moved out of the back bedroom so they could get on. They still had to check the backyard, which was certain to be just as boring but totally serviceable as the rest of the house.
He flagged down Eliza as they went to the back door. “Hey, I need someone to look over any HOA bullshit we’re going to have to deal with.”
“Done and dusted.” She put her hands on her hips offered a half-cocked smile. “HOA here is only concerned about the public spaces, and avoiding anything dangerous on property. No fire-breathing dragon statues outside, no barbed wire, and we should be good.”
“Some small panacea.” He nodded and headed out with the others.