CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Summer
Life doesn’t get much crazier than this. Or at the very least, I hope it doesn’t. I’m not sure how much more I can handle.
The house exploded. Like full on exploded. Honestly, if the situation wasn’t so severe, I would have made everyone believe I had a premonition. I’ve made people believe stranger things.
Exploded.
My mind has not yet comprehended everything that happened. How could it? Explosions like that happen in movies or if some twit down at the tyre factory leaves something highly inflammable out. I’m pretty sure that’s how the furniture shop got lit up a couple of weeks ago near town.
This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t a safety error or a miscalculation. Someone wants this family dead. Six-feet under dead. They had been so close to getting what they wanted.
Now, my cousins are plotting a murder like it’s an everyday occurrence.
I’m pretty sure Makayla has a group text going where everyone can add to a poll.
She hasn’t really, but... I chance a glance at her from where she stands near the cabinet, glancing down at her phone.
I guess it could be possible. I mean, if it were me, I would want choices. Hypothetical choices.
Once Jaxon made his announcement about Lily being outside, I got steered back into the chair by his mum. Right now, Jaxon has his daughter in his arms, and he’s holding his wife like if he lets go, he might lose her.
The Carters are going apeshit, demanding answers and action.
Reid drops down next to me with a warning from Paisley that he needs to rest.
I narrow my gaze at his intrusion. I need to be alone. I need to think. And I can’t do anything when he’s around me. Even smelling of smoke and soot, his woodsy scent still lingers, filling the air. “Will you move?”
His eyebrows pull inwards. “No.” No reason or explanation. Just... no.
I huff out a breath. “Move, Reid.”
“Is this how you treat someone who saved your life?”
My eyeballs nearly pop out of their sockets. “You saved my life?”
He points to the gash on his hairline. “Duh.”
“I’m the one who got you out of the house,” I remind him.
“Pretty sure I walked my own arse out of there,” he tells me, smirking.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting a permanent eye twitch if I keep being around him.
“Just move.”
“You didn’t mind being near me when I was holding you in the car,” he states, brushing his knuckles along my leg.
My eye twitches once again as I scan his handsome, smackable face. “Then you hit your head harder than you claim because that was not you holding me.”
He leans in closer, almost making me forget what we are talking about because he smells so fucking good. He shouldn’t smell this fucking good. Or look this good. God, his eyes. His piercing, smoky green eyes. They have me in a trance every single time.
“My arm was definitely around you,” he huskily responds, running his nose along my jaw. “And it was definitely you clutching me like your life depended on it.”
This... this man. My god, he is infuriating.
I place my hand on his chest, pushing him back. “There were four of us squished in the back of my car. You had no choice. Just like I didn’t when I had my hand on you. You kept leaning over me. If that is you claiming to hold a woman, I pity the women you are with,” I reply hauntingly.
He grins, and I’m immediately drawn to his mouth. I’m pretty sure I spot a flash of silver in there. “Jealous? You sound jealous.”
I didn’t think my teeth could clench this hard, but they do.
I growl deeply. “Why are you so annoying?”
My attention drifts over to Max when his voice rises. He’s arguing with Liam, acting more like his dad than his friend.
Reid lets out a heavy, put-out sigh. “I like annoying people. It’s what I do. That’s not what I’m doing though...” his voice drifts off, his gaze on the spectacle in front of us. “My mum will get out the slipper if I cause an argument, and I really don’t want that right now.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing with me,” I point out. “You’re causing an argument.”
He gestures between us both. “This... this is flirting. I meant arguing with the Carters. It can get physical. So far, we haven’t come to blows with the Carter dads, and I like it that way. I’m pretty sure Max is unhinged.”
“This is flirting?” I question in disbelief. He grins, as if he's found special meaning in my words.
His gaze flicks to my mouth, then back up to meet my eyes. God, he has gorgeous eyes. “Nah. This is just the warm up to flirting. You’ll know when I’m really flirting,” he rasps, his gaze once again dropping to my mouth.
“Stop it,” I warn, unconsciously clenching my thighs together.
He tilts his head slightly, giving me a flash of the tattoos on his neck. “Stop what?”
I wave my hand and gesture to his face and body. “Whatever it is you’re doing,” I snap.
My name is called, and I don’t need to look to know it was Maverick who said it. Since Mark has been dating Freya, I’ve spent a lot of time with the Carters.
“Yes?” I reply, ignoring Reid when he shifts closer, his arm resting on the back of the sofa behind me.
“Can you describe the man for us?”
I swallow and describe as much as I can remember. “I would remember that scar anywhere. It’s how I knew he was bad.”
“Wait, you’ve seen him before?” Maverick asks, his entire body becoming alert.
I nod slowly. “Yeah. He’s the guy who broke into the house the night I got back from the spa party here. Reid scared him away.”
Liam’s complexion pales, his gaze finding Malia’s in the room. “You said nothing was taken.”
My brows pinch together when her entire body tightens. “Holy crap, my sisters,” she panics.
I shoot up off the sofa. “What is going on?”
What have they thought of?
Nothing was taken.
The realisation hits me a moment later. He didn’t steal anything, but he could have been planting something.
I chase her and Makayla out the door. “Where are your keys?” she screams as she reaches my car.
My keys. I pat down my jacket, when it hits me.
I didn’t drive here.
Jaxon is already one step behind me. He throws the keys to Malia. “I’ll follow behind you. Lily, stay here with Mum and don’t leave the house.”
She shakily nods and whispers something to him as I get in the back of my car. My eyes widen when Max pushes Reid out of the way and jumps in the back of the car with me. I open my mouth to ask what he’s doing, but I’m not entirely sure I want the answer.
Gravel kicks up from under the tyres as Malia reverses quickly, before spinning the car around. Stones ping off my car, and if I wasn’t so worried about my cousins, I would be concerned about the damage those stones are causing.
“Magnolia has them all outside,” Makayla promises, lowering her phone. “Why didn’t we think to check if anything was added to the house?”
“Don’t,” Malia states. “This is my fault. I should have looked. I didn’t even think. I’m so fucking stupid.”
“This isn’t your fault, Malia,” I tell her heatedly. “I mean, come on, who breaks into someone’s home to plant something?”
Max clears his throat, startling Malia and Makayla in the front. “I broke into my brother’s house and planted women’s underwear under his bed.”
“W-what? Why?”
I groan. Why did I open my mouth?
His body tenses. “He ate all my fucking brownies, and when I got payback, I ended up breaking the urn that housed my wife’s favourite cat’s ashes.
She didn’t know then that I had already scattered the rat all over my granddad’s garden and replaced it with barbeque ash.
That cat tried to fucking kill me every chance it got when it was alive.
No fucking way was its ashes going to sit on our mantelpiece.
I’ve watched Pet Sematary. Fuck that shit,” he growls, then shakes his head, clearing his thoughts.
“She didn’t speak to me for a week after that.
She loved the rat. It broke her heart when it died, so much so I nearly got her another to replace it.
Nearly. Anyway, it was all Myles’ fault, so I got payback by breaking in and planting something in his bedroom. ”
I have no words. None whatsoever. What do you say to something like that?
So instead, I mutter an, “I’m sorry.”
He shudders. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”
“Um, what are you doing in the car?” Makayla asks. “You don’t know us.”
“I’m bored. I hate the school holidays. There’s nothing to do.”
“You go to school?” Malia asks, seeming more relaxed since Makayla told her everyone is outside.
“I’m a teacher.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “They allow you around kids?” I slap my hand over my mouth, wishing I could shut the fuck up.
It’s the explosion.
Has to be.
He grins, puffing out his chest. “I’m the only teacher who can get those brats to listen.”
I lean back in the seat, closing my eyes. “This day is so weird.”
I open them back up when I hear shuffling in the front. Makayla turns in her seat, glancing at Max. “It still doesn’t answer our question. Why are you here? In this car?”
He sighs like we’re giving him the third degree. “Does it matter?”
“It will if you’ve only come to raid our food,” Malia warns, glancing at him through the rear-view mirror.
His stomach grumbles on cue. “Well, it wasn’t on my mind until you brought up food,” he growls, annoyed. “Why the fuck did you have to bring up food?”
“If the house is safe, maybe we can order everyone pizza,” I suggest as we pull onto the lane leading up to the house.
A hungry Carter is a dangerous Carter.
“How will we know if the house is safe?” Makayla asks, biting her lip when she glances at Malia. “We all know how to build a bomb, but let’s be honest, none of us have a clue how to locate one.”
Max snorts. “We’ll find it.”
“Don’t be so sure. It was only the other day that we realised the unit in the kitchen is a cover-up for the cellar door,” Malia admits.
“Still weird that it’s covered up,” Makayla admits, then shudders.
“Anything in it?” Max asks, as the car comes to a stop.
Malia grins as she turns around to face him. “A gold tin. Magnolia won’t let us open it. It was just sitting in the middle of the brick floor, rusty and old. But it’s been glued shut.”
Max pales when they leave the car in a hurry. He grabs my arm before I can reach for the handle. “Please tell me there weren’t crosses on the inside of the door or in the cellar.”
“No. But it smelled like death down there,” I tease him, stepping out.
“Oh my god, what happened to you?” Mercedes cries, running over to me.
“Explosion,” I mutter, then let Makayla tell the story of what happened.
Another car comes to a sudden stop. Jaxon, Liam, Reid, and Wyatt step out. I follow behind Malia as she walks up to them. “How do we find bombs?”
“It won’t be small, small. You’ll be able to spot one. Going by the time that has passed between now and his visit, I don’t believe there is one here,” Jaxon states.
“When we were down in the tunnels, it was rigged with explosives. I’m pretty sure it was dynamite,” Maverick declares, and I flinch at his sudden appearance. I glance around, realising more have followed.
“Malia,” Mercedes screams, racing down the steps. My heart races as I spin around. Nothing seems out of place, and the only other person who looks close to panicked or angry is Magnolia. “He’s eating our fucking food.”
“Max!” Malia roars, storming over to him.
“Don’t go near the house,” I stress, trying to stop her.
He holds a sub to his mouth, taking a huge bite out of it. “Holy crap, who made these?” he asks.
“Me. Don’t touch my fucking food,” Malia screams, then spins around to face everyone who has Carter blood. “If any of you take one more piece of food, I will start digging your graves. Get your own.”
“You’re the one who mentioned food,” Max tells her. “If you’re struggling to buy food, I can get Maverick to give you some money.”
“Fuck you!” Maverick snaps.
I place my hand on her arm. “Malia, why don’t you just take a seat in the car whilst these guys search the house.”
Her eyes, so vibrant and full of life, hold so much sadness. She pulls me in for a hug. “Nothing can happen to any of you. Nothing.”
I hug her back just as tightly. “I love you too.”
“You should order food now,” Max orders. “Mav, give her your card.”
“Use your own fucking money,” Maverick snaps.
“On a teacher’s salary?” he asks, aghast.
Liam hands me his card, glaring at his friend. “Use mine.”
My eyes widen. “Your house just exploded.”
He chuckles deeply. “I got this.”
As they all head over to the house, my gaze follows. Magnolia sidles up next to me. “He’s got this,” she states, still watching him.
I lean in, quietly replying, “His house just blew up with everything he owns in it. How much does he earn to afford to replace that and feed the five-thousand? I can barely afford to feed you guys.”
She shrugs. “Who cares. Order enough so we can have leftovers for a midnight snack. I can see tonight being a long night.”
She heads off in the direction of Meghan, who hasn’t moved from the blanket she’s sunbathing on. I step away from everyone, moving further and further away, until I’m alone. I lean back against the fence, pulling my phone from my pocket.
My cousins glare at Max, which goes unnoticed by him. The atmosphere is easy going, but there’s a heaviness in the air, one I don’t think the others are quite grasping. They could have died tonight. We all could have.
I need my mum and dad. I badly want to hear my mum tell me everything will be okay. I want to feel the tightness of my dad’s arms around me.
I drop to my arse, knowing I can’t do that, not without worrying them. And my dad’s heart... it’s not as strong as it used to be.
I’m alone in this worry.
So alone.