Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Cassian
Was this truly it?
The house in front of me was so far from the home I’d dreamed about. The windows were broken. One was missing altogether. The front door was barely hanging on, and the light blue paint around the house was chipped with parts of the paneling broken off.
Blinking, I exited the car in a daze, nearing what was supposed to be my perfect home.
My forever home. My new start. How could I possibly pay for the repairs?
I had some savings, sure, but not enough to renovate an entire home!
The roof needed changing too, unless you liked your roof with parts of it missing. Yay for water damage!
A whimper came from the car and I hurried back to let Red out. “Sorry, Red. I was just a bit surprised. This house was not what I was expecting.” I knew I sounded sad but I didn’t feel like hiding my feelings from the wolf.
He moved out of the car gracefully but it was still clear his back leg was hurting him. Even wolves liked to pretend they didn’t hurt, it seemed. It strangely made me more fond of him.
“This is the first time I’m seeing the house,” I explained, loving that I had someone to talk to. Diamond, Daisy, and Destiny would have to wait. My Red deserved all my attention and love. The poor cats would just end up killed if I brought them inside what was now Red’s territory.
Red followed behind me as I gingerly stepped on what should be the path to the front door. The garden had taken over so it was difficult to see the stepping stones. I guess I could add gardening to my list of things to do. This was what I got for leaving the city. Weeds. Go me!
“I inherited the house from my granddad,” I continued to explain as we approached the house. “I’ve only ever met him once, so it was a shock to learn that everything he owned is now mine.”
When we reached the front door, I was relieved to find that it was locked.
I hoped no one had broken in. The lawyer I’d spoken to had told me the key was placed on top of the lamp to the right.
I found it easily and then fumbled with it, eager to see if the inside was as bad as the outside.
Carefully, I unlocked the door, only to be hit by a musty scent and a cold chill from exposure to rainwater and fresh fall air.
I sighed, already dreading the next few days here.
The weather would only get colder so I needed to put in a new window as fast as possible.
If I wanted to rescue the house, heating would be crucial.
Red was still silent behind me, like my own protective shadow.
It somehow made this discovery less daunting.
Had I been alone, I would’ve been sobbing by now.
Red helped even if he couldn’t tell me everything would be okay, or lie and say it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
His silent presence was a comfort. Maybe it was fate that I had hit him.
I waited to go upstairs until I’d looked through the entire first floor.
I made my way through the rooms. The water damage wasn’t as bad as I feared the upper floor would be.
It was mostly just cold and worn down. The wall-to-wall carpets were covered in stains, some darker and bigger than others.
On most of the walls the wallpaper was peeling off, and I even noticed a hole in one of them.
The kitchen was a mess, but at least it seemed clean enough. The wooden cupboards weren’t in the prettiest condition, but I had to prioritize what to renovate first, so the kitchen could wait a bit.
The living room had a fireplace that seemed to be in working order, not that I dared touch it. Fire and I didn’t always get along great so that would have to wait. There was one small bathroom with just a toilet and a sink. It seemed good enough for now, too.
Red seemed determined to go up the stairs before me.
I chuckled and let him pass, eyeing his hind leg with worry as he made his way up the creaky wooden stairs.
I guess they’d need replacing soon. I couldn’t bear the thought of Red hurting himself further, and these stairs seemed in real danger of breaking apart.
Red was sniffing the floors, as if he was searching for something so I left him to it, trusting his wolf instincts.
He seemed to be feeling better already, walking around like he hadn’t been hit by a car an hour ago.
The fact he still wasn’t using his hind leg proved he wasn’t healed, but I felt less guilty now that he wasn’t whimpering and out cold.
Reminding myself that Red was a wolf didn’t do anything to dampen my affection for him.
I’d never been close to a wolf before, but I felt oddly safe with Red.
I knew instinctively that he would protect me.
When Red came back after searching the rooms, his tongue was out and he seemed very proud of himself.
“Good boy,” I praised, petting his head like he was an overgrown dog.
He leaned into my touch and any hesitancy about him being a wild animal was pushed to the back of my mind.
A wild animal wouldn’t have reacted like he had.
Maybe he was someone’s pet? Sucked to be them, because Red was mine now.
Red led me into what would be my bedroom.
It still had Granddad’s bed in there, in all of its horrible glory.
Unfortunately it would have to do for tonight.
The window that was missing was in the second bedroom, and luckily the door had been closed off.
Red hadn’t checked this room yet, so he sniffed away, likely searching for animal scents or something like that.
He seemed to deem this room acceptable, too, so once again I praised him and scratched his neck.
“I hope you like chicken,” I said, looking through the closet for fresh linens. “We’ll do take-out tonight so I can clean up before bed. I wonder if they do deliveries in this town?”
Red seemed content to just follow me around as I cleaned up the bed and changed the covers.
I had my own duvet and pillow with me in the car, because I was spoiled like that and it helped me sleep somewhere new if I had my own pillow with me.
I didn’t bring a lot to the new house, just a few of my most treasured belongings and some clothes and shoes.
It was a good call since I’d had Red taking up most of the space in the back seat.
Again, it was like fate had told me I didn’t need all of that crap, so I’d left it there, hoping someone could find use for my old suits and dress shoes. Something I was glad to rid myself of.
The clothes I wore today were what I felt most comfortable in. Well-worn jeans and a comfy T-shirt with a flannel over it for warmth. No more tight-fitting suits and uncomfortable shoes!
I decided that the upstairs bathroom would need to be demolished as soon as possible.
Like now, preferably. The tiles had freaking cupids on them.
I wasn’t kidding, cupids! Chubby babies filled my bathroom with their tiny heart arrows.
And the worst part? They all stared right at me, like they could see into my soul.
How in the world would I ever be able to shower in there? !
“Fuck,” I cursed, eyeing the shower curtain. It was white with lots of hearts on it. “Red,” I whispered, not able to divert my eyes from the hundreds of eyes on me. “I hope you don’t mind watching over me while I shower. I’m too afraid to be left alone with them.”
When I finally let my gaze drift back to Red, he just stared at me like I’d expected, but was it amusement I found in his eyes? Or did they always gleam like that?
Shaking it off, I went back downstairs to unload the car.
Red followed behind and helped me with whatever bags he could carry in his mouth.
He seemed very smart for an animal, another sign he was likely someone’s pet, but I selfishly wanted to keep him, so I preferred thinking he was wild and didn’t belong to anyone.
No one would ever be able to call me a liar.
Unless they were a mind reader. Then I would be fucked.
With everything safely inside the horror house that was now my home, I locked the door and googled how to turn on the heat. I simply wasn’t adult enough to know how these old houses worked. Coming from an apartment with a thermostat, this seemed like something google would need to teach me.
Once the heating was on and slowly warming the house, I learned that radiators ran on water, who knew? I also found out that turning them on caused lots of weird sounds that would one hundred percent cause me nightmares tonight. Yay for an amazing first day here!
Now, I just had to order dinner.