Chapter 13
WOODY
"This is bullshit," I said.
Urban glanced over at me from the passenger seat of my car. "We agree on something."
"We all agree on something," Noah said, from the back seat. "But Forrest is right. It doesn't make any sense for all of us to go into the party."
"So we get to freeze our asses off out here," I grumbled. With three of us in a tight space, it wasn't that cold, but I hated the idea of taking my eyes off Sable.
If her parents were the assholes she suggested they might be, I wanted to be right there next to her. It was all very well for Forrest and Leif to be on either side of her, protecting her, but they weren't me.
Sitting out here watching people come and go? It wasn't my jam. What if they needed me and I couldn't get to them in time? I didn't want to lose her.
Yeah, shhh, I didn't want to lose them either, okay?
"It's only a couple of hours," Noah said. "Besides, us watching from out here is necessary. If anyone tries something, we'll be here to stop it."
"What do you think is going to happen?" I rested my hands on the steering wheel. Wrapped my fingers around the leather and squeezed to let out some of my frustration. "An army of ninjas might suddenly attack a Christmas party?"
"That would be awesome." Noah grinned. Of course he did. The guy had a couple of screws loose.
"You know what would be even more awesome?" he added. "An army of samurai."
I thought he was going to suggest an army of robots. Maybe one screw was still in place. Barely.
"Everything that's going to happen is going to happen inside." I pushed out of the car and adjusted my earpiece. "Can you guys hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Forrest's voice came back. "We'll be leaving the house in a few minutes. It won't take long to get to the party."
He didn't sound out of breath. Either he was hiding it well, or they hadn't stopped to fuck before they got into their fancy clothes. Of course, any fucking had to happen before that or they'd wrinkle their outfits.
That was the one upside to all of this: I didn't have to wear a suit. Leif had looked like he couldn't wait. For some reason I couldn't understand, he seemed to enjoy wearing one. Forrest wore one to work every day, so he probably didn't think about it much.
Me, I felt ridiculous. Okay, I looked amazing, but I felt stupid. Give me jeans and a flannel shirt any day.
"Is Sable okay?" I asked.
At first, I thought he didn't hear the question, but then he said, "As well as can be expected."
He must have hesitated, trying to find the right response.
Possibly considering whether or not to tell me it was a dumb thing to ask.
Of course she wasn't all right. Knowing your father was a piece of shit, and realizing the extent of it?
That would fuck anyone up. She was tough though. Strong. She'd get through this.
I might too, someday.
I never said I wasn't fucked up in the head because of my father. Or my sister going missing. Or my mother dying. I could have used it as an excuse to be a complete prick, but I had some restraint.
Yeah, okay, laugh, but I did. I hadn't burned the world down.
Yet.
"Stay out of sight," Forrest said, as if he hadn't told me that before I left. We'd gone over all of this already. Accounted for as many variables as we could. Hoped like hell not to find any nasty surprises waiting for us. Every detail written down on Leif's wannabe murder board.
So far, I saw no signs of trouble. Nothing but a bunch of rich people dressed in expensive clothes, dripping in diamonds. They approach the door, laughing about whatever the fuck people like that laughed about.
Group after group swept inside, the door closed behind them. Security lurking around, making sure no one tried to enter that wasn't on the guest list. If you could call them security. They hadn't noticed me yet. Of course they wouldn't, I was too good at staying out of sight.
Christmas music sounded from inside. The same old ones that were recycled year after year. Under my breath I sang, "All I want for Christmas is fuck this shit."
No Whamageddon yet. Give it time. They'd drag that one out sooner or later.
Was it too late to grab Sable and run away to the North Pole? Santa would be too busy getting presents ready to notice a couple of more people turning up. Sable would look cute as a Christmas elf. A red outfit with white faux fur on the hem.
I slipped into the shadows under a tree and watched as three guys, all a bit younger than me, step out of a car in front of the Kohls’ house.
Stride for stride, they headed up to the door.
Each wore a suit that was worth a year or two of wages.
Tailor-made to fit like a black silk condom.
They all looked like they were born with a silver spoon up their asses.
They probably wore 'Entitled Prick for Men' so they could stink pretty.
I mentally flipped them off. I didn't know who they were, but I could tell they were pricks.
They said that in every step they took. The gazes they slid over the house like it was barely worth their time to come here.
As though it was a brick toilet block covered in graffiti and the stains from fuck only knows what all over it.
Not a three-story mansion a block from the beach, with perfectly manicured and maintained gardens and a huge pool in the back.
Leif would love it here. I bet it had one of those ice plunge things he wanted so much. A sauna too. Not to mention an extensive wine cellar worth millions.
Hell, I was starting to want the place myself. Not that I needed anything this big. What would I do with it anyway? Apart from holding ridiculously expensive, exclusive parties. I had Leif to do those for me without having a huge house.
"We should have—" the only blond amongst them started to say when the door was opened and they were welcomed inside.
I was curious what they should have done, but didn't give that much of a shit. Chances were, we'd find them firmly on the same shit list with Sable's parents. If that was the case, I'd happily ruin their fancy suits with their own blood.
"This was the first house in Saltgrave Cove." Noah's voice came out of the shadows behind me.
Lucky for all of us, I managed not to startle. The guy was good at sneaking, I had to give him that. He might be almost as good as me.
"The place was originally settled by the Rivers family," he continued, like a professor giving a lecture.
"They owned all the land around here, miles and miles of it.
They started selling off parcels a hundred years ago.
The place went from private farmland to a coastal town.
The house has been renovated a couple of times, but it's still in its original style.
From the outside at least. It's on the historical register, so it has to be. " He peered up at it.
"Most of it is restoration work, but some of it's original."
"You're a regular encyclopedia," I told him.
He chuckled. "That's what my brothers say too. Although they usually use words like 'nerd' and 'geek.'"
"Same thing," I said, trying to imagine what the house would have looked like before it was on a sealed road, other houses lights shining through the trees.
No plumbing, no electricity. No Wi-Fi. I couldn't decide if that sounded good or hellish.
A bit of both, I guessed. There were upsides and downsides to everything.
"How come the Rivers family don't own the place anymore?" I asked.
"The usual," Noah said. "Debt. Old man Rivers was a gambling man. He lost it all. Had to sell up. The place was bought by the Clarksons. Then the Kohls bought it a couple of decades ago."
"How do you know all of this?" I glanced over at him.
"This is my area of expertise. Modern archaeology is fascinating."
"If you say so." I shrugged a shoulder. "You're the guy they call in when they want to renovate anything to make sure it's not built on any old graves?" I knew better than to piss off the dead. Did I believe in ghosts? Hell yeah, but don't tell anyone.
"Don't want anyone to end up in a horror movie," he said. "But yeah, that's exactly what I do. Make sure we respect the past."
"I bet builders hate your guts." People didn't like being told what they could and couldn't do, especially with what they considered their own property.
"I've had my share of death threats," he agreed.
"Some of them come from people who aren't me," Urban said, stepping into the shadows with us.
"Ignore him, he really is fond of me," Noah said.
"Let me guess, he works in urban planning," I said, keeping my expression deadpan.
"As a matter of fact…" Noah said with a laugh.
I snorted. "You guys work together a lot?" I leaned against the tree trunk, the branches swaying overhead in the breeze. The air smelled of salt and smoke from fires burning inside the houses, keeping sensible people warm.
"More than some people would consider healthy, but we're doing some good in the world," Noah said. "I guess that makes it worth it. What about you? You're working with our brother."
"Same," I said. "More than what's healthy, but we're making a difference."
I didn't mention that we were sharing a girlfriend. Chances were they picked up on that vibe hours ago. They didn't need to know the details of our personal life.
"How the fuck did you end up with masks over your faces, working at that auction?”
They glanced at each other.
"It's taken us a year to get that deep on the inside," Urban said. "I wanted to stab every motherfucker in that room."
"Except Forrest." Forrest had his moments, but I objected to him being stabbed.
Urban hummed, but it didn't sound like he was changing any part of his declaration. If Forrest was one of those entitled motherfuckers, he'd be just as dead as the rest of them. Brother or no brother.
I didn't like the guy, but I liked the way he thought. Relationships didn't matter when someone was an evil prick.
"Why the masks?" I asked. "And don't say, 'Why not the masks?'"
Noah chuckled. "To add to the mystery. Not knowing who we are somehow gives them some sort of idea that they're anonymous. It's a psychological thing. Sometimes we wear them, sometimes not."
It didn't make much sense to me, but I saw no point in arguing with them, so I didn't.
"You scared the shit out of Sable's friend Savannah," I said instead.
"We're sorry for that." Noah seemed sincere. Either he didn't like it any more than I did, or he was an excellent actor. Since he was related to Forrest, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Also, he could stab me right here in the dark, and he wasn't doing that, so maybe he was on our side.
"We tried to look for opportunities to get any of the women away from there, but they had that place locked down tight."
"Tighter than an ant's asshole," Urban agreed. "Anyway, it wasn't like we could say, 'Hey, we're the good guys.' She wouldn't have bought it."
"Probably not," I said with a grunt.
I wouldn't have bought it if I was her. I wouldn't have trusted anyone around me.
To be honest, I was still surprised she'd gone with Forrest and Leif.
Did she have a choice? No. She still might have kicked up a stink.
After all, she didn't know them from a piece of toast at the time, not really.
And yet, she'd gone with them. Now she trusted them, as she should. They were trustworthy men.
I wanted to believe these two were as well, but we'd see. They might be waiting for my proverbial bus so they could throw me under it. If they were, I'd make sure they went under those wheels first.
"We're on our way," Forrest said, in my earpiece dragging my thoughts back to the present.
"Understood," I replied. "Good luck."
We were all going to need it.