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Less than nothing.
Chapter 9
Theo
Creswell Springs was a small town in Northern California. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, especially in the part of town where Raven lived. It made it eerily quiet, which was like night and day compared to New York.
The quietness could be either peaceful or too loud, just depended on the person and the situation.
A beer in my hand, standing on the front porch overlooking the neighborhood, I decided that quiet was deafening, making me edgy and restless. Tilting the bottle back, I took a swallow even as my eyes took in everything around me, making sure nothing was coming from any direction that could put Tavia in danger.
Hearing a motorcycle in the distance, I lowered my beer, watching and waiting. A minute later, Spider Masterson, the MC’s enforcer, rode by. As I stood there in the fading light of the day, he gave me a chin nod in greeting, letting me know he’d seen me but continued on his way home.
From next door, I heard a feminine giggle. “Ma
tt, stop it!” Rory Reid squealed, and I looked up to find two shadows in one of the upstairs bedrooms. “You know I can’t stand it when you tickle me.”
“Girl, I told you to stop cracking this window,” her husband growled.
“I’m the mother of a teenage boy. Stop calling me ‘girl,’” she told him with sass. “And it was too hot in here earlier, but I didn’t want to turn on the AC.” Her voice faded as Matt lowered and no doubt locked the window.
Silence descended on me again, but it was like there was white noise in my head, too much static. Draining my beer, I leaned my head back against the side of the house and watched the sun fade completely. One by one, the streetlights flickered on.
Inside the house, it was surprisingly quiet, but it wasn’t eerie like it was outside. Raven had told the three kids that if they got out of hand and made too much noise, she was going to break every electronic in the house. Soon after, her son, Max, had left to go to his cousin Reid’s house—where he tended to stay more often than not, from what Lexa had told me over the years.
As for Garret and Nova, Felicity’s children, I had no idea what either of them was doing. But when it came to the boy, I preferred him making noise to let me know where the hell he was. Because when he was quiet, he was getting into trouble, and that could mean just about anything.
My phone going off had me straightening. Pulling it out of my pocket, I glanced down at my screen and bit back a curse when I saw it was my sister. Blowing out a long sigh, I hit connect.
“Hey, Sof.”
“Don’t you hey me, Theo Volkov!” she raged. “What the hell did you get Tavia into?”
“I can’t talk about it right now, Sofia,” I bit out, already tired of her bitching at me, and it hadn’t even been thirty seconds yet. “We can speak about this when I get back to New York.”
“And just when will that be?” she demanded. “Daddy said—”
“I know Pops didn’t tell you shit, so stop fishing for information,” I cut her off. “You know the rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” she cried. “Tavia is my friend. You never should have pulled her into your bullshit, Theo. Whatever is going on, no doubt it’s dangerous. And you can be a selfish bastard when you set your mind on some stupid task you think is more important than other people’s feelings or safety.”
“Good talk, Sofia. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“Theo!” Her screaming my name had me pausing from hanging up on her. Lifting the phone back to my ear, I waited. “Stay safe,” she said softly, a small quiver in her voice. “I love you. Please be careful.”
“I love you too, Sof,” I told her. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Yeah,” she muttered, and then the line went silent.
Releasing the breath I’d been holding, I dropped my hand to my side, clenching my fingers around the phone. I loved my sister, but she was more than a handful at times. She was full of fire and reckless when she got upset. Pops tried to rein her in, but not even he was entirely successful.
Grabbing the empty beer bottle, I walked into the house. The television was on in the living room, but no one was in there watching it. The kitchen was empty too. Tossing the bottle into the recycling, I headed upstairs, but I stopped outside Tavia’s door.
It was quiet in the hall, and I strained to hear anything from the other rooms. I could hear a tapping noise from Garret’s room. It was rhythmic and annoying, but not so loud that it was easily noticed unless someone was listening for it. From Nova’s room, I heard her talking softly, but I didn’t hear another voice and figured she was on the phone.
I heard random movement from two other rooms, but Tavia’s was completely silent.
She was alone in there and most likely asleep.
