Jesus Christ.I shut the hall door and put my back to it, leaving me face to face with Tap, who’d been staring over my shoulder.
“Oh yes. Very nice indeed.” He waggled his brows, then clapped me on the back. “How’s that martyrdom sitting on your shoulders after that eyeful? Must be rewarding to know you’ll be sending the poor man home unsullied by your touch. Some other guy can help him get back on the horse, right?” Tap grinned. “Then again, at least you’re not a douchebag. Lord knows what the other guy will be like.”
I stabbed a finger Tap’s way. “I’m immune to your Jedi mind tricks. Now grab a plate. I wanna be out of here in twenty minutes.”
Thaddeus chose that moment to walk into the room with Ziggy under his arm. He wore my old sweats and T-shirt, not the new clothes he’d bought when we’d gone shopping. “Something smells good.”
I eyeballed my loyal canine companion and growled, “I told you not to wake him.”
“Morning, Thad,” Tap drawled a little pointedly.
I fired him a warning glare, but Thaddeus barely looked up as he passed on his way to me.
He mumbled, “Hi, Tap.” Then to me, “No problem. I was already awake.” He set Ziggy on the floor and squinted against the bright sunlight flooding the kitchen.
I answered with a wry smile. “Awake, huh? So, all that snoring I heard was just my imagination.”
He looked up and scowled. “I do not snore.” He declared it in such a way that indicated he knew perfectly well that he did. He came close and studied the frying pan with undisguised pleasure. “Yum. Pancakes again. Do we have jam this time?”
Tap mouthed the wordwe, accompanied by a pair of raised eyebrows, but I ignored him. “In the pantry,” I told Thaddeus. “Help yourself.”
“Your phone is ringing.” Thaddeus slid the phone with its flashing screen across the breakfast bar, yawned, and disappeared into the walk-in pantry.
I grabbed the phone and swore when I saw Tim’s name on the screen. I’d had the thing on silent. I lifted it to my ear. “Sorry, Tim, I was trying not to wake?—”
I broke off when I caught Tap’s whispered, “Aw that’s sweet.”
—and simply said, “What’s up?”
As I listened to Tim, I shoved the spatula toward Tap and mouthed,Make yourself useful.Then I took the phone into the family room, where I could speak to my lawyer in peace.
When I hung up five minutes later, both Tap and Thaddeus were staring at me over plates piled high with pancakes and bacon. Thaddeus pushed a third plate my way and pulled out the chair next to him.
He patted it. “Sit. Tap says you need to leave soon. You can talk and eat at the same time.”
I didn’t need to look at Tap to know he wore a shit-eating grin from ear to ear as Thaddeus ordered me around.
“Yeah, take a seat, Ryder,” Tap repeated mildly. “Thaddeus thoughtfully dished you up a plate to save time.” Unseen by Thaddeus, Tap batted his lashes, and I was going to kill the smug arsehole.
I dropped into the seat and reached for the maple syrup. “The bastards got permission to cut an access road into the land behind,” I growled. “Tim tried to fight it, but the ruling stands. Since the council legally owns that land, I can’t actually stop them. Tim said they intend to make a start soon.”
Thaddeus scowled. “But I thought they needed permission to use your driveway for the drop-off and turnaround?”
I blew out a long sigh. “So did I. But they found a workaround. There’s actually a paper road on the plans that was never actuated, and it runs through my land.”
“Storten Road.” Thaddeus poked his fork my way. “I saw the sign. But that road’s a dead end. It stops just the other side of your driveway.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “But the land allocated to it is technically council land, not mine, which means they have a right to use it however they want, and even develop it into a road if they choose to. The presence of the paper road is part of the reason the land was leasehold to start with.”
“But—” Thaddeus shook his head, a deep crease cutting across his brow. “—you said it crosses your land?”
Tap nodded. “It runs right through the chicken shed to the river. It would effectively cut the property in two.”
“Jesus.” Thaddeus paused with his fork halfway to his mouth, his gaze bouncing between us. “And that didn’t bother you when you took over the lease?”
“Not really.” I swallowed the mouthful of pancake I was chewing and then explained, “The original map is over a hundred years old. A lot has changed since then. A road there has no purpose now. The other side of the river is legally protected conservation land. It can’t ever be built on, so there’s nowhere for the road to go. Which is another reason the council was originally keen to sell the land to the leaseholders. But that doesn’t mean they can’t invoke some dusty right of ownership for whatever they need now. Technically, the paper road land is still theirs. And since my driveway branches off the old paper road, there’s not much I can do to fight it. My address is actually Storten Road.”
“It would give them plenty of room to create a turnaround.” Tap pressed his lips together and sighed. “Dirty bastards.” He pushed his plate away and patted his belly. “Thanks for the breakfast, Ry, but I’ve lost my appetite.”
