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Then she'd get back to work.
Chapter 27
Katie finished her water before making a pit stop in the downstairs bathroom. When she came out the floor creaked over her head.
The Tau Gamma Psi house wasn't huge but it was laid out in such a way that if Isaac just kept moving she could end up going in circles and never find him. The top of the stairs came out between the bathrooms on the right and the lounge on the left. Isaac's room lay straight ahead. The rest of the bedrooms lined the perimeter of the second floor and the hallway made a complete circuit around the bathrooms and lounge with entrances on both long sides of the rectangle.
Another creak in the floorboards drew Katie's attention to the right at the top of the stairs. Her heart beat faster as she crept along. She had the stealth advantage being smaller and lighter on her feet. As long as he didn't see her coming, she'd take him down easily.
Silence.
After several minutes, she'd lost the trail. She had to start searching the bedrooms.
Katie did not want to be subjected to the awful stench her nose met in Jake's room but Isaac knew that. Which meant that was the place he'd most likely hide.
Turning back with a wide grin, Katie retraced her steps exactly to be sure the floor wouldn't squeak and give her away.
At Jake's door, Katie stopped with her hand on the knob. What she wouldn't have given for a can of air freshener.
The latch clicked open.
Katie cringed.
Why was it when you wanted to be quiet everything seemed ten times louder than normal?
Sunlight spilled through the open window. It would have been a horrible place to hide. Also, it didn't smell nearly as bad as she remembered.Thank, God. Maybe it had come as a shock before because she hadn't been ready for it. Or maybe because Isaac's room had set the bar so high. Now, it seemed sort of normal.
Though she was sure Isaac wasn't there, she checked under the bed and in the closet, just in case. Isaac had been right about one thing. She closed the closet door. Jake desperately needed to do his laundry.
Katie checked every bedroom. Under every bed. In every closet trying not to cross too many boundaries. Thinking, if a guy had gone through her closet without permission, she'd have been mortified.
She'd made it all the way around the second floor. The only room she hadn't checked was Isaac's.
Surely, he would have hidden someplace better than that. But was that not the best place because it seemed too obvious?
Katie opened the door. Her stomach dropped when she saw her laptop still sitting on the chair where she’d left it. That's what she should have been doing. Not playing a game.
A thud on the stairs. Katie spun holding her water gun at arm's length in front of her. Walking forward, she pumped the trigger. The stream just missed Isaac as he jumped the last four stairs and ran into the living room.
So close.
She ran after him.
Katie put her back against the wall separating the living room and kitchen from the hallway that led to the downstairs bathroom under the stairs, then hooked around to the study and library.
He’d definitely ran into the living room but there was a door from the kitchen that led to the hallway. Just as well he could have come through before she’d made it down the stairs. He could have been anywhere. Or gone out the back door into the yard.
Katie stood still, listening.
Nothing.
He'd settled in somewhere. Her best bet was to follow his trail. Katie rounded the wall into the living room.
Leading with her water gun, she crept around the furniture ready to shoot.
When she moved to check behind the second sofa, she jumped as water pelted her spine soaking through her shirt and trickling down her back.
"Come back here," she shouted chasing Isaac down the hall, through the kitchen, and out the back door into the yard.
