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“Yup.”
It made sense in a way, judging by how close the guys were. They’d been tight-knit from the beginning, and closer than any other guy friends I’d had the pleasure of knowing. Most guys I knew liked their space and longed to be alone. With these guys however… it was almost just the opposite.
“So yeah, we’re going to fix it up and flip it,” Valerio said.
“Or maybe fix it up and keep it,” Brock pointed out. “Depending on how much the place is worth when we’re done. For now though, it saves rent to crash out here. Once we got all the utilities hooked back up, it made sense that none of us needed our apartments anymore.”
I walked the rest of the house, marveling at how gorgeous the construction was. Everything utilized natural materials; brick, stone, mortar and wood. Beneath the dirt, the soot, the cobwebs and the neglect, it was actually areallycool house.
“Shit, you weren’t kidding,” I said, taking off my jacket and tossing it at Kade. He caught it in one hand and laughed. “That stove…”
“Crazy, right?”
My heart started pumping faster as a soothing, penetrating heat settled over the living area. Somewhere in the kitchen I heard the sound of a bottle being uncorked. Brock returned to the room a minute later and handed me a glass of red wine, and I thanked him with a smile.
“That place we just came from wasn’t half bad,” Valerio said of the Hotel Henry. “I had no idea so much creepy stuff happened in one spot.”
It had been a fun night. The guys took turns holding my hands as we wandered the Asylum’s ancient halls, which at one point confused the hell out of the tour guide. Everyone else on the tour was too immersed in the spookiness of the whole ordeal. By the time we finished hearing every last creepy tale and returned to the lobby via the grand staircase, it was nearly midnight.
“Well thanks for coming with,” I said, standing before the stove. I turned, allowing it to warm up my backside. I could see right away that Kade’s boast about my stripping off my clothes was probably going to come to fruition. “Without the three of you protecting me…”
“You would’ve been possessed by the spirits or something,” Brock smiled. He sank down into the oversized sofa, its soft leather surface cracked with a thousand points of wear. “But hey, we saved you.”
“Saved me for what?” I asked, putting on my least-innocent smile.
“I don’t know,” he shot back with a smirk. “You tell us.”
“Yeah,” Valerio chimed in. “Something about a reward.”
I took another long, slow pull of my wine. I felt beautifully warm now, both inside and out. There was no lump in my throat though, and no butterflies messing with my stomach. For some reason I wasn’t nervous.
“Hand me my bag,” I told them. “And we’ll get started on that.”
On the floor near the doorway rested the tiny overnight bag I’d packed in my truck. The one I’d stashed there earlier, just in case we ended up here instead of my place.
“It weighs practically nothing,” Valerio said, hefting it in one hand. “How can this possibly be a rewa—”
“Exactly,” I winked, plucking it from his fingers as I made my way to the nearest bedroom.
Seventeen
SLOANE
It was an outfit I’d planned to buy as a Christmas gift for my boyfriend, though I’d never gotten around to it. And I was thankful for that, because it enabled me to buy it forthem.
“Lights dim?” I called from the bedroom, poking my head out.
“Check,” I heard one of them say.
“Everyone in their spots? Music ready?”
They didn’t have much more than a speaker hooked up to one of their phones, but I was okay with that. Somebody mumbled something. A few seconds later, Last Christmas began playing, filling the room with its distinctive drum beat and happy, 80’s melody.
“Wham?” I giggled, still only half in the room.
“Hey, it’s a Christmas song,” said Valerio. “Don’t knock it.”
“Nobody’s knocking it,” I said, emerging finally. “Actually it’s one of my favorites.”
