Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,64
it all the time."
I'd been living here for months now, but this was the first time anyone had knocked on the rear door. "Seriously?"
"Oh yeah. But mostly in the summer."
If nothing else, this explained the lack of knocking until now. I asked, "And they always run off?"
"Almost always," she said. "But this one time, they hit the nanny with a water balloon." Her eyes brightened. "Except it wasn't filled with water."
"Oh?" I was almost afraid to ask. "So, what was it filled with?"
"Milk, I think." She leaned forward to announce, "And it wasn't their nanny either. It was my nanny."
I frowned. Well, that was ominous.
"Oh?" I repeated.
Willow nodded. "But it was okay, because she wasn't very nice."
I hesitated. As the only adult in the room, it was probably my responsibility to tell Willow that whether someone was nice or not, they still didn't deserve to be hit with a milk balloon.
And yet, I couldn’t help but recall my encounter with Veronica, back in that school parking lot. She'd bothered Willow. And then, she'd stomped on my foot.
I felt my eyes narrow. Boy, what I wouldn’t have given for a nice milk balloon then.
As I envisioned it, my thoughts strayed to the other nannies. At least two of them had tried to get all naughty with Mason. The recollection bothered me more than it should've, even in spite of the fact that I was in no position to judge.
Still, I decided that if one of them had been hit with the milk balloon, maybe this wasn't so terrible.
In fact, I sort of liked the idea.
What did that say about me?
Nothing good, that's for sure.
Just then, I heard the knocking sound again, except this time it was a whole lot louder.
Willow said, "Yup, it's them, alright."
I asked, "How can you be sure?"
"Because they always do that," she said. "They start out quiet and get louder if you don't answer." She smiled. "But then they go away."
It was one of the craziest things I'd ever heard. It wasn't just because of the knocking either.
It was early December, and even though the river hadn't yet begun to freeze over, it was long past boating season.
I just had to ask, "And what does Mason think of all this?"
"I dunno," she said. "He's never home when they do it."
Considering that Mason worked long hours and traveled regularly, this wasn't terribly surprising. I made a mental note to mention it when he returned home.
But now, I was beyond curious. "Wait here," I said. "I'm gonna check the monitor." And with that, I turned away and strode toward the first-floor media closet.
Once inside, I consulted the oversized video monitor, which channeled nine live feeds from strategic cameras placed outside the house. I zoomed in on the panel that showed the back-patio door.
Yup, we definitely had company.
But it wasn't the teenagers.
It was Livia.
Chapter 39
Cami
I stared at the monitor. On the screen, Livia was wearing an outfit similar to what she'd been wearing the other night, along with the same black ankle boots.
As I watched, she lifted both of her fists and pounded again on the patio door.
Just yesterday, I'd called Livia to demand answers on what exactly she was doing here in Bayside. She hadn't answered or called me back.
She'd also ignored all of my texts, including one I'd sent just this morning, asking what she hoped to accomplish by taking a job that was so opposite of everything she liked.
As if I didn't know.
And now, here she was, literally at the back door.
To see me? Doubtful.
Probably she was here to see Mason.
I gave a low scoff. Good luck with that, sister.
Mason had been gone for two days now, and wouldn't be returning for three more. This gave me the perfect opportunity to get some answers without an audience.
By the time I reached the back door, Livia was knocking yet again. When I yanked the door open, she gave me an accusing look. "It took you long enough."
Yes. It had. Normally, I'd feel guilty for making a visitor wait, but considering Livia's recent behavior, I was short on guilt, and long on irritation.
I leaned sideways to peer around her. Sure enough, I spotted a bright red dinghy pulled up onto the river bank directly behind Mason's house.
I had to give Livia credit. She was showing a surprising amount of initiative.
I looked back to her and said with a sarcastic smile, "Can I help you?"
With a sarcastic smile of her own, she said, "Yeah. You can switch."