I breathe, completely blown away by its beauty. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Did my father really build this?”
“Yep,” Cruz says, laying his hand on my thigh as we all stare out the side windows of the Escalade, looking up the long driveway, past the iron gates to the home that sits at the top of the mountain. “Well, that’s the story, at least. Apparently, your parents had designed every little aspect of the home. It took them years to complete.”
“So, it’s exactly the same as before it got burned down?”
King shrugs his shoulders beside me. “I’d assume so,” he mutters, looking past me, out the window to the big house. Though something tells me the boys are looking at the mansion with very different intentions than I am. I just want to see the beauty of it and feel a fraction of what my parents must have felt when they got to see it for the first time. The boys just want to case the joint and figure out if my crazy mother is still living here or not. “The interior and furniture would be different than what your parents had. They mostly kept this place private, so it was probably styled for what was modern at the time it was rebuilt, which would have been slightly different to your parents’ personal taste.”
“Not really,” Carver says. “If London has been living here all these years, then she’s probably brought her own personal touch back into it.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Grayson groans and flops back into his seat. “Are we seriously just going to sit here and look at the house all day or are we actually going to go in and see if we can find the bitch, or if anything, a little bit of information on who the fuck she’s been working with?”
“He has a point,” Cruz mutters. “I’ve also been stinging to take a piss so I wouldn’t mind if we could hurry this along.”
“Get fucked,” King says, looking back at Cruz. “We’re not rushing into this just so you can take a piss. Get out and piss in the trees like the rest of us have, and while you’re at it, do a perimeter check that there are no bears or mountain lions.”
“Fuck off,” Cruz throws back at him. “I’m not about to get mauled by a fucking lion. You lost Winter last night, you should do the perimeter check.”
“All of you fuck off,” I tell them, not wanting the boys to get into an argument over the bullshit that went down last night. If anyone is to blame—it’s me. I should have been more careful. Hell, watching your drink is the number one rule when at a party. I fucked up, not them, and they sure as hell aren’t going to be punished for that. I start climbing over Cruz. “I’ll do the fucking check.”
“Like hell,” Carver spits, reaching into the backseat, grabbing me by the back of my tank and throwing me right back into my seat. “You’re not going anywhere by yourself. If London is here, and you’re left by yourself, then all we’re doing is offering you up on a silver platter. You might as well walk straight up to the door and ring the bell. Perhaps we could save her some time and cuff you before you go.”
I roll my eyes. “Fuck me,” I grumble. “Why are you so pissy today? Did someone accidentally misplace their dildo up your ass?”
Carver turns back to the front with a huff and Grayson turns around, deciding it’s best that he runs the show. “Carver and I will do the perimeter check while you two fuckheads check over our weapons and scan the house for any heat signals. Do you think you can do that without losing our girl?” he snaps unfairly at King. “We’ll be gone for fifteen minutes and then we’re going in, and while we’re gone, you two need to figure out who the fuck is staying back with Ellie.”
I shake my head. “You can leave someone back here to babysit me all you want but no matter how this goes down, I’m going inside that house, whether she’s standing at the front door inviting me in or not. I’m not giving you any other warnings, so you might as well include me in your plan to save us all a little bit of time and effort.”
“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Grayson exclaims through a clenched jaw. “Why is it always so hard with