Fiftysix - Seven Rue Page 0,127

with a towel.”

I smiled.

Using my new way of communicating with Willem, I wrote something onto the glass.

Thank you.

He nodded, then looked at Summit and Nordin.

“We’ll start hunting tomorrow. Go set up the rabbit traps, so they’re ready. I’ll start on dinner with Echo.”

Both men nodded and got up from their seats, and before leaving, Summit brushed his hand over my hair.

“See you later,” he said, and I smiled at him.

For now, Summit was the only one I trusted.

Willem wasn’t too bad either, but he did show his bossy side a little too much for my liking.

And Nordin…let’s not talk about Nordin.

Chapter Four

Willem

Maybe having her here wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

We could use someone to help us with the cabin.

Three men living in such a small space never ended well, and every time we were ready to leave to head back to town, we started fighting over who had to clean what.

Now, I wasn’t saying I wanted Echo to clean the cabin, but I knew how girls often had more control over things like organizing and all that shit, so she might be a good help to make us clean this place without fighting about who had to clean what.

I also didn’t want her to cook every damn meal.

I knew how to cook, and my brothers did too.

Thing was, Summit was good at preparing freezer meals, and Nordin usually put jam and bread onto the table.

Least amount of effort went into his meals.

I grabbed the steaks out of the fridge and placed them onto the counter, then pointed to the table while looking at Echo.

“Set the table, then come help me cut some veggies.”

She nodded and did what I asked her to with no hesitation.

Poor girl has been through a lot, and me being a dick wasn’t really nice.

But then, I usually wasn’t the nice guy in the family.

I was annoyed with everything and everyone most of the time.

Nordin was worse, and I could tell Echo disliked him.

They didn’t have to get along, but I didn’t want them to start any unnecessary fights.

Luckily, Summit was around and could understand her.

He had always been the most liked one out of the three of us, but I didn’t blame anyone who preferred his presence over Nordin’s or mine.

We grew up in a small town, and once all three of us were in school, every other kid moved out of our way.

We didn’t run the town, but it sure looked like it on the damn playground.

Never had anyone been harmed by us.

We were more…vocal.

Our father taught us to respect the people around us, and our mother taught us to be kind and helpful when others were in need.

But as years passed, and our parents dying, anger was something that we couldn’t easily get rid of.

Nordin and I had the most problems with them passing, and Summit, although he’s the youngest, somehow managed to not let us lose control.

A soft tapping against my arm made me turn to look at Echo, staring up at me with wide and big hazel eyes.

I’ve seen eyes like hers before, but not with that much emotion in them.

“Need something?” I asked, watching her closely as she held the picture frame that acted as a dry erase board up for me to read.

Do you have any vegetables other than carrots?

Her handwriting wasn’t what you would expect from a girl, and although I could clearly read what she had written down, it was slightly messy. Shaky.

“Uh, yeah. We have potatoes right there,” I said, pointing to a cupboard behind her.

She turned to look at it, then nodded.

“Why, don’t you like carrots?” I asked, seeing as she scrunched up her nose as she looked at the bag of carrots on the counter.

She quickly wrote something on the board, then turned it around again.

Allergic.

I puckered my lips. “Noted,” I told her, then looked back at my steak to continue to season it.

“Anything else I should know about? You’re scared of dogs and allergic to carrots. What else?” I asked, looking back at her as she reached for the board again.

After a few seconds, she turned it around to show me what she wrote, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at her response.

I’m mute.

The girl had great humor, and I liked it.

“I think we’ve established that,” I grinned, and for the first time, she smiled back at me.

I wanted her to trust me too.

Not just Summit.

But maybe I had to work on my anger management first.

Be a little more polite.

It was easy