“Yeah, I’m insured.” He chuckled a little more before he calmed. “Now we have to figure out how the hell to get home. Sam’s gonna kill me if I don’t get you back.”
Wiping my eyes, I looked around and spotted someone pulling a paddleboard from their roof. “Excuse me!” I put the boards on the ground and jogged towards the man.
“Me?” He pointed at his chest.
“Yes. Do you think we could borrow your phone? Someone just stole our car.”
“Aw shit, that sucks. Sure, I’ll grab it.” He turned around and went back to his beat-up Mazda, then returned with his phone.
“Do you know anyone’s number by heart?” I asked Kristian. I only knew my father’s and the funeral home’s from before we all had mobiles. It was one of the curses of modern technology.
“I can call the house. Someone will be there.”
While he made the call, I thanked the stranger and made a little small talk about the situation, the surf conditions and the weather. I didn’t want to say any of it but thought I at least owed him a conversation since he was rescuing us and all.
I was thankful when Kristian returned and handed the guy back his phone.
“Spoke to Toby. He’s on his way.”
“Thank God.”
After thanking our good citizen, we took a seat on the wooden railing while we waited.
“Was that guy weird to you or something?” Kristian asked after a while.
“No. Why?”
“Because you looked like you were about to shit yourself while you were talking to him.”
Charming.
I shifted a little in my discomfort. “I’m just not good at talking to people. Especially men.”
“You’re fine with all of us.”
“Yeah, but you’re different.”
“We’re not men?” He laughed.
“No. I mean, yes, you’re men.”
“Then how are we different?”
I shrugged, and then the words just tumbled out. “Because you’re family, and you treat me like I’m family too.” The second part of that sentence was said on barely a breath. I didn’t want to be too bold and jinx their acceptance of me.
A genuine smile spread across his handsome features. “You know, I always wanted a sister.”
“Yeah?” A giddy happiness bounced about in my chest.
“Yeah.” He nudged his shoulder against mine. “And you can call me Kris. Jasmine is the only one who uses our full names.”
“OK, Kris it is. I’d say you could call me Leesh, but you already do.”
He grinned. “Guess I already thought of you as family.”
Chapter Twelve
Get Yourself A Nicer Boyfriend
“Toby doesn’t drive a Range Rover, does he?” I asked as I saw a familiar-looking metallic red SUV turning off the main road.
“No, that’s Sam.”
“You think he’ll let me take lessons with you again?”
Kris frowned for a second. “He’s not your keeper.”
Isn’t he?
The Range Rover crawled to a stop in front of where we were sitting and the hatch opened slowly.
“You get in. I’ve got the boards,” Kris said, grabbing our gear.
Sam got out and opened my door for me. As I walked up, he dropped a kiss on the top of my head but only had a glare for his brother.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I said, keeping my voice low as I placed a hand on Sam’s chest.
“He should’ve been more careful.”
“Should all the people you steal from be more careful too?”
He looked down and met my eyes, his gaze softening. “Don’t try and put this into perspective, peaches. I’m trying to be pissed. He was supposed to look out for you.”
“And he did. Here I am, safe and sound.” I did a little spin, then rose onto my toes and pressed a kiss against his lips. “Thanks for coming to get us.” I moved to get in the car, but he caught me by the hand and pulled me back to him, his hands finding my face as he held me close and kissed me until my knees went weak.
“For fuck’s sake, we just got stranded at the beach. It’s not like you had to rescue her from the trenches in Iraq. She doesn’t even have a scratch on her.” Kristian slid into the back seat of the SUV and slammed his door.
Sam dropped his forehead against mine. “I don’t think he understands how precious you are.”
He said all the right words, did all the right things, but so had my mother once upon a time. And she left. Abandoned me to a man who had zero trust in me, who always expected me to mess up. My father said and did the right things too, but it always seemed there was an underlying agenda to his words, designed to manipulate or suppress me. Despite his insistence that I remained within the family’s web, he let me walk away with the weakest of fights. All those years insisting I was needed and then poof, he longer wanted me. I had a complete inability to trust the things I saw and heard. I didn’t know if I could ever get over that enough to believe Sam when he so sweetly called me precious and perfect. My mind kept adding an invisible ‘for now’ to everything he said.
With a smile in place of a response, I slipped from his hold and into my seat before he closed my door and got back in.
“Did you see who took your wheels?” he asked Kris, turning around in his seat before he started the car.
“Some girl. Blonde hair. That’s all I caught.”
“What’d she get besides the car?”
“Phone, wallet, some clothes.”
“Got your location switched on?”
“Maybe. Try Snapchat.”
Sam pulled out his phone and opened the app, pinching his fingers against the screen and changing it into a map covered with people’s Bitmojis.
“I had no idea Snapchat could do that,” I said, looking on. Holland and I had downloaded it when it first became a thing, but we just sent each other a photo with some animal filter on it every day to keep our streak going. We’d managed to get to 547, but that would be gone now.
Sam tapped on the one that looked like Kristian, then zoomed in. “Looks like your phone is still on and they’re in one of these houses.”
“The phone’s in the pocket on the door. They probably don’t even know they have it.”
Sam studied the map for a moment, then looked at Kristian and grinned. “Wanna go steal your car back?”
Kristian pumped his fist in the air. “Fucking yes, I fucking do,” he hooted, high-fiving Sam between the seats. “Ready to earn your stripes, Leesh?” He turned to me, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
“What will I have to do?” I asked, genuinely curious but anxious at the same time. The last time I went along with someone’s plan to steal their stuff back, I ended up changing my last name.
“Depends on the situation,” Sam said. “You might need to run interference, or maybe just be a lookout. Nothing that could get you hurt.”
“OK,” I said, even though my stomach tightened.
“You’re in?” Kris asked.
“I’m in.” I grinned.
Sam took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “That’s my girl.”
“A true Cartwright,” Kris said, beaming proudly.
I grew nervous under their scrutiny. “Are we going to do this, or are you both going to gawk at me all afternoon?”
“Oh, we’re doing this.” Kris rubbed his hands together as the engine roared to life.
“No one crosses a Cartwright and gets away with it,” Sam crowed as he planted his foot and took off, kicking up gravel and dirt in our wake.
About twenty-five minutes later, we found ourselves cruising a residential street filled with very normal, quiet-looking houses. No stolen Holden utes in sight.
“It has to be one of these four houses,” Kris said, holding Sam’s phone with the Snapchat map as his guide.
“How about that one?” I asked, pointing to the one with the grass that needed mowing and weeds in the overgrown garden. It seemed the
most obvious to me—someone who’d steal a car and then bring it back to their own place wasn’t likely to be the most house-proud person in the world.
“Yeah,” Sam said quietly. “Double garage. Looks like a good place to start.”
“I’ll go around back, see if there’s a way in.” Kris went to get out of the car before Sam told him to wait.
“Coms, dude.” He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a walkie-talkie that had a wired earpiece attached. Impressive.
Kris put it on while Sam pulled one out for himself, then handed me one too. “Know how to use these?”
I nodded. “Press the button to talk. Release to listen.”
He positioned the piece in my ear. “These are even easier than that. Turn it on and when you speak, it activates. We’ll do a check once we’re out of the car.”
My heart was beating even harder than it was on the day Holland and I tracked these guys down. This felt way more serious. “What should I do?”
“Stay here, keep an eye on the property. You see anyone coming out or going in, you let us know.”
I nodded. “I can do that.” I gripped the walkie-talkie tightly.
“Good girl.” He kissed the side of my head, then got out of the car with Kristian, giving him a set of instructions as they walked towards the property. Splitting up, one disappeared down the side of the house as the other passed around the front.
“Everyone reading me?” Kristian’s voice entered my ear, followed by Sam’s.
“I’ve got you. You got us, peaches?”
“I’ve got you,” I replied, climbing into the back of the car so I could get a better view of the house. There wasn’t much going on, and the curtains were fully drawn. “No activity to report,” I added, because it seemed like something I should say in that situation.
“Clear on this side,” Sam said. “I can see two people in the house, a male and a female. I’m pretty sure they’re fucking.” There was a pause, and then he came back on again. “Yep. Definitely fucking.”
“Good, they’re distracted,” Kris said. “Because we’re gonna have to get in there. The only entry to the garage is through the house. There isn’t even a window to climb through.”
“How are you going to get in?” I asked, my nerves starting to make me feel sick.
“Back door. Keep watch. I’m going silent.”
“Will do,” Sam said. “They look pretty into it. You’ve got a while.”
There was a click in my ear when Kris turned his walkie off.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath, rubbing my hands together to relieve the dampness.
“You OK?” Sam asked.
“Yeah. I was talking to myself, forgot this thing picked everything up.”
“You’re doing great.”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m sitting in a car.”
A click. “I’m inside,” Kris whispered. “The Ute is here.”
“Still fucking,” Sam added.
“Clear,” I said. I was basically just mimicking what I’d seen in movies.
There was a rustling noise, then a sigh. “I can’t find my keys. They’re not in the car, and I can’t see them in the fucking house.” A pause. “Shit.”
“Um, dude, do you still use that Game of Thrones wallet?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.”
“Shit. I see it.”
“It’s in there with them, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Shit.”
There was no way we could leave any of that behind.
“I’ve got an idea,” I said, pulling the earpiece out and dropping the whole unit on the seat beside me. Then I jumped out of the car and sprinted to the front door before either of them could say anything to stop me.
Out of breath, I rapped my knuckles against the window and pressed the doorbell several times. Then I heard a male voice yelling from inside the house.
“Hold your fucking horses, I’m coming. I’m coming.”
He pulled the door open dressed in only a pair of jeans with the top button undone. There were tattoos all over his arms and across his chest. He looked mean. “What’s the bloody emergency?”
A dishevelled-looking blonde woman peeked over his shoulder. “Who is it, Johno?” They both peered at me through the fly screen, and I was glad I’d made enough noise that they both came running.
“Thanks God someone’s home,” I gasped, out of breath from my sprint. “I’ve been knocking on all the doors and you wouldn’t believe it, but no one is home. I tried the house next door, the one across the street and the one next to that.” I was rambling, trying to keep them both focused on me long enough for Kristian to get his keys and wallet and get out of there.
“I get it, I get it.” The guy, Johno, held up his hands to silence me, but I didn’t let that stop me. Kristian kept low, then darted across the living room towards the bedroom. I needed to keep them distracted.
You can do this.
“I’m just so happy that someone is home here. You have no idea how much I need to do today. Well, tonight. There isn’t really that much of today left now, is there. Really only enough time to get home and make dinner, which is what’s really important to me. I have all the groceries in my car. All of them. And they’re coming for dinner, and I’m not going to be there in time. What a nightmare, right?”
“Yeah. Sure. What do you want?”
“Well, as I was saying, there are all these groceries and I need to get them home, but my car, it broke down, and I have no idea what’s wrong with—”
“I know nuffin ’bout cars, lady.”
Kris appeared in the doorway of the bedroom and gestured for me to keep going. Come on, brain, don’t fail me now.
“What? Oh no, I don’t want you to fix it. I just want you to let me use your phone to call roadside. Silly me left mine on the counter at home. Crazy, right? We have those things attached to our hands almost 24/7, but when you really need it, you’ve left it behind or the battery has died. But that’s life, right?”
Kris darted through the living area again, ducking through an archway that I assumed led into the kitchen, giving me a thumbs up before he was gone from view. I assumed that meant I could wrap things up.
“I’ll just get her a phone,” the woman said, pulling her dressing gown tight around her body. She was quite pretty, even if she was a little strung out looking. I thought it was a shame that she’d obviously gotten herself mixed up with some sort of criminal element.
Um, hello, Pot, I’d like you to meet Kettle.
The thought threw me for a moment. I was a girl mixed up with a criminal element. I was standing here helping them break into these people’s house. It was justified, but still, it was illegal.
“Ah….” I took a step backward, suddenly eager to turn tail and run. “Actually, I think maybe I do have my phone. So sorry to bother you.” Just as I moved to leave, something fell. Something metal, something noisy, something in the garage.
Shit.
Run.
My movement halted before I even managed to get anywhere as Johno grabbed the back of my hair. “You’re not going anywhere, bitch” he growled, dragging me backwards into the house. “I’m not fucking stupid. I know a distraction when I see one.”
There wasn’t a hell of a lot I could do in the limited space without ripping my hair out at the roots, so I did what I could to keep my footing while trying to remember something from all those self-defence classes I’d taken over the years.
How do you escape a hair hold? I searched my mind, the answer flashing like a slide show in my memory—turn, elbow, knee.
Clutching my hair at his hand, I turned my body to the right and brought my left elbow along with the motion, slamming it into the side of his jaw. He let out an “oof,” the surprise making him release my hair and arch backward. I grabbed his shoulders and brought up my left knee, right into his groin. He went down like a sack of potatoes, and I kicked him again for good measure.
>
“You need to get yourself a nicer boyfriend, lady,” I said as I stood over his prone body, adrenaline surging through every part of me. I couldn’t believe I’d actually taken that guy out. I could be the next Wonder Woman!
No sooner had I delivered my incredibly witty remark than she bared her teeth and launched herself at me, claws out. I braced myself, ready for a catfight, but she was caught mid-air by a strong arm belonging to an even stronger body. Sam.
“That was fucking awesome,” he said, looking at poor Johno groaning on the floor while he held the woman under his arm as she struggled and swore.
I blushed. “It was nothing.”
“Don’t be coy about it.” The girl took to flicking her arms and legs back and forth like a frog in the water. Sam didn’t even seem the slightest bit bothered. “That was some seriously impressive stuff. Where did you learn to do that?”
“I took some self-defence class a while back.”
“You had a great teacher.” He shook his head, just grinning at me. The scrutiny made me nervous, and I wished he’d stop looking at me like he saw something special there.
“It was a fluke that I remembered.” I waved it off just as the garage door opened and Kristian revved the engine of his ute. It was a copper colour and pretty fancy-looking. Kristian pulled up to where he could see us and wound down the window.
“Got everything?” Sam called out.
“They took a couple hundred out of my wallet, but other than that….” He shrugged. “Who took out the moaner?” he asked, spotting Johno.
“Peaches,” Sam announced proudly.
I just shook my head and looked around the living room. “Where’s the money?” I asked the dangly girl. She was trying to push her way out of Sam’s grip, still to no avail.
“I’m not telling you shit.”
I held my foot over Johno’s crown jewels. “If you want to continue having a sex life, you will,” I threatened.
“You bitch.”
“I’m not the one who stole your shit. Where’s the money?”
“We spent it.”
“Well….” I walked around the living area. There had to be something that was worth a couple of hundred dollars we could take to make this even. That’s when I spotted a MacBook and a pair of Beats. “We’ll just take these as compensation for the money and our pain and suffering,” I said, pulling the cord from the wall and tucking it all under my arm. “You have a nice day now.”
Fools Rush In (Cartwright Brothers Book 2) Page 11
