“Ha, you never stood a chance,” said Lucian with a smug grin on his face.
The next minute he was lying flat on his back on the ground and Tyler was jumping around, laughing and cheering.
“Hang on, that’s cheating!” shouted Lucian.
“No, it’s not!” Tyler shouted. “Danny asked if we could fight back and Keira said yes. She didn’t specifically say who we could fight; therefore I’m in the clear!”
I intervened. “Actually, you fought after I had finished throwing the energy balls. Technically the game was over. So, even though you thought you were being clever, because the game was over you’re going to have to do a forfeit.”
Danny and Lucian burst out laughing as I stood there arms folded, trying not to burst out laughing myself at the look of horror and disappointment on Tyler’s face. I almost felt sorry for him…almost.
“OK then, hmm… What could be a suitable punishment? Maybe doing the garden in just a bandanna, to cover certain areas?”
The look on Tyler’s face was one of those picture-perfect looks. Danny and Lucian couldn’t stand up now; they were too busy trying to breathe from laughing so much.
“No. That’s it. Perfect!” I said.
Danny and Lucian had just managed to stand up. I walked over and stood between them, putting an arm around each of their shoulders.
“Take a good look at him and picture this,” I told them. “Pink boob-tube top to bring the color out in his cheeks, a short light denim miniskirt, and high-heeled black sandals. Then imagine him in thirty-six hours’ time, starting to paint the outside of the house.”
The pair of them then collapsed back on to the ground laughing their heads off. Poor Tyler stood there almost ghostly white, sheer horror and embarrassment on his face.
“So…today and tomorrow you have the joy of lifting and shifting. Then, it’s forfeit time,” I laughed. “That will teach you to cheat, won’t it?”
When the guys finally pulled themselves together we got back to work. By 7.30 p.m. and after using a little magic, every room downstairs was ready to be decorated. All we could do now was wait for the plaster to dry. We knew it would take all night so we decided to call it a day and go home. We sat on the front porch for ten minutes together. I sat right behind Tyler, massaging his shoulders for him before we left. He and Danny were aching and wanted nothing more than to get in a hot bath.
When I walked through the door of my motel room, it felt strange, I was used to having Lily there with me. I decided to keep myself busy to pass, so I rummaged through the bags of papers I had brought back from the house. I went through the first bag and only ended up keeping three pieces of paper that looked like they might be interesting. The rest were just from old books, Bibles, and hymnals. They were destined for the rubbish heap.
As I started to open the door to put the bag in the bin, I nearly jumped through the ceiling. Just as I pulled the door open Lucian was going to knock, instead he grinned at me. I loved it when he did that – he looked adorable.
“Knock, knock,” he said.
We both just stood there for a moment staring at each other.
“Can I come in or are you thinking of hitting me with that trash bag?” he chuckled.
“Sorry, come in, sit down.” I opened the door and gestured him in. “Do you want a drink? I have alcohol, coke, water, coffee or tea.”
“Coffee would be nice. It’s turned cold out there now,” he said with a little shiver.
He threw the bag out for me before I put the kettle on and got the cups out of the cupboard. All the time I was doing this I could feel him watching me. I made the drinks and went to sit beside him.
“Thanks,” he said as he reached for the cup. “How’s it going with the papers?”
“Not very good. Out of one full bag I got only three pieces of paper. And I don’t know if they have anything really helpful on them.”
“What are you expecting to find?” He was now sitting facing me, leaning in slightly as if to listen carefully to my every word. That’s one of the things I like about him. He is what he said – ‘a good listener”.
“I don’t know, to be truthful…Maybe a clue to the puzzle of the families’ pasts, a key to an unknown part of our history, or maybe a sign to find out who and what we really are.”
I put my head down and stared at my mug. I could feel him looking at me again.
“So how come you came by?” I asked, trying to work out his facial expression.
“I just wanted to check that you were OK, with you being on your own tonight. Plus, there wasn’t anything to do at my place, so I thought I’d come over and see if you wanted any company for a little while. I know you said you like your “Alone time” but it can get a bit creepy around here at this time of night.”
“That’s very sweet. I could do with the company,” I smiled softly at him and he returned the smile. Neither of us could be bothered going through the others bags of papers, so we flicked the TV on and found a horror film, and both got comfy on the sofa.
***
I woke up the next morning rather shocked, yet quite happy at the same time. The TV was playing away to itself. I was lying on the sofa with my head on Lucian’s chest and my arm around his waist. Both his arms were around me, one around my shoulders and the other over my arm that was around him. I lifted my head slowly to look at him, trying my best not to wake him. But I failed. He opened his eyes and looked around the room for a moment. Then he looked down at me and smiled. We must have both drifted off at some point last night.
“I’m so comfy. I don’t want to move. I think we should stay like this today,” he said, squeezing me.
“I do too, but that won’t get my house fixed up. I would much prefer to be like this with you in there than in a little motel room.”
“That sounds good.”
“Right, I’m going to get changed,” I told him as I got up of the sofa.
“OK. Well, I’ll shoot off to mine, get freshened up and meet you at the house.”
He walked over to me, leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips before leaving. All the time I was changing I was smiling to myself.
***
When I got to the house Tyler and Danny were just pulling up.
“Morning,” they both shouted.
“So, are we going to get some color into this place today?” Danny asked me.
“Oh we sure are.”
I got the paint color that I wanted for each room and placed them in the middle. I looked at the paint can and felt my eyes turn. The paint flew out and on to the walls and ceilings with a perfect finish on each. It took literally ten seconds to do each room.
When all the painting was done I stepped outside, my eyes still white. I walked to the end of my garden path and turned to look directly at the house. I raised my hands and all that was heard was a low creaking sound as all the old windows detached themselves from the house, along with their old frames. I had them stacked neatly at the side of the house, careful not to break them. I then looked at the new windows piled up by the porch, they started to unwrap themselves. Again I raised my hands and the new windows rose in the air and secured themselves tightly into the open spaces.
The next thing that needed to be done was the floors. I went around each of the rooms in turn and within seconds the flooring was down. The furniture was moved in and I could relax and concentrate on my living room now. I stood in the doorway of the dining room while the last of the chairs moved themselves into position.
“Now that’s cheating, you know,” I heard Lucian say.
I turned to see him standing with his arms crossed, leaning up against the front door frame. He had a big grin on his face.
“Oh shut up, I’ve not cheated with the living room.”
“What, not at all?” he said, walking towards me “Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth.”
“Don’t you trust me or something?”
“Let me think about that for a moment…No,
not when it comes to doing this place up.”
“Oh the nerve!”
I started to walk past him to get to the living room, but he grabbed me and made me face him. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t take the smirk from my face.
Sometimes I was a really bad liar. He tickled me and held me close, trying to get me to admit I was a cheat. But the fun was soon interrupted.
“YOU IDIOT!” we heard Danny shout from the kitchen.
“PISS OFF!” cried Tyler
We heard a loud noise, like someone shooting a can off a picket fence. Suddenly Danny came stumbling out of the kitchen backwards with Tyler charging after him. The first thing I noticed was the paint all over them.
“NOOOO! GET OFF MY FLOOR!” I screamed.
Before they could do or say anything I hoisted them into the air. Lucian had to duck fast in fear of losing his head as I flung them through the hall and out the front door. I heard a dull thud and cries of pain as they hit the ground. I walked to the door and glared at them for a moment before opening my mouth.
“I don’t care what’s happened! I don’t want to know! Get your ass’s home, washed and changed, do NOT come back till every bit of paint is off you,” I walked back in the house and slammed the door behind me.
“Is the attack of the flying pain-in-the-ass’s over?” Lucian asked, standing back up with his arms over his head, looking around sarcastically.
“Do you want to join them?” I asked.
He put his arms around me and pulled me close.
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” he breathed as he lowered his head closer to mine, “Would you?”
“No,” I whispered. I couldn’t help it; I liked him.
He leaned forward and kissed me properly this time.
We spent the rest of the day and most of the early evening finishing the living room off. Tyler and Danny came back nice and clean and apologized for the paint incident. I forgave them when they showed me the finished kitchen, it was beautiful. Black granite worktops; dark wooden drawers and cupboards, all with chrome handles; chrome sink and taps; and spotlights in the ceiling. They had even built me an island just to add to the classiness of it and to cajole me a little. Lily would love it; she loved cooking meals for people.
All except one room on the ground floor were now completed. I was originally going to have a music room in there, but I decided I wanted it upstairs next to my games room instead. It was at the back of the house; the walls were plastered and painted but it remained empty. I just shut the door on it and forgot about it.
We received a call from Lily telling us that thanks to Jake they were completely finished at the old house. It was too late to set off now so they were spending the night there. They would give back the keys and collect my deposit from the landlord in the morning, then head back.
Lucian came back to the motel with me once we finished for the day. We went through a couple of the bags of paper together. In the end we had about twenty sheets to read through properly. The rest went in the bin and I could finally see the floor in the little living room. Neither of us wanted to start studying the papers tonight; we were both tired and would most likely have fallen asleep if we had tried. We curled up on the couch together in front of the TV again.
***
“I’m going to see the receptionist tomorrow. I’ll book in again tomorrow night and then that’s it. I’ll get mine and Lily’s rooms painted and sorted tomorrow morning. I’ll do the other rooms up as I get chance to.”
“Has Lily told you how she wants her room?”
“No, I know what she bought for it, but not how she wants it arranged. I designed the room that she was going to move into in my old house. I know what she likes so I’ll do it. Anything she isn’t happy with we’ll sort out when she gets here.”
“What are you doing with the other rooms on the third floor?”
“Guest rooms, all with their own bathrooms. I just need to get the furniture for them,” I explained.
“Are you still going to burn Lily’s pink loveseat”, he asked, laughing.
“I haven’t decided yet. I might let her have it a week or so first.”
That night we both fell asleep on the sofa again.
In the morning Lucian went home to get changed and then met me at the house. He got there just in time to see me throw Tyler outside in Lily’s boob tube, skirt and sandals. He could just about balance in her sandals; they had three-inch heels on them. The rest of us started to paint mine and Lily’s bedrooms. My room was going to be deep red with a silver and gold trim. I had a beautiful king-sized bed with a black cast-iron frame and black-and-red satin bedding. All my other furniture was dark wood. Lily wanted hers cream with a mahogany- colored border. She also had a king-sized bed, with cream-and-red bedding. All her other furniture was white, except the horrific loveseat.
Lily and Jake got home around four. They got the shock of their lives when they saw the state of Tyler. Danny enjoyed filling them in on recent events before I showed them around the house. Lily loved it. She made everyone promise that, once we had finished working on it, they would all come for a meal.
At 5:30 we let Tyler get changed back into his clothes so he could help us unload Jake’s truck; he had finished the house now. We put our things where we wanted them, unless they were for the bedroom. We left them in the hallway ready to go in tomorrow. By 7:30 there was nothing else we could do, so we decided to chill out in the master living room for half an hour.
“So are you two together?” Tyler asked, looking at Lily and Jake in turn.
“Actually we are,” Jake told him. “I asked her while we were away.”
“Good, I’m glad. You make a good couple,” I told them. “Plus I get to keep my car.”
“I hate you both,” Tyler said nastily but smiling all the same.
“What?” Lily and Jake asked, puzzled.
Tyler told them about the bet.
“I can’t believe you guys,” Lily laughed. “But I’m glad Keira won.”
“You two look happy,” Jake said, looking at me and Lucian. “What’s going on?”
“I think, maybe, just maybe, I’m winning her over,” Lucian told them.
“Well, I’m pleased for all of you,” Danny said, smiling. “It’s about time some of us got to have relationships.”
We stayed at the house until around eight. It felt strange going to the motel without Lucian, but I was happy to have Lily back. She told me that while they were at my house they had both got a little drunk. One thing led to another and she and Jake ended up sleeping together. When she woke the next morning he wasn’t there. She was so upset – she thought he had left her. Just as she was about to get out of bed he walked in with breakfast on a tray – a glass of fresh orange and a single red rose. He laid it on the bed then saw how upset she was. When she told him what was wrong he got upset. He climbed on to the bed next to her and told her he didn’t want that to be it between them, and that he hoped it was the start of a close, loving relationship. She had such a smile on her face when she told me the last part. It was so nice to see her so happy; she deserved to have someone fall in love with her and take care of her.
Chapter 14
Back in Time
It was great walking into the house and knowing we didn’t have to leave it again. It only took us an hour to sort our bedrooms out and hang our clothes up. We were there by 9a.m., done by 10 and sat down having a coffee when the guys turned up at 10:30.
“So what’s the plan for today then?” Lucian asked before leaning over and kissing my cheek.
“I’m going to carry on going through the bags of papers we found.” I told him.
“I’m going food shopping. I want everyone here at 6:30 – I’m cooking us all dinner,” Lily smiled.
“Great,” Tyler said as he rubbed his belly. “I’ll make sure I’m hungry.”
“Well, I only came to say hi. I’ve got to run a few errands for my mom,” Danny told us. “But I’ll be bac
k at six or there abouts.”
“I’ll come with you,” Tyler told him. With that they both said bye and left.
“Jake, do you want to give me a hand with the shopping?” Lily asked him.
Naturally he said yes, so she finished her drink and they both left.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me,” Lucian told me, flopping on the sofa next to me.
“Oh, how will I cope with that?” I smiled.
I leaned towards him and kissed him for a moment, then went to grab the bag of papers. We found a few notes, some with chores written on them, others with times of meetings. Then Lucian hit the jackpot.
“Hey, check this out,” he said. “It’s a map, hand-drawn.”
“Where to?”
“It just says “Meeting point”,” he said, looking at me, puzzled.
I took it from him and looked at it for a moment.
“Do you know where this is?” I asked.
“I could get us there – it’s pretty well drawn. It shows the old tavern and I know where that was. But what has this got to do with anything?”
“Well…I don’t know – it could be something, it could be nothing. No harm in checking it out though.”
“Do you want to go now?” he asked
“Why not? We’ll take my car.”
We set off to the old part of town and parked just in front of where the tavern used to be. He took the map from me and we headed into the countryside.
“I hope those boots of yours are comfy,” he grinned.
“I’m fine. Besides if they hurt I’ll just jump on your back!” I fired back.
We walked for around fifteen minutes. He was about six yards in front of me when suddenly everything went dark. I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked at the sky and the moon was shining bright, the sky was clear and all the stars were out. Lucian was nowhere to be seen. I shouted his name but he never answered. Now I was getting a little unnerved, and cold, so cold I was starting to shake. It was as though I had stepped through a portal from day to night. I looked around and that’s when I saw them. There were five men all standing around a fire. Their clothes were centuries-old. I walked slowly towards them. One of them pulled out a book and looked around at the other men.