TWENTY-SIX
CHANEY
“Let’s divide and conquer,” Freyja suggests. “I’ll grab our snacks, drinks, and anything else I find in the kitchen we may need or want. You grab our blankets, pillows, tablets, and one of the laptops.” I don’t ask what the anything else we may want from the kitchen is, my sister is on a roll and I don’t want to distract her from her task.
“Okay, sis. I’ll also grab a roll of toilet paper since he didn’t mention there being any in the safe room. Can you think of anything else we should add to the list?” I ask her.
“Not off hand, no,” she answers.
With a nod of my head she scurries out of the room and I grab one of our overnight bags to stuff our electronics inside of so they’re easier to carry. Once that’s done, I wind our blankets together and cram our pillows inside then scan the room. Locating our slippers, I decide to grab those too in case our feet get cold. I don’t like wearing my tennis shoes or boots around the house, they get uncomfortable and tighten around my feet after wearing them for a while—personally, I prefer walking through the house in my socks or house shoes anyway.
Not able to think of anything else we’ll need, I head toward Nova’s bedroom and place the things I’ve gathered on his bed and go out to check on Freyja to see if she needs a helping hand. A short giggle escapes my lips when I see her pushing a cooler down the hallway. “Heavy, sis? How much did you get us?”
“Enough to last us overnight,” she says, grinning up at me. “Just in case we’re there longer than they’re thinking we’ll be.”
“Smart,” I tell her, grabbing the handle facing me and helping her drag it across the carpet. The ice shifts as we maneuver it across the threshold and I can’t help but think that it’s a good thing she had that job because I would’ve forgotten to add the frozen cubes to the ice chest.
Within seconds of us flopping on Nova’s bed, he comes strolling through the door. Not only does he have the toilet in hand but also a case of water. “I brought these as a backup in case y’all forgot,” he tells us.
“I got us twelve bottles of water already, Nova,” Freyja says, sharing a knowing look with me and I notice there’s a twinkle in her eye that’s full of humor.
She and I both find it funny that even though he told us to gather our own drinks and other stuff, he’s still thinking about and taking care of us by bringing us enough water to keep us hydrated for an entire week.
“But we appreciate your thoughtfulness, Nova,” I tack on, not wanting us to sound rude or ungrateful. He’s gone above and beyond for us, complete strangers, and made us one big, dysfunctional family.
“Yeah,” he gruffly says, his voice sounds as if he’s been gurgling rocks. “You’re welcome.” I don’t know what’s gotten into him,he seems more distant these days, but once my father has been taken care of, I plan on finding out. He may be able to run, but I won’t let him hide. I’m determined to get my answers and fix whatever’s wrong because neither Freyja nor I want to lose him.
“Let’s get y’all inside and settled. My brothers will be rolling in any minute now, and I don’t want my attention divided. I need to know you girls are safe and behind those walls before I can concentrate on ending this nightmare with your father.”
Anger at his use of callingthatmonster my father swims through me. “Not my father, not anymore,” I spit out.
“We’ve disowned him as our father, Nova,” Freyja adamantly states. “We decided that we’d rather be orphans than have any association with him.”
“Can’t say as I blame y’all,” Nova grunts out. “I’d do the same thing if I were in your position.” He walks into his closet shoving hangers aside while he opens the hidden door. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d never find it because it’s flush with the wall, blending into the sheetrock.
“Clever,” I compliment, watching as the door swings open and the room behind it is exposed. “Whoever designed that is a genius.” I have no better words for what it is than that. It’s ingenious and brilliant. The person who invented it needs to patent it because they’d make a pretty penny off the blueprint.
“Booker and I are responsible for it,” he admits. “We have a few of them spread through the clubhouse and the brothers’ individual homes. Those who have them anyway, which aren’t many. The brothers prefer to live under the roof of the clubhouse than be separate in case something goes down.”
“Like this?” I ask as I watch him scoot the cooler inside and come back for what all I’ve gathered.
“This is a good example,” he states as he shoots me a wink. “It was easy to gather them and get them here since nine-tenths of them were already in the same place.”
“But not you? Why didn’t you decide to live with the rest of the Kings, Nova?” I inquire.
“Several reasons,” he starts, continuing, “one being that I like my solitude. If I want to walk around in my boxer briefs or go all natural, I can without having to hear anyone’s snide remarks. Another is because of my job, my hours are crazy and when I’ve had a bad day, I like to sit out on the porch and drink a cold beer without all the chatter and madness of the clubhouse.”
I shrug. “Makes sense to me. I’m used to it being only Freyja and me, sometimes it can be overwhelming when the guys come around, but I’m getting used to it.”
“I don’t think you can ever get used to my brothers,” he teases. Once all of our belongings have been stored in the room, he ushers us inside. “There’s a call box on the wall that’ll connect to Booker if you need anything. Press the black button and it’ll alert him. He can also talk to you through the speaker, so if you hear a strange voice come through the intercom, don’t freak out.”
“So much to still learn,” Freyja says, awe in her voice.
“Technology is a good field to learn about. If you’re interested, Freyja, I can get you with Booker,” Nova offers her.
“There are some things I’d like to know, but it’s not a field I want to get into. I want to work from home when I’m ready to take that leap,” she admits.
“Whatever it is you decide you want to do, you have my support,” Nova states, glancing at me afterward, letting me know that doesn’t just go for her, the words are for both of us.
