Noah nodded, “Yeah, but Grandpa said he’d won a lottery or something and he got paid off from it every month.”
“And then you won a house… right?” Jude asked.
Rain gasped and looked at Jude. “Seriously? A house?”
Nodding, Jude said, “Yeah, Wiz did some checking on this place and discovered that it was a private cash purchase done when Noah was twelve. The cash, the house all of it. Shit, he bought you the car you’re driving right now, paid for your college education and a shit ton more. The man might be a fucking asshole, but he cared about you, Noah. He made sure you were raised outside his criminal life with good people and never went without every need and want… even to this day. He did this by never letting anyone know you were ever born… but the cat is most definitely out of the bag… I’d think the bullets ripping through your house might be a clear enough indicator.”
“Shit! People are coming and they’re not ours.” Casper snapped. “Jude, take Noah and Rain upstairs right now. I need you guys to hide and not come out until I give the word.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Jude frantically said.
Casper’s eyes darkened, as he snapped, “Smoky and the others are on their way back. I can’t be worried about you and do what I need to do.”
Jude looked as if he was going to argue, but Casper wasn’t having it, “We talked about this, Jude. If we’re going to have a family, you need to learn to listen when it comes to your safety.”
Casper stopped talking and Rain could swear he was listening to someone talking, before he let out a low curse, “You guys need to go now! Danny’s men are on their way to the cabin as we speak.”
Jude pursed his lips, pulling Noah onto his feet, as he grumbled, “We’re going, but I don’t have to like it. Come on, Rain.”
Noah said nothing as he was pulled up the stairs by Jude and Rain pushed him from behind. They had to get to a safe spot and Rain had to stop worrying about Wyatt and trust that he knew what he was doing when it came to fighting.
“We need a good hiding spot,” Jude said looking left, then right, before turning to Noah. “You know your home better than all of us. Where’s the safest place for us to hide?”
“My room?” Noah said more in question then assuredness.
Jude gave Noah a look of disbelief, “I have a feeling that would be the first place they’d look. Think, Noah. You’ve lived here over half your life. There has to be a place we can hide that no one will think about?”
“How would they know…?”
Noah! Listen to me. When it comes to men like Danny you have to assume they know everything… and I mean everything about your life, home and even where you take a shit. Now think!”
The sound of crashing glass and breaking furniture had Noah letting out a low squeal that Jude quickly stifled, quietly hissing, “Where?”
Noah’s breathing was fast and hard and Rain didn’t blame him. He was terrified right now.
Thankfully Noah gave a nod and pointed to the back room.
The sound of something slamming into the wall had them all jumping and then flesh hitting flesh along with grunts and shattering glass forced them to move… fast.
Jude closed all the doors as they passed them and when they got to one clear in the back, Noah rushed inside turning when Jude closed that door as well.
Rain looked around in confusion, Where the hell would they hide? There wasn’t even a fucking closet.
Jude must have thought the same because he hissed, “What the fuck? I said we needed to hide, Noah. The only place I can see that’s not going to give them a bird’s eye view is under the fucking bed.”
Noah hissed back, “That’s because you’re not looking in the right place.”
Rain watched as Noah stood on the bed and pushed something before sliding a wood slat back, leaving a giant hole in the ceiling. “I needed a place to store some of the things for my flower shop, but I didn’t want to lose the extra room in case I needed it for an office or something so I installed this crawlspace. There’s no way anyone would know about it because I did it myself.”
“How do we get up there?” Jude asked, “I’m ashamed to say I’m not athletic…well except in the bedroom and Spider Man I am not.”
Noah rolled his eyes as he pulled a rope ladder from the hole. “I’m not either.”
“You guys need to hurry I hear someone coming this way,” Rain snapped as quietly as he could.
Noah started up the ladder and once he was inside, Jude quickly followed. However, before Rain could get to the bed in order to follow them, he heard someone getting closer and closer.
He wouldn’t have time to climb the ladder and close the crawl space without being seen. Tossing the ladder up, he snapped, “I won’t make it in time. Close it up.”
