“Oh my god, a quintuple alliteration,” Katie breathed out. “You better start packing before she turns anymore British. You’ve clearly already pushed her into the red.”
Maisie just smiled and blinked.
Slowly.
“Fine. I’ll go pack,” I ground out.
“I’ll get the food out of the fridge,” Katie offered.
“Whatever,” I snapped, and stalked down the hall.
Pulling up to Hatch and Maisie’s home, I parked my car on the street and climbed out.
Katie met me and smiled. “The boys will grab your stuff.”
I followed her into the house and handed my keys off to someone, I think his name was Buzz, then we headed downstairs to the basement.
I was gob smacked when I hit the last step. This wasn’t a basement. This was another home. First of all, from the outside of the home you wouldn’t know there was a basement, which is probably the intent, and from the inside, the door was hidden behind a hidden panel. So, if you even discovered the panel to begin with, you’d have to enter a code, then get through what I was told was a steel reinforced door.
“All of the windows are bullet proof,” Katie explained as she gave me a tour. “The kitchen’s small, but it has everything we need. I’ve told Buzz to bring your stuff down here, although, we’ll all be eating upstairs unless there’s an actual threat.”
“You’re staying too?”
“Yep. I’m in the room next to yours. There are three bedrooms and four bathrooms down here, along with a theater, a great room, and some hidden exits that will lead to cars if we have to escape without being seen. Hatch’s office and a gym used to be down here, but he moved those upstairs, when Poppy and Flash moved out. Gave the basement a bit of an overhaul, and now there’s more room for the club.”
“Um, why would we have to escape without being seen?” I asked.
“We probably won’t have to,” Katie said. “But Hatch wants us all to be safe, so he tends to think of things we don’t.”
“How are you so calm about all of this?” I rasped.
Katie sighed. “Outside of the fact my brother’s been in the club since, I don’t know,forever? The club’s my family, Waverly. Not just my friends.”
“But they’re going to war.”
“A war they didn’t start,” she reminded me.
“We’re not in high school,” I said.
“Look at it this way,” Maisie said, joining us. “We are getting ready for war, rather than going to war. Hatch is making sure everyone we care about is protected just in case. Does that help?”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. The hope is that all of this is over preparation, and it’ll be resolved soon.”
I bit my lip. “How are you privy to all of this? Aren’t clubs usually super secretive?”
“Sweet girl, something you need to know about my old man is that he always does the right thing. Always.” Maisie raised an eyebrow. “Now, who’s hungry?”
“I’m starving,” Katie said.
“Since you interrupted my wine and Cheetos party, I should probably get some protein in me,” I grumbled.
“Scurvy indeed,” Maisie retorted.
“I’ll just show Waverly her room, then we’ll come up and help.”
“Maisie!” a male voice bellowed from somewhere.
