Or maybe it’s just Dylan, and she’s determined to get answers to the questions I ignored when we were at the track.
In any case, my secret is blown. There’s no way I can keep this from my family for even twelve hours.
I carry my bike up the steps, turning the knob and hearing voices as soon as I open the door.
“Shut it off,” Hunter growls.
“It’s research!” Kade shouts, but I can hear the laughter in his voice.
Stepping inside, I quietly close the door and peer into the living room where Hawke stands solemnly as Hunter grabs for the remote that Kade keeps just out of reach.
“I’m gonna do that someday.” He points at the TV. “I need to know where all the legs go.”
I set my bike inside and glance at the flatscreen Farrow donated to my new place last night, three bodies writhing and sweating on the screen. One man thrusts into a blonde from behind while she takes another guy in her mouth.
“What did you download onto my TV?!” I bark.
Kade spins around. “Jesus…”
Hawke snatches the remote from him and switches the TV off, throwing it down on the green velvet couch that was here before I was.
Hawke approaches me. “We need to talk.”
“How did you know I’d be here?”
“There are cameras all over town,” he blurts out. “It was only a matter of time before your budding friendship with Farrow Kelly paid off for him.”
“He’s been lonely without Dylan living here,” Hunter adds. “He passes this house out to whoever would be good company if they want to crash.”
So, they don’t know I bought it. Hawke hacked into the town’s traffic cams and noticed me making trips over the bridge. They think I’m hanging out for a little freedom?
I blow out a breath of relief, even though I know it won’t last long. They’ll certainly know what’s going on when Farrow’s truck is loaded with my furniture.
“You found Carnival Tower,” he states.
I don’t move or glance at my other nephews. I won’t ask how he found out it was me. Maybe he’s got a camera in the alley behind my bakery and saw me retrieving my bike chain the night the hatch in the roof was locked.
Or maybe he hacked into a business’s security camera across the street and saw me through the windows climbing through the mirror.
It was only a matter of time before he figured it out.
I sigh. “I’m not scared of you.”
Hawke’s voice softens as if he’s dealing with a child. “That’s not what I want,” he tells me. “But you don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
Hunter advances. “Quinn—”
“No.” I turn my gaze from Hawke and look at Hunter dead-on. “Carnival Tower is my property. You guys can find a million other places to get laid.”
“The urban legends are true,” Hawke points out. “Manas and Deacon Doran have been sneaking in for two decades. They’re—”
“I know who they are.”
He pauses, studying me. If I have access, he must know I’ve read the murder map on the wall.
Thankfully, he doesn’t decide to rehash the whole story. He simply continues. “We don’t know why they come,” Hawke goes on, “but us being there gives you some measure of protection.”
I would agree with that, but…
