‘It’s you that’s been doing the violating so far, Butler. Anyway, I’ve a look to put together so I’ve no time for your sexual shenanigans. Plus, I’m sure Cal and Bea had enough of us last night.’
‘Oh, I’m sure we were very quiet.’
‘I might have been. You on the other hand...’
‘I can’t help it if you turn me into a grunting caveman. I’m making up for all those years without you.’
‘Oh, I like the grunting caveman. Don’t worry about that.’
‘Good, because I promise you he only needs five minutes. Come on.’ Niall grasped Carli’s hips and guided her backwards to the bed, then with his palm steadying her lower back, pulled his t-shirt over his head in one swift movement, climbed out of his boxers and let them both fall slowly onto the mattress.
‘You’ll end up smelling of violets.’
‘I’m going to end up smelling of a lot more than violets and I will love every second of it. Open your legs, Cass. I need to be in you and have your scent on me, because if there’s a moment when you’re not with me today, I’ll have something to remember you by.’
She squealed and he gently pressed his hand over her mouth.
‘Shh, we’re in Butler family company so be on your best behaviour.’
Carli laughed. ‘Oh, like you are?’
‘Aye, like me. This is my best behaviour, but it only gets better.’
Cal drove them all into the centre of Edinburgh to the escape room and managed to find a parking space relatively easily.
‘Wow! I thought parking would be harder than the escape room,’ he said. ‘Maybe this is a good omen for the day.’
The escape room, part of a whisky experience building near Cal’s bar in the Old Town, offered five different whisky-themed experiences: one for each of the whisky regions in Scotland: Highland, Islay, Lowland, Speyside and Campbeltown. They split into two groups: Cal and Niall in the Islay room, Bea and Carli in the Campbeltown one. Apparently, the brothers getting Campbeltown was close to cheating seeing as they’d grown up in the region.
The room was set up like a distillery with exposed brickwork, red copper pot stills, pipes and barrels. The purpose was to find out who had poisoned the whisky supply.
‘Aye, well, I’m pretty sure the answer is Archie Butler,’ Cal said drily before they had started.
Niall laughed. It wasn’t something their biological father had specifically stooped to but sabotaging the distillery certainly had been. Cal was five when Archie died, and Niall a newborn. Cal therefore had more memories, albeit hazy, of their father. The words ‘arsehole’, ‘dick’ and ‘fuckwad’ were usually how Cal referred to Archie Butler, if he ever came up in conversation.
They got to work on solving the escape room, unlocking combinations and finding keys to secret drawers and solving codes.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Niall asked Cal as they were both fiddling with levers and pulling athandles.
‘Aye, go ahead.’
‘Do you see anything of Archie in any of us?’
Cal stopped what he was doing and examined his brother quizzically. Niall didn’t blame him. This wasn’t exactly the ideal time to be picking fruit from the family DNA tree.
‘You want to talk about this now? We have to work out where Shuggie McKenzie put the spare key.’
‘Sorry. It’s not the time. I’ve got you on your own, that’s all.’
‘The answer is no,’ said Cal. ‘Although if you want to drill down into the finer detail you should ask Mum. We all look a bit like him – me, you, Jamie – but I hope that’s where the resemblance ends. Mum did say he was kind of charming when she first met him, so I suppose we’ve got that.’ Cal yanked open a drawer, pulled out the key they’d been hunting for and unlocked the pot still with it. ‘Right, there’s some sort of letter in here.’ He passed the letter to Niall who read it out loud.
‘I think it means in one of these.’ Niall ambled over to the barrels.
‘Why are you asking about Archie?’ asked Cal. ‘You having an identity crisis?’
‘Not quite. I’m trying to figure out a few things. If I’m the black sheep and all that.’
‘Still?’ Cal’s face awoke with an understanding; he’d heard this before. ‘Bro, you’re no black sheep. You’re not even a sheep. You’re more like a goat.’
