Riley woke from a dead sleep to heavy footfalls.
After spending the weekend there, she was accustomed to being alone in the studio-styled guest house. Right now almost every single one of her senses was telling her that was no longer the case. She was hearing grunts and bumping about and the occasional swear. She could see shadows of black mingling between shadows of grey shifting in the moonlight pouring in from the windows. It was frightening... too frightening to turn on the lights and risk making the intruder aware of her presence though. Riley, slowly and quietly made her way as quickly as she could around the perimeter of the large room, like a spy trying to avoid detection. The figure continued to stumble in her direction. Riley's heart caught in her through as a large, masculine silhouette lumbered past her into the bedroom and fell onto the sheets she'd just crept up from. She could smell a mixture of scotch and soap that might not have smelled so bad if it hadn't made her terrified stomach turn.
Trying not to hyperventilate, Riley made her way to the side-table drawer in the living area. In it was the key she'd basically promised Pierce she'd never use. My apologies Pierce, Riley thought, but this is an emergency.
Key in hand, Riley felt her way to the door that was adjacent to the house, slid the key into the lock and turned the knob. The door soundlessly opened to pitch darkness on the other side. Without hesitation, Riley stepped inside, turned around, and quickly locked the door behind her. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and tried to develop her next plan of action... praying that whoever was on the other side of that door would go away without taking anything valuable. She rolled her pajama sleeves down her arms against the cool draft in this new room. Why did everything feel so much colder in the dark? So far, Riley wasn't liking Reno much... no, she wasn't liking Reno much at all.
Just as she was beginning to adapt to the room she heard a growl getting closer and closer and some fabric was rustling along the opposite wall. Should she speak? Should she freeze? Was she about to be mauled to death by a ferocious animal?
A light switched on.
Once her eyes adjusted, Riley was face to face with the most comical scene she'd ever witnessed... in spite of being scared witless herself. A small white terrier crouched to pounce was the creature making all those growling noises and there was... Pierce?... wrapped up in a sheet at the light switch with a hammer in hand. No, wait a minute, this wasn't Pierce.
"Who are you?!" The simultaneous questions reverberated through the toupe-colored room.
"I live here. Who are you?!" The answers came in unison once again, followed by mutually confused faces.
Riley noticed the towering man was wrapped in nothing but as sheet, while she had on proper pajamas. She turned to give this strange new "Pierce" some privacy.
I am going to kill Pierce. I am going to go right now and murder him in his sleep, Mason fumed. By now he'd supposed that whoever had been with Dinah in the guest house had left with her, that Pierce had been telling the truth and all was well -- she'd been that quiet. Now he knew better.
"You!" He said, pointing his hammer at this strange new girl. "How did you get in here?"
The girl held the adjoining door key over her shoulder without turning around. She wasn't turning around to identify herself, why wasn't she... He looked down. Shit -- he was naked for all but a sheet. She clearly wasn't "that kind of girl". Mason took the opportunity to wrap the sheet around him more presentably.
"My apologies,... " a lovely southern lilt filled the room. "I hate to wake you," she continued, "but it seems there is an intruder."
"You mean an intruder that isn't you?" Mason shot back.
"Can this conversation wait a moment?" The young lady asked. "There is a strange man on the other side of this door, and he just crawled into my bed."
"There is a strange man on this side of the door too! Did you think about that?"
"Well, no... but at least you look familiar," she defended herself, "so if you don't mind, I'll be throwing in my lot in with you for the moment."
Oh, Pierce was dead meat. This girl clearly knew who he was.
Still, Mason's sense of reason began to prevail and he noticed that this girl was not leaving. So he mentally acknowledged that there probably was another man on the other side of his door. Another man that needed to be dealt with... urgently. He'd kill Pierce over this later, right now there were two intruders Mason had to deal with. One he'd decided to trust... the other he hadn't seen yet. Shit.
Mason lowered the hammer and took better advantage of the girl's sense of decency to make himself more presentable. He grabbed the sweats he'd laid at the foot of his bed and maneuvered himself into them, unwrapping the sheet from his waist. Then, with his hammer clenched tighter, he walked to the adjoining door. Putting his hands on the girl's shoulders he moved her aside, took the key, and unlocked the door. She grabbed his arm to stop him. "Are you sure we shouldn't just call the police?"
"They take too long to get here."
"Well, what if he's got a gun or something?"
This panicked girl was actually reasonably kind... certainly not welcome in his bedroom at 2:00 AM... but at least she was polite and concerned for his safety.
"Well, I suppose my hammer and my black belt will be taking that chance." He turned the doorknob and the door slid open. He saw the moonlight shining in the window and motioned for the girl to stay in his room, partly for her safety, mostly because he didn't want her to see him petrified or have him accidentally hurt her without intending to.
He crept to the bedroom of the guest suite and sure enough -- there was a figure laying face down in the bed... snoring.
Mason crept up to the bed, reached out carefully to turn the body over. It didn't occur to him until this very moment that he could be being tag-teamed. He stopped for a second and listened for the girl behind him. When he was convinced she wasn't there, he quickly turned the body on it's back -- nearly throwing it off the bed.
"CLAY!"
Relief flooded his entire body. Even so, Mason was tempted to hammer into his older brother's stunned skullcap anyway -- just for scaring the shit out of him. But Mason was glad, so glad that it was Clay and not a real intruder. He was so glad that he had to laugh.
"What the hell Mace!"
Mason laughed even harder as he imagined what this probably looked like to his oldest brother.
"I even tried to be super quiet this time man, because I knew you had to work come daylight! And this is how you thank me?! By hammering me to death in my sleep?!"
"What in the hell are you doing here Clay?"
"Well, I know what I'm certainly not doin'... sleepin'. But hey! You put on pants for me and everything! Thanks Buddy!"
"For your information, you asshole, I didn't put these on for you. There is a terrified young lady in my bedroom right now that I wanted to avoid being indecent in front of."
"Is she hot?"
"What?"
"Is she hot? 'Cause if she is hot and in your bedroom willingly, you should be thanking me dude."
"You know what? I hadn't noticed if she was attractive or not Clay -- I was a little preoccupied with the thought that I might have to beat someone to death with a hammer!"
Clay was obviously a little tipsy, as evidenced by the smell of scotch that attacked Mason's nose every time Clay spoke. But, if Clay wasn't tag-teaming him, and Pierce had brought this girl in, she probably wasn't just an overnight guest if she claimed she lived here. She might actually be telling the truth. Shit.
Mason needed a moment. He crossed the hammer under his harm and covered his mouth with the other hand.
Clay looked away, giving Mason space, when something caught his eye. "What is this?" Clay opened up a black leather binder. "Ho - Whoa!"
Page after page after page was full of designs and sketches. They ranged from the Medieval to the Modern. "Did that girl do these?"
Mason looked down and his jaw dropped. "I have no idea." Maybe Pierce wasn't such a moron after all.
After spending the weekend there, she was accustomed to being alone in the studio-styled guest house. Right now almost every single one of her senses was telling her that was no longer the case. She was hearing grunts and bumping about and the occasional swear. She could see shadows of black mingling between shadows of grey shifting in the moonlight pouring in from the windows. It was frightening... too frightening to turn on the lights and risk making the intruder aware of her presence though. Riley, slowly and quietly made her way as quickly as she could around the perimeter of the large room, like a spy trying to avoid detection. The figure continued to stumble in her direction. Riley's heart caught in her through as a large, masculine silhouette lumbered past her into the bedroom and fell onto the sheets she'd just crept up from. She could smell a mixture of scotch and soap that might not have smelled so bad if it hadn't made her terrified stomach turn.
Trying not to hyperventilate, Riley made her way to the side-table drawer in the living area. In it was the key she'd basically promised Pierce she'd never use. My apologies Pierce, Riley thought, but this is an emergency.
Key in hand, Riley felt her way to the door that was adjacent to the house, slid the key into the lock and turned the knob. The door soundlessly opened to pitch darkness on the other side. Without hesitation, Riley stepped inside, turned around, and quickly locked the door behind her. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and tried to develop her next plan of action... praying that whoever was on the other side of that door would go away without taking anything valuable. She rolled her pajama sleeves down her arms against the cool draft in this new room. Why did everything feel so much colder in the dark? So far, Riley wasn't liking Reno much... no, she wasn't liking Reno much at all.
Just as she was beginning to adapt to the room she heard a growl getting closer and closer and some fabric was rustling along the opposite wall. Should she speak? Should she freeze? Was she about to be mauled to death by a ferocious animal?
A light switched on.
Once her eyes adjusted, Riley was face to face with the most comical scene she'd ever witnessed... in spite of being scared witless herself. A small white terrier crouched to pounce was the creature making all those growling noises and there was... Pierce?... wrapped up in a sheet at the light switch with a hammer in hand. No, wait a minute, this wasn't Pierce.
"Who are you?!" The simultaneous questions reverberated through the toupe-colored room.
"I live here. Who are you?!" The answers came in unison once again, followed by mutually confused faces.
Riley noticed the towering man was wrapped in nothing but as sheet, while she had on proper pajamas. She turned to give this strange new "Pierce" some privacy.
I am going to kill Pierce. I am going to go right now and murder him in his sleep, Mason fumed. By now he'd supposed that whoever had been with Dinah in the guest house had left with her, that Pierce had been telling the truth and all was well -- she'd been that quiet. Now he knew better.
"You!" He said, pointing his hammer at this strange new girl. "How did you get in here?"
The girl held the adjoining door key over her shoulder without turning around. She wasn't turning around to identify herself, why wasn't she... He looked down. Shit -- he was naked for all but a sheet. She clearly wasn't "that kind of girl". Mason took the opportunity to wrap the sheet around him more presentably.
"My apologies,... " a lovely southern lilt filled the room. "I hate to wake you," she continued, "but it seems there is an intruder."
"You mean an intruder that isn't you?" Mason shot back.
"Can this conversation wait a moment?" The young lady asked. "There is a strange man on the other side of this door, and he just crawled into my bed."
"There is a strange man on this side of the door too! Did you think about that?"
"Well, no... but at least you look familiar," she defended herself, "so if you don't mind, I'll be throwing in my lot in with you for the moment."
Oh, Pierce was dead meat. This girl clearly knew who he was.
Still, Mason's sense of reason began to prevail and he noticed that this girl was not leaving. So he mentally acknowledged that there probably was another man on the other side of his door. Another man that needed to be dealt with... urgently. He'd kill Pierce over this later, right now there were two intruders Mason had to deal with. One he'd decided to trust... the other he hadn't seen yet. Shit.
Mason lowered the hammer and took better advantage of the girl's sense of decency to make himself more presentable. He grabbed the sweats he'd laid at the foot of his bed and maneuvered himself into them, unwrapping the sheet from his waist. Then, with his hammer clenched tighter, he walked to the adjoining door. Putting his hands on the girl's shoulders he moved her aside, took the key, and unlocked the door. She grabbed his arm to stop him. "Are you sure we shouldn't just call the police?"
"They take too long to get here."
"Well, what if he's got a gun or something?"
This panicked girl was actually reasonably kind... certainly not welcome in his bedroom at 2:00 AM... but at least she was polite and concerned for his safety.
"Well, I suppose my hammer and my black belt will be taking that chance." He turned the doorknob and the door slid open. He saw the moonlight shining in the window and motioned for the girl to stay in his room, partly for her safety, mostly because he didn't want her to see him petrified or have him accidentally hurt her without intending to.
He crept to the bedroom of the guest suite and sure enough -- there was a figure laying face down in the bed... snoring.
Mason crept up to the bed, reached out carefully to turn the body over. It didn't occur to him until this very moment that he could be being tag-teamed. He stopped for a second and listened for the girl behind him. When he was convinced she wasn't there, he quickly turned the body on it's back -- nearly throwing it off the bed.
"CLAY!"
Relief flooded his entire body. Even so, Mason was tempted to hammer into his older brother's stunned skullcap anyway -- just for scaring the shit out of him. But Mason was glad, so glad that it was Clay and not a real intruder. He was so glad that he had to laugh.
"What the hell Mace!"
Mason laughed even harder as he imagined what this probably looked like to his oldest brother.
"I even tried to be super quiet this time man, because I knew you had to work come daylight! And this is how you thank me?! By hammering me to death in my sleep?!"
"What in the hell are you doing here Clay?"
"Well, I know what I'm certainly not doin'... sleepin'. But hey! You put on pants for me and everything! Thanks Buddy!"
"For your information, you asshole, I didn't put these on for you. There is a terrified young lady in my bedroom right now that I wanted to avoid being indecent in front of."
"Is she hot?"
"What?"
"Is she hot? 'Cause if she is hot and in your bedroom willingly, you should be thanking me dude."
"You know what? I hadn't noticed if she was attractive or not Clay -- I was a little preoccupied with the thought that I might have to beat someone to death with a hammer!"
Clay was obviously a little tipsy, as evidenced by the smell of scotch that attacked Mason's nose every time Clay spoke. But, if Clay wasn't tag-teaming him, and Pierce had brought this girl in, she probably wasn't just an overnight guest if she claimed she lived here. She might actually be telling the truth. Shit.
Mason needed a moment. He crossed the hammer under his harm and covered his mouth with the other hand.
Clay looked away, giving Mason space, when something caught his eye. "What is this?" Clay opened up a black leather binder. "Ho - Whoa!"
Page after page after page was full of designs and sketches. They ranged from the Medieval to the Modern. "Did that girl do these?"
Mason looked down and his jaw dropped. "I have no idea." Maybe Pierce wasn't such a moron after all.
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