Part of me feels guilty being gone from New York for so long. My brother said everything was fine with the properties. I have two rental properties my brother manages. Usually, I’m there to fix anything that breaks, but when I’m gone, all of that falls to him to deal with. And since he has a full-time job, sometimes it can get stressful for him. Hopefully, he hired the landscaping company I told him about instead of trying to take care of it himself.
I’d ask him, but I know what happens when I try to have a conversation with him. He’ll just bring up Madison again. My brother has it in his head that he met the perfect woman for me. His track record of trying to set me up is, well, beyond bad. I’ve learned just to avoid the entire topic now.
“Okay, everyone has one minute, then we start!” Peaches yells.
Twenty minutes later, most of us are back on the back deck of MTS.
“Shit, you guys are good,” I say. I drink down the bottle of water I brought with me.
Since I wasn’t familiar with the terrain, I snapped a twig as I walked, which got me taken out. Trax, Sarina, and Connie are all still in the woods.
“Ouch!” Sarina yells.
“Gotcha!” Trax says.
The two of them come walking out of the woods.
“And I win again!” Trax says.
I glance over at Rover, who is grinning.
“Not so fast. Connie is still out there.”
The smile on Trax’s face falls. “She is?”
Rover nods.
Trax heads back into the woods. But he doesn’t get far. He walks back out covered in red paint and goes straight to Rover.
“I don’t think your woman understands we’re on the same team.”
Connie is right behind Trax. “His woman understands perfectly. It was down to the two of us, and since you were clucking about how you’d won, I figured I’d let you know you were wrong.
Trax slowly turns and glares at Connie. Damn. I guess he doesn’t like losing. Then he storms up to the deck, rips off his coveralls, and goes into the building.
“Don’t mind him. He’s been in a mood lately,” Rover says to Connie.
“Hey, who wants to grab a beer?” CT asks.
“That sounds great,” I say. My phone rings. It draws the guys’ attention since it’s the rock song, “Thunder.”
It’s my brother. I reluctantly answer it. “Hey, please don’t tell me you’re calling about trying to set me up again.”
“No, I wish I was. Lars, you need to get home now.”
The hairs on the back of my neck go up. “What’s going on?”
“I just got off the phone with Detective Tranvers. He said they got a tip that the trailer parked in front of your rental is being used as a meth lab. If they get a warrant and discover it is, they will seize all of the property. He called me as a courtesy to give you a chance to deal with it.”
I close my eyes as my head falls back. “Deck, fuck. Even if I catch the next flight, I likely won’t be back till the morning.”
“And I explained that to Tranvers. He says the most he can hold off is three days.”
Well fuck. There goes my relaxing vacation. “Fine. I’ll text you once I have my flight scheduled.”
“Sorry. This cuts into your chance to relax.”
“Yeah, maybe next time.”
