Page 95 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Monday

Briggs glanced at me through the rearview mirror. For what felt like the tenth time since he’d started driving.

And I was panicking. By the way he was looking at me, I knew that he knew about the secret lair. He had to, right? Briggs and Porter were great security guards. So...they had to know. Screw me.

I tried to keep my eyes trained on my phone. But it was hard to ignore him staring.

He finally cleared his throat. “Scarlett?”

“Yes?” I didn’t look up to the front seat. I was worried that if we made eye contact he’d know I was hiding something.

“Our security system was hacked two weekends ago. Would you happen to know anything about that?”

“Oh...um...I had nothing to do with that.” It wasn’t technically a lie. RJ had hacked the security system, not me.

“Well, it seems to be glitching since then.”

“How so?” What on earth had RJ done to it? He better not still be accessing the camera feed. Because that little pervert had access to my bedroom cameras.

“People coming and going,” Briggs said. “Not through the front door. Just appearing in the hallway cameras off the living room.”

“Strange.” My voice sounded higher than usual. I hoped he couldn’t tell. But the way he glanced in the rearview mirror at me again made it seem like he could absolutely tell.

“Nothing at all you’d like to share about that?”

“I promise I haven’t done anything weird,” I said. Again, that was true. It was RJ, Uncle Rob, and Mr. Tanner up to no good. Not me. I hadn’t even asked for a secret lair.

“You’re sure you don’t have anything else you’d like to tell me?”

“Nope.”

He slowly exhaled as he hit his turn signal and pulled up to the curb outside Jacob’s place.

“Scarlett.”

“Yes?”

“It’s our job to keep you safe. So you’d tell me if something was going on, right?”

“Of course.” I would 100% tell Briggs if something sinister was afoot.

But...that wasn’t the case. I just had a new secret exit from the apartment.

And a secret lair. It wasn’t a big deal.

At least, it wasn’t a big deal until our Russian neighbor came home and threw a fit about there being a new exit from her apartment too.

“Good.”

I knew he’d said good, but he was still looking at me like he didn’t believe me.

I wondered if he was questioning Liam about this too.

Liam was a better liar than me though. There was no way he’d crack.

And I wasn’t going to either. No, I hadn’t asked for the secret lair.

But I had been using it. And I was actually kind of excited to see the final product.

“Have fun with the Caldwells,” Briggs said.

“Thanks, Briggs.”

“I’ll pick you up at 8.”

I nodded and climbed out of the car. I breathed in the smell of autumn in the air. The air always seemed fresher on Jacob’s street. I walked up the steps of the brownstone where he lived and rang the bell.

Aunt Brooklyn answered. She was holding a bowl in one arm and was clearly in the middle of mixing something. “Hi, sweetie,” she said.

Two redheaded kids ran behind her and into the living room. They’d run by so quickly, but I was pretty sure it had been Skadi and Thorin. They were Mr. Tanner’s kids.

“Thorin! Stop! You’re not it anymore.” Jacob’s little brother ran into the entranceway, chasing them. But when he saw me, he slid to a stop in his socks. “Oh, hi, Scarlett.”

“Hey, Max.” I ruffled his hair. He was a spitting image of Uncle Matt. But he seemed much more devious.

Mr. Nigel’s daughters ran by next. They were definitely playing tag inside the house. I heard a crashing noise in the distance.

“Sorry, it’s complete chaos here,” Aunt Brooklyn said as she gave me a side hug.

That was pretty much the way she always greeted me. And it was always true. Jacob had three siblings. Well, half siblings technically. And it was always chaos at his house. But Aunt Brooklyn always had such a big smile on her face when she said it.

I kicked my shoes off at the front door like I always did. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I think I’ve got everything covered,” Aunt Brooklyn said. “As far as I know, everyone else will be going home for dinner. Right, Max?”

“I think so,” Max said. And then he tagged my side. “You’re it!” he yelled and ran off.

Aunt Brooklyn laughed. “I think Jacob is in his room, if you want to head up.”

“Great,” I said. “But first I have to win this game of tag.” I ran after Max.

He slid through the living room on his socks and then jumped on the couch.

I tried to reach for him, but he hoped off the back of it. I turned to see Uncle Mason and Aunt Bee’s son Onyx was here too. He was distracted doing something with a rope. It looked like he was just tying knots. I ran over and tagged him instead of Max. “You’re it, Onyx.”

He looked up from the knots he was tying. “But I was creating the restraints for the loser.”

“The restraints?”

“Yeah, the loser has to be tied to the fireplace.”

Jesus, Onyx. “No. That’s not a good idea.”

“Right. Because it’s a great idea.”

I shook my head. “You’re still it...”

“No, you’re it,” he said and tagged me back.

I reached out to tag him, but he ran off with his rope. “Onyx!” I yelled.

“Scarlett’s it!” he yelled to everyone. “Scarlett’s it!”

All the kids scrambled.

I shook my head and turned around to see who I could tag next.

Mr. Nigel’s daughter Electra was the youngest. And she’d definitely be the easiest to get.

But that seemed like an unfair target. Especially since she was currently playing dress up in the corner and was wearing a pair of heels that were way too big for her.

I saw some wild red hair peeking out behind the couch. I leaned over the couch to see who it was.

“Thorin!” Skadi yelled from across the room. “Run!”

Thorin tried to get up from his hiding place, but tripped and knocked over a basket full of toys. Little cars went everywhere.

I felt bad tagging him while he was down. Plus I didn’t want to risk slipping on one of those toy cars. I looked around the room again. Jacob’s youngest sister, Alora, was running away from Onyx and his ropes.

Onyx was definitely trouble. I chased after them. I pretended to run slower as the rest of the kids started running away from me too. Or maybe I wasn’t pretending. I was starting to get a cramp.

Skadi was right in front of me.

I was just about to tag her when Jacob walked down the steps.

He laughed when he saw me. And he didn’t miss a beat. He immediately joined in on the game. “Skadi!” he said and picked her up.

She squealed as he lifted her above his head so I couldn’t tag her. “Save yourself!” He tossed her onto the couch.

“Oh it’s so on.” I reached out to tag Jacob, but he dodged out of the way. “Hey!” I tried to tag him again, but he jumped backward.

And then he had the audacity to start running backward.

I couldn’t catch him because of my cramp, even with him running backward at the slower pace. I stopped and just started laughing. I was going to be it forever.

We all ran around the living room like complete barbarians. Jacob had slowed down too. I think partially because he felt bad that I had been it for so long.

But as he slowed down, he stopped looking at the ground. His right foot landed on one of the toy cars and he started to slip. He grabbed my hand and the two of us fell onto the couch. I landed on top of him.

“You’re it,” I said.

He laughed.

My heart started pounding. Our lips were only a couple inches apart. I could easily just lean forward. But I really wanted him to make the first move. I wanted to know that he truly did like me. Because no one had ever really liked me back before.

Jacob’s eyes fell to my lips.

But then I felt a bunch of small hands and knees on my back as all the kids piled on top of us.

I groaned. “Ow.”

Someone grabbed my wrist. And I felt my arms being tied behind my back.

“Onyx!” I yelled. “Stop it!”

He giggled.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Jacob said with a laugh. “We’re escaping.” He helped me to my feet as Nerf darts started flying through the living room.

We both laughed as we ran to the stairs. But I definitely took a few Nerf darts to the face.

I somehow managed to run up the stairs with my hands tied behind my back. That kid was seriously good at knots.

“What did the little demons do to you?” asked Nova as we passed by Chloe’s room. She barely even looked up at me. As if these things happened all the time.

The two of them were sitting on Chloe’s bed, somehow managing to ignore the chaos downstairs.

Chloe and Nova were both spitting images of their mothers, Nova a mini version of Aunt Bee and Chloe a mini version of Aunt Brooklyn.

Although I was pretty sure Nova had a devious streak like her brother Onyx.

Chloe and Nova would both be going to high school next year. And they already looked the part.

“It was Onyx,” I said. “I lost tag.”

She shook her head.

Chloe laughed. “Scarlett, do you want to make bracelets with us?”

I glanced at Jacob. What I wanted was to be alone with him so he’d kiss me. But I didn’t dare say any of that out loud.

“Maybe in a bit, Chloe,” Jacob said. “We have to study for a test.”

I smiled. We did not. But I loved the excuse.

“We’ll make one for you,” Chloe said.

I smiled. “Thanks, guys.” I followed Jacob to his room. He closed the door behind us.

It felt like forever since I’d been in Jacob’s bedroom.

But it looked exactly like I remembered.

He even still had the little stars on his ceiling that would probably still glow when all the lights were off at night.

I remembered having slumber parties in this room and falling asleep looking at the stars.

They were brighter than any stars in the city.

Jacob’s fingers trailed down the inside of my forearms.

I turned to look at him over my shoulder as he started to untie the ropes around my wrists.

Jacob laughed as he struggled with one of the knots. “Why is that kid so good at tying rope?”

“I have no idea.”