Page 186 of The Maxwell Brothers

“Where do you want them?”

“Huh?”

He smirked. "Kendra? Work first, ogling later."

"But why?" I asked, quickly checking the area. The guy overseeing the pump was at the other end of the room.

Tyler winked at me, nodding at the box.

“Oh, let’s put them outside. I’ll need to check the contents and see if I can keep everything. And some stuff will need drying. I’m going to call the company where my sister stored some stuff last year. They offer a pickup service.”

I was already making a plan in my mind. I could go to a laundromat to wash and clean my clothes and bedsheets. As for the books, I didn’t have an idea yet. Maybe I could put fans in the storage room. The important part was to take them out.

I called them right away, explaining the situation. The woman who answered told me to call again once we were done taking the boxes out of the basement.

After that, Tyler and I got to work. We realized we had to tape the bottom of all the boxes; otherwise, they’d just break. That took considerably longer than we thought because they were wet, and it became a challenge for the tape to stick.

Half an hour later, Reese, Travis, and two hunks joined us.

“Hey, I’m Luke,” one of them said as they descended the steps.

Declan also introduced himself; he was nice but much more subdued than the others.

Luke didn't look anything like Tyler, except the fact that he was also tall and muscular. Travis and Declan were tall too, though only Declan came near to the stature of Tyler. Luke andTravis were both more slender. Travis had slightly longer hair that brushed his shoulders, and Declan looked crisp and serious, like someone you wouldn't want to cross.

“Thank you all for coming here. I seriously can’t believe you’re doing this,” I said.

Reese smiled, covering a yawn with her hand. “Hey, emergencies suck. We’re here for you.”

Luke inspected the pump before joining us. “They’re moving fast.”

"You need to notify your insurance," Declan said.

“The rain last night wasn’t strong enough to warrant this. I think the pump the previous owners installed wasn’t good enough. I’m assuming the house was inspected before you bought it?” Luke asked me.

“Yes.”

“And they didn’t mention any issue with the pump?”

“No.”

“Right. The draining company will draft a report. If it turns out the pump was faulty and the previous owners didn’t disclose that, you might be able to sue them to get back the cost of the draining.”

“Thanks. Good to know.”

Declan immediately began explaining the steps of suing the previous owners. It sounded like it would take a while, and I didn’t know if I had a case anyway. But I appreciated his advice.

"Brother, I know you're the brains of the family, and I'm the brawn," Luke said, "but move that ass and grab a few boxes."

"Yeah. Don't try to just supervise us," Travis said. He was currently taping a box. "He did that all the time as kids, pulled the older brother card and said someone had to supervise us."

"And I did," Declan said, but now he was grinning. "Otherwise, you would have gotten in even more trouble than you did."

Tyler burst out laughing. "I seriously don't even think that's possible."

Travis wiggled his eyebrows at me. "If there was a smart way to do things and a stupid way to do things, we always chose the stupid one."

I smiled back while I was taping a box myself. "And let me guess, you were the one with the ideas, Travis?"