“What?” I asked curiously.
“I need you to hang out in your room for about an hour… Well, until I call you down. Can you do that?”
“Um…why?” My heart began to race in fear. What is going on? Why does he want me to wait in my room?
He smiled then. “It’s nothing bad, I promise, but I need you to wait upstairs while I get everything in place.”
I narrowed my eyes and forced my gaze to his. I definitely didn’t dip my eyes to look at his glistening wet chest. Nope. Not at all. Okay, so I stole one peek. Maybe two.
“What are you up to, Wade?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he countered with a smug smile.
“Okay.” I sighed as we started back to the house. “I’ll hang out in my room while yo
u’re up to your mysterious deeds.”
He grinned down at me, his blue eyes sparkling. I was amazed at the difference in his eyes—they shined with happiness instead of being shadowed by hate.
“And you might want to get dressed up,” he hinted. “Nothing fancy, but I think you’ll want to change out of that.” He winked as his eyes lingered on my cotton shorts and tank top.
I needed to hide in my room and change. Yeah, that gave me no clue whatsoever as to what he was up to.
When we reached the top of the stairs, I saw that the three guys had left their boards leaning against the side of the house, but they were nowhere to be seen.
I narrowed my eyes on Liam as he trekked across the yard to the door.
Nothing in his posture or behavior suggested anything bad, but I was nervous nonetheless. Paranoia was a bitch, and I couldn’t stop the fear that he might be working with or for Blaise. It was a stupid thought and one I laughed about but that didn’t erase it.
Liam ushered me inside. He kept watching me with a little smirk as we stepped inside. I started to go upstairs but he ushered me toward the kitchen first.
“Wait one second,” he told me as he headed for the refrigerator.
He grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it at me. I missed it, since I was holding my sketchpad and pencils, and bent to retrieve it before turning for the stairs. He stopped me again, and I turned back.
“These too.” This time he grabbed a large bag of Cheetos off the counter and threw them to me. I reached out and actually managed to catch them. “That way if you get hungry or thirsty you’re covered.”
“But these are Ollie’s.” I shook the bag of Cheetos.
“I know.” He grinned and bit his lip to hide his laugh. His deep chuckle still escaped, though. “That’s what he gets for putting Cheetos in my bed.”
“He put them in your bed?” I laughed.
“Ollie likes to mess with me,” he explained with a shrug. “Drives me nuts, because I might be a tad OCD, but…”
“A tad?” I raised a brow.
“Or a lot.” He raised his hands in surrender and smiled broadly. “All right, you need to get in your room. Like now.” He waved a hand dismissively.
I let out a breath and clasped everything tightly so I didn’t drop anything.
Liam followed me to the stairs and watched to make sure I went to my room.
“Door closed, Ari,” he called.
“I feel like I’m five and being sent to my room,” I hollered back.
He didn’t respond, but his laughter was answer enough.