Ravenous (Steel Brothers Saga 11)

She rose from the bed and paced over the area rug covering the hardwood floor of the small bedroom. “This is hard, Bryce.”

“I know.”

“It’s just that—” She lost her footing and tumbled to the floor.

I stood quickly and grabbed her. “Baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah, just clumsy. Seems to happen a lot when I’m trying to get away from you.” She moved the corner of the rug out of the way. “Wait. What’s this?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Marjorie

Our eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness. One of the floorboards was loose, leaving a slight bump under the rug. That must have been what had caught on my foot and made me trip. Bryce threw the rug out of the way and knelt on the floor.

“What the hell?”

“It’s loose,” I said.

“I can see that.” He tugged but couldn’t pull the board up. “I’m going to need some tools.”

“Are there any here?”

“There used to be. I’ll be right back.”

While he was gone, I looked around the room for anything we could use to jimmy up the floorboard. Nothing, and all I had in my purse was a nail file. That would hardly be strong enough.

Bryce returned with a small crowbar.

“Where’d you find that?”

“Out back. My dad kept some tools back there.” Then he stopped.

“What?”

“What if I don’t want to know what’s under here? What if…”

Oh, no. He couldn’t be thinking… “Babe, no. There’d be a smell.”

“Not if it’s been a long time.”

“Then let’s not look, okay? We can get someone else out here to—”

“I have to know,” he said. “I have to know.” The second time more to himself than to me. He stuck the crowbar between the seams of the wood.

Within minutes, the board had loosened and Bryce pulled it up.

“What is it?” I asked.

He picked up some manila folders. “Looks like documents.”

“We’ll need more light,” I said.

“Yeah, definitely. I’m just going to grab everything out of here, and then we’ll take it… Shit. Where can we take it?”

“The guesthouse? You said your mom and Henry are leaving for Florida tomorrow.”

“I suppose. I’d prefer a safer place.”