Four Flames for Angela

“I’ll go tell Sawyer what’s going on. Then I’ll send him and Angela up to the house while Hunter and I keep Todd busy. We need to get one of those DVD things in the SUV like the girls have for their kids. If he’s going to be riding with us, we need one of those.” Rock started walking back to the car.

“Yeah. Good idea. We need to have one of those put in all our vehicles. We can work on that next week.” River walked back to the house to wait for Sawyer to return with Angela. He opened the door and looked again, shaking his head. Why the fuck would someone want to do something like that to someone else’s house?

* * * *

Rock held Angela’s hand as they walked up to the house. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder where Hunter and River were entertaining Todd in the car.

“Someone broke into your house. We don’t want to upset Todd. That’s why my brothers are sitting with him. We’ve already called the police, but River thinks you need to see it before they get here.” Rock squeezed her hand tighter and led her up the few steps to the house.

“What’s that smell?” Angela almost gagged it was so bad.

Rock handed her a napkin he had pulled out of his pocket. “Hold this over your mouth and nose. It will help.”

Angela did and it helped a little, but the smell got worse the closer to the house they got. “It smells like a sewer leak or something,” she said, trying to breathe out of her mouth and keep her nose covered. Her eyes were starting to water it was so bad.

“It’s not sewer, honey. Someone did this on purpose.” River guided her to step into the house and kept a hand on her back for support.

“Oh my God! Who would want to do something like this?” Angie cried as she looked around what used to be her cozy living room. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling were smeared with a brown substance. From the smell emanating from the room, it had to be shit.

“How am I going to get this all cleaned up? Why?” She stared in shock, wondering how much of the house they had done this to. “Is it in every room?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t gone any farther. I didn’t want to take a chance of messing up any evidence before the cops get here. I think we need to wait for them before we look any farther. Let’s step back to the sidewalk. They should be here any minute.”

It didn’t take long for the police to arrive and take their statements. They called in a crime scene investigation team to take pictures before they let Angela and the men walk through the house. It seemed like hours later before Angela and the men were allowed to go through the rest of the house. Whoever had made the mess had confined it to only the one room, but it was bad enough.

“You can’t sleep here until this is cleaned up,” the police informed Angela. And she knew they were right. There was no way she could sleep with that odor in the house. Every wall would have to be scrubbed. Luckily she had hardwood floors that could be cleaned easier than carpet, so that saved some expense. Whoever had done this had left the furniture alone, but it would still have to be aired out to get rid of the smell. It would be a lot of work.

When Rock had seen how long things were going to take, he’d told Sawyer and Hunter to keep Todd busy. Angie could pack some things for both of them after the police left.

“You’ll stay with us tonight,” Rock had told her when she voiced concern over the cost of a hotel room for the night.

“You and Todd can sleep in the guest wing. You can either share a room or each have a room. It doesn’t matter. First thing tomorrow we’ll look into finding someone who can clean this up.” River took the information the police gave them about cleaning companies and helped Angie get some things for her and Todd to take to their house for the overnight.

Angie bit her lip and nodded her head. She was going to need some help and didn’t know where to start looking. Letting the men assist her would take a huge burden off her shoulders, and she could always pay them back. Now she had to figure out how and what she was going to tell Todd. She didn’t want to frighten him any more than she had to, but she needed to tell him something.

After the police left, River and Rock helped her make sure the house was secure for the night then walked her back to the truck where Hunter and Sawyer were waiting with Todd.

“What’s going on, Angie? I’m tired. I want to go to bed,” Todd said, reaching for her.

“I know, honey. We’re going to spend the night with the guys. Somebody messed up our house, and we can’t stay there until it gets cleaned up,” Angie said in what she hoped was a reassuring voice.

“Can Spot and Tag come with us?” Todd didn’t seem worried about the house. He was more concerned about the dogs.

“They sure can, sport. Do they usually sleep in your room?” River asked, getting in the truck and fastening his seat belt.

“Yeah. Angie said they can stay with me. It is okay at your house?” Todd kept putting his thumb in his mouth.

“It is fine with us, little man. I’ll even let you and the puppies pick which room you want to stay in,” Rock told Todd as they drove back the way they had just come.

“Can I skip my bath tonight, Angie? I’m so tired,” Todd said, yawning. Angie looked at his dirt-covered body and cringed. She didn’t blame him. She was exhausted, and all she wanted to do was close her eyes and have an end to the day.

She really wished things had ended differently. If Todd hadn’t fallen and had a freakout, if her house hadn’t been vandalized, what would have happened? She’d planned on having the guys come in and telling them about how she’d met Todd and how they’d become a family. Now she was so tired, all she wanted to do was sleep. Tomorrow was another day and she could face everything then.

The ride back to the house seemed to take longer, but she knew it was just because she was tired and worried. River had told her they would take care of getting her house cleaned so she and Todd could go back home tomorrow, but she wasn’t sure they would be able to get it done on a Sunday.

Then she had to figure out who would have done something like that. The only person she could think of was Thomas, but why? Why would he do something that evil? Did he really hate her that much? Who else could have done it? The police had asked her if she knew of anyone who might have done the damage, and she’d said no off the top of her head, not wanting to implicate Thomas. But thinking back now who else could it have been?

River answered Todd before Angie could. “We have a really big tub. It’s like a small pool. How would you like to try that out tonight, buddy?”