Trouble Makers

Chapter 17

Rowan:

After finishing his two sandwiches, Luke grabs another two. Boys. We're leaving in about ten minutes to go to Kylie's house. Ashlyn texted telling us she'd meet us there. Luke and I are wearing our matching outfits, which he insisted we needed to wear. I'm putting my hair in a ponytail while Luke is eating on my bed.

Tightening my ponytail, I look over at Luke. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go."

Luke gets up from my bed and stretches. He fake yawns. "It's about time. You took forever. I almost fell asleep."

I scoff at him. "Oh really? How could you have possibly fallen asleep when this whole time you've been stuffing your mouth with food?"

"Hey! A growing boys gotta eat." Luke shoots back.

I shake my head at him. "Whatever Carter. Let's go." We leave my room and head out to the garage. I grab the keys to the Range Rover and motion for Luke to follow me. Kylie lives about ten minutes away from me. Rosie had sent me the address and I plug it into my GPS.

Luke turns the radio on and 'Sorry Not Sorry' starts blasting through the speakers. Luke turns it up even louder and starts to sing:

Baby, I'm sorry! I'm not sorry

Being so bad got me feelin' so good

I start to laugh at his terrible voice, but Luke continues.

Showing you up like I knew that I would

Luke continues to sing the rest of the way. I laugh the whole way there, tears streaming from my eyes. The whole time, Luke was grinning like a fool. As much as I hate to admit it, hanging out with Luke makes me super happy. I forget about assignments and the need to impress my parents.

The ride ends to soon and suddenly, we're parked outside a big, tan house. I see another parked car and assume it's Ashlyn. I pull my car up next to hers, with Luke's side next to her drivers side. Ashlyn's wearing dark sunglasses and has a magazine next to her.

Ashlyn rolls down her window. "Well, it took you two long enough. Thought you said you're not a late person Rowan?"

I roll my eyes at her and look at my phone. "I'm five minutes late. Calm your tits."

Luke chuckles besides me. I smirk to myself. This pisses Ashlyn off even more.

"Okay ladies, put your claws away. We have work to do. Ashlyn, do you have the earpieces and microphones?"

Ashlyn huffs. "Yes I do, because I always come prepared." Ashlyn pauses and looks at us. "Are you guys wearing matching shirts that say 'Dream Team'?" Ashlyn asks, one brow raised.

"Yes we are. Cool, huh?" Luke asks.

Ashlyn ignores Luke's question and grabs a black duffel bag from the back. "Here are the earpieces. Make sure the green light is on and put it in your right ear." She grabs an earpiece and passes it to us. "Give this one to Rowan. It'll fit her ear better." Luke take the earpiece from her and gives it to me. "Luke, here's yours."

After slipping on the earpieces, we grab some gloves and make our way into the backyard. Ashlyn has a microphone and headset that she's using to communicate with me and Luke. She'll let us know if anyone's coming and we'll give her any important information she should write down. Ashlyn's also disabled their security system, shutting off the cameras.

Once Luke and I make our way to the back door, I get started on the lock. The door's easy to open since I've had lots of practice in the past. I hear the click and push the door open.

We enter what seems to be the dinning room. Everything looks clean and homey. There are family pictures on the wall, and potted plants in almost every corner. There's lots of cooking books and family games sitting on shelves.

Their house is really not what I expected. Luke seems to share the same thoughts.

"Hm. I thought it'd be more...badass? Intimidating?" Luke whispers to me.

I nod my head in agreement.

Luke and I decide to divide and conquer. I'm taking the upstairs while Luke's taking the main floor. I climb the carpeted stairs and come to a hallway. I peek through the first couple of doors and find them to be bedrooms.

I don't think Kylie's room will have much. I need to find her parent's bedroom. I make my way further down the hall until I hit the end. The last door opens to the master bedroom. The room has a high ceiling and is very spacious.

I go straight for the closet and dig through. Clothes, clothes, and wow, more clothes. I go through boxes and drawers but come up empty.

"Find anything?" A deep voice says from behind me.

I jump. My heart beating a hundred times faster. I turn to find a grinning Luke staring at me. I can tell he's trying to suppress a chuckle.

I flick him off. "Don't fucking scare me like that Carter. We have earpieces for a reason."

He holds his hands up in surrender. "I couldn't find anything on the main floor, so I'm going down to the basement to look for an office."

"Okay. I'm going to keep looking for things up here. The parents have got to have something hidden in here."

Luke leaves, making his way downstairs. I walk over to the nightstands. The first nightstand has a family picture with an alarm clock. I open the drawer and find a worn-out notebook, reading glasses, and...condoms? Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.

I grab the notebook and open it up. There's journal entries on almost every page. I page through a few and scan them. Most of them seem to be feeling type entries, but a few have some interesting things. There's talk about business meetings and someone referred to as the 'Juggler'

I tap my earpiece to share this information with Luke and Ashlyn. I press the button on the side and speak. "Listen guys. I just found a notebook in one of the nightstands, and some other very personal things." I shudder. "But anyways, the notebook refers to someone known as the Juggler a lot. We should research that later."

I listen for a comment or response, but nothing happens. I furrow my brows.

"Hello?" No response. "Luke? Ashlyn?" Nothing. "Can anyone hear me?" I say a little louder.

The earpiece stays quiet. In fact, I can't even hear static. I take out my earpiece to check if it's even on. The light shines green. What the fuck.

I slip the earpiece back in. "Seriously guys. Can you hear me? If this is a prank, I swear to God I'll kill you guys."

I shake my head and make my way out of the bedroom. I'll just find Luke and tell him in person. I make my way down the stairs when suddenly, the front door knob starts to jiggle.

Shit.

I pause mid-step.

I retreat back up the stairs slowly and quietly.

Why didn't Ashlyn warn or tell me about someone entering the house. She had one damn job.

I open a door to a spare bedroom and close the door quietly.

I hear footsteps and then a voice outside the door.

"Yeah, I'm home honey." There's a pause. "Yes. I'll look around the house. Are you sure you didn't accidently turn off the security cameras?"

Is Luke still in the basement?

Is Ashlyn trying to get me out?

Fuck. What the hell am I going to do?

***

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Yes. A cliffhanger.

But, there is chapter 17!

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