Page 13 of Mayhem
“Just tell us what you need,”Cruz responded.
“I wanted to see if you’d take my bed apart and the shelves off the wall while I finish packing my closet and dressers.”
“If we take your bed apart, what will you sleep on?”Cruz inquired.
“My couch is pretty comfortable, and if we can get everything done in the next couple of days, I won’t have to sleep on it long,”she responded, turning and going down the hall.
Paetyn followed her back into her bedroom. She held up a toolbox, and Paetyn took it from her. He watched as she walked to the closet and gathered the rest of the clothes.
“I’ll take the bed,”Cruz stated, taking the toolbox from Paetyn and opening it.
“Shelves it is,”Paetyn responded.
He went to the wall, where several floating shelves were. Paetyn wasn’t sure what she had on them, but she had enough to fill the bottom half of the wall from one end to another.
Paetyn began by removing the shelves from the holsters before grabbing one of the screwdrivers from the toolbox and taking the holsters down. He glanced at Erin every now and then to find her sorting the clothes she’d taken out of the closet into a couple of separate boxes—one entitled tops, the other entitled dresses.
Once Paetyn finished, he looked over to see if Cruz needed help with the bed but found that it was almost done. The mattress and box spring moved against the wall closest to the bedroom door.
“Where do you want me to pack these, Erin?”Paetyn questioned, gesturing to the shelves and holsters.
“Oh, I have another box we can put together,”Erin responded, going to stand. She tripped as she got up, falling into Paetyn’s chest, her hands going to his pecs. He placed his hands on her waist to steady her, umber skin warm under his palms.
He looked down at her, green eyes staring into hers. “Are you okay, Angel?”he questioned.
“Yeah, I’m okay, thank you.”
She didn’t pull away immediately, and Paetyn didn’t let her go since she hadn’t. His fingers ghosted along the back of her waist, and he watched her tongue come out to lick her lower lip.
“Which box did you want him to use?”Cruz asked, and Erin pushed herself away from Paetyn.
“Box, right.”
Paetyn released her waist and turned his attention to Cruz. The other man smirked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Paetyn refrained from rolling his eyes.
Erin handed him the box and some tape, and Paetyn put it together before packing the shelves. He was able to get them into the box, but he would need a smaller one for the holsters.
He didn’t see any more boxes, so he decided to help Cruz move the bed pieces into the living room. It would be easier if everything was there when they got ready to load the truck.
After they’d moved the last piece of the bed into the living room, Paetyn led them back into the bedroom. She’d finished packing everything in the closet and was now working on the top two drawers of one of her dressers.
“Do you need us to do anything else?”Paetyn questioned.
Erin turned to look at them. “No, I think that’s it for the night. The only things that need to be taken apart or moved out are the living room, the dining room table, and the televisions, but I can move the one in here.”
Paetyn nodded as he leaned back against the wall and watched her pack some tank tops into the box she’d labeled tops.
“About your car,”he started. “If you’re okay with it, a company is coming to pick it up tomorrow, so it’ll be in Denver by the time you arrive.”
“And if you need to go somewhere after that, you can take the rental we have,”Cruz added.
“That’s fine. I don’t have plans to go anywhere until we leave,” Erin responded, pulling a pair of pink lace panties from the drawer, folding them, and placing them aside.
Paetyn assumed it was because they weren’t supposed to be in there. Since opening it, she’d pulled nothing but tank tops and camis from that drawer.
“Those are nice,”Cruz said, and Paetyn looked at him.
Erin paused for only a moment. “Yes, they are. I had an identical pair that was purple and liked them, but they got ripped.”
