Page 11 of Hell of a Mess
I watched as the large fluff she’d told me about barreled into her legs, shoving them apart, and wagged its tail wildly as he stared up at me curiously. The sight they made with her now having to straddle the dog caused me to laugh out loud, and the sound was as familiar as it was strange. I’d not laughed before—or at least not since waking up here. I was sure I’d laughed at some point in my life.
“You’re going to knock me on my ass one day,” she said, but the dog, Maui, didn’t seem to mind.
“Hello there,” I said to him, giving in to the urge to sink my fingers in his curls.
I knelt down, and he scrambled over to me quickly while Jayda put her hand on the wall to brace herself and grinned with a shake of her head. He let me pet him as he studied me, his friendly eyes locked on mine.
I must have dogs. This sent a bolt of joy through me that was so foreign that it was as if I’d never experienced it.
“Careful. He will lick the shit out of your face,” Jayda warned.
I didn’t think I’d mind that.
“Aren’t you beautiful?” I told him, and his tail wagged harder, as if he understood me.
There was a faint buzzing sound, and I glanced up at Jayda to see her frowning as she stared across the room. Maui let out a bark and spun around to dart off in the direction that she had been looking.
“Someone is here,” she told me. “I wasn’t expecting that. I’ll go see who it is. Make yourself at home. This is referred to as the central great room. Both Luther and Linc share the area. I’ll go check on that, then give you a tour of the backyard.”
I made my way fully inside. It was a massive space with a U-shaped sofa, big enough to fit twenty people, and there was a screen on the wall that was more like that of a movie theater than a television. I watched a blue talking dog with an Australian accent playing on it.
“Oh, sorry. Stevie’s favorite show. I’ll change it once I go check on this. But warning:Blueycan be addictive.”
I glanced at her, and she smirked before hurrying off in the direction that Maui had taken.
Luther and Linc both lived here. I’d wanted to ask whose home I was in more than once, but I hadn’t. Linc appeared to be in charge, but when I’d woken up in my room to find Luther sitting in the chair across from me, wearing gray sweatpants and a T-shirt, a cup of coffee in his hand, it had seemed as if he’d woken up here and not gotten dressed for the day yet.
If the rest of the house was as equally spacious as this room, then this had to be a mansion. Had I ever been in a house this big? It felt…I felt…nothing. With a sigh of frustration, my shoulders sagged. Why couldn’t I remember anything yet? Doing my best to shake off the disappointment, I scanned the room slowly.
I wasn’t sure what “make yourself at home” meant, so I stood there for a moment before deciding to walk over to the wall of glass that overlooked what I assumed was the backyard. A patio covered most of what I could see. My eyes scanned the area,slowly taking it in. There was a swinging bed, another large screen with the blue dog also playing on it, what looked like a full bar, and furniture that looked like it belonged in a luxurious living room other than outside.
I heard the sound of paws on the hardwood floor and turned to see Maui headed back toward me. Smiling, I gave him my full attention. He made me happy. I wondered if Stevie would mind letting him come downstairs with Luther to visit. From the way Linc spoke about me, right in front of me, I already knew he didn’t trust me around his family. My not knowing who I was seemed to be a very big issue for him.
“Hello,” I said, lowering myself to Maui’s level, which sent his entire backside to wagging.
“Someone should warn you about his sloppy-ass kisses,” a familiar male voice said.
I lifted my gaze to see Locke entering the room. While the sight of him didn’t make me react the way Luther did, I liked him. He was nice and didn’t treat me as if I were a hindrance or burden. He never asked me if I remembered anything, which seemed to be everyone’s first question every morning.
“I did,” Jayda said, following him into the room. “She’s a dog lover—or at least, it seems that way.”
He beamed brightly at that information. “Something we now know about you.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of Maui’s head, then stood back up as Locke reached me. “I like to read—fiction, I think. Although I haven’t tried anything else. Luther has only brought down fiction for me. And I love dogs.”
At the mention of Luther’s name, Locke’s eyes flickered with something that I didn’t understand.
“Has he actually been letting you read the books, or is he still reading them all to you?” Jayda asked.
“He reads to me but leaves me the book when he has to go,” Iexplained.
Locke appeared briefly unpleased, but it vanished. Was there a reason why Luther shouldn’t be reading to me?
“I wasn’t aware Luther could read,” he drawled with a trace of what I assumed was sarcasm in his tone.
“He has a library like one you wouldn’t believe in his room,” Jayda informed him.
“Hmm,” he said, then shrugged. “Surprising.”
