"Were you grumpy before you picked up the phone or do you save that just for me?"
I let out an exasperated breath. "I told you I'm in the middle of something. What do you want?"
"Just calling to say hi and to see how things are in your new home."
I bit my tongue to keep from revealing that I knew the truth about my home and who sold it to me.
"Everything's fine. You'll be able to see for yourself tomorrow at dinner."
"Have you been able to meet any of your neighbors?"
Inside my skull, my brain was exploding. I had so many choice words for him. I took a calming breath, so I could focus on the task at hand, which was to get rid of Bran and finish my cake.
"I can't talk now, Bran. Gotta go." I hung up. Maybe I need to consider baking two cakes as I could picture myself dumping this one over Bran's head tomorrow.
I finished putting together the ingredients and pouring the batter into the cake pans. Putting them into the preheated oven, I’d just shut the oven door when a clicking sounded through the house and all the power went out. I glanced at the oven seeing all the lights on the display had gone black.
"Dammit."
This had to be Bran’s fault. This house wasn't that old, and I'd only lived here for just over a week. It was too early for things to start breaking down.
I grabbed a flashlight and headed down to the basement utility area. Opening the circuit breaker box, nothing looked like it had been triggered.
So why did my power go out?
No storms had come through. As I headed back upstairs, I considered maybe the problem wasn't in the house but with the electricity grid. Maybe there'd been an accident that involved a power box that served the community. Or worse, maybe there was a fire.
I pulled out my phone looking at my alerts and the newsfeed, but didn't see anything about a fire in the area. I returned to the kitchen, flipping light switches on and off just in case the power would come on, but no luck.
Exasperated, I took all my baking materials and put them in the sink to wash them, realizing I wouldn't have any hot water until the power returned. Gripping the edge of the sink I took calming breaths. I stared out the window toward the beach. Movement out beyond the terrace caught my eye. A darkly clothed figure leaped like a parkour expert over my wall into Noel's yard.
Annoyance turned into sheer rage. So, this was Bran's game. He'd arranged for my power to be cut off, so I would go running like a damsel in distress to Noel for help. And clearly Noel was a part of it. I let out a frustrated growl and grabbed my keys heading out the front door. Bran was going to get his way. I was going to go over there, but I was going to give Noel a piece of my mind.
When I reached the gate, I pressed the buzzer, holding it down, knowing that it had to be echoing through that huge house of his. At that moment, I didn’t care if I woke Mo.
"Harper, what are you doing?"
"Open the gate Noel." The buzzer went off and the gate started to open. I slipped through once the gap was big enough and I hurried to the front door.
The door opened before I reached it. "Is something wrong?"
I rolled my eyes and used my hands to push him back into the house trying to ignore the zap of electricity I felt on his hard chest. "Like you don't know."
His eyes narrowed. "I don't know.
"I saw you jump the fence, Noel. Did Bran send you to turn off my power? What game are you guys playing here?"
He stared at me like I'd grown a third eye. "Your paranoia is getting the best of you. And keep your voice down. I just got Mo down to sleep."
"Don't deny it. I saw you jump my wall into your yard."
He flinched. "What?"
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Cut the crap."
Noel rushed out of the foyer.
"Hey, where are you going?" I followed his path down the hallway. I was halfway down it when he exited a room carrying a gun he was shoving a cartridge of bullets into.