Chapter 4
Author's Note: I give you my imagined version of Jax(Hunter's twin.)
I'm beginning to think Olive might need a brace for her jaw soon. All the way from my house to Hunter's mansion, her jaw remained hanging. First, when she saw the carriage. Then when she heard the automaton. And the grand finale being when she saw the mansion.
I reached out and pushed her lower jaw up to meet her upper jaw. She turned to look at me with almost comically wide eyes. "Scarlett, what exactly did you do?"
"Uh, other than attempt to steal Garrett Enterprises' blueprints, knee Hunter in the guts and end up on an underground WANTED poster?"
"Be serious."
I giggle. Olive looks like she doesn't know if she should laugh, cry or slap me. "Keep in mind, Hunter was the one who suggested this. Not me. Blame him."
"Shut up."
Hunter comes up behind us and settles a hand on both of our shoulders.
"Would you ladies like to go inside?"
"Would we?" Olive gushes. "Oh my god, this is the best thing that could ever happen to me." The huge wrought iron gates swing open, and Olive darts down the path, pausing to inspect and rave over the tiny clockwork mechanisms littering the garden. I chuckle at her antics. A deeper rumble sounds from behind me, and it takes a few seconds for me to realize that Hunter's laughing too.
Hunter looks down at me, a smile lifting his lips. "How about you, Miss Johnson? Would you like to go inside?"
"Sure. Let's do it."
He guides me down the overly-long pathway. As we walk, little lights start glowing at the edges of the cobblestones. I pause to look down at one. Next to me, I feel a shift in Hunter's proximity, and he turns me around to face him. "Close your eyes."
"Uh, why?"
"Just do it."
I comply, letting my eyes drift shut. I feel something warm in my palm. "Okay, you can look." I open my eyes to see a tiny clockwork firefly. It buzzes, lighting up, then fades out before repeating the whole process. In a massively uncharacteristic show of girliness, I coo over the tiny machine, stroking its head with one finger, then eventually set it free. Hunter watches me, a small grin playing about his mouth. We resume our trek and catch up to Olive. She waits at the ornately carved door, next to our luggage, hands on her hips and solitary eyebrow raised.
"Took you long enough to get here."
Hunter smirks. "We were...busy."
I whirl around and do my best to check my hand, which was itching to slap that stupid smirk off his face. "Leave it to you to make it sound like we were having a sordid affair."
"Look at you, mind in the gutter. You said it, not me. Now we really must be getting inside."
He finally removes his hand from my waist and leans down to lift our bags. He rings the doorbell. A set of footsteps approach a door, and a boy who looks almost exactly like Hunter opens the door. Olive's jaw hits the ground again. I nudge her, and she shuts her mouth with an audible snap.
The boy notices, obviously. He smirks. Exactly like Hunter. Perfect, all I need is another smarmy attractive man with the same irritating disposition as the one behind me. Hunter gestures to us with his free hands. "Ladies, meet my twin brother, Jax. Jax, now would be the time to put that etiquette class to use."
Jax looks me up and down. "Well, she doesn't look like she appreciates etiquette. You look like you'd enjoy a good tumble, wouldn't you, my dear?"
I roll my eyes. "A man after my own heart. I'm good."
Jax smiles and turns to Olive, who immediately blushes. "This one, on the other hand...Pleased to meet you, Miss..."
"White." Olive breathes. "Olive White. Lovely to make your acquaintance, Mr. Garrett."
"Nonsense. It's Jax. The pleasure is all mine, Olive." Innuendo laces his tone and I resist the urge to drag Olive in the opposite direction.
"Adorable." Hunter drawls from behind me. "How about letting us in, Jax? Ladies, Margaret will take you to the parlor. Jax, I need to speak with you."
Margaret turns out to be an automaton, a housekeeping one. "This way, ladies." Her voice is lilted and sweet, almost like music. Olive and I follow her into an extremely formal parlor setting. Oh, for feck's sake. I'm going to have to be...polite.
It takes a while for Hunter and Jax to show up again. Both are wearing grim, serious faces, and if I hadn't already spoken to the two of them, I probably would have been terrified.
Hunter and Jax walk up behind each of our chairs. Jax leans on the back of Olive's chair, and Hunter does the same to mine. Jax grins.
"Well, we should probably get to work."
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That's Chapter 4, y'all. I'm sorry to say, however, that Deadly Creations will embark on a short hiatus, while I catch up on my other books. Thanks guys, and don't forget to make me smile by commenting and clicking on that star!
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