Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(65)

I grabbed his arm and whirled him around, bending it behind his back the way Xander and I play fought when we were kids—only I wasn't playing this time. He choked out a sound of pain and I leaned in to speak right against his ear. "Don't. Ever. Touch. Me." I leaned in even closer. "Ever. Again."
Clive let out a small pained laugh, so I bent his arm up just a little more and he cried out, "Okay, okay, let me go."
I pushed him roughly away from me and when he turned around, his face was red with rage. "You'll be sorry for trying to make me look like a fool," he gritted out.
"Probably," I said. "But even if I'm punished, it was worth it. And you were a fool long before I came along anyway." I pushed him aside as I passed him and returned to "my" room where I waited for Hector to summon me like the dog he apparently thought me to be.

**********

The rain started falling a few minutes after I'd returned to the laundry room, large drops that spattered against the windowpane next to my bed. I put my hands in my pockets and looked out the window, wondering how I'd protect Eden from the rain once we left this place.
My thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the sound of a wailing alarm started up on the loudspeaker outside of the main lodge.
It was a flood drill.
My body tensed and I opened the door and moved into the hall. People were already leaving the main lodge, all the council members and their families were heading quickly to the front door.
Hector stood in the large main room, smiling serenely and reassuring people as they passed by him. "Don't be concerned. The gods are protecting us. This is only a drill so we're prepared when the floods come. Rest assured, be calm."
I looked for Eden, but didn't see her anywhere. Maybe she'd already left the lodge. I moved toward the front door when Hector's voice boomed out, "Calder Raynes."
I clenched my jaw and turned around slowly.
"I require your services here, Water Bearer," Hector said.
I walked back to where he stood, people passing me as the last of them filed out the door, a little girl crying in her mother's arms.
"Yes, Father? What can I do for you?"
"You can wait here until you're sure everyone's gotten out safely," he said. "I need to go and reassure my bride-to-be. She must be frightened. She doesn't like small spaces."
I made my expression blank and didn't say anything. As if he knew one thing about Eden. He knew nothing. To him, she was only what he wanted her to be: a possession.
But I stood still and watched him as he walked away. He shut the door behind him, and I walked very quickly to the window and looked out to see him opening an umbrella and walking around the main lodge to the door that led to the large cellar below ground.
I moved quickly toward the council member's wing of the house and called out, "Anyone here? Flood drill." I paused and there was only silence and so I opened the first door I came to and peeked inside, calling out one more time, "Flood drill." Silence met me again and so I entered the room, looking behind me once.
Immediately, I saw a dresser holding a wallet and walked to it quickly. Inside the wallet was money: three twenties, two fives, and seven ones. I hesitated momentarily, but then pulled out two of the twenties, one five and three of the ones.
My heart beat harshly against my ribs and adrenaline pumped through me.
I heard footsteps right outside the door and spun around. Duke, the larger of the two mutts came trotting into the room, whining at my hand for pets. I exhaled. "Hey boy." I scratched his head for a minute, getting hold of my heart rate.
I stuffed the money in my pockets and returned the wallet to the dresser top and left the room, closing the door behind me. I did a similar search of several of the other rooms, coming away with three more twenties, three tens, and twelve more ones.
I had been bold in my stealing, but we needed to leave this place as quickly as possible. I was willing to risk someone questioning their missing money if it meant Eden, Xander,  and I could leave that much sooner. No one could prove it was me.
As I was passing through the kitchen, I saw a plastic bag on the counter holding some crackers. I emptied the crackers into the garbage and put the money into the bag.
I started to head toward the front door, when I noticed that Hector's office door was slightly cracked open. I hesitated for just seconds and then turned and entered the large room. I went immediately to Hector's desk and opened the drawers one by one, looking for cash. I didn't find any and I touched nothing. Everything in his drawers was lined up, just as everything on top of his desk was, and I didn't want to disturb anything. He was strange when it came to the order of his things.