Allure

Chapter Thirteen

"So why am I doing this again?" I asked Austin as he parked the car on the side of the road. He fiddled with a loose bit of leather on the driving wheel.

"It's for Nan's stone business." He said slowly. I raised an eyebrow and, eventually, he elaborated. "The people that live at this house, they're prospective customers. But Nan's not sure yet what kind of stones to show them." My eyebrow remained raised. "So if you knock on the doorbell and say you were playing with your younger siblings or something, then after looking around for a bit you err-" Austin coughed lightly, "get yourself invited inside." He looked at me, waiting for me to say something. "Just so you can get an idea of the décor, the colours, how many of them there are exactly... All to help Nan decide what stones they'd be interested in."

"Why don't you do it?" I tilted my head to the side, a challenge in my eyes. He bit his lip as if he was thinking intensely.

"Well, it's much more likely that they'd want to invite you inside..." He trailed off slowly, not quite sure how to phrase it. Half of my face rose up in the beginnings of a smile. It was fun watching Austin squirm.

"But I'm terrible at lying." I reverted my expression back to normal, concerned even. He looked at my too wide eyes and almost trembling lips.

"No, you're not." He smirked. "You're obviously very well practiced." I rolled my eyes and fought to keep my smile from returning.

"Fine." I said, raising my hand to cover my mouth, and more importantly the grin that was forming on it. Austin leaned over and opened the glove box and pulled out an old tennis ball. His face merely inches from mine he looked to me and darted his eyebrows quickly upwards in a dare.

I swung open the car door as he did the same. Seconds later I watched as he flung the ball into the air. It soared over the fence and I then heard it bounce twice before landing with a rustle in some bushes.

"All set." He turned back to me. "I'll drive around the block a couple of times and pick you up in about ten or fifteen minutes."

"I'll see you then." I said, returning his gaze. It seemed easier for me to not fall into his eyes when there was that light humour crinkling around the edges. Some of that fierce intensity seemed to disappear alongside his usual seriousness.

Austin paused for a second, as if about to say something else. I felt myself starting to slip away once more into the sparkle of his eyes and I forced myself to look away. A moment later I heard him slide back into the driver's seat, start the engine and drive away, leaving me alone with only my thoughts and my mission for company.

I ran through what I knew as I walked the path up to the house. For whatever reason, Austin wanted me to get inside this house. To me, it seemed like the story he had concocted, getting info in order to better market stones to them, was just that – a story. Firstly, it seemed totally out of character for what I knew of Nan. Even though I'd only worked for her for just one day, I felt like she had no need to resort to spying to know what stones would suit people best. Surely she had other ways. So why did Austin want me snooping around this house? And why did I need such an elaborate cover story?

It was kind of ironic really. Only this morning he accused me of being a spy, and now that was what he was asking me to do.

I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. It was a nice house. A big house. Well painted and probably very well decorated, if that even had any importance anyway.

A second later the door swung open and my breath hitched as I found myself face to face with a tall, muscly guy wearing all black.