The house was quiet the next day as I left my room. I frowned, this wasn’t normal for a house full of people. I stretched my arms over my head and winced, aches, and pains shooting down my body.
“Fuck you, Blake,” I muttered and rubbed my eyes. I had slept like a baby last night, and I was ninety percent certain that it was no longer morning and instead late afternoon. I yawned as I made my way downstairs and raised my eyebrows when I found it empty.
“Daisy,” Eli called. He walked out of the kitchen holding a mug of coffee. “You’re up, good. I was just coming to wake you.”
“I feel like I want to collapse,” I said. I looked at the coffee in his hand and he rolled his eyes before handing it to me. “I knew there was a reason I tolerated you.” I took a sip and sighed. “Where is everyone?”
“In our room,” Eli said and took my arm, leading me towards the soundproof room in the house that we used. “Harriet’s pissed.”
“Who the fuck is Harriet?” I asked as we entered. I spotted everyone sitting on chairs in a circle and a woman was stood in the middle with her arms crossed over her chest. It was the woman who owned the orphanage. “Oh shit, you’re Harriet.”
“I am Harriet and I am in charge of this house and therefore in charge of you, and you guys are behaving unacceptably!” She snapped. Her eyes were wide and she was staring angrily at me.
“Gosh, keep your wig on,” I muttered.
Carter covered his mouth to stop a laugh and Mason snorted. “How about we sit down and not make her anymore pissed,” Eli whispered in my ear but I could hear the smirk in his voice. I followed Eli to a chair and we sat down together. I noticed how people watched as he wrapped his arm around my waist but I didn’t care. I felt comfortable with him.
“We have rules here,” Harriet said. She turned as she spoke, staring at all of us. I caught Beth’s eye and smirked as she made a funny face. “You guys are coming and going as you please! This is not a hotel! We have a curfew for a reason, it’s not there to ignore! And you!” She whirled and pointed her finger at me.
“What?” I sighed.
“You’re coming back black and blue! You’ve constantly been injured since you’ve been here and it’s not setting a good example for the younger children! It’s unacceptable.”
“Do you think I wanted to get hit in the face with a lightbulb?” I asked and pointed to my stitches.
“This has to stop!” Harriet exclaimed.
“She’s lucky I like this coffee or it would be going all over her bloody face,” I muttered as I took a sip.
Eli turned to look at me with an amused smile on his face.
“And we need to discuss where Blake is! He’s meant to be in charge of you, but he seems to have done a runner!” Eli’s smile dropped and he swore under his breath. “Not that I blame him, it must be a nightmare trying to control you lot!”
“Shit, I didn’t even think about Harriet noticing Blake being gone,” Eli murmured.
“Where is he?” Harriet demanded. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking around, narrowing her eyes at us. “He can’t just leave!”
“He...” Carter paused, trying to think of an excuse. “He died!”
“Oh, come on,” I called and rolled my eyes. “That’s the best excuse you can come up with?”
“Ignore Carter, he’s a twat,” Mason said. “Blake isn’t dead.” Mason looked at me. “Is he?”
“I bloody wish,” I muttered.
“Blake has met a girl,” Jack said. “He’s all hung up on her and he’s spending way to much time in her bedroom.”
“So, he’s there. Now?” Harriet demanded.
“Most probably,” Tom nodded.
“Well, he needs to come back and do his job. Now!” Harriet snapped.
“I’ll call him,” I said and waved my hand dismissively. “Don’t stress.”
“You’ll call him?” Eli said, raising his eyebrows at me.
I nodded and took my phone out of my pocket. I pretended to dial Blake’s number and held the phone to my ear, waiting a few moments before speaking. “Blake-”
“Yes, that’s what I was just calling you abo-”
“Blake-”
“Blake, listen to me-”
“Stop cutting me off! Where are you?”
I paused. “What? What are you talking about.” I sent a worried look Harriet for added effect. “Blake, you can’t just quit-”
“What about us-”
“I can’t believe you,” I gasped. I see Eli beside me struggling to hide a smirk. “Thanks a lot then,” I said sarcastically and pretended to hang up. I looked at Harriet. “Well, that’s that cleared up.”
“What happened?” Harriet demanded.
“He quit,” I said. “He’s gone. Dealing with personal problems or some bullshit excuse like that.”
“He can’t just quit!” Harriet gasped.
“Chill your granny pants,” I said. “They’re sending up a replacement.”
“A replacement? But Blake was well chill!” Jack whined, jumping in on the act. “I don’t want a strict old bat coming.”
“Blame Blake,” I shrugged.
“I never really liked him anyway,” Beth called. “He was stuck up his own ass. I say good riddance.”
“Can we go now? Because there’s plenty of other things I’d rather be doing on a Saturday,” I said and took another sip of my coffee.
“Yes. I need to call your group home organiser and find out what’s going on,” Harriet nodded. “Remember, behave yourselves!”
“We need to go,” I said and stood up, grabbing Eli’s hand and pulling him with me. “Jack! Get your ass over here! We need you!”
“What?” Jack asked, but I didn’t explain and I walked out of the room with Eli, hoping Jack would follow.
“Where are we going? You’re still in your pyjamas!” Jack called as I walked out of the house.
“We’re just going to Jasper’s, he’s seen me looking a lot worse,” I said and stopped at his front door, banging loudly.
“Stop bloody banging!” Jasper’s irritated voice shouted and he threw open the door. “Oh, Daisy, what is it?”
“We have an issue,” I said.
“What?” Jasper asked. His eyes landed on mine and Eli’s hands.
“Harriet wanted to know where Blake is,” I said. “Obviously, we couldn’t tell her that he was locked up so I lied and said that he had quit and a replacement was going to be sent up.”
“Quick thinking,” Jasper nodded.
“But, Harriet is now going to call up our group home organiser, who doesn’t exist, and the phone call will get put through the Agency,” I finished explaining and Jasper swore.
“And they’ll find out that Blake isn’t on the mission and wonder where he is,” Jasper said.
“And we’re going to be screwed.”
“I’m still struggling to see where I come in with this,” Jack said.
“We need you to do your thing and get her phone call diverted to us,” I said. “I’m sure that Richard can get an agent to take over Blake’s fake job, but we just need to stop Harriet from calling the Agency.”
“Right,” Jack nodded and looked at Jasper. “I need a laptop. Now.”
“Come in,” Jasper nodded and led Jack off into the house, yelling out for Kyle as they went.
“You’re pretty amazing,” Eli said lowly.
“No, I’m just smart,” I said and stepped inside Jasper’s house.
“Amazing.”
“Quick thinking,” I said.
“Shut up, princess, and let me compliment you,” Eli muttered. “You just saved all of our asses because we were stupid enough to not realise that Blake’s absence would be noticed.”
“Mistakes happen,” I said. “They’re okay as long as we fix them.”
Eli sighed. “Then let’s hope Jack can pull this off.”
“Hi, you’re through to Bybray Group Homes, how can I help?” Jack said smoothly into the phone as Harriet’s call was diverted to us.
“I am sorry for the hassle you’re describing. Please can I take your name and house name down so we can figure out exactly who was in charge and sort out this problem,” Jack said after a few minutes of Harriet talking.
Jasper caught my eye and he gestured for me to follow him out of the room. I stood up and Eli’s hand that was resting on my knee slipped off.
“Where are you going, princess?” Eli whispered.
“To speak to Jasper,” I said and followed Jasper out of the room. “What?” I asked as we walked out of the house.
“How are you feeling?” Jasper wondered.
“As sore as can be expected,” I said. “But I’m fine.”
“Adam’s asking for you,” Jasper said. “He thinks you’ve been taken captive as well. He knows who’s taken him.”
“So, he doesn’t know I’m working for you,” I said and nodded. “I know what side he’ll choose. He’s going to choose Rob. They always got along better than I did.”
“Yet you’re still going to talk to him. Aren’t you?” Jasper said and raised an eyebrow.
“I have to,” I sighed. “He always looked out for me, even though we drove each other insane.”
“I’ll take you there,” Jasper said.
I raised my eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
“New brother, old brother, not a good combination,” I shrugged.
“Let me just be there for you,” Jasper snapped.
“It’s fine, Eli can take me-”
“Daisy,” Jasper cut me off. “I’ll take you.”
“You don’t like him, do you?” I said suddenly.
“Who?”
“Eli.”
Jasper narrowed his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t like him.”
“I wouldn’t worry, I hate him most of the time,” I shrugged.
Jasper rolled his eyes. “You’re my sister,” Jasper said. “Part of me will always be wary of him.”
I smirked. “You’re really getting the hang of this big brother thing, aren’t you?”
“You’re really getting the hang of being an annoying little sister,” Jasper said. “After this get changed and we’ll go to the Agency, okay?”
“Really, you don’t have-”
“Stop being stubborn and let me take you there, Daisy,” Jasper said sternly. “You and Eli live together, let me spend some time with you.”
I gave Jasper a look. “Are you jealous of Eli?”
“Let’s go inside,” Jasper said dismissively.
“No, answer my question,” I insisted.
“Inside,” Jasper said. “Now.”
I smirked. “You’re jealous of him,” I accused.
“Daisy,” Jasper sighed. “Come on, go inside.”
I stood my ground and crossed my arms over my chest. “No, not until you admit it.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing to admit.”
I scoffed. “You’re so jealous of him! Why? Because I live with him? It’s not like I see him 24/7.”
“Daisy,” Jasper said and took a step forward. “Shut the hell up and go inside.”
I gasped in surprise when Jasper grabbed me when I didn’t move. He easily threw me over his shoulder and walked back inside. I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so jealous,” I said smugly as Jasper kicked the front door shut.
“I’ve just found you, of course, I want to spend time with my sister,” Jasper muttered. “I don’t appreciate him always being around.”
“Jealous!” I sang and hit Jasper’s shoulder. “Now, put me the hell down, you idiot.”
Jasper lowered me down and I walked back into the lounge where Jack and Eli were. “I am awfully sorry, Miss. I promise you we will get this sorted for you.”
“How’s it going?” I asked Eli.
“He’s sorted it,” Eli nodded. “We now just need a replacement for Blake.”