Page 29 of Redemption

I grin, “Awe, are you sure? We’ve got a few days, we could do it.”

“The others would send out a search party,” Saint points out jokingly. His smile drops and he adds seriously, “and since it was only last night that you guys lost Ever, maybe we’ll leave the getting lost and eaten by a moose thing for your next visit.”

“A moose?” I ask, pulling a face and trying not to laugh.

Saint nods. “Oh, yeah, they’re the thing you want to watch out for out here. Forget the bears. There’s this one moose who I swear has it out for me.”

“A moose?” Luc repeats, because what the fuck?

Zee shakes his head. “Dude, how many times do we have to go over this? A moose can’t have a vendetta against you. It simply doesn't care enough about your existence.”

“Wow,” Siant says. He puts his hand on his chest as he says in a ridiculous voice, “That was hurtful.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t care about your existence fuck wit,” Zee says, making Luc and me laugh. Zee carries on, “I said the moose didn’t.”

Saint drops the pretense that he’s hurt and grins as he bounces on the spot. “Oh, okay, cool.”

“Asshole,” Zee retorts.

“Rude,” Saint mutters back. He grins, “For the record, this moose cares about my existence, so much so that he wants to end my existence, trust me.” We all burst out laughing, making Saint’s smile widen. After a moment he looks at us. “So is there anything that you do want to see?”

“Actually, I would love to see the gates,” Luc replies immediately. “They’re amazing, and I’d love to get a better look.”

“We stopped and had a look from the front, but I didn’t think to stop the car and have a look at the other side,” I agree.

Saint grins, “We can do that. We’ve actually walked pretty fucking far, so it’s not worth going back to get the four-wheelers. We’re actually closer to the gates than the house. Are you guys up for a trek?”

I shrug, “Sure. I don’t mind.”

“Awesome,” Saint grins.

We carry on talking about inconsequential shit until we catch a peek of the gates through the trees.

“The gates are pretty amazing, aren’t they?” Zee asks, as we pause to admire the view.

I nod. “They are. We had a friend who had some similar ones at his place back in our hometown. It was quite a shock to see some so similar here. We haven’t seen anything like it since we were kids.”

“Oh?” Saint asks, his eyes lit with curiosity. “Our friend made these ones.”

“Seriously?” Luc asks. “He must have made the ones in our hometown too. They’re too similar not to be made by the same person. Small world.”

Movement by the gates catches my attention at the same time that the others notice it too.

Zee and Saint tense, anger crossing their expressions, and Luc and I share a raised-eyebrow look.

I have a feeling that the group of people piling out of the two cars are not friends of the guys.

“Who are they?” I ask, my expression serious.

Saint shrugs, and after a moment's pause where he’s clearly wondering whether or not he should tell us the truth, he answers, “Fuckers who have been after our land and the house for a long time. It’s nothing we can’t handle, but they don’t like listening, and due to some complicated circumstances, we can’t just tell them where to stick it and beat the fuckers until they wouldn’t dare to come back.” Violence flashes through Saint’s eyes, but he visibly pushes it away as he says, “We have to be incredibly diplomatic about it, and it drives all of us crazy.”

Luc and I share a look and grin.

“Stay here. Do not move, no matter what happens,” Luc says, with an excited grin.

I nod, my own smile sharp.

Before either of them can move or tell us not to, we step out of the woods. When we get close enough to the gates, they open for us. It’s a brilliant idea to have them on a sensor this side. It saves having to get out to manually open them or have sensors on everything just so you can get out.