We Make Mayhem [boyxboy]

Chapter Six

Decker Lord had lived in Silicon Valley for so long that I had almost forgotten he was from Vancouver. Now the prodigal son was returning home.

BREAKING NEWS: Decker Lord, CEO and founder of Temptr, buys $20m mansion in British Properties

Controversial CEO and family to relocate before school begins: "I want West Van to be their home"

Lord's $20m West Van home boasts movie theatre, 2 pools, and garage space for 10 cars, VanRealty says

"In other news," I said to Mom after turning off the radio, where they wouldn't shut up about it, "rich asshole buys rich asshole house in rich asshole neighbourhood. More at eleven."

Mom snorted.

I only pretended to be disinterested, though. We technically lived in the British Properties, even though our little old house with the moss-covered roof and creaking floors was worlds away from Lord's new digs. It was impossible to live in a place like West Van and not yearn for what the folks up the mountain had. I found Lord's new house on Google Earth, and though you couldn't see much of the house itself—it was hidden by a wall, shrubbery, and a gate—you could see its view. Downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, and the glittering ocean to the west. Vancouver Island's mountains rose out of the mist in the distance. I could only imagine what it would be like to have that view out your window every day.

Decker Lord would probably just shrug and say he'd seen better.

*

Chloe: You awake?

I wasn't, but after seeing the first text from Chloe in a week light up my phone at midnight I sure was.

Riley: Yeah, why?

Chloe: Come outside. Wear black.

I glanced out my window to see her Fiat idling in my driveway.

Riley: Why wear black?

Chloe: You'll see.

With a bad feeling in my stomach, I got up and got dressed in black jeans and a black hoodie. Light crept out into the hall from under Mom's doorway. I knocked gently.

"Come in."

She was reading, laying scrunched up on the left side of the bed. Dad had been sleeping in the guest room for weeks but his space was still there.

"Chloe is outside," I whispered. "I'm going to go talk to her, maybe go for a drive."

Mom smiled. "Okay, sweetie. Don't be too long—school in the morning."

"I know. I won't."

With that, I stepped out into the night, toward Chloe's humming engine. She wore all black, with a toque pulled over her hair.

"Why are you dressed like the Unibomber?" I asked.

"Hello to you, too."

"I don't hear from you for days and then you show up in my driveway dressed like you're about to commit an act of terrorism."

"Well, you can come with me or you can stay. Your choice."

"Where are we going?"

"To check out Decker Lord's new digs."

"And do what?"

She shrugged. "Just check it out."

"Chloe. Come on."

"Riley, I know you think I'm evil, but I'm not."

"I don't think you're evil," I said slowly. "Just someone who made a really dumb mistake."

You do realize you made a mistake, right?

Chloe smiled and shifted the car into drive.

Eyremount Drive was about as far up the mountain as you could get and not actually be at the ski resort at the summit. It was so far up it was almost impractical. We wound up and up and up the steep residential streets, passing gates at nearly every driveway. The driveways on the south sides of the streets sloped downward to the houses, so that only the roofs of the houses were at street level, and the driveways on the north sloped up to the houses peering down on the street below.

1150 Eyremount Drive was a south-side property, the house built into the side of the mountain. I recognized the wall, gate, and speaker box from Google Earth. The driveway beyond wound downhill. Only the roof of the house was visible from the road.

"Huh," Chloe said, craning her neck as she slowed the car. "Too bad we can't see more."

"You can see all the pictures you want online," I said.

She put the car in park. "This is all I need, really."

Alarm bells went off in my head.

"Chloe, what are you doing?" I demanded as she unclicked her seatbelt and reached for the glove compartment. "Chloe, I swear to God—"

She took out two objects and shoved one of them into my hand. It felt like cheap woven fabric, and when she pulled her own beanie down over her face, I realized it was a balaclava. The other object was a can of spray paint. The little ball rattled around inside.

"We're going to leave a little message for Mr. Lord."

"You said we weren't going to do anything illegal."

"No, I didn't—I said we weren't going to do anything evil. Leaving a little message may be technically illegal, but it's certainly not evil."

"I'm not going to let you do this, Chloe."

She climbed out of the car. "Try and stop me."

The door slammed shut behind her and I cursed myself for ever getting in the car with her. I dropped the balaclava and ground it into the floor with my heel. Who the fuck was Chloe, now? What happened to the Chloe who competed in gymnastics and swimming and loved long walks on the Sea Wall?

And me, I also thought. What happened to the Chloe who loved me?

A motion-sensor light went off by Decker Lord's front gate, illuminating Chloe's tiny figure. I watched, neck craned, as she shook the can of paint as if she was thinking about what she wanted to write. She finally went for it, stretching her arm as high as she could to make her letters huge. R... E...

Ah, fuck. I unclicked my seatbelt, climbed out of the car, and jogged over to her.

"You're really fucking doing this, aren't you?" I hissed.

She finished an A. "You thought I was going to pussy out?"

She sprayed an L, then moved on to write LOVE RULES. She capped the spray paint and gave me what I imagined was an angelic little smile. If only I could see it under the balaclava.

"Done," she said. "Okay, now we can leave. If—"

"'Real Love Rules'?" a voice drawled. "You couldn't think of anything better? Honestly, I'm calling the police more for your lack of imagination than your vandalism."

Chloe jumped toward me, clutching the front of my shirt. I instinctively put her behind me and faced the threat head-on. There was a figure silhouetted against the headlights of a car that had just pulled up behind us. The guy wore something similar to us: all-black, like he was slinking around, too. All I could see were his long, skinny legs and a tuft of blond hair sticking out from under his hood—and the phone raised to his ear.

"Run," I told Chloe.

I didn't have to tell her twice—she booked it back to the car. I followed, but I craned my neck to try to get a read on the car. Was it a security vehicle? Why hadn't we heard it coming?

It was only when we were flying back down the mountain that I realized the car was completely silent—it was an Edison.

Was that Decker Lord?