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For the last year that Court had been living in LA it had been good. Pure chaos, but good. The twins were happy and safe and were actually acting like the little kids they were for once.
Court was even happy too. He wasn’t constantly on edge, waiting to step in between his father and his brothers. There was no need to feel like that–Holland would rather die than do something to hurt them and, despite his appearances, Healy was a complete and utter softy.
With the absence of fear of violence as a consequence it did mean that Holly and the twins were more willing to be little fucking asshole shitheads, there was no better way to describe them. Holland had mentioned that Holly was devious but combine that with Colt’s general affinity to be a human hurricane and Ryland’s sensibility–which you would think meant that he’d be their voice of reason but no, he was actually the one making their plots more successful–they were constantly up to something.
Holly had never been conditioned to be yelled at for existing and the twins learned pretty quickly that they were safe here. For the first few months Court had a harder time accepting his new reality, the fact that he knew things weren’t going to be like before but the last fifteen years of expectations still warring with each other. Holland was a bit of a wreck but he was kind and actually gave a shit. Didn’t ever really get so much as short with them let alone actually mad, same with Healy.
It was weird, in a good way, and it took Court a long time to get used to.
The first incident still nearly gave him a heart attack.
Holland and Healy were out of the house for a case and Court had gone to the library. He had barely passed sophomore year and school was a lot harder in California than it was in bum fuck nowhere Florida so he had been putting the hours in to catch up.
He had been gone barely three hours and when he got home the house a fucking disaster. Holly and the twins stopped in their tracks, eyes wide, and immediately started stammering out excuses.
Apparently they had wanted to bake cookies.
How the hell wanting to bake cookies turned into this was beyond Court. Pretty much the entire kitchen was coated in white, there was a puddle of something on the floor–hopefully just water–and there was egg staining the ceiling.
He had been gone for three hours. The fact that they managed to create this much destruction in three hours was almost impressive.
But Holland and Healy were going to be pissed. They had put up with a lot of shit the last few months, especially Holland, but trashing the kitchen was on a whole other level.
It wasn’t something that couldn’t be fixed though. A bit of cleaning and Holland never had to know.
Of course Holland and Healy came through the door not ten minutes later. Holland stopped right as he got inside and stared blankly at the scene in front of him for a few moments.
“What the actual fuck were you kids doing.” Holland said. Healy was laughing his ass beside him.
Court immediately tensed and subtly placed himself between the twins and Holly and Holland. It was still his instinct to pull the attention to him, to keep the others safe.
Then Holland started laughing too and Court was able to remember where he was and who he was with. He wasn’t in the dingy kitchen of his old house with his monster of a father. He was in LA now, with his uncle and his partner who laughed at their antics instead of screaming.
Colt, upon seeing that Holland wasn’t mad, piped up. “We wanted cookies!” Ryland nodded enthusiastically next to him.
“Clean this up and we’ll make cookies tonight,” Healy promised, moving a still laughing Holland to the kitchen table.
It was the first of many incidents involving the twins or Holly, usually both, being chaos incarnate. More often than not he was roped into their horrible ideas. He could put up more of a fight but if he was involved it meant that at least one person would be responsible and make sure that nobody got killed.
Which is what led to today. Court, staring at Holly like she was crazy, and Holly looking like she was the perfect picture of innocence. She knew that he would agree to anything, especially to her crazy ideas, to make sure she was safe if nothing else.
“So let me get this straight,” Court said, trying to recall the details of Holly’s plan. “You broke into the office and stole Holland and Healy’s notes on the case and now you want me to drive you to this shady ass cop’s place because you think that he’s planting evidence to make Holland’s client’s son look guilty when in reality he killed that dude. Is that all correct?”
Court had been enjoying the rare peace and quiet–the twins were at a friend’s house and Holland and Healy were out on a case–when Holly ambushed him. She had tried plenty of things to get Holland to get let her be part of the agency but this was definitely her craziest (worst) fucking idea yet.
“What’s not to understand?” she asked.
“Are you fucking crazy?”
Holly glared at him. “It all makes perfect sense!” She pushed the notes in his direction. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“I don’t doubt that it makes sense but why are you telling me? Tell Holland, he can actually do something about it!”
“We can do something about it!”
Court stared at Holly. She resolutely stared back. He was going to agree wasn’t he? It wasn’t like he could let her go on her own and he knew damn well that she was going to do it with or without his help.
He sighed, accepting his fate. “I’m only going to help you so you don’t get yourself killed.”
“Perfect! I already found his address in dad’s notes.” Holly gave him a bright, if not a little sarcastic, smile before bouncing over to the door and grabbing the keys to Holland’s Mercedes. Court plucked the keys out of her hands, ignoring her pout.
“You know I can drive right? Legally now too.”
He was well aware that she had been driving Holland home from bars a few years ago and had her permit now but there was no way in hell he was letting her drive. The chances of them making it through this unscathed were already low but would definitely plummet to zero if Holly was driving.
Also saying she could drive legally was a bit of stretch. She could drive legally with an adult, which he was not. Court on the other hand had an actual license–Healy had taught him how to drive a few months after he moved to LA. Holland had tried but he was too much of an anxious, distracted wreck to be of any help, hence Healy stepping in to teach both him and Holly to drive.
“If you want my help I’m driving.”
Holly flopped dramatically into the passenger side but didn’t say anything. If Holland finds out Court is saying he was coerced.
—
It had been a lot easier to convince Court to help her than Holly had been expecting. Maybe she should feel bad about using his general desire to keep her safe against him but she needed a driver and maybe some muscle.
She trusted Court anyway. He was nice and was always looking out for her when he didn’t really need to.
It was a no brainer on who to ask for help breaking into some sleazy cop’s house.
This whole thing started because she heard her dad and Healy talking about the case. For a while they had been doing just their run-of-the-mill PI work–cheating spouses, fraud, the occasional missing person. This case was interesting though.
A man had sought out Holland and Healy because he believed his son was being framed for murder. Holly had immediately wanted in on the case, she had helped solve the Amelia case and she was sure that she could have been of use on this case. She had also been badgering them to let her finally become the third Nice Guy to no avail.
This was her chance though! She may or may not have broken into her dad’s office–which was really just Healy’s old apartment that they kept the lease on to have somewhere to work out of–and copied some notes that she found on the case. Those notes, plus her own research, led her to believe that the client’s son was being framed by the very cop that had arrested him for murder.
Apparently the victim, the cop, and the client’s son had all been friends once upon a time. Something happened to where they were no longer friends with the cop, the cop killed one of them, then framed the other for the murder.
Her dad had yet to find out that piece of information but instead of telling him Holly went straight to Court. If she could find concrete evidence that the cop had been one to commit the murder then she could finally prove that she was ready to help Holland and Healy on real cases.
As they pulled up to the house Holly scoped the area out. It was a nice enough neighborhood and there were no obvious signs that anyone was home.
Court stopped around the corner and killed the engine. “What exactly is the plan here?”
“We’re looking for evidence,” she said simply.
“And how are we doing that from outside the house?”
“Dad taught me how to pick locks when I was like ten.”
Court just stared for a moment. “You know what? I’m not even going to question it. Let’s just get this over with.” He got out of the car, giving the house an uncertain look.
Holly gave him another innocent smile that she knew he saw right through before getting out of the car and walking to the door. She rang the doorbell, just to be safe, then pulled the lockpicks she had also stolen from her dad’s office out of her pocket.
Court stood off to the side as she worked the lock, whether he was keeping watch or just trying to not be complicit she wasn’t sure. The lock popped open with a satisfying click and Holly pushed the door open.
“You check downstairs I’ll check upstairs?” she asked, leading the way into the house.
Court still looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but he nodded hesitantly. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Holly rolled her eyes. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“At best Holland finds out and we’re grounded until we both graduate. At worst this guy, who we’re pretty sure already killed someone, decides to come home early and finds two teenagers snooping around his house.”
“Then we better be careful to not get caught.” Holly turned and headed upstairs before Court could say anything else. They would be fine, they just had to be quick.
She started in the bedroom, rummaging through the room, trying to find anything to connect the cop to the victim while not disturbing anything to the point of notice. All she needed was to figure out the motive then she would have the case cracked wide open. She could take everything to her dad and Healy and they would finally see that she wasn’t some little kid anymore, that she was more than capable of helping them.
About half an hour passed and her nor Court had found anything to connect the victim, the cop, and the client’s son. There were a few more places to check so she wasn’t quite ready to give up yet.
Until she heard the sound of an engine from the window that was cracked open that is. Crouching below the window she looked out to the front yard, expecting to see a police cruiser pulling in, and saw her dad and Healy slowly drive by instead.
Holly immediately ran downstairs, startling Court. “We need to go. Now.”
She grabbed his wrist and started tugging him towards the back door she had seen. Most likely her dad wanted to stake the place out or maybe even do what her and Court were doing now. Either way they needed to get out as soon as possible if she didn’t want to be caught by her dad.
“Holly what is going on?!”
She threw the back door open and pushed Court through it. “Dad and Healy just drove by.”
“Oh fuck.”
“Pretty much yeah.”
There was a planter box up against the back fence that Holly used as a step to climb over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. Since they had parked around the corner the car was in front of this house. As long as they could get through the neighbor’s yard without being noticed they were free and clear and could drive off before her dad or Healy even noticed someone else was there.
Court was behind her, getting over the fence, shockingly quiet, and led the way back to the street. She was more than happy to let him take the lead and was starting to think that maybe she should have listened to him in the first place.
They were going to be fine though. They were already at the gate and now all they had to do was make a run for a car.
Court opened the gate for her and she did exactly that, running straight for the car.
Only to be met with the sight of her dad and Healy, both looking incredibly unimpressed. She stopped just short of the car, looking between her dad and Court.
“I can explain.”
—
The drive home was tense. Court wasn’t mad at Holly, he could have said no if he really wanted to but sometimes it's fun to go do stupid shit with her. This was by far the stupidest shit they had ever pulled and this was the first time he had seen Holland actually mad. Fondly annoyed and sick of their shit? He’d seen that plenty of times. Actually mad? That was a first.
He was trying to not let his anxiety send him into a spiral the entire way home. Yes, Holland was pissed off but that didn’t mean that things were going to take a turn.
At least that was the mantra he was repeating in his head.
When they got home he and Holly both silently trailed into the house, Holland already waiting for them in the living room. He was pacing and smoking a cigarette while still managing to mutter something to Healy that Court couldn’t hear.
“You two are in so much trouble.” Holland stopped his pacing and looked between them. “What made you think that it was a good idea to break into the house of a fucking murder suspect?” His voice was taking on a shrill quality.
Holly went to answer but Holland held up a hand and continued speaking. “Rhetorical question. It was stupid and reckless and you’re both so fucking lucky that it was me and Jack that showed up and not the fucking murder suspect.”
“I just wanted to help on the case,” Holly said, much more subdued than she usually was. “I’m not a little kid anymore.”
Holland scoffed. “You are fifteen sweetheart, and way too young still to be getting mixed up in this kind of stuff. Losing you because of something like that would destroy me.”
Holly did look slightly guilty but Holland missed that as he rounded on Court.
“And you– fucking hell Court I know she can be persuasive but why the fuck would you go along with something that? I know you’re smart enough to know the kind of danger that breaking into that asshole’s house would put you guys in.”
Court didn’t have anything to say. He was well aware that he had fucked up and that he should have tried to convince Holly to go about it differently. What was done was done and all he could do now was accept whatever punishment Holland was sure to dole out.
A few tense moments passed before Holland sighed and started towards him and Holly. He braced himself slightly–a small part of him was always going to expect that anyone with authority over him would be like John Gentry–but deflated right as Holland pulled him and Holly into a tight hug.
“You scared the absolute shit out of me,” Holland said, not letting them go. “And you are both so grounded. Holly, no Jessica for a month. You come straight home after school and no talking to her on the phone. Same for you Court–in fact you may as well hand over your shiny new license now ‘cause I’ll be damned if I’m letting either of you out of the house without my supervision for anything other than school.”
Holland stepped back, taking a deep breath and visibly collecting himself before letting them go. “Okay, enough sappy shit. You fucked up, you know you fucked up, I did the responsible parent shit and lecured you.” He started towards the kitchen, a new cigarette already in his hand. “What takeout do you guys want for dinner because I am damn sure not cooking anything.”
From his spot in the kitchen, Healy muttered something that sounded like really laying down the law here while fondly rolling his eyes. Holland flipped him off, fishing a stack of takeout menus that he tossed at Court and Holly.
Court laughed as he caught the takeout menu and stopped it from hitting him square in the head. Beside him Holly shrieked before tossing one of the menus back at her dad, the humor evident in both of their faces.