Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 3

3

ZIGGY

A s soon as the waterfall comes in to view and I make it past the treeline, I’m greeted with commotion. Aunt Rainbow and a bunch of her friends rush over, crowding me and shouting all at once.

“…So horrible…”

“…Selling the land…”

“…Won’t be able to come here…”

“…Don’t have the money to buy…”

“…Oh dear! The waterfall…”

“Ziggy, you have to help us!”

None of it makes sense. My head swivels back and forth as they all struggle to explain. I desperately try to follow what’s happening here but they’re making my head spin.

Aunt Rainbow didn’t provide any details when I called earlier, only begging for my help and asking me to meet her here as soon as possible.I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely didn’t think I’d find half the town down here, deep in the woods at the beloved waterfront.And I definitely didn’t expect all these ladies shouting and panicking in my face .

Before I can figure out what to do, several uniformed deputies from the sheriff’s department push past the clearing and start commanding attention.

“Hello! Folks! Hello, there!” The tallest of the deputies starts waving his arms around. “Listen up, everyone! I’m sorry to break this up, but I was given instructions from the mayor’s office to clear everyone away from the waterfall.”

“The waterfall is public property!” someone in the crowd shouts.

“Yeah! You can’t kick us off of public property,” another voice asserts. “We aren’t breaking any laws.”

The deputy holds his hands outward in apology. “Look, I get it. This news comes as a surprise to us, too. But the waterfall has actually always been on private property. But nobody seems to know the owner and the guy has never enforced his rights. Anyway, now, the land is being sold. Unfortunately, that means everything is about to change. No more public access to this waterfall.”

I thought people were rioting before but things quickly reach a fever pitch. Shrieks, complaints, and shouts echo around the valley. Including my own.

“You can’t do that!”

“This place is practically a historical monument!”

“Yeah! Aren’t those protected or something?”

“This whole thing stinks of corruption, and you know it!”

The waterfall is a part of our town’s history. Kids spend their summers swimming down here. Families picnic on the bank. Couples come here to fall in love.

And now someone is taking all of that away from Starlight Falls? That’s not going to sit well with the residents.

Arguments escalate. The locals aren’t having it. Someone starts talking about staging a sit-in, which is something I could get behind. Peaceful protests are my jam. But at the moment, this protest is on the way to becoming anything but peaceful.

The cop pulls out his megaphone, speaking into the mouthpiece so that he can be heard over the yelling. Even then, half the crowd refuses to acknowledge him.

“Folks! Folks! Look, I’m just the messenger here. Just doing my job. Y’all know I don’t have a fancy law degree or anything. So anyone who doesn’t like the situation should take it up with a lawyer.”

The grumbles don’t subside, but the shouting quiets down as people seem to realize that their complaints are falling on deaf ears. The cops can’t change the situation today any more than we can.

As the deputies start ushering everyone away from the falls and back up the uneven trails into the woods, I can’t help but wonder what’s really going on here. Why is the mayor’s office getting involved in the sale of private property? I’m no real estate expert, but something about this does smell fishy.

I stumble up the rocky path behind Aunt Rainbow, looking around and taking stock of the situation.

And then my eyes lock with Darius Brighton’s through the crowd.

Darius freaking Brighton .

My tummy does an excited flip as my breath gets caught somewhere in my ribcage.

Even though I haven’t seen that man in years, I’d recognize those honey-dipped eyes anywhere. Somehow, my visceral reaction is always the same. Every time I run into him, my tummy flips in exactly the same way.

But then I lock my jaw and steel my spine, reminding myself that Darius Brighton doesn’t deserve the butterflies in my stomach. He’s the enemy. In more ways than one.

So I look away and continue my hike among the crowd, determined to pretend that Darius doesn’t exist.

When we make it out the woods, most of the locals fork off in the direction of my aunt’s house. Rainbow invites everyone back to her place for iced tea and an impromptu town meeting.

Tired and frustrated by the time we all arrive, we gather around the front yard, trying to come up with solutions to our waterfall nightmare.

“Ziggy, what about you?” one of my old teachers calls out, prompting everyone to look my way.

“Yeah, what do you think we should do here, Ziggy?” Uncle Jimmy asks, worry crinkling his forehead as he slings his arm around Aunt Rainbow’s shoulders.

“I…well…first we should…” My words trail off when I realize I don’t have any suggestions.

I’m not sure what it is about me, but everywhere I go, people seem to turn to me for help in making difficult decisions. Those around me always expect me to have all the answers. But I have to admit that, in this moment, I’m just as clueless as everyone else.

Honestly, I just need to sneak off to my aunt’s back garden and meditate on all this for a minute. It’s hard to think when my head’s not clear.

“We should hire a lawyer, right?” someone else asks, still looking at me. “We’ll all pitch in to pay.”

“A…a lawyer…?” I hear myself stammer.

Internally, I’m freaking out. I can’t even afford my shop rent. How the hell am I supposed to help pay for a lawyer?

“I can help,” a deep baritone rumbles, carrying across the distance.Instantly, my knees knock together like cymbals in a marching band and my pulse starts to thrum.

I look over my shoulder, surprised to see Darius here on Aunt Rainbow’s front lawn, cutting through the crowd.

But his offer to help isn’t met with the reaction I’m betting he’d been expecting. Instead of cheers, he’s met with scoffs and laughter and yelling. Everyone goes up in arms, shouting at him, telling him all the reasons they don’t trust him. Can’t say I blame them.

“How can we trust you of all people to possibly help us? You bought my grandma’s house for pennies, flipped it, and made a killing off it.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t rent to my kid when he applied to live in one of your apartment buildings.”

“Your business dealings are just as shady as Edison’s,” someone adds.“Nobody believes a word you say, Brighton.”

Despite the opposition, Darius takes a confident step forward, billion dollar swagger dripping off of him. He climbs up Aunt Rainbow’s bottom step, turning it into his makeshift podium. “Look, I know that my business transactions may be… controversial at times. But that’s just business. The waterfall though, it isn’t business. It’s personal. I want to save the waterfall for the sake of the town. Just like you, I want it to remain accessible to all of us.”

“Hog wash!”

“How are we supposed to believe you?”

“Yeah, you could easily betray us all and build a spa just like Edison would.”

Frustration mars Darius’s face as he takes a verbal beating. He’s not getting through to the crowd and he knows it. His gaze shifts, finding mine and our eyes connect once again .

My tummy flip returns and I look away quickly. He doesn’t exist. Darius Brighton doesn’t exist.

“Aunt Rainbow, can I use your computer inside? I’d like to get started on some research,” I mumble, stepping away from the crowd.

She smiles softly and comes over to pat my arm. “Of course, dear. You’ll be our little secretary.”

As I’m passing by Darius on my way into Aunt Rainbow’s and Uncle Jimmy’s small house, I feel an electricity that makes my hair stand on end…

He doesn’t exist, Ziggy!!

Except I can feel his proximity in every fiber of my being.

Oh, hell. I really need to stay away from that man.