He accelerates, showing no fear. He’s going to crash right into me. Maybe scurry up my leg.
Oh, hell no.
I leap onto the couch, pride forgotten, and slam my head against the ceiling.
“Sonofabitch!”
Lucy’s eyes go round, and then, as I curse a blue streak, she breaks into a fit of giggles, wrapping her arms around her waist as if holding herself upright.
“I’m sorry,” she gasps. “It’s not funny, but…” Another hysterical laugh escapes, and I swear to Christ there are tears streaming down her dirt-stained face. “Well, you should’ve seen yourself. I’ve never seen you move so fast in my life.”
“Great.” I rub my forehead. It throbs like a motherfucker. I’m probably going to have a bruise, which will be super fun to explain to my brothers when I get home. “When you’re done there, maybe you could collect Gremlin and put him back in his prison cell?”
She straightens, swiping her palms over her cheeks. “Did you see where he went?”
Fuck no. I was too busy diving for cover. “Weren’t you watching him?”
Even through the dirt, I can see the pink flush filling her cheeks. “I was distracted.”
By me, leaping onto the couch like an asshole.
Because only an asshole would fear a hamster that probably weighs less than a pound.
The tips of my ears warm as my pride returns with a vengeance.
Gremlin isn’t a rat. Certainly nottherat.
Hell, millions of people keep hamsters as pets. They’re safe. Harmless. Friendly.
Or so I’m told.
I’ve got one hundred and eighty-five pounds on the little devil, and yet, every time I look at him, I feel like I’m four years old again, lying terrified in my own damn bed.
Perhaps some scars run too deep to ever fully heal.
“Oh, no.” Lucy rushes forward, breezing past me. “The door. I forgot it was open.”
Because I was blocking her view.
Just another delight of tiny living. A single person standing in the narrow aisle that runs the length of the trailer masks everything else.
She races out the door, not even slowing to shut it behind her.
I stare after her, heart racing.
I should go after her. Help her look. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do.
But my feet are cemented to the couch.
Besides, Lucy is a strong, capable woman. She doesn’t need my help to wrangle a hamster. She said herself this has happened before. She’ll catch Gremlin and put him back in his cage where he belongs, and then we can get on with our evening, rodent free.
A sharp cry pierces the air.
Lucy.
I’m off the couch in an instant, racing across the trailer.
Fucking fuck.
