I looked around while Coye spoke to the girl and did whatever he needed to do. Once he was finished, he handed me a wristband to put on.
“Are you ready to see some animals?”
“I guess.” I shrugged.
Coye seemed a little too excited, and I wasn’t sure how to feel. I wasn’t an animal hater, but I didn’t love them either.
We went through a gate, passed the birdcages, and entered a totally different area. It felt like we were in the middle of a safari. I would have never guessed it was this big just from looking at the outside of the building.
“Wow.” I was amazed by the giraffes walking around. Some were eating from the tall trees.
“Crazy, right?” Coye asked as he pulled me closer.
“Ooh, look. There’s even a baby. Aww.” I cooed as I pointed to the smaller giraffe sitting down.
After watching the giraffes for a few minutes, we continued on. The area expanded further than I thought.
We saw kangaroos, sloths, mini donkeys, wallabies, zebras, bearded dragons, and so many more animals.
“Why do you think my brother is so against us dating?”
That question had been in my mind since my brother’s remark when he saw us arriving together.
His focus was on the capybaras as someone fed them some green vegetables. They were the cutest thing and probably my favorite from the animals we’d seen.
A few silent seconds passed before Coye turned to face me.
“I think it’s just because you are his little sister and he feels like he has to protect you from everything. He never wants to see you hurting, but that’s something he can’t control. At the same time, he knows that I am a good dude and would never do anything to fuck over you or him. He’ll be pissed whenever he finds out, but I know he’ll get over it. Now, come on. I have one more thing to show you.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me in a different direction from where I thought we were supposed to go.
Immediately, the smell of water hit me. I wasn’t sure what we would see, but I knew I didn’t want any parts of it.
My shoulders tensed when my eyes landed on the sea otters.
“Oh, hell no!” I tried to turn around but couldn’t move because of Coye’s strong ass arms around my waist.
“River, look at me.”
My chest heaved as I started to hyperventilate.
I shook my head rapidly. Sea otters scared the shit out of me, and Coye knew that.
“You hate me or something? Because why else would you bring me here?” My emotions went from scared to angry.
Coye rubbed his hands up and down my arms, then leaned forward and pecked my lips.
“Don’t ever say no shit like that. You know damn well I don’t hate you. I brought you here because I wanted to show you that you can face your fears. I promise you that everything will be fine. You told me you trusted me, and now I need you to show me that you do.”
I peeked over and shuddered as one of them creatures looked in our direction. At least that was what I thought. I wasn’t sure what the hell he was looking at.
I had a fear of sea otters since I was younger and learned of the bad shit they do. From what I learned, they abandoned their babies sometimes, kidnapped them, and forced the mother togive them food in order to get them back, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. They did some other heinous shit that I didn’t even want to think about.
“Coye,” I whined, but he wasn’t trying to hear it.
“Just try it. If you feel like you can’t after a few minutes, we’ll leave.”
There were a few people in some type of enclosure with some of the otters, and I even saw people in a pool with them. They were out of their minds.
