“Jane’s from Tarzan, and please don’t compare yourself to Indiana Jones. You’ll never win.”
Test number two: Passed.
Wait, actually, no. Now I’m a little bit jealous. What the hell does she mean that I can’t win against Harrison Ford?
That’s it. She’s banned from watching movies with him in it.
All morning, Bella has been either ignoring me or giving me her very obviously distracted attention. I’m inclined to pull over andmakeher give me her full attention, but she’s lucky that we’ve got an appointment to make, and we’re already late.
It's time to change tactics and say something that will really get her going.Pull out the big guns, as they say. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. While in prison, I read this book that said that when snakes lay eggs, you should always spin and tip the eggs a couple of times to help them grow strong.”
I bite back my grin and wait for her toexplode.
She drops the bag and looks up at me with crazed eyes. “You’ll kill it if you do that!”
Bingo.
Yes, Princess, I very painfully remember the YouTube phase you went through. I had to sit and watchhoursof egg-hatching and snake breeding videos.Weirdo.I’m practically traumatized—but I still didn’t hesitate to get the Mojave ball python tattooed on my wrist.
Christ. The things I’d do for this girl.
Andtothis girl.
Note to self: Once we pull over, Google how long she needs to recover so we can go another round or two.
“The book also said that if you see mold growing, run it under hot water and use a toothbrush to clean it.” I’m trying so hard to hide my grin, but damn it, I’m failing. She’s just too easy to rile up.
Over hypothetical snake eggs, of all things.
“Mickey!” she gasps, like I killed a dog or something. I’m not sure why she’s acting like either of us will be breedingorraising a clutch of snake eggs anytime in the foreseeable future, but I guess she’s preparing for the unlikely event it does happen. “No! You can’t do that. You’ll damage the shell and risk hurting the snake.You could kill it,”she says with haunted eyes. “You have to sprinkle antifungal powder to try to save the egg.”
So much passion in such a little body.
I pinch her cheek, and she slaps my hand away—as expected. So I send her a wink. “I’m justeggingyou on. No baby snakes are being harmed. Promise.”
“Snakelet. Not ‘babysnake.’” She scoffs, doing a cute nose scrunch. “It’s like saying baby dog instead of puppy.”
Out of everyone, I find Bella the easiest to read. Glaring and nose scrunching usually means she’s angry. Red cheeks and fluttering lashes mean she’s feeling flustered. Who knows what the fuck the rest means. She usually gives me a piece of her mind and fills in the blanks for me.
My phone buzzes for what has to be the tenth time in the past half hour. I check the GPS and slow down to a stop in front of a block of decrepit apartments.
Damien sticks out like a sore thumb in this shitty neighborhood, leaning against his bike like an A-class predator. I’d say we’re pretty equal on the hunter scale, but at this moment, I’m envious of the prick; I want to feel the wind around me as I ride my goddamn bike.
But, I gave it up for Bella.
I’m driving a 2006 Toyota pickup instead of the other love of my life, my BMW GS.
“Why are we here?” themainlove of my life asks.
“To get IDs.”
She stares at me, mouth ajar. “This was the surprise? You seriously couldn’t have told me this last night.”
I shrug, grabbing my gun from the glove compartment. “It didn’t seem like a big deal.”
“Are you kidding me? We’re on the run because someone almostmurderedme, then you started driving us to God knows whereat night, and you didn’t think telling me where we were going was important?”I pause with my hand on the door, glaring at her because the reminder of the fucker holding a gun to her head sets me off. I should have kept stabbing him, or beaten his sorry ass up before he died.
“Sorry. Well, now you know.” I’m out of the car before she can blow up. Unless I cool my shit, we’ll probably have another murder on my hands.
