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"We found this little guy in the front. I assume he's yours?" Kieran points to his arm. Daisy is cuddling into the crook of his elbow, and he soothingly runs his fingers over her back. I can’t help but stare at it. Daisy appears super relaxed, and not at all her usual skittish self.

"How did you get out?" I finally ask the black rabbit and fight my way up with only one arm. Evan offers me his hand, but I shake my head.

"Is this Daisy?” I nod. I can’t believe Kieran remembers her name. “Ahw. What a cute little lady."

"She is, indeed.” I take a deep breath and try to sort my thoughts.

“Okay, I'm going to call Mom and tell her what's going on, and then we’re going to make a plan. We got this, Brooke." Evan turns around and walks back outside. Now it's only Kieran and me, a bunch of scared animals, and an awkward silence settling between us.

"You can go," I say, voice barely above a whisper, and extend an arm for the rabbit. “I’ve got this.”

But Kieran shakes his head. "Tell me how to help, Brooke."

Chapter 9

Kieran

She stares at me blankly. Then her attention darts to the rabbit in my arms and back to my face.

I know I wanted a distraction from the holidays, but I meant the good kind. Spontaneously winning an anti-Christmas-cruise-vacation, finding a treasure map, that kind of thing.

All I could think about once Erik left my car was how close her shelter is to the park. Hell, it’s only separated by a damn street.

And yes, Evan’s tattoo shop has a similar location, but tattoo equipment is replaceable. The cute, giant dogs and her other animals are not. I braced myself for the worst, so if smoke damage is the worst thing to come out of this, I'm relieved.

Brooke's shoulders sink with dejection. "I have to relocate the animals until I know how bad the smoke damage in here is." She runs a hand over her face and exhales a shaky breath.

"There are some transport boxes in the basement." She pulls a key off her keychain and hands it to me. "Can you please get them up here? I'll try to figure out where they can stay."

"Sure thing." I grab the key and I get to work.

Goddamn, this is the creepiest basement I've ever seen. At first, it appears normal. Blank concrete walls, knickknacks stacked on shelves, but something about this place gives me the heebie-jeebies. Maybe this basement is haunted. It has to be an evil entity though, because I’ve never felt this creeped out at Kylie’s or Nic’s places.

The transport boxes are neatly stacked right next to the stairs. I bring them up one by one. The evil ghost will not trip me.

As I carry the last one up, Brooke leans her butt against the reception counter, arms crossed in front of her chest, and stares into nothingness.

"Did you find a place to board them?"

"Yes. No." She lets out a deep sigh and rubs her eyes. "My parents offered me some space, in one of their barns, but it gets really fucking cold in there at night. It will work in a pinch, but I'm not happy about it. All other shelters in the area are either already at full capacity, or nobody answered the phone."

I take in the room, and I mentally add up the kennels in the back. "I have a garage and two guest rooms, if it helps?"

She turns to me slowly. “Guest rooms?”

“You’re not planning on sleeping at your apartment upstairs when you’re evacuating your animals because the smoke might be bad for them. Right?” Her eyes widen and her lips part ever so slightly as if she hadn’t even considered it. “Not happening, Brooke.”

"I wasn’t.” She clears her throat and ducks her head. Sure she wasn’t. “Kieran, don't offer unless you mean it."

"Why wouldn’t I mean it?" I sigh. I thought we got somewhere with our last conversation. Why is she still so apprehensive?

Her eyes drill into my forehead, clearly fighting an internal battle on whether to take me up on my offer.

"I swear, Brooke, I don't use my garage at all. There are some gardening tools I've never used in there and a few failed hobby attempts. And I have a heater we can put in there for the night." The battle is entering its finale, and I don’t know which side is in the lead until she opens her mouth again.

"Are you sure it’s okay?"

I nod. "Yes, I'm sure." Hell, if it comes to it, we could all have a sleepover in my living room. She’s not exactly hosting a zoo in here.