Page 86 of Until It Was Real

A brown lump of fur is cowering in the corner.

“It’s a rat.” Rhett tries to pick it up but it swipes a paw at him.

“It’s not a rat. It’s Viking.” I kneel in front of her. “Hi, Viking. How did you get in here?”

The poor otter shakes as she stares up at me with big, brown eyes.

“Do you have any cookies? I need a cookie.”

“You need a cookie now?” Rhett asks.

I push him toward one of the doors. “Go look in the pantry. I assume you have a pantry. You must have something sweet. She prefers chocolate.”

“She? Am I searching for cookies for the otter?”

“Duh. She’s probably hungry. Who knows how long she’s been stuck in here.”

Rhett swears under his breath as he opens the pantry door and pulls out a bag of chocolate chip cookies. He hands me the bag. I rip it open, and suddenly I have an otter on my lap.

“Oh, poor baby. You’re starving.” I feed her pieces of a cookie as I chatter away to her. “How did you get in here anyway? Are you lost? Does Parker know where you are? We should phone her to let her know you’re fine. Do you want to stay with us tonight?”

“Stay with us tonight?” Rhett asks.

“Only until ten. I’ll drop her off at Parker’s on my way to the hotel.” She finishes up the cookie but I don’t give her more. I probably shouldn’t be feeding an otter chocolate chip cookies in the first place.

I stand with her in my arms. “How do you think she got in here?” I ask as I rock her back and forth.

“My asshole brothers.”

“What?”

As if on cue, the door bursts open and his brothers pile inside. “One. Two. Three. Four. We declare a prank war!”

Rhett crosses his arms over his chest and glares at them. “You need five siblings to declare a prank war.”

Kai waves his phone in the air. “We have a power of attorney from Eli.”

I giggle. “You have a power of attorney from Eli in order to declare a prank war?”

Jaxon pushes his glasses up his nose. “Apparently, only one power of attorney is allowed, so I got stuck coming here.”

Zane elbows him. “You need to spend more time with us. You’re getting boring.”

Miles snorts. “Getting?”

“You declared your prank war. Now, get out of here.” Rhett tries to herd them toward the door but no one moves.

“You know the rules. You get pranked. You buy everyone dinner,” Kai says.

Jaxon sighs. “Can’t we make an exception? I’m working on a new whiskey flavor.”

“All exceptions need agreement from five brothers,” Zane says.

Jaxon and Rhett raise their hands. “Exception!”

“No exception,” Kai, Zane, and Miles say in unison.

“Fine.” Rhett huffs. “Go to whatever restaurant you want and put it on my tab.”

---