Page 11 of Missiletoe
Who the heck was Gareth? He sounded like an asshole to me and was probably someone who had no business holding my bunny. I cradled Vix closer to my chest and followed Baz to their car.
Once again, I was stopped in my tracks. “It’s very…pink.”
“Electric pink, yes. And it’s Vix’s favorite color, so if you have a problem with it then you can keep it to yourself.”
Baz pushed a button on a key fob, and the back door slid open, retracting into the side of the car like a sliding door even though there didn’t seem to be any room for it to do so.
I got in with my precious cargo and had to crouch down slightly to fit.
Baz frowned. “I don’t think you actually need to come with us. I can probably find someone to get him out of the car once we’re home.”
I grunted and stayed put. If this Gareth person could cuddle with Vix in the back seat, so could I, and I’d do a better job of it.
My bunny continued to lay limply in my arms, utterly defenseless and adorable. His arms were floppy, so I tucked them against his chest and then curled him up against mine.
“You don’t need to touch him so much,” Baz grouched as he hit the start button on the dashboard.
The car didn’t make a sound as it came to life, but there was a subtle vibration under me that let me know it was running. My bunny made this machine? He was so much smarter than me and probably far out of my league, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
If I let small things like qualifications stop me, I’d never have become the director of the best animal shelter in the state. I just kept plowing through books until I learned what I needed to in order to take care of my friends properly.
I’d started with college books, but the words swam across the page, so I stopped and replaced those books with simpler ones. Audiobooks were easier to digest, but there weren’t a lot of animal care books available in that form.
Learning how to do my job is still a work in progress. “Never stop learning,” my mom always says. “Once a person decides they know enough to get by, that’s the day they give up on living.”
Since I’m planning on having a long and happy life, I’ve decided to keep going with my studies until the day I die. I’ll never be able to build a car like that though.
Or a freeze ray, for that matter. The fact that my bunny could do both had me squeezing him harder than I probably should have, but he needed to be protected all the time.
Baz seemed to have that locked down, but there was no such thing as Vix being too safe, was there? Would Vix put up with having another person in his life who wanted to watch over him?
I pondered how to make that happen while Baz drove us to their home. He pulled the car into their driveway and eased it into their garage, but instead of turning off the car, he hit a button overhead, and we began to descend.
We went down for at least two minutes before we came to a stop. I took in my surroundings and marveled at the fleet of vehicles I found there.
“Is that an armored truck?” I asked as I scooted out of the car. My bunny was as light as a feather, so it was no trouble bringing him with me.
“Don’t look at it. In fact, don’t look at anything. Keep your eyes on the floor. Just… get back in the car and stay there while I see who else is here.”
I ignored Baz and continued to take in the underground car-lover’s wet dream. Okay, it was mine. I was the one nearly creaming my pants over the collection of Ferraris, Humvees, recreational vehicles, and the ugliest car I’d ever seen in my life.
Okay, I wasn’t excited about that last one. It looked like Hell had thrown up on it.
I was about to ask about the godawful monstrosity, but a tall, lean man stormed toward us at just under a run. He was dressed in black from head to toe and had dark, tousled hair stuffed into a messy bun on the back of his head.
His handsome face was pulled into a scowl. Dark shadows surrounded his entire body, and I’d never seen anything like it in my life. It put me on edge immediately, and I cradled my bunny protectively.
“What happened?” the man demanded.
“There was a mix-up in our timetable, and Vix slipped right through it like he’d been waiting for it to happen,” Baz said. “This wouldn’t have happened if Gareth wasn’t out of town. I swear that if it wasn’t for Apple, this entire place would have collapsed by now.”
“Who’s Apple?” I asked.
“Who areyou?” The tall man asked coldly. Without waiting for my answer, he reached out to take my bunny from me, and I stepped back. The snarl I gave him was a sound I never thought I’d make, but I didn’t know the guy, and he radiated bad guy vibes like a Marvel villain.
He wasn’t laying a hand on my bunny.
“He’s okay, Vale,” Baz said, surprising me. He hadn’t been acting like he thought I was okay. “Weird, but harmless.”
