Page 48 of The Rabbit's Foot
Cece snickered. “Where’s your car? I’ll come with you.”
“You should stay with me,” Damon said, his tone letting Alp know it wasn’t a request.
“And you should go get some coffee and chill out.” She gripped Alp’s hand. “Your car?”
Oh. Shit. “Mal?”
He sighed. “I forgot too.” He turned to Damon. “Could we borrow one of your vehicles? I’ve got my bike, and—”
“You have a cycle?” Damon asked, his eyes wide and sparkling. “What kind?”
“A 1951 Vincent Black Shadow,” Mal said proudly. “I restored it myself.”
If Alp didn’t know better, he would swear Damon was drooling. He tossed a set of keys to Alp, who snagged them in midair. “Cece, go with Alp and get the food. I’ll stay here.”
“And just like that, thrown over for a motorcycle. Great.” She chuckled. “C’mon, let’s go before he realizes what he’s done.”
They them walked off, with the other two men following close behind.
“I wanted it to be the two of us, but my shadows won’t leave until Damon says it’s okay.”
Alp sniffed. “They don’t smell like wolves.”
“They’re not,” she told him. “They’re Ursus arctos middendorffi, otherwise known as Kodiak bears.” She pointed at one. “This is Ivan, and that one is his brother, Teddy.” She snorted. “I do get such a charge out of Teddy the bear.”
Alp gaped at her, and she laughed. For such a big person, it was a soft, delicate sound that Alp liked immediately.
“I’m not just a pretty face, Alp. I’ve got brains, charm oozing out of my pores, and looks.” She nudged him with a shoulder. “Baby, I’m the whole package.”
“They’re bears, and you can beat them?” Alp whispered, realizing the two men would likely hear him.
Cece turned to her bodyguards. “Who won in our last fight?”
The one man’s—Teddy—cheeks flamed. “You did, ma’am.”
“And did I take only you on?”
The other one cringed and toed the soil, clearly uncomfortable. “No, you beat us both.”
“Uh, you’re forgetting the best part.”
“At the same time,” they echoed, and it was easy to see they were trying hard to not roll their eyes.
“And it wasn’t just once,” Cece said with a cackle.
They got to the vehicles, and she pointed to another truck. “You two take that one and follow us.”
“But we’re supposed to—”
“Follow. Us,” she said, clipping her words. “There’s going to be a lot of food, and I don’t want to make more than one trip.”
Dutifully they got into one of the 2020 Chevrolet Silverados. Cece slipped into the driver’s seat of theirs, then held her hand out. “Keys.”
Alp passed her the keys.
She started the truck and asked Alp where they were headed. Once he told her, he scowled.
“I can drive, you know.”
