Page 25 of Prey It By Ear

Holding up a hand, I motion like I’m zipping my lips, and my brother sighs in relief. “Thank fuck someone got him to stop before it makes my ears bleed.”

“Uh, I’m going to… C’mon, Felix,” Chessie says as he points at the rental booth, his face flushed bright red. “Let’s get this done so we can keep Fitz away from the normal people.”

If I had any shame, I’d be offended by that, but luckily, my give a fuck has been broken for decades.

* Thank the goddess.

some nights

Delores

The SUV is pretty big, but so are Aubrey and Rennie, plus the twins aren’t exactly small either. As for me and my giant thumpers, I’m wedged between two sleeping men while I read. We had them remove most of the seats so there was a place for a snoozing pallet, and that’s where I’m flat on my back distracting myself. It’s easier to do this and have people take turns napping next to me than have everyone bickering the whole drive back to France. It’s not a short drive and I’m not eager to find out what happens to a car if Aubrey loses his shit entirely.

Plus, it means no one is asking me to drive this behemoth, which is A-okay with me.

“How are you doing back there?” Fitz stage whispers from his seat next to Felix in the front. Chessie is lying across the one bench of seats between us, also snoozing, and I pop my head over the seat to shush my nutty mate.

“Shhhh.” My frown is gentle, but firm. “Don’t wake them all up, Fitzy.”

He grins, putting his hand over his mouth, and something in my head buzzes for a second before the sound of kisses echoes in my skull. My eyes widen as I hold on to the seat, watching his smug expression as he mimes the same action without sound.

“Stop that,” I say indignantly in my mind. “What did we say about using this before everyone can play along?”

Felix snorts, but it sounds more victorious than humorous. I guess he and Fitz have discussed this privately, and I just proved him right.

“Baby Girl, I enjoy being in your head,” the younger tiger whines. “It’s not fair.”

I make a soft buzzing sound and give him a thumbs down. “Incorrect. It is very fair to make sure we’re not leaving people out, and you know it. Now go back to counting license plates or whatever you were doing so I can read.”

“He’s supposed to be navigating.” Felix grumbles his retort, and I have to stifle a laugh as I lie back down. “Some first mate he is. You should never let him have the pirate costume now.”

Oh, boy. This pirate wench thing must be one of their things because it’s never going away.

Knowing it’s easier to indulge the twins when I want them to unify, I pick up my phone and text Fitz.

Baby Girl: I will have Rufus and Cori make something after we get everything handled for the start of school.

TigerWoody: For Halloweenie?

BabyGirl: Maybe, maybe just for us. Just behave so the big guys have to behave while you and Felix nap, hmm?

TigerWoody: Aye, aye, Captain Baby Girl! Awaiting when you can shiver me timbers.

I snort, shaking my head as I cover my mouth so I don’t giggle at his insane antics, even in text messages.

As Aubrey would say, ‘For fuck’s sake, Fitz’.

Once he goes back to bothering his twin, I sit my phone on my stomach and go back to my Kindle. Since this area isn’t as… quaint… as where we’ve been previously, I’m able to hop off my phone signal to get Wi-Fi and I search up something new. I read a lot of the things I downloaded for the vacation faster than I intended, and I need more to keep me going until we get home. Sighing quietly, I search the genres I like, hoping to find something that looks like it has everything I like so I don’t end up giving up in the first few chapters.

I’m not super picky, but I like things to not only have a plot but also keep me guessing, and also have lots of emotion and some steam. That didn’t used to be hard to find, but it’s getting more difficult to whet my appetite satisfactorily, especially as I mark off things I don’t like. That’s the life of an avid reader, though, I guess, but it’s damn annoying. Wrinkling my nose, I look at the covers as I scroll through, avoiding anything that looks like it was made with EI—I’ll be damned if I’m going to support that stupid ass Erikson-led robot-algorithm-intelligence bullshit. Heather E. and her family can shove that right up their criminal asses as far as I’m concerned.

But that’s something I don’t have freaking room for on my plate at the moment, so all I can do is scoff and refuse to be part of it.

“No surprise the plastic puppies all love it, though,” I mutter to myself as I continue to search for something that looks good. “They’re living with so few original parts that they might as well be Termi-gators, anyway.”

“Mmm? What’s that, cherie?” Rennie mumbles.

I grin a bit as I reach over to run my hand over his hair. His tail has been wrapped around one of my legs since he laid down, and it’s too precious to spoil by waking him. “Nothing, amour. Retourne dormir.⁠*”