Page 58 of Venomous as a Snake

“It’s fun when—” Forrest stops suddenly, straightening his shoulders as he surveys our surroundings.

Kody watches him closely, then she spins in a slow circle, head tilted to listen. She nods, urging us forward as Collin’s aqua-blue Corvette Stingray comes into view. Forrest’s Suburban sits beside it, our awaiting chariot ready to deliver us safely home.

A man stumbles from between two cars, bumping into Drew. The honey badger rights him before taking a step back. And the guy swings, clocking Drew’s jaw.

“You’re sleeping with my mate,” he slurs in accusation.

There’s an uncomfortable silence as we register what he just said.

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Drew placates, trying to diffuse the situation before it becomes anything more. “I’m not sleeping with anyone’s mate but my own.”

“If you’re fucking mine, I’m going to fuck—”

The honey badger pounces, knocking the man to the ground. As they land, Forrest jumps in to separate them, but Drew has him in a chokehold. The man claws at Drew’s arms before passing out.

And as if cued by the stranger’s inability to shout…

Gunshots whiz through the air, narrowly missing Kody and Collin.

“That was a clever fucking trap,” Drew grumbles as he pulls Forrest lower to the ground.

“What are we doing?” Collin asks, looking to Walker for direction.

“We need to get to the Suburban,” Kody instructs quietly. “There are guns—”

Another round of shots has us splitting apart. Walker and I crouch beside a minivan, peeking through the windows for our gunmen. Forrest helps Drew drag the drunk guy out of harm’s way. And Kody whispers to Collin, saying something about the surrounding cars.

“I doubt any of them are unlocked,” Drew calls out.

“This is why I bought the fucking tesla,” she hisses back. “If it can pick me up at the front of the grocery store, then it can pick us up in the middle of the parking lot.”

“I still feel like you paid too much for something so small,” he counters.

“Shut up,” I mutter. “Argue about it later.”

Walker sighs, dropping to his belly to peer under the cars for our assailants’ feet.

“If I shift, I can fit under most of these,” I murmur to him.

Kody sees what Walker is doing and mimics him. She only searches for a moment before she’s untying Collin’s tennis shoes and ripping the laces free.

“What are you—”

“Shhh.”

She points to the back of the car and holds up two fingers.

Someone is approaching from two cars over. Collin nods in understanding as she slithers her tiny human frame underneath the nearest sedan, waiting to ambush her prey.

I move forward, inching closer to Drew and Forrest as they both begin to undress.

“I’ll keep them busy. You make some noise,” the honey badger says before glancing at me. “You bite. Walker gets the keys.”

“I’m the getaway driver?” his brother inquires skeptically.

“You’re too big to fit under the cars, and not big enough to flip them,” Drew states.

Walker shrugs. “Fair.”