Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“He’s swamped at the moment, so time is getting away from him easily. I wouldn’t worry too much. I’ve got the others covering the desk for me. As long as we don’t linger I’ll be okay.”
Sunny moved inside, Autumn following her. Brody went back and grabbed the keys out of the truck. Sure, it was unlikely that anyone would steal the vehicle while they were in the middle of nowhere, but he didn’t want to have to explain to Duke that they’d left the keys in the ignition if that happened. As he was shutting the door, something ran over his bare hand.
Suddenly, he screamed and threw himself backward, shaking his hands frantically. As he was patting himself down, Sunny and Tutu ran out of the house toward him.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Autumn asked, running her hands over him. “Where are you hurt?”
“I . . . it . . .” he heaved for breath. “Spider.”
“Oh no! Where is it? I’ll get it off you.”
“G-gone.”
“Come on. Come inside.” Autumn slid under his right arm, while Sunny moved around to his left.
Okay, so he felt a tad silly having them both help him walk. But he was feeling a bit weak as they led him inside. They sat him down on a comfy sectional, and Tutu pulled a paper bag from her handbag.
Thank God.
He took it and started breathing into it as Tutu rubbed his back.
“I’ll see if I can find him a drink.” Sunny jumped up and poured him a glass of water, rushing back with it.
When he had his breathing under control, Brody pulled the paper bag away from his mouth.
“Sorry,” he muttered, feeling embarrassed.
Sunny patted his knee as Autumn hugged him tight.
“Don’t be sorry, those spiders can be scary,” Sunny said. “They’re so creepy.”
They were! Super creepy.
“This place is really nice,” he said after taking a few sips of water. It was a large open-plan area with a big kitchen at the back and a staircase that led up to the second level.
“Once the fire is going, it will be magical,” Autumn said, turning around in a spin. “What do you think? Do you reckon we can get the Fox and Duke to agree to spend a few nights here?”
Sunny blew out a breath. “We might need to be tricky about it.”
“How tricky?” Brody asked nervously.
“As in trick them into coming. We could come up here on Christmas Eve, then call them and say that we’ve broken down, give them this address, and then! Ta-da. We’re here, the place is hired, the turkey is in the oven. Let’s stay the night! It’s a perfect plan.” Sunny wandered over to the window.
“That has disaster written all over it,” Autumn whispered to Brody who nodded.
“We’d be lucky to get away a second time without the Fox knowing.”
“Uh-oh.”
Both of them turned to Sunny.
“What is it?” Brody asked.
“It’s starting to snow,” she explained. “I think we better go. Duke won’t be happy if I drive in the snow.”
Brody was pretty sure Duke wouldn’t be happy if he found out she’d driven up here anyway.
They all headed out, and Sunny placed the key back under the rock. Brody opened the front passenger seat and helped Autumn into her seat before climbing into the backseat.
Sunny stared down at the steering wheel. “Um, what happened to the keys?”
“Oh, shoot!” Brody said. “I took them out. I didn’t want anyone to steal Duke’s truck.”
Sunny turned to grin at him. “Okay. Can I have them now, though? I kind of need them to start the truck.”
“Sure.” He patted his pockets and then a sense of doom filled him. “Shoot!”
“What is it?” Autumn asked, turning to stare at him in concern.
“I . . . I had them in my hand when the spider. Oh no. Oh no.” He opened the door and tried to jump out, only for the seatbelt to tug him back.
Urgh! Stupid seatbelt!
Sunny groaned. “You dropped them, didn’t you?”
If only. He was pretty certain that he’d thrown them. They all got out of Duke’s truck and started looking around.
Where are they?
The snow started coming down harder. Crap.
This was not good. Really, really not good.
“Well, this looks like a fun game. What exactly are we playing?” a voice drawled from behind them.
With a shriek, Brody jumped into the air and turned to see the Fox standing right there. His voice sounded amused.
His face looked anything but.
Crap.
16
FOX, PUP, AND BUNNY
The Fox attempted to keep his emotions in check.
However, it was a hard battle.
Strange. It had never been this hard before. But when he’d been alerted that his two babies had left his lair when they weren’t supposed to go anywhere, he’d felt a surge of fear.
After ascertaining that they’d left of their own free will rather than under duress, he quickly turned around and started to follow them. They’d had a fair head start on him since he’d been about an hour away in the opposite direction.