Layla’s piercing scream had me on my feet and sprinting to the common room, as well as every brother in the general vicinity. Layla was standing on top of the bar, screaming the place down, but she froze when her eyes landed on all the guns pointed at her.
“Locks?” I questioned as I scanned the area for the threat.
She sniffled, and my eyes shot up to see tears streaming down her pale face as she pointed behind the bar with a shaky finger. “S-sn-snake,” she stammered.
I sighed, partially in relief and partially in exasperation, and holstered my gun as I walked around behind the bar and scooped up Slither. “Sorry, Locks. They don’t get out often, but when they do, they look for somewhere warm and below the ice machine is one of their favorite places.”
“They?” she shrieked. “There’s more?”
I chuckled, “Just one more. This is Slither, and the other one is Squeeze. Bronze and I got them for Christmas when we were kids. Will you hold him so I can see if Squeeze is under there, too?”
She was already shaking her head and holding her hands out to ward me off. “Hell, no. You and your snake stay away from me!”
“That’s not what you said last night,” I smirked and her cheeks flushed.
“Well, it’s what I’ll be saying tonight for damn sure,” she said and planted her hands on her hips.
“I’ll take him,” Bronze said. “Sorry, bro, I guess I forgot to latch the top of their cage.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
He laughed. “Nothing will ever be as bad as the first time they escaped.”
“What happened the first time?” Layla asked.
Bronze began telling her the story while I crawled around on the floor looking for the damn snake. “Like Copper said, we got them for Christmas when we were kids. We begged and begged for them for months, and finally, our dad got our mom to agree. We were so excited about them that I guess we forgot to latch the cage. Mom went to take a nap before dinner and found them curled up under the covers in her bed. Let’s just say, after that, we didn’t forget to latch the cage again until we were out on our own.”
“Got him,” I said proudly as I pulled the three-foot-long snake out from under one of the couches.
Layla shuddered. “I don’t think I can work here any more,” she whispered.
“Aw, Locks, they’re harmless.”
“Says the President of a motorcycle club. Somehow, I think your definition of harmless has been skewed.”
“That might be the case in some instances, but I’m serious, these guys won’t hurt you. They’re nonvenomous and too small to kill a human by constricting,” I explained.
“They can still bite,” she argued.
I nodded. “Yes, they can, but we’ve had them for over twenty years, and they’ve never bitten anyone. While they’re pretty to look at, they’re actually very boring pets.”
A look of sudden horror washed over Layla’s face. “Where do those things live?” she whispered.
“They’ve always lived at the clubhouse. After they got out on the first day, Mom wouldn’t let us bring them home. Their habitat is in Spazz’s room,” Bronze said.
“Why Spazz’s room?”
“They were in Bronze’s room but had to be moved after the attack,” I grumbled.
“Oh, well, at least they weren’t hurt,” Layla said awkwardly.
“Yeah,” I replied and handed Squeeze to my brother. “Latch the cage this time, bro. I need to get back to work.”
A few hours later, I was elbow deep in invoices when someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” I called out.
Tiny, my Road Captain, came through the door with a manila envelope in his hand. “A courier just delivered this at the gate,” he said, placing it on my desk.
Assuming it was more paperwork for the damn insurance company, I ripped it open and pulled out the stack of papers. I was confused at first, unsure of what I was seeing. When it clicked, I closed my eyes, opened them, and looked at the papers again. Nope, they were still the same.