The paparazzi guy shifts his weight.
Glances at his phone.
Glances at us.
Then he puts the Cheerios back on the shelf and walks away.
I wait a full thirty seconds before peeking out from behind Phoenix's cardigan.
"Did that actually work?" I whisper.
Phoenix's chest is still shaking with suppressed laughter under my palms. "I think so?"
"Nobody," Raf says, pulling himself together with visible effort, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, "would suspect Vespyr acts like fucking dumbasses in a Trader Joe's. That's our superpower. We're too stupid to be famous."
"Speak for yourself," Phoenix snorts.
"You're the himbo here. Right, Bells?"
I hesitate and bite my lip because honestly, they're both dorks.
I kind of love it.
I somehow extract myself from the alpha sandwich and smooth down my hoodie, trying to look like a normal person who was not just hiding from a photographer.
"Okay." I blow out a breath. "Cart. Clockwise. Let's go."
We recover.
By the time we hit the dairy section, things have settled into something resembling a rhythm. I read from the list. Phoenix grabs things from high shelves without being asked because he's the tallest of the three of us. Raf pushes the cart and asks questions about every third item like he's studying for an exam.
"Why do we need two kinds of cheese?"
"Because cheddar and parmesan are different things, Raf."
"They're both cheese."
"And you're both an alpha and wrong."
Phoenix snorts.
Raf flips me off but puts both cheeses in the cart.
We round the corner into the drinks aisle and Phoenix stops dead.
"Holy shit."
I nearly crash the cart into his legs. "What?"
He's staring at the top shelf like he's found the Holy Grail.
I crane my neck. Dark burgundy bottles lined up in a neat row, maybe eight or nine of them, with a label featuring a dragonfruit split open in cross-section.
"Rex lives on these," Phoenix says, already reaching up with both hands. "They're meal replacement shakes. They stopped carrying them at the place near the studio six months ago. He orders them online but they're always running out."
He's pulling bottles off the shelf with sudden urgency, like someone might take them from him.
"All of them?" Raf confirms, grabbing the others.