Page 36 of Down in Flames

“Dumbass,” West said affectionately, trailing Michael across the porch and around the corner of the house. “She’s fine. It’s Aiden you should be worried about.”

“Aaaah!” Aiden screamed, as if on cue, and a clamor of voices suddenly chimed in.

“How in the darned hell—”

“Grab the head!”

“—unwrap it first.”

“Sure it ain’t poisonous?”

As they came around to the side porch, they were greeted by pure pandemonium. Aiden was backed up against the rail, flailing, while a five-foot snake tightened around his neck. His eyes showed white all around, and Cal had his arms pinned behind his back to stop him from scrabbling at the coils. Abigail was tugging on his shirt, yelling at the top of her little lungs that he was just trying to be friends.

“That’s our Abby.” West grinned, elbowing Michael in the ribs, and the exasperation on his face had him laughing.

“Christ,” Michael muttered, dragging a hand over his face.

“Cal, if you don’t let me go right now, I’m going to break your face!” Aiden roared, planting an elbow in his gut.

Cal grunted. “Just calm down, buddy. It ain’t big enough to hurt you.”

“Try saying that when it’s choking you!”

“If you’re talking, you’re not choking,” Celia interjected in her no-nonsense manner. She had her hands jammed down into the shearling-lined pockets of her denim jacket, hunched against the chill and looking half-asleep. “Abby, what is that thing?”

Michael’s little girl was standing on her tippy toes and reaching to unravel the snake, but Celia dragged her away. Aggravated, she planted her hands on her hips and thrust out her chin. “I don’t know,” she admitted reluctantly.

Aiden sputtered.

“But it’s not a rattlesnake!” she yelled, face red with frustration. “That’s the only venomous kind we’ve got around here. He was just smelling around. It would have been fine if Aiden hadn’t freaked out and scared him!”

The snake was thick-bodied, mottled yellow and black, with an angry slash above its eyes that made it look cartoonishly grumpy. It didn’t look scared to West, but it was starting to look mighty pissed. If it weren’t so cold that morning, it probably would have already bitten.

“Aw, it’s just a little ol’ gopher snake,” he drawled, squeezing past Celia to guide the snake’s head over his forearm. Goosebumps prickled over his bare skin as the cool scales slithered up his bicep.

“West! I was getting food for Patches and look what I found!” She hurled herself at him, wrapping her skinny arms around his waist, and he hurriedly caught his towel before it slipped.

“Oh shit, don’t make it mad,” Aiden moaned when the snake whipped its head around to stare at him with unblinking eyes.

West ignored him, and before anyone else had sacked up enough to help, he had that snake dangling off his shoulders like he was a tree. Everyone stared at him like he’d just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

“I used to catch these fellas all the time when I was a kid,” West explained with a grin.

Aiden squawked indignantly. “It’s almost as tall as me!”

“Darn near petite,” West agreed. “There’s a seven-footer down near Powder Creek.”

Aiden’s throat flexed and he turned a sickly shade of green.

“If you’re going to puke, aim it over the railing,” Celia barked. “We just got this porch finished, and you’re not going to undo all my hard work.”

“Abigail, where did you find that thing?” Michael asked. He was trying to sound stern, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. The struggle to keep his lips from twitching was written all over his face.

“Under the house!” she replied brightly, squealing with laughter when Michael scooped her up and blew a raspberry into her neck.

Growling like a bear, he pulled back and asked, “What did I tell you about respecting personal space, young lady?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

---