Page 61 of Darling Beasts

“What are you talking about? Dadsued. He got the place shut down.”

Ozzie’s face went white. “You knew about that?”

Thwap.We hit a telephone pole.

“Okay, guys, one more shot,” Brody said, but none of us were listening.

“I’m not an idiot. I saw the cast and the sling,” I said. “I noticed the hushed conversations. And yeah, maybe I wasn’t at the top of my game, ready to step in and fight for you or whatever, but I had my own stuff going on. You might remember talk of a wolverine.”

The day before Ozzie returned home, a wolverine scratched the shit out of the pantry. Flare number seven, the worst of the bunch. Honestly, how could dos Santos not buy my theory? It was a miracle this balloon basket wasn’t infested with animals.

“I’m sorry, a wolverine?” Talia said.

“Yep! That pesky condition of mine. A wolverine in the kitchen, followed shortly thereafter by an emu.”

“Hey, everyone, we gotta brace ourselves for a crash landing,” Brody announced. “I’m gonna aim for a backyard. Hopefully one without a pool.”

“Oh God,” I wailed.

“Holy shit,” Talia said, grinning, oddly triumphant for someone floating to her death. “This is all adding up. The cargo plane. The birds.” She looked at Ozzie. “It’s Gabby’s fault you were cut off. She used Dad’s credit card to charter a flight for a flock of flamingos.”

“What the fuck!” Ozzie barked.

“Okay, guys, get ready,” Brody said.

“A flamboyance,” I clarified. “And you’re making it sound like something it wasn’t.”

We smacked into a fence.

The basket hit the ground and skidded several yards.

We tilted to the side, and everything went black.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ozzie

The homeowner was shouting at the cop and pointing to Brody, saying he couldn’t believe he’d been forced to meet thismotherfuckerthree times. His backyard was not a balloon landing spot.

Talia and Gabby were on the other side of the lawn, inspecting Gabby’s forearm, which honestly looked pretty jacked. Tears ran down Gabby’s face, and she kept repeating something about a loud snap. Ozzie had heard it too, but everyone was alive so namaste, count your blessings, all that.

Ozzie unlocked his phone and clicked around, so angry he couldn’t think straight. All this time, he’d given Gabby a pass. She’d been a teenage girl and probably hadn’t understood the nuances of the situation. He’d even started to feel bad in the balloon for being so hard on her. But sixteen or twenty-four, Gabby was Gabby. She ignored things, picking and choosing what she allowed herself to see. Her chief objective in life was to protect her own damned self.

Now that Ozzie pondered it, of the two sisters, Talia was the one who gave a shit. It’s why she was always in everyone’s business. Unfortunately, he could never live up to the brother she expected or wanted him to be. No matter what he’d been through, Ozzie was a hopeless fuckup. These truths were kicking his ass.

“Oh my God!” somebody called out. “Is everyone okay?” Raj and the ground crew had arrived, and Raj made a beeline for Talia, which was weird, because Ozzie thought he was Gabby’s friend.

“We’re lucky nothing caught fire,” a crew member observed.

“No wonder they’re banning this,” said another, and Ozzie wanted to die. The others were right not to trust him. Hewasa freaking idiot. Some children were definitely left behind.

Ozzie’s phone vibrated. The Lyft was outside. He glanced at Gabby, who had her head in her hand. “I just need to take a nap,” she was saying, and Talia was yelling at her to get back on her feet.

“You might have a concussion. Don’t close your eyes! You could die!”

Ozzie spun around. “Hey,” he said to the other homeowner, who’d been observing all this through the screen door. “Can you call an ambulance? I think broken bones are involved.”

“Yes. Of course,” she said.

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