Page 89 of Darling Beasts

“Wow,” Talia said, running her finger along the mark. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Spencer looked at Ozzie. “Hey, man. What’s up? You’re the last person I expected to be here.”

“Same,” Ozzie said.

Spencer pressed the bandage back onto his skin. “Jesus Christ, that bird goes hard. I can’t believe we made it out alive.”

“Howdidyou escape?” I asked, and Spencer couldn’t have missed the tone in my voice. It’s not that I wanted him disemboweled or anything, but why wasn’thethe one in surgery?

“Well, some gut instinct told me to stare the motherfucker dead in the eyes and use a pool cue at him to fend him off.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered. It was exactly what dos Santos had advised.

According to Spencer, by the time he grabbed the pool cue, Dad was on the ground. It wasn’t possible to repel the cassowary while also calling for help, and so he screamed and screamed until a landscaper appeared. He alerted the security team, and they dialed 911.

“Don’t worry, guys,” Spencer said, “Your dad’s gonna be fine. He’s a tough old man.”

“Thanks, Spence,” Talia said, and threw her arms around his neck.

After they parted, she stepped back. Spencer glanced away and blushed. “I should head to the airport,” he said.

Talia nodded. “I’ll walk you out,” she said, placing a hand on his back. They disappeared through the automatic doors, and Ozzie and I were left to stew and—separately—imagine the worst.

Chapter Sixty-Two

Ozzie

Even though he’d deleted his social media, Ozzie was happy to fake-scroll if it meant ignoring Gabby. Talia was outside, walking Spencer to his car for twenty freaking minutes, apparently.

“So, theWinnie the Poohmap,” Gabby piped in, and Ozzie almost lost his damned mind. Oh, if she was gonna make him talk, they’dtalk.

Ozzie straightened out of his previously slouched position. “Are you deadass harassing me about my assets right now? When our dad is in surgery?”

“No! Not at all!” Her face flamed. “I heard your buyer fell through, so I wanted to apologize.”

“You already did,” Ozzie said and slumped back in his chair. “Do you know how annoying it is to pick up your phone and see a thousand voicemails?”

“Okay, it wasn’t athousand,” Gabby muttered, and Ozzie rolled his eyes.

“Go play with a dinosaur,” he said.

“Just hear me out for a second. You haven’t been around, so you can’t grasp how important the party was to Dad.”

Ozzie glowered.You haven’t been here. What a swipe.

“I had a plan, which involved locking him up while we got help. Not an easy task, by the way!” Gabby blathered about how she’d never dreamed Dad would use the gym, and hewasn’t even supposed to still be in town. Plus, Ivan was keeping watch, et cetera.

“Oh my God!” Ozzie chucked his phone onto the table and sat all the way up again. “You have no self-awareness. None. Your excuse is the whole fucking problem. You do all kinds of shit to avoid the fray, and in the process create more...” He fished around for the word. “More fray!” It wasn’t the perfect way to put it, but close enough.

“Fine! Message received! I suck. For the record, you don’t need to be so pissed off.” She sniffled. “No one could hate me more than I do at this moment.”

Ozzie shook his head, almost feeling sorry for her. Butno. He refused to fall for her watery-brown-eyes nice girl act. “The bird is the fucking least of it,” he grumbled, and Gabby took a second to process this.

“Are you, um, uh...” she stammered. “Are you still upset about Canyonside? I thought we were on the same pa—”

“Yes, I’m still upset about Canyonside!”

Gabby blinked. “But I agree with you? It was shitty of me to watch while those men...” She let her words trail off.

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