Page 78 of 1 Last Shot

24

KANE

"Alright, everyone, let's take our places on our mats and get ready to meet our furry friends for the morning!"

I have to actively hold in a groan at the overly cheerful yoga teacher's introduction. A teacher that I’m fairly certain is just a crazy goat lady that collects them on a farm and doesn’tactuallyhave anything to do with yoga. I'm two seconds away from asking Isabella if she can just teach it, but when I turn toward her to shit-talk in a whisper, I find her attention on the helpers as they leave to grab the goats.

Her eyes areglowing.

And any urge to shit-talk immediately disappears.

A chorus of aww’s and happy squeals fill the air as the handlers bring the goats out. When they reach the gated area that we've all set up our mats in, they place them on the ground. Which the goats immediately take as a starting gun to begin jumping everywhere.

"Oh my God, they're so cute," Isabella breathes beside me. "This is the greatest day of my life."

My lip twitches with an amused smile. Because I've looked up Isabella's dance career, and I saw the performance that put her on the map of the ballet world. And baby goats are better than that?

"Hi, baby," she coos, squatting down when one of them bounces over to her. It's tiny, barely the size of my thigh, and it's all white. It sniffs Isabella's fingers for a few seconds before trotting right past her.

And then it stops in front of me and stares.

I stare back.

The only thing that breaks our staring contest is the sudden bleat it lets out, at a volume way louder than I ever would've expected.

Isabella giggles beside me.

"Alright, everybody, let's go ahead and get started with some breathing exercises so the goats can settle down, and then we'll move into some stretches!"

We start in on the breathing exercises, during which the goats begin to wander around the area. Most of them hop from one person to the next, but some of them seem fascinated by individual people.

The white one keeps coming back to me.

"I think he likes you," Isabella says after the thing's third pass and fifth bleat.

"I don't know why," I mumble as I lower myself to the mat. The instructor calls for downward dog, but it's obvious the poses are just a formality—looking around, most people are too distracted by the goats to actually care about the stretches.

I, on the other hand, am looking for any excuse to ignore this damn goat. I plant my hands on the mat and straighten my legs, effectively putting my body into an upside-down V so the only thing I can see is the mat in front of my face.

It means I don't see the goat when it boldly walks up to me and butts his head against my shoulder.

My head pops up and I glare at the animal in annoyance. It glares back and butts against me again.

"Fucker," I mutter.

"Let's drop our hips down for cobra pose!"

I follow the instructor's command, relieved to be in a position again where I can keep my head up and my eyes on the little menace in front of me.

He bleats straight in my face.

At that, Isabella's quiet giggles become loud laughter.

"It's not funny," I protest. I try to shoo him toward her. "Go see her instead, she'll actually pet you. Leave me alone."

Instead of going over to Isabella, he takes one jump… directly onto my shoulder.

"What the fuck. Leave me alone, dude." I shake my shoulder to try to dislodge him, but it's no use—he’s planted on me.

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