Page 55 of Sin With Me

“I can’t. That one will scare them,” she says ominously as her eyes home in on the massive glass windows in front of the pet shop. “And they’ve already seen enough horror to last them a lifetime.”

“Okay,” I snap, unable to stand the tension anymore. “Tell me what the hell is going on right now, Olive, or I’m leaving.” Wiping at her eyes, she sniffles quietly and nods.

“It all started earlier this morning,” she begins. “I was out taking the kids for their post-breakfast walk. Potato was out of kibble, so I had to stop into the pet store.” She turns to me. “You know how she gets without her kibble.”

I nod in understanding. The pygmy goat is practically feral at the best of times. Without her steady meals, she’s basically a garbage disposal on crack.

“So there we were, in the food aisle, between the fresh mush that smells like sewer water and the doggy bacon strips.” She sniffles again, squeezing Robert closer to her chest. “And that’s when it happened.”

“What happened, honey?” I coo, completely invested in her saga.

“Do you know what they do with the mice here, Eve?” she wails.

Oh, no. My heart sinks, knowing exactly where this is going. I quickly school my features, playing dumb.

“What do they do?” I murmur, my palms sweating around the ugly hat. She gags dramatically and covers Robert’s ears.

“They feed them to Bunny!”

“They feed the mice to bunnies?” I choke out. That’s new information.

Oli gags again. “No. Bunny is the python!”

Heaven have mercy. She has no idea the irony in that.

Swallowing, my eyes scan my best friend's tortured features before flicking to the pet shop. Suddenly, it all makes sense.

“Oli,” I breathe. “You know I love you, but if Isaac finds out that I’ve broken into a pet shop in the middle of the night with you, he’ll kill me.”

She shoots me a glare.

“Fine. We’ll stay here and talk instead.” Her nose wrinkles distastefully as she inspects her hot pink nails. “Tell me why you were wearing Roman’s favorite t-shirt—”

“Fine!” I shout, throwing the door open. I quickly yeet the stupid beanie into the backseat because fuck that. It’s hot as Hell out here. “Let’s go. But you owe me.”

“Oh, yeah?” she snaps back. “How about I fulfill my debt by buying you loads of rubber cocks and butt plugs?”

I gasp, my eyes flying across the empty street. Thank fuck no one’s around right now.

“Christ on a cross, Olive. Shut your big trap.”

She cackles and jumps out of the car with a happy dance. She quickly secures the empty backpack onto her back and readjusts a now very awake Robert on her chest. She struggles for a moment, making me laugh.

“Being a single parent is so hard,” she whines.

Strolling toward the front door, I notice the light in the back is still on and cringe. Mr. McTavish is going to lose his shit.

“You could just hire a sitter next time you want to test the limits of Divinity’s law enforcement,” I say dryly. A grunt behind me has my head snapping back just in time to see Oli drop to her knees and crawl toward the door.

“Get down, Eve,” she hisses. “The cameras.” She points up, giving me a reprimanding look.

Ignoring her, I lean against the door and toss a wave at Mrs. Kane, the bookstore owner, as she locks up.

“Have a nice night, Tilly,” I call.

“You too, girls.” She waves back without pause. Not even when Oli pulls out a lockpicking kit from Robert’s carrier. “Get back home safe, y’all.”

“We will,” I promise. “Tell Mr. Kane, we say hello.”

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