Page 128 of The Billionaire Is Back

“I hope no one’s hurt,” Vera says.

“No one’s hurt,” Grady says, grinning. “The cavalry has arrived.” Instantly forgetting what I just said, he looks over my shoulder and I follow his gaze.

It is indeed an ambulance making its way toward us, and my brother Jake is at the wheel. He looks really pleased with himself, like any ten-year-old boy would when making an excessively loud noise and driving really fast.

Jake parks and turns off the lights and siren.

As he climbs out, I ask him, “Where on earth did you get an ambulance?”

“Robbie. He’s a paramedic, remember? He owns it and rents it out to the paramedic company he works with. He’s off duty today, so he let me borrow it.” He sees the cake on the dolly and his jaw drops. “Holy shit, you made that? Dude, that’s amazing.” He holds up his hand for a high five.

“Thanks,” I say, slapping him five. “Do you think it’s gonna fit?”

“Oh yeah,” Jake says. “There should be room for three lobsters in there.” He opens up the back, and Damien is already in there in the captain’s seat, with two large plastic containers that are markedClawdia SwiffterandMuhammad Lobbee.

Damien carefully places the lobster containers on the floor of the ambulance and hops out. “I hope you all know I’m giving up precious warm-up time to help with this.”

“You shouldn’t be warming them up right before the actual race anyway,” Vera reminds him.

Damien crosses his arms in front of his chest. “That is your opinion.”

“Yeah, based on logic and observation from watching them for the past?—”

“Seriously, Damien, thank you for helping us,” Grady cuts in. “We couldn’t do this without you.” Not that it didn’t look like Vera and Damien were enjoying arguing with each other, but we don’t have time for this.

“No problem,” Damien says, matching his brother’s deep voice as he flexes his sinewy muscles. “I am a master of crustacean transport, after all.” He clocks my cake and says, “Whoa. Nice work, Claire.” He furrows his brow as he circles the dolly and studies my design. “Wait a minute—is that Clawdia?”

I have no idea how he can tell, but I don’t have time to discuss this with him.

Grady and Jake haul the gurney out from the back of the ambulance.

“Okay, let’s get the patient onto the stretcher,” Jake says, barely able to get the words out because he’s laughing so hard.

“If you drop my lobster because you’re laughing, I will break every bone in your body, asshat!”

My brother pretends to speak into a walkie-talkie on his shoulder. “CodeA-S-S, we have a-hole on the scene. Code eight, backup requested.”

Grady makes a walkie-talkie squawking sound. “Ten-four. Code twoass-istance squad has been dispatched.”

They brace the wheels of the gurney and practicallyfall over laughing. They will forever be twelve years old when they get together. I would find it adorable if they weren’t ruining my life right now. “Okay, everybody, can we get the giggles out of our system and focus? I put a lot of time and effort into this thing!”

“Ten-four. Giggles are GOA, crustacean is on the move.” Jake lowers the stretcher. “All hands on deck!”

All five of us bend down to lift my masterpiece onto the stretcher, and I scream at everyone to never let go like it’s the end ofTitanic. My heart is in my throat as we roll the gurney into the ambulance, but it goes in without tipping or toppling and every piece remains intact.

There is a collective sigh of relief, and Jake runs around to the driver’s seat. “Let’s get this shellfish on the road!”

“You drive slowly, you hear me?! Jake?!”

“Yeah, you need to drive a lot slower than you did on the way here!” Damien shouts at him as he straps himself into the captain’s seat again. “Last thing I need is for my champion to get seasick before the race!”

I catch Vera rolling her eyes before she asks me, “Do you want me to hold on to the cake with you back here, or…?”

“No, you ride shotgun,” I blurt out without even pretending to consider my answer. She hasn’t done anything to fuck anything up in the past half an hour, but I’m not taking any chances.

Grady and I strap ourselves into the seats on either side of the stretcher and hold on to the giant platform that the cake is resting on.

We’re off to a rocky start, but once we’re on the main road, Jake’s speed is appropriate and I can breathe easier.

---