“How the hell are ya, Moose?”
“Not as good as you, Brody. At least judging by the looks of your ol’ lady here.” Moose reached down and grabbed a huge keyring from his belt, lifting it up and sorting through the pile with huge, sausage size fingers.
“You… you know this man?” Beth was still whispering, but Moose was close enough to hear her, separated only by the locked gate.
“Hell yeah he knows me, the name’s Moose, and I’m fucking hurt that he hasn’t already told you all about my famous exploits.” He was still shuffling through his keys, and now that he’d stopped talking, the tip of his tongue was sticking out through the side of his mouth as he concentrated.
“Well, I didn’t want the poor girl to faint, hearing all the crazy stories about daring monkey escape attempts. I hear they throw shit at you as a distraction.”
“Not those exploits, you fucking comedian,” the big man growled, not looking up from his keyring. “Where is this fucking key, there are so damn many of these things.”
I chuckled. “This is Beth, she’s new to town, so I wanted to give her the private tour.”
“Nice to meet you,” Beth said, no longer whispering. I took that to mean she felt more comfortable. At least her grip on my arm relaxed, although happily she didn’t remove it completely.
I’d known Moose for years, with him being a former full time member of the Beasts—at one point being one of my father’s top men. That was until he decided to settle down with his girlfriend and pull back from the club. He even went so far as to get this legit security job, although he still found time to hang with the Beasts most weekends, for at least a few hours. The MC being just a shade of itself now, who could blame him for not wanting to stick with it full time? We still remained friendly enough that he hadn’t hesitated for a second when I called him an hour ago to ask for this favor.
“Here it fucking is, finally.” Moose lifted the lock and slipped a key in, opening it and the gate so that we could pass through.
“Thanks man, I owe you,” I said, placing my hand on the small of Beth’s back. The sheer fabric of her top allowed the warmth of her skin to radiate against me, and I was happy not to feel her tense up at the intimacy of my touch. She was probably still too distracted by Moose.
“Yeah, just don’t make me regret it,” he said, locking the gate back up. “Staff are allowed to let friends in occasionally, but we’re responsible if you do anything wrong. So don’t go trying to impress your ol’ lady here by trying to wrestle the gorillas or anything. I know how tough you think you are.”
Beth shot a sharp look over at me, so I winked to let her know he was kidding.
“Oh, and I set up that other thing you asked about.” He turned to look at me, unsure how much to say. I widened my eyes and gave my head a small shake. Moose took the hint. “Just be sure to be there by nine or you’ll miss it. They won’t wait for you.”
“Nine, got it,” I agreed.
“Okay good. Nice to meet you, Beth. Good seeing you again, Brody. Now get out of here so I can go back to hibernating.”
This time I heard Beth giggle, so I knew she was back to normal.
“We really have the zoo all to ourselves?” Beth asked, once we had walked a good distance away from the entrance. Her voice was filled with breathless wonder, and we hadn’t even seen anything yet.
“We really do, although we need to hurry if we want to really get a good look at some animals. We only have about an hour before we have to be somewhere, and that’s about all the daylight we have left anyway. The zoo isn’t officially open at nights, so it’s not like they light the place up when it gets dark.” I quickened my pace, my hand still pressing against the small of her back, and she matched my pace.
“What’s at nine?” she asked.
“You know, for a girl that claims to like surprises, you sure do ask a lot of questions.”
Beth laughed again, musical sounding and filling me with a happiness I’d never really felt before. I was starting to actually understand what people meant when they said that making someone happy made them happy. Until then, I had always thought it was just some tired cliché.
“You’re right, you’re right,” she agreed. “I’ll stop.”
Our first visit was to the tiger pen, because Beth told me she’d never seen real tigers before, aside from pictures in books, and thought they looked majestic.
“I thought it was the lion that was supposed to be the king of the jungle?” I asked, as we stood leaning against a sturdy wooden fence that separated us from the drop into the big open space that housed the resident tigers. They were prowling around, sniffing at the edges of their confine before turning and walking back along the perimeter.
“Yes, but just look at them,” she gushed.
I was looking at them, but now instead I looked at her. She was staring down over the edge, blue eyes sparkling in the dying sun. The expression on her face was one of pure joy and wonder, and for a moment I envied the moment she was having, seeing something she’d wanted to see for so long for the first time. Then I realized I was having that same moment. I was looking at Beth, a girl unlike any other I had ever met, and whose face filled me with joy every time I looked at it.
What the hell is coming over me?
I turned away to stare down at the tigers, trying to figure out what it was about this girl that had me so wrapped up.
“Can we see the giraffes next?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said, turning my body as I straightened up from the fence. I hadn’t realized how close Beth had been standing, and as I turned, my own face came right up to hers. It seemed like time stopped for a moment, catching us both by surprise as it locked us in place, staring into each other’s eyes. I honestly felt like I couldn’t move a muscle. I couldn’t continue to straighten my body, because if I did, I would have to force myself to break from her azure gaze.
We were so close that I could feel her hot, fresh breath skim across my face with each exhale. It smelled faintly of cinnamon.
If she had been any other girl, I would have gone in for the kiss right then and it would have been the perfect moment. But with Beth, I was worried that it would scare her away. Did the Amish even kiss before marriage? Of course they must—Sarah and Reid had kissed last night—yet still I hesitated, unsure whether I wanted to risk making another mistake. Before I could make a decision, Beth pulled away and the moment was lost.
“So…” she said, turning from me. Did I catch a hint of disappointment on her face? Did she want me to kiss her? “The giraffes?”
“Right… I think they’re this way.” As I led us away from the tiger pen, Beth remained just a half step behind me, making it impossible for me to put my hand across her back again. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether I had somehow managed to screw things up again.
By the time nine o’clock came around, we had managed to see the giraffes, gorillas and even a zebra. Beth had gaped at each one, filled with wide-eyed wonder, and I resolved to bring her back during the day some time so she could see everything else. She really loved animals.
“Here we are,” I said as we arrived at the entrance to a low rise building.
“What’s this? I thought the surprise would be more animals. What’s inside here?”
“It is. Many of the habitats and exhibits are indoors. It all depends on the needs of the particular animal.” I reached out and pulled open the door, gesturing for Beth to go ahead.
“So what are we going to see here?”
I followed her inside to find her stopped short, staring up at a faux cave entrance with a big sign along the top that read Welcome to the Bat Cave.
“How do you feel about bats?”
The look on Beth’s face told me that she felt just about the same as most people did about them, but she didn’t have time to reply.
“Hello, you must be Wyatt.” A tall woman with short brown hair and a light beige zook
eeper body suit strode out of the cave with hand outstretched. “Emma Browning, one of the zookeepers here in the bat cave.”
I shook it and nodded. “Hi, this is Beth. Thanks for letting us in tonight, I heard we’re going to get a chance to get up close and personal with your fruit bats.”
“Of course. You’re just in time to help us feed them, come on in.”
When she turned to lead the way into the bat cave, I had to nudge Beth in order to get her to move. For a moment she resisted, just looking at me with a worried expression before mouthing the word “Bats?” Finally, she grabbed my hand, gave it a tight squeeze, and let me lead her in.
The Bat Cave was dimly lit, and although it was spacious inside—likely to hold crowds of people during the day—most of the actual bats were behind glass all around us. I followed Beth to one of the windows—not that I had a choice given how tightly she was still gripping me.
“Wow,” she whispered. “They’re so… cute?”
I squinted at the bats clinging upside down from the branches. For bats, she was right. They had brown furry heads that almost seemed more like a dog or hyena in shape. “Yeah, they don’t look like any bats I’ve ever seen,” I agreed.
“Fruit bats are different than other bats,” the zookeeper said from behind us. “In fact, in some places they’re actually referred to as flying foxes. Perhaps that’s not so far from the truth, given that bats are the only mammals that can fly.”
A door at the back opened and another zookeeper came in holding a blanket. She walked over to a tray of peeled, soft looking bananas.
“Did you want to feed one?” Emma asked.
I looked over at Beth with a raised eyebrow. “How’s this for a new experience? Give it a try.” She didn’t say anything for a moment, and I can see by the look in her eyes that she was considering it. “Come on.”
We walked over to the other zookeeper and inside the blanket was one of the bats, swaddled like a baby. “This is a young one, we wrap them up like this so that they won’t fly away. You can hold it, and then just break off a piece of banana and feed it to her. She won’t bite you.”
“It’s a she?” Beth asked, and then just like that she seemed to lose her fear, reaching out and taking the bundle into her arms. “She’s adorable.”
She grabbed a piece of fruit and offered it. The bat turned, sticking out a long tongue at first, and then reaching forward and taking a big bite. I laughed at how much she stuck in her mouth at once. “She eats like my brother.”
“Shush, she’s adorable,” Beth said, unable to take her eyes off of the little bat chewing her mouthful of banana.
By the time she had fed the bat a few more pieces and she had eaten enough, Beth was reluctant to let her go. She didn’t stop staring until the zookeeper had disappeared with her behind the door again.
“Oh, Wyatt, that was so incredible. Thank you so much for bringing me here. I would never have guessed how beautiful bats could be. I’ve always been afraid of them sucking my blood or something. Stories Hannah and Sarah told me when I was younger, I guess.”
“Oh, vampire bats do exist,” Emma said from behind us. “But they’re fairly rare and they don’t drink human blood. Mainly cattle.”
“Really?” Beth asked. “And what about their eyesight? Is it true they’re blind? My mother used to call one of the Elders blind as a bat all the time, because he could barely see but refused to admit it.”
“No, that’s another fallacy. People believe that because bats get around in the dark via echolocation, or sound waves. Some of them have poor eyesight, but others have very good vision. In fact, Fruit Bats have the best overall vision of all the bat species.”
I watched as Beth listened to the zookeeper, her attention rapt and focused. I couldn’t help but smile at how interested she was in something she had been afraid of only minutes ago.
“What?” she asked, when she finally noticed me staring.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Oh, this is probably a bit boring for you, isn’t it?” she asked. “You’re probably used to more excitement. I guess I’m being a bit of a… what’s the word….”
“Nerd?” I asked.
Beth shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know what a nerd is. But I guess hanging out here isn’t very exciting.”
“Nah, if you find it interesting, that’s all that matters. But we do have to get going, we were only supposed to stay for the feeding.”
“Oh, okay.” Beth turned to give one more look to the bats that surrounded us, and that gave me an idea.
“Listen though, that doesn’t mean our night has to end. If you like bats so much, how’d you like to see a few more?”
The grin that spread across Beth’s face was answer enough.
“Come on then. You’re gonna love this….”
9
Beth
The sun was just beginning to set, spreading rays of red and gold across the sky, as Wyatt pulled his truck alongside a field next to the dirt road that led us there. It was only a short drive from the zoo, but he’d been driving fast in order to arrive before it was completely dark.
The zoo had been so much fun, and I was so grateful for the chance to see all of those animals up close. Getting to actually feed those fruit bats was something I was sure I would have never done without Wyatt, and I couldn’t wait to tell my sisters all about it. The only thing that confused me, the only thing that would have made the date even better, was if Wyatt had kissed me.
Why hadn’t he? Maybe I was reading the signs wrong, but it seemed like there was a moment back at the tiger exhibit that would have been perfect. Hannah had said that I’d know when it was right to do something, and to me, that moment felt right. But maybe it only felt right to me? Maybe it didn’t feel right to Wyatt? Did I do something wrong? Did he not find me attractive enough to kiss?
The possibility had been weighing on my mind ever since, although given all of the exciting things we were doing, it was hard to dwell on it. Every time I looked into Wyatt’s color-shifting eyes, or saw the smile that seemed to almost never leave his face, I found it impossible to think negatively about him. Which made the fact that he didn’t kiss me all the more frustrating.
“Come on, we have to hurry up or we’ll miss it.” Wyatt said as he opened his door and jumped out of the truck. I quickly followed.
“Miss what?” I asked, again distracted from my frustrations by this new adventure he was taking me on.
“Questions, questions,” he laughed. He turned to face me from about ten feet away, already crossing the field that looked as though it was freshly seeded farmland. He didn’t stop though, he was walking briskly backward, his eyes never leaving my own, and gesturing frantically for me to hurry and follow. So I did.
As soon as I caught up to him, he grabbed my hand and and turned, pulling me into a jog.
“Are we allowed to be here?” I was sure now that we were running across a farmer’s field. The row upon row of uniformly spaced mounds of dirt were a very familiar sight.
“As long as we aren’t caught,” he responded without looking back, but both of us picked up our pace. My heart was pounding, and not only because we were running.
Ahead of us was a line of trees that marked the edge of the field, and shortly beyond that, just visible over the treetops, was the ridge of a low cliff. By the time we reached the trees, my body felt alive and brimming with adrenaline, although my conscience did feel a bit more at ease now that we weren’t still walking across the farmer’s crops. Wyatt, as usual, seemed unperturbed. I admired the fact that nothing seemed to really bother him. He seemed so at ease with the world and his place in it. I wished I was more like that.
Our pace slowed as we walked through the sparse forest, allowing me to catch my breath. Wyatt and I were still holding hands, and it was beginning to feel natural to me. His touch no longer felt like something forbidden and scary, but rather something I longed for and missed whenever it wasn’t present.
We only had to pass through a few trees before we were at the foot of the cliff. Wyatt stopped and lifted our joined hands, pointing with his. “The cave right there, see it?” His voice was low and hushed.
About twenty feet from us was an opening in the cliff wall. It wasn’t very high or wide, but it was clearly a gap in the cliff, darkness shrouding whatever it was hiding within.
“It’s already dusk. I hope we didn’t miss it,” he whispered.
“Miss what?” I whispered back, unsure why we were whispering at all. As far as I knew, there was no one around to overhear us. I could still see the farmland we had just passed through the trees, and it remained empty.
“Wait for it,” he just replied, giving my hand a little squeeze.
I looked back at the cave, having no idea what it was I was looking or waiting for. I was just about to ask again, when the sky around the cave suddenly exploded with small dark shapes. I gasped, taking an involuntary step back. Wyatt stepped back as well, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my waist instead, pulling me close to his body.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” he murmured.
My mouth stayed open as I watched more and more dark shapes fly from the mouth of the cave, filling the air around us and then lifting up and away into the night. There were hundreds of them… no, thousands. Maybe millions. They seemed endless.
“Those are….”
“Bats,” Wyatt nodded.
I was in awe, and not nearly as afraid as I would have been if this had happened even a few hours ago. But after having a chance to meet them at the zoo—to hold one in my hands—I knew I had nothing to fear.
Still they continued to pour forth, soundless except for the soft fluttering of leathery wings or the quiet rustle of branches and leaves that were disturbed in their rush to the sky. They seemed to pour out of that crack in the cliff forever, one big mass that moved together out of the narrow opening and then widening outwards and up towards the moon.
I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I’d never seen anything like this back home. The only time we’d hear about bats was when someone was chasing one out of their barn or attic with a broomstick. It seemed ironic to me that I was learning more about nature and creatures out here in the English world—where we were always taught they had shunned nature for their machines and preferred to stay indoors, away from everything beautiful and natural. I was beginning to wonder how much of what I taught wasn’t true at all. Maybe the English world offered more than just greed and temptation. Maybe Hannah had been onto something after all, when she decided not to return home.
The Brody Bunch Collection: Bad Boy Romance Page 46
