Hand to her heart, Cherry closed her eyes as she nodded, sucked in a breath, then ran up the driveway to the garage.
From the front door Merissa yelled, “I called Cannon.”
Great. Just freaking great. “Thanks,” Denver called back to her. He searched the ground and found a small fallen branch that he used to corral the biggest snakes. There were maybe ten of them that were larger than the others, and they were testy and uncooperative. Denver barely kept them from getting away.
Some of the smaller ones made it into the grass and down the street drain; nothing he could do about that. He didn’t want to kill anything, not even a snake, if he didn’t have to.
Looking like she faced the gallows, Cherry ventured forth with the requested items. She held the garbage can lid in front of her like a shield. She kept whispering, “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod,” in a terrified litany.
“Leave everything right there,” Denver told her, rather than have her come any closer.
“I...I should help.”
“No, I’ve got it.” He used his forearm to swipe the blood off his face.
Still, she gulped and inched toward him. “Here. I brought you a washcloth for your head. Are you sure you’re not badly hurt?”
His heart swelled, both with love and pride. Clearly the girl had some issues when it came to creepy-crawlies, but she forced herself to be brave. “The bugs flew off,” he promised her as he took the cloth and swabbed at his head. “And yeah, I’m fine. Just a split.”
“I’m so sorry I startled you.”
“You had good reason.” He accepted the rake from her and worked to keep the snakes together. One particularly aggressive snake tried to come at them, sending Cherry scurrying back with a frantic gasp. Denver pinned it with the rake, then put the lid over it.
Luckily, Armie pulled up with Cannon. Both of them jumped from Armie’s truck, looking at the twisting snakes with morbid awe. “Damn,” Armie said after a peek in the car.
“You’re okay?” Cannon asked when he saw the blood on Denver.
“Banged my head.” He was so furious he could barely get the words out. “It’s fine.”
“And you?” he asked Cherry.
She gave a short nod. Denver didn’t miss the fear in her eyes, the paleness of her face, or her determination to help.
With only a few more questions, both men got to work helping Denver get the snakes in the can.
Over his shoulder, wanting her away from the proof of Carver’s obsession, Denver asked Cherry, “Would you have Merissa call the cops?”
From a safe distance away, Merissa said, “Already done. I called animal control, too. They’re sending someone who’s a rodent expert or something.”
With the majority of the snakes in the can, Denver went to check out Cherry’s car. Now that they’d been stirred up, bugs flew around inside, hitting the windows, clinging to the seats. The floorboards were alive with impatient, slithering snake bodies; he had no idea how many.
Had this happened while she’d been at his house?
Armie strode up beside him. “Totally fucked-up. They had to have brought in a shit-ton of snakes and insects.”
“I’ll tow it,” Cannon said, and he looked more than pissed himself. “We can open it up along the river or something once we know if those snakes are poisonous.”
“I recognized some of them,” Armie said. “The big boy was a rat snake. Intimidating, but not all that harmful.” Grim, he ran a wrist across his brow. “Pretty sure I saw a cottonmouth in there, though, and those suckers are scary.”
Holding the lid on the can, Cannon frowned at the obvious movement inside. “Will they attack each other?”
Denver shrugged. “Better than having them loose.” He wanted to rage. He wanted to find Carver and demolish him. But he saw Cherry standing back at the curb, Merissa beside her, huddled close.
“There’s nothing else to do but wait. Why don’t you two head inside? We’ll be there in a minute.”
Cherry nodded and started in. Merissa inched toward them.
Low, so neither of the girls would hear, Denver whispered, “This wasn’t just a prank.”
“No,” Cannon agreed, and the fact that it had happened in front of his sister’s house surely made it as personal for him as it was for Denver.
Suddenly, Merissa shrieked and they all jerked around to see a massive bug buzzing around her head. Like a giant flying cockroach, it terrorized her.
Cherry was already inside, thank God.