Page 21 of Alice & Meg: Summer Vacation (Fallen Lords MC & Devil’s Knights MC Crossover)

The chaos had died down, but the turtles had not.

It was Sunday night, and I was honestly trying to relax. Our last full day of vacation had been everything we wanted.

Lazy, sunny, full of laughter, but now, as we tried to wind down in the motel’s courtyard with a few drinks, the turtles were taking over.

And I’m not talking about actual turtles.

I’m talking about little plastic turtles. Every color you could think of, teeny tiny hard-shelled menaces that were apparently multiplying like they were on some kind of resin rampage.

“I swear,”

Alice muttered as she opened the cooler and pulled out another bottle of lemonade, “this wasn’t here earlier.”

She held up a lime green turtle that had been sitting between two cans of La Croix like it was keeping them cold.

“That’s the third one I’ve found tonight,”

I said and held up the one I’d discovered in my shoe earlier.

“How are they still showing up?”

“I found one in my bra,”

Cyn deadpanned.

“Like, tucked inside the cup. I mean, respect to whoever managed that.”

“Don’t look at me,”

Greta said quickly.

“I’ve been turtle-free all day, thank you very much. And I’ve got witnesses.”

“She does,”

Bear grunted.

“She’s been too busy trying to figure out how to open her own wildlife sanctuary in our backyard. I caught her googling fencing options.”

Greta didn’t even look guilty.

“Those alpacas at the zoo were precious. Don’t come for me.”

Wrecker reached under the bench and pulled out another turtle.

“I think they’re evolving. They’ve started hiding better.”

“This is absurd.”

I stood up and put my hands on my hips.

“Who is doing this? Be honest. We won’t be mad. We’ll just maybe slightly judge you.”

Everyone looked around suspiciously. Adley pointed at Hero.

“He’s sneaky. I bet it’s him.”

Hero blinked.

“I’ve been with Reva all day. And besides, I thought it was Greta.”

“Why does everyone assume it’s me?”

Greta asked, offended.

“Just because I once tried to liberate a penguin and am a fan of animals.”

“Obsessed,”

Bear corrected.

Greta rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Obsessed with animals, but this is not me.”

“Maybe they’re cursed,”

Raven offered.

“Like, little omen turtles.”

“Oh god,”

Alice said with a gasp.

“They’re the spirit of the penguin Greta never got to save.”

Greta held a hand to her chest.

“Little Quincy. He lives on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,”

Lo muttered under his breath.

“What?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was leaning back in one of the lawn chairs, arms crossed, expression far too neutral.

“Nothing,”

he said quickly.

“Just… can we all agree this is getting out of hand?”

I watched him for a second. The overly calm tone. The lack of outrage. The fact that he hadn’t found a single turtle, despite all of us practically sitting on them.

I squinted at him.

“It’s you.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

Lo shifted in his chair.

“What? No.”

“Babe,”

I said slowly.

“It’s you. You are the one who has been turtling up all week.”

“Yeah,”

Alice chimed in.

“And now that I think about it, every time someone’s found a turtle, you’ve been conveniently not there.”

Cyn gasped.

“Oh my god. You planted the turtle in my bra.”

Lo’s eyebrows shot up.

“Okay, that one was not me!”

Rigid raised his hand.

“That one was me.”

Cyn rolled her eyes.

“Could you refrain from turtling me?”

Rigid shrugged.

“The little guy likes your boobs as much as I do.”

“Dear lord,”

Cyn muttered.

I was still watching Lo. Everything was falling into place.

“It’s you!”

I shouted.

Lo cracked. He burst out laughing and held up his hands.

“Okay, okay. Fine. It was me. All of them. Except Cyn’s bra turtle.”

“Why?”

Greta demanded.

He wiped a tear from his eye.

“Because it was funny! I saw them at the dollar store a few weeks ago, and it just came to me.”

“How many did you buy?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Hundred?”

“HUNDRED?”

we all shouted.

“Maybe two hundred,”

he added under his breath.

I just stared at him.

“You’ve been terrorizing us with turtles,”

Cyn said slowly, “for days.”

Lo laughed harder.

“It’s been the highlight of my trip!”

Alice groaned.

“I stepped on one in the bathroom this morning.”

“I stuck one in Wrecker’s saddlebag,”

Lo said with a smirk.

Wrecker grunted.

“I knew that wasn’t Greta.”

“Why?”

I asked again, still trying to process.

“Because we always do this,”

Lo said.

“We come on these trips, we eat good food, we make memories. I just wanted to… add something dumb. Something we’ll laugh about next year.”

I stared at him, then slowly smiled.

“Well, mission accomplished, you big dork.”

“Yeah,”

Alice said, and picked up her drink.

“Now we’ll be haunted by tiny plastic turtles forever.”

Lo raised his beer.

“To turtling.”

“To turtling!”

everyone echoed and lifted their drinks with a laugh.

I shook my head and leaned into him.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously charming,”

he whispered.

I snorted.

“Don’t push it.”

And just like that, the turtle mystery was solved.