Page 57 of Resist

“Jesus,” Gary said, wide-eyed. “I haven’t seen that much testosterone since we introduced Bella to Edward and Jacob.”

“You have vampires here too?” Cori asked, a playful smile on her face.

I gave her a strange look. “Vampires? As in vampire bats?”

“No.” She laughed. “They are vampires in the movie Twilight.”

“Oh.” I had no idea what she was talking about so gave up asking.

Gary plugged in his seatbelt. “No vampires or vampire bats here. Bella, Edward, and Jacob are three of our koalas. We can see them next if you like?”

“Lead the way.” I gave him my ever so wide overenthusiastic eyes then winked at the twins, both of them standing beside the buggy. “Right, let’s see if you boys can keep up.”

Brad grabbed his foot and folded his leg behind him, stretching. “Piece of piss.”

Noah did the same. “Piss of piece.”

* * *

After seeing koalas,giant turtles, Tasmanian devils, and eating molluscs in the zoo bistro, we headed to the reptile house on our way out.

“Wow!” Cori raised her camera and snapped a few pics. “That’s one big python. It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Brad said. He purposefully adjusted his crotch.

“She wasn’t talking about you, dickhead.” Josh slid his arm around Cori’s shoulders, his expression stern. It was out of the ordinary for him to be so overly protective, and it got me wondering.

“Is there anything between those three I should know about,” I whispered to Lucas, who was lightly tapping on the glass of a bearded dragon enclosure beside me.

He looked at Cori, Josh, and Brad then went back to tapping. “Not anymore. It’s ancient history.”

“Doesn’t look ancient history.”

“Don’t worry. It is.”

“What happened?”

“Brad and Cori had a ‘thing’.”

“But isn’t he dating her best friend?”

“Yes.”

My head ached just thinking about it. “I don’t want any trouble between you guys. Trouble off stage leads to trouble on stage.”

He moved along to the frog enclosure. “Trust me. There’ll be no more trouble than there normally is.”

“Normally is?” I hobbled to follow him.

He ignored my concern and pointed at a croaking frog. “Oh, look, it’s Patsy.”

“I’m serious.” I hit his leg with one of my crutches. “We have shows in Cairns in two week’s time, and I’d really like to avoid bad media.”

Lucas turned to face me, his eyes narrowing. “Why? What’s so special about Cairns?”

“Nothing. I just want everything to run smoothly.”

I hobbled away from him to another snake enclosure. There was a keeper on the other side, dangling a mouse. My heart pinched for the creature; it had never chosen to be prey, but there it was about to be fed to a monster.