Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
My admiration for Lane grew tenfold when I saw the differences between the habitats. He wasn’t just throwing plants and decorations in there. He was reconstructing the natural habitat each snake originated from. A small sign with the name “Ghost” printed made me remember his sand boa. It was in a low-activity mode over the winter, close to hibernation. A feeding schedule was attached to the nameplate, and the snake hadn’t eaten in a long time. Made sense. He’d wake up starving in a few weeks.
Ziggy, his black-and-white California king snake, followed my movements from inside his terrarium. He was alert and curious. Next, I arrived at “Noodle and Blue,” two ringneck snakes. One of the smallest species.
“You can house them together?” I asked curiously. They lived in colonies in the wild, but in a smaller space, males sometimes got territorial and aggressive.
“Yeah, I automatically separated them at first,” Lane answered, “but I kept their terrariums close, and they always rested with just a glass wall between them, so I figured, let’s see what happens.”
That was cool. Both tiny snakes were currently tangled up in each other next to a thick tree branch, so they clearly didn’t mind sharing their home.
“Behind you,” Lane murmured.
I glanced without moving, figuring we had a visitor. Frank had arrived. He belonged in the biggest terrarium, and Lane picked him up and returned the fella to his enclosure and closed the glass door.
The fish tank was less interesting to me, but even there, it was easy to see Lane had put a lot of effort into the interior.
I was sold.
This room was also the perfect place for our conversation, so I trailed over to the reading chair and sat down. Perfect and comfy. I bet Lane had lost many hours just sitting here and looking around at the jungle he’d created.
“You have two empty tanks,” I noted. One was fully decorated but had no name tag on it. The other was only partially assembled.
“No, that one has critters.” He pointed at the ringnecks’ neighbor. “Isopods, slugs, some worms…”
I chuckled. A specific terrarium for food, then.
“What about that one?” I pointed to the one he was putting together.
He scratched the side of his head. “I’m bringing home a new addition in a couple weeks, and I need some time to get a bioactive habitat up and running.”
I nodded in understanding. I’d ask more about that later.
“You never told me how you got into all this,” I said.
As if on cue, he looked away from me and got fidgety. He tapped his fingers against his lips and scratched his elbow, and his gaze darted from one spot to another near the unfinished terrarium.
He had a choice here. Come clean, which was unlikely, given the lengthy story he’d have to launch into, or make something up.
I was perfectly comfortable. Lane was not. He cleared his throat and walked over to Ziggy. In the light from the snake’s terrarium, the shine in Lane’s eyes seemed…more.
“It’s a simple question, Lane.” I adjusted in my seat and planted an ankle across my knee.
“I’m—I’m tired. Can’t you just tell me what you’re doing here?”
I forgot about exit strategy number three. Escape. Dodge and escape.
He couldn’t fool me into thinking he was sleepy, though. He was just tired of maintaining a charade. The glistening in his eyes grew until he averted his gaze, blocking my view of his face entirely.
“I’m here for answers.” I was already getting them too. He was so close to falling apart. He couldn’t maintain the charade any longer.
I had a good profile shot of him right here, and I collected all the data I could. I didn’t need him to face me for that. The rest of his body did the talking. His chest fell and rose with quicker breaths. His shoulders were stiff. The silence stretched on, something that couldn’t be dismissed naturally.
He was just stalling now. He had to know what was about to happen.
It fucking hurt to see the slow unravel, though. If he could let go, I’d show him I would still be here afterward.
Break, darlin’.
You won’t put the pieces back together on your own.
“If I remember correctly, Corey has a similar obsession with amphibians,” I said. “He got that from his old man, right?”
With Corey, the memories were becoming clearer and clearer. He and Lane actually shared many features, to the point where they could have been brothers.
Lane sniffled and hurriedly wiped at his face.
My chest squeezed at the sight, and I grew impatient. This wasn’t my kind of suffering.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Enough was enough.
I clasped my hands loosely over my stomach and braced myself. “You got the hobby from me, didn’t you?”
That did it. He whimpered and immediately covered his mouth with his hand, and then his shoulders trembled with silent cries. The jig was up, and he knew it. He turned his back on me.