Protector | Sequel to Protected

Chik-Fil-A

An hour or two later, it was a little after noon, and it was time to stop for lunch. I dialed Riley's number, then put her on speaker phone.

"Riles?" I said.

"Yeah, I'm here," she said.

"Time to stop for lunch," I told her.

"Farkle and I were just saying that. One sec, let me put you on speaker," she said. I waited until I heard the buzz of the car around her.

"Okay. Where should we go?" she asked.

"There's a Burger King, a Chik-Fil-A, and an Arby's at the next exit," Lucas said, reading off the street sign.

"Chik-Fil-A sounds good," Riley commented.

"Fine with me," I said.

"Sounds great," Lucas said.

"Chik-Fil-A isn't very healthy," Farkle said.

"You're so lucky I'm not in that car with you right now, Farkle," I said, and Riley laughed.

"I'll call Zay and Josh," Riley said.

"We'll call Grand-Pappy Joe," Lucas said.

"Okay. See you in ten," Riley said.

"See you in ten," I replied, hanging up.

I heard Lucas have a brief phone conversation with Grand-Pappy Joe, then he hung up and took the next exit. Conveniently timed, my stomach chose right then to rumble like a bulldozer. Lucas and I burst out laughing.

We pulled into the Chik-Fil-A parking lot right after Zay and Josh, with Riley, Farkle, and Grand-Pappy Joe close behind us.

It took a few minutes to marshal our troops. Riley and Farkle would take the kids, Zay and Josh would take all of the kittens to use the bathroom in the grass behind the parking lot, Lucas and I would get the food and find a place in the restaurant where we could all fit, and Grand-Pappy Joe would call the U-Haul drivers to give them instructions.

I handed Scarlet over to Riley.

"Try to teach her your name," I said quietly, and Riley beamed. 

Josh wrangled the kittens in the parking lot while Zay clipped leashes onto their collars. Grad-Pappy Joe wandered over to the side of the parking lot talking on the phone, and Lucas and I went into the restaurant.

"I'll order the food," I said, kissing him on the cheek.

"I'll find a place to sit," he said, wandering off to the back of the restaurant.

As I placed our order of twenty-one chicken sandwiches, fourteen bags of waffle fries, seven eight-piece boxes of chicken nuggets, and seven Sprites, I thought the lady taking my order might have a heart attack. 

"Y-Y-Yes, ma'am," the lady said, her hand shaking as she punched in our order. The total came to 134 dollars- plus tax. With the whole rich-werewolf thing, this was totally normal, but it still made me want to claw my eyeballs out to spend that much money on something as trivial as fast food. I handed her my credit card, and she took it reluctantly. She probably thought I was insane.

I walked to Lucas, who had found a six-person booth in the back of the restaurant and had dragged a chair from another table over. It would be a tight fit, but at least we would be able to make it work.

A minute later, Riley and Farkle walked in with the kids. I took Scarlet from her, while Lucas took Connor.

Suddenly, my phone dinged. It was a message from Zay: Can you check if pets are allowed in there? I texted him back quickly, then approached the lady at the counter.

"Are pets allowed in here?" I asked.

"Mmmhmmm," she said, "Chik-Fil-A is completely pet friendly." She sounded very much like she had rehearsed saying that a thousand times.

"Thank you," I mumbled. I texted him back, and he and Josh appeared leading all seven cats on their leashes seconds later. The lady glared at me, and I averted my eyes. A minute later, Grand-Pappy Joe came in, too.

We managed to fit me, Lucas, and Riley on one side, Farkle, Zay, and Josh on the other side, and Grand-Pappy Joe in the extra chair. I got up to get the food when the lady called it.

We were all ravenous. Even though Grand-Pappy Joe didn't transform  much anymore, he was still part wolf, and he still ate like one. As for me, I had four chicken sandwiches, thirteen chicken nuggets, a bag of fries, and a Sprite. Lucas was the only one that could beat me at the burping contest.

For a few minutes there, when we were eating and talking and laughing and burping, you could almost forget all of the bad stuff that was happening.

Almost.