Sunderance - Chapter 16.3: An Actor's Life For Me

“You stupid slut bunny!” he shrieked, snatching the cigar from his mouth and hurling it to the ground at his feet as he stepped closer to her.

But whatever threat had been in his action as halted when the large, ruddy paw offered her the ice-cream cone. Vanilla swirl, from the look of it. When she reached up to take it and raised her eyes to Nick, she wasn’t surprised to see those green eyes focused on the other male. It wasn’t angry, really. It might have been called cool, and was unquestionably unwavering and intense. And while she didn’t know what secret language passed between the two foxes, she knew that the look had whatever Worthington had been wanting to say or do beyond calling her a stupid bunny grinding to a stop.

“You should keep your pet on a tighter leash,” the fox said, reaching up the tug on the lapels of his jacket before he straightened his hat. Just like that, the smile was back. “She doesn’t even belong in our city. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”

The look of surprise was almost comical when Nick shoved the second ice-cream cone into the other fox’s paw, his expression unchanged even as the male shrugged and accepted it without complaint. Then they both watched as Nick bent down to retrieve the still smoldering cigar from the floor, stepped in front of the other fox, and with a short ‘hisss’ as the cherry was extinguished, pushed the tip of the cigar into the cone.

“She’s already crushed your self-esteem, Foulfellow,” Nick said simply while taking the cone back from the flabbergasted male. The he reached out to tug one side of the ill-fitted jacket open, pushed the ice-cream, cigar end down, into his inner pocket and allowed it to fall closed. He patted the spot in a friendly manner. “Don’t make it worse by forcing me to beat you unconscious.”

“You..!” Worthington began, followed by multiple silent attempts to speak that only ended in his snarling as he turned and stormed past them towards the exit of the café.

She turned to watch him, lifting the ice-cream to her muzzle for a slow lick even as he reached into his inner pocket to extract the ruined cone. He tossed it onto the sidewalk as he exited, cursing loudly as he went. The driver’s door to the car outside swung open and a rather strange looking bobcat stepped out, wearing a ridiculously oversized chauffeur’s jacket. He waddled over to open the door for Worthington, his paw, which was covered by the sleeve of his jacket, snapping up to salute the fox. She ignored them then, and when she returned her gaze to Nick, she found his attention was focused on her. Well, focused more on the fact that she was licking the sweet and cold ice-cream, a fact that had her slowing the lick considerably as she half-circled the two-toned orb with the tip of her pink tongue.

“Is there something on your mind, Nick?” she asked sweetly, licking a bit of cream from her lips when she finally decided to speak.

“I want a taste,” he said simply, his eyes not moving from her as a slow smile spread over her lips. The feeling of satisfaction of dealing with the fox – a fox that she would have to watch by way of making sure he didn’t get his paws on Jumbeaux’s Café anytime soon legally – combined with the little tingle in her belly, having her feeling more than a little bold as she took another lick before she offered the cone up to him.

“Of the ice-cream?” she asked, watching him as he leaned close.

Though his expression didn’t change overly much, there was a clear amusement in his eyes and his tone when he replied, “That, too,” before taking a lick for himself.

Her muzzle parted in a light grin before she snagged the ice-cream out of his reach and waved him towards the door.

“It will be fine,” she heard from behind her, making her pause and turn her eyes back to the elephant behind the counter. Her stomach dropped when she saw the owner leaning over the counter with his head on his folded arms, the other elephant standing next to him resting a soothing touch on the larger elephant’s shoulders. “We’ll call the bank. We’ll call a lawyer. He can’t just take it away.”

“Of course, he can take it away,” came the resigned voice, a moment before he lifted his head and turned his glistening gaze around the Café. “That’s what they do now. We’re the last on this street. Were the last. He’s going to take my baby away from me.”

“But it’s all we have, Jumbeaux,” the other began, only to stop when the large elephant rose from the counter and moved towards the back. His shoulders were slumped, his wide ears limp as he wandered towards the back in a nearly lifeless gait.

“We’ll shut down for the day,” he said without turning, causing Judy’s heart to clench when he affectionately touched the ornate wooden frame of one table for a moment before stepping through. “Tomorrow I’ll… I’ll see what I can do to get a fair price. She’s worth that much.”

Watching helplessly, a part of her mind wondering how much of this was her fault for confronting a fox.