Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) by Kaylie Hunter (great books for teens txt) 📗

except for Bridget who was leaned forward and used both hands to grip the oversized steering wheel as she made the next tight turn. Dallas landed on the floor, half wedged between the door and the seat. She laughed as she worked at pulling herself up.

“Did you hear Kelsey, Bridget?” Wild Card asked. “We’re winning. You don’t need to drive like a maniac.”

“Which means it’s our opportunity to clock the best time,” Bridget said, making another tight turn to the right a little too fast. “I want Silver Aces guards trying for years to beat our record. We’ll be legends.”

“I’d rather the kids lived through the day, Bridget!” I yelled as I grabbed the ceiling grip bar.

“Shit. Sorry,” Bridget said. “I forgot we had fragile cargo.”

“Pushups!” Nicholas called out.

Bridget looked back at Nicholas in the rearview mirror and sighed. She took the next turn closer to the legal speed, before calling out the next stop. “Elvis’ place is down on the right.”

I looked at the cluttered yard and an old RV sitting in the driveway. “I’ll go with you,” I said to Bridget. “Wild Card, take the driver’s seat.”

As soon as the van stopped, I jumped out and ran across the yard beside Bridget. Elvis met us at the door, handing Bridget a plastic sack. She checked inside and nodded to me.

I looked back at Elvis. “Do you have an old boom box we can borrow? And music someone could dance to?”

“Sure,” Elvis nodded, holding the door open and letting us in. “It’s dusty. I haven’t used it in years. My CDs are mostly heavy metal music, though.” He waved a hand at an oversized entertainment stand that displayed a stack of CDs and an old boombox.

“Anything will do,” I said, grabbing the top three CD’s that sat on a shelf and the boombox. “Does this take batteries?”

“Yeah sure. Let me get you a fresh pack.” He returned less than a minute later with a new pack of D batteries. “Anything else?”

“That’s it. We’ll get everything back to you today or tomorrow.”

“No problem. I trust Bridget.”

Bridget and I took off running toward the van.

“That’s a lot of marijuana,” I said to Bridget as I ran.

“You noticed that, huh?” Bridget said, laughing as we both dove through the van door.

“Kind of hard to miss,” I said as I handed my goods over to Anne so I could close the door.

“Calvin’s?” Wild Card asked as he pulled away from the curb.

“Yup,” I answered. “Anyone know where we can find a beach umbrella in October?”

“What about the rooftop bar?” Anne asked. “Or the bar attached to the big hotel downtown? Both of them have patio furniture.”

“They’ve already closed their patios for the season,” Katie said.

“Can we buy one?” Nicholas asked. “Or is that against the rules?”

I looked at Wild Card. “Is that allowed?”

“The rules didn’t say we couldn’t,” he answered, shrugging. “Calvin’s gym, up ahead. Get ready, Trigger.” Wild Card pulled up alongside the gym’s front entrance. After Trigger jumped out, Wild Card looked over his shoulder at me. “Where would you even buy a beach umbrella this time of year?”

I shrugged. “Anne and Nicholas, find us a beach umbrella!”

Their thumbs started working their phones.

I pulled the list from my pocket. “A chicken. We need a chicken.”

“Where the hell are you going to find chickens?” Dallas asked.

“We’ll have to head out of town,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t know anyone who has chickens, but we’re likely to find a farm with a chicken coop if we drive west into farm country.”

“We can’t just drive around looking for a chicken coop,” Bridget said. “That’ll take too long.”

Not knowing the area west of town, I called Renato.

“You in trouble?” he asked when he answered.

“Only as far as clocking the best time for the scavenger hunt. Any clue where we can find a chicken?”

There was a long pause before he answered, “The grocery store?”

I remained silent, completely dumbfounded. I glanced at the list, and sure enough, it said nothing about the chicken being alive. When I could close my mouth, I mumbled a thank you and hung up.

“Well?” Bridget said.

“We’re idiots. The grocery store.”

“Wow.” Katie laughed. “We were overthinking that one just a smidge.”

“The Harding’s on Drake has two beach umbrellas still,” Nicholas called out.

“I betcha they have chickens, too,” Wild Card said, laughing.

After Trigger returned with the sign, we picked up the Coney Dutch dogs and then went to the grocery store. Anne, Wild Card, and the kids tracked down the beach umbrellas as the rest of us grabbed every fresh and frozen chicken they had, including the ones they had in the backroom. At the checkout counter, I was surprised to see Wild Card had his arms filled with coolers, folding lawn chairs, and tiki torches. I raised an eyebrow at him.

He stacked everything on a conveyor belt. “What? Their seasonal crap is fifty percent off. It’s a steal.”

I shook my head at him as Bridget encouraged the cashier to hurry.

We were back in the van in less than ten minutes and at the mission five minutes after that. We posed for a picture as the Mayor shook Father Eric’s hand and the rest of us held up our donated chickens in the background. We collected the six purple shirts from Father Eric, and once again, we were on the road with two more items on our list crossed off.

The final scavenger hunt item was a picture of two team members in front of a painting at the museum. Everyone stood outside the van, leaning over Sara’s laptop as we reviewed the architectural plans.

“I only see three ways in,” Sara said. “The loading docks, the employee entrance in the back, and the front doors.”

“I can shut