Page 120 of Passion and Payback

The woman’s mouth fell open in shock. “I would never try to steal!”

“Then please get Clem’s large butt out of your bag and step away from the door,” I said. “You’ve been watched. We can see what you’re doing.”

“You can’t prove that! Just because I wanted to carry this sweet boy around doesn’t mean I—” She stopped when a shadow loomed over me, and a familiar pair of large hands descended to scoop Clem out of her shocked arms.

“I’ll take him,” Kai said, his hard face and eyes lingering on her before walking away. If Clem had seemed accepting of Susan’s bag, he appeared to have reached a Zen-like state now he was curled up in Kai’s arms. I smirked, wondering just how much Kai was aware of, and then let my eyes linger on his ass for a moment before turning back.

“Look, Susan, I’m more than happy to introduce you to a few cats around here who are up for adoption, as I told you. But you cannot have Clem. That is Kai’s cat. Not yours, not this café’s, not mine, it’s his. The man was never allowed a pet in his life and was one of those guys who always acted like he didn’t like them, especially cats,” I said and glanced toward Kai meaningfully. He had appeared terrifying and angry before, but it was tough to see him that way when he stood behind the counter, carefully giving Clem a treat as he talked softly to him. “And well?—”

“That’s so sweet,” a couple of girls nearby cooed. “Is he single?”

“Absolutely the fuck not,” I said with a laugh. “I’ve got a claim on that one.”

“Damn,” one girl muttered, but that apparently wasn’t too heartbreaking as they immediately put their heads together while they whispered.

“Look,” I said to Susan as gently as I could now she was no longer fussing. “It’s his, alright? He loves that cat fiercely, andhe babies him more than me, but don’t let him hear that, or he’ll think I think he doesn’t treat me right.”

Susan stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes getting watery before she dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry. He just reminds me of my Ringo. He went over the Rainbow Bridge a few months ago, and I don’t know what to do without him. And I see him, and I?—"

What remained of my anger fizzled out as I watched her valiantly try to keep herself together before reaching out and taking her gently by the elbow. “How about this? I’ll get you some of that tea you like. And tonight, I’ll do some searching. I’ve got connections with all sorts of foster groups and other adoption agencies. If you don’t want any of the ones available here, we’ll find you another.”

“None of them are going to be my Ringo,” she said with a sniffle.

“No, and honestly? I think it’s best you don’t get another orange cat for a while.”

“Why?”

“Because you might expect the new cat to be just like him, and no cat will ever be like your Ringo. It’s fairer to you and the new cat that you let it find a new place in your heart, alright?”

She gave me a small, trembling smile. “You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“I do,” I said, letting my eyes lock with Kai, knowing he was listening, before sitting her down. “Now, let’s get Rich to make you some tea, and we can talk about what you might be interested in having, alright?”

That fire was swiftly put out, but it took another couple of hours before Susan finally decided to leave, a new spring in her step, a number for one of the adoption agencies on the other side of the city, and a newfound affection for a gray cat with one eye and half a tail who understandably had a terror of dogs. BeforeI could even begin to help close the place down, Arwen and the newest floor worker were quickly on me.

“Absolutely not,” Arwen said with a wave. “We’ll clean up and lock up. You just make sure to triple-check everything after we’re gone. I don’t need something...I need you safe.”

“You’ve never worked a day in your life,” I told her with a grumble, even as her concern touched me. Not that it was necessary. I had killed three men without the training Zeke had given me and then some on the side from Kai. And if I thought Zeke was a harsh instructor, he was nothing compared to the brutality Kai was willing to put me through. I told myself it was because he needed me at my best, but damn, being taken to the floor a dozen times hurt.

Still, it eventually started becoming great foreplay, so everything had a silver lining.

“Should I point out that Brooke would be saying the same thing?” the ‘new’ girl, Trina, asked me with a small smile. I liked her a lot, and not because she resembled her cousin significantly. Yet she was also not like Brooke, despite how close the two had been growing up. Trina was sweeter and gentler, but there was also a spine made of steel in that thin body, and she could shoot daggers out of her eyes just as sharply as Brooke. I had been hesitant to bring her on a month after Brooke had been murdered, but I hadn’t regretted the choice.

“That’s mean,” I said with a sigh, knowing that was my white flag. “Fine. I should probably go make sure Kai hasn’t tried to find a way to put a tracking chip in Clem.”

“Have a good night,” they said as I made my way upstairs. I noticed the boxes I’d left behind were gone, and I was sure the man I loved was to blame.

“You and Clem are safe!” I called as I closed the door behind me, kicking off my shoes and beginning to tear my clothes off, leaving a trail behind me.

“I heard what was going on,” he said, and I stopped at the entrance to the living room. By the time The Collective had been done, you would have never known how much blood and death had been in this apartment. That hadn’t stopped me from having the floors changed and the walls repainted, and then, in a fit, had all the furniture changed as well. It still hadn’t removed the stain I could see on the floor in my mind’s eye, but now I could at least enter the room without fighting to push the memory away.

My eyes still lingered on the spot where her body had laid, but when I looked up, Kai was waiting patiently in the chair, letting me have my moment, ready to help if needed but letting me fight it on my own. “Uh, sorry, and thanks for swooping in. I was ready to throttle her.”

“Until she told you the truth,” Kai said, his eyes drifting down. “Planning on taking those off too?”

I glanced down, realizing I’d stripped to my underwear. I couldn’t help but twist around, showing him my ass before turning back. “These?”

“Yes, those,” he said in a low voice that most would call a growl but reminded me of the sweet rottweiler a college friend with benefits had. The dog was sweet but expressed his pleasure through growling, which the guy had called purring.

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