Page 18 of Totally Played
“Thanks, but I really shouldn’t.”
“It’s no alcohol,” Calvin says, and I check the label.
“Oh, okay, cool.”
Tim opens the hood on the old barbecue, and smoke rises in a cloud of perfect deliciousness that I’m sure has a hint of mint to it.
“Beau has been on the wagon for seven years; he doesn’t mind if we drink, but we’ve also got a game tomorrow. Speaking of which, I think you’re going to be feeling however many drinks you had tomorrow,” he says, snapping his tongs at Calvin. He scrunches up his nose in reply, then links his arm through mine and pulls me toward the cat enclosure.
“Come on, Ash, I’ll introduce you to the cats.”
I discover quickly, only a couple have names. Lion runs a shelter, taking in strays and unwanted pets and finding them good homes. A tiny kitten with fur the same blue-gray as Calvin’s eyes meows at me from a carpeted shelf on the side.
“Aren’t you a cutie?” I say, reaching my fingers in to scratch under his neck. The kitten brushes up against me and purrs.
“Aww, I think he loves you,” Calvin says, opening the door, but he wasn’t watching the ground.
“Wait,” I say, but it’s too late, and five cats rush out before he closes it again.
“Stampede!” he calls, getting everyone’s attention.
I’d laugh, but I’m too busy rushing after a black and white cat who’s headed for the fire stairs. We crawl around on the floor, cooing and calling for the cats, tempting them with treats, and it takes about twenty minutes, but we get them all back inside.
“Well, you definitely earned dinner now.” Tim laughs, locking the enclosure. The little gray kitten weaves through the older cats and jumps with its little fluffy legs up the ramp to where I’m standing.
“Come back for me, little one?” I ask, reaching through and giving it another scratch.
“Hey, Lion, I think you might have a new adoptee,” Tim calls, and Lion claps excitedly, then goes back to washing his hands for the second time now.
“If you want her, she’s yours in a week. Just need to get her fixed and chipped.”
“I’m not sure a cat is a good idea for me. I travel a lot.”
“Cats make great travel companions. We take the boys on the road with us whenever we can,” Tim says.
“I’ll think about it.”
The tiny fur ball meows again, and now I’m trying to think of how cute a cactus cat tree would look in my apartment.
Chapter seven
Calvin
Itwasagoodidea to leave the bar when we did, because any more beers and I would have been tripping over myself and paying the price tomorrow. I don’t even know why I was drinking so much. I just remember being so thirsty. I should have just asked for water. I don’t have to worry about asking for water now. Ash keeps topping off my glass every time it gets two-thirds down.
“This place is amazing,” Ash says as we sit on the comfortable orange couch they swapped the old one out for. This one is big enough to fit eight around the L-shaped sectional, plenty of room for us, even if Beau, Levi, and Lion take up more than a single seat each. Ash is just as tall, and he clearly works out with toned, thick arms and a tiny waist, and I wonder, does it look the same out of the corset he wears? I’d never seen a man wear a corset before I spotted him at the bar, but it isn’t like the ones I’ve seen on women. It’s not pulled super tight, creating an unnaturally tiny waist. It’s done up just enough to hug his formand highlight his shape. I wonder what it feels like to be held so tight like that.
Lion comes and sits beside Levi. “Thanks. We love it,” he says, glancing toward Tim at the barbecue. Tim and Lion have done an amazing job with their rooftop terrace. It was great before they got together, but since Lion moved in, it’s become something really impressive. Large bulb lights are strung crisscross over the entire space, and a large couch and coffee table are to one side, under a tinted gazebo-type roof. The posts holding it up are black and wrapped in small lights that sparkle like stars, and then there are the barbeques. A larger one is on a platform of stained caramel-colored wood, where Tim is working now, and a small one sits off to the side. It doesn’t appear to be on. Maybe it was the one he used before getting the larger one.
The cat enclosure is painted all black, too, even the wire, which makes looking through it so much easier. But the most unique and impressive thing, which is also my favorite, is the table.
“Don’t you just love the table,” I say, and Ash cranes his neck behind me to see it. “They’ve made it out of three old doors Lion salvaged. There is a bunch of paint peeled and chopped from most of them, but it makes it so you can see the woodgrains underneath, and I love that every chair around it is a unique style and color.”
“It is pretty cool,” Ash agrees. “I think I like the cat enclosure most,” he says, and Lion smiles widely.
The cat enclosure is at the far end and has wooden and rope ladders and posts, and a big green wall covered in cat-friendly grasses they can nibble. I thought they were crazy when they said they were bringing a bunch of cats into Tim’s tiny apartment, but the enclosure has a long, caged tunnel that leads around from it, down the side of the fire stair and to their place underneath,so the cats can come and go from there whenever Tim and Lion open the door. The rooftop really doubles their livable space. I wonder how it would go up here in the snow. It’s not common for us to get snow in Savannah, but it has happened.
I glance out at the beautiful glittery skyline, a mix of the city lights and brilliant stars.
