Page 38 of Alive and Kicking
She looks down at the marks with a wince. “Probably a good idea.”
Zane might actually vote against the cat just because it hurt Viv. “Can you pull in here?” Viv asks before I can pass a small shopping center.
I don’t even have to ask why she wants to go as I pull in and see the pet store at the end of the long building. I park and turn the car off. When I go to get out, Viv lays her hand on my arm. “Would you mind staying with him? I don’t want him to get lonely.”
I sit back in my seat. “Sure, no problem.”
Viv grins at me, and I let my head fall back against the headrest when she closes the door behind her. I am being relegated to cat sitting duty already. Something brushes against the back of my arm and I look down to find the cat sniffing me. It sneezes, snot and who knows what else spraying across the back of my arm. Then the little fucker decides to hiss at me.
I barely even looked at the thing and now it’s hunched in the corner of my back seat randomly hissing at me. After an hour of me and the cat sitting in the car, its attitude doesn’t improve. It’s ability to hiss continuously without any breaks is actually pretty impressive, but irritating at the same time. I’m about ready to throw it out of the window by the time Viv pushes a cart out to the car. I blink at it.
Yeah… We’re keeping the cat. She bought a fucking cat tree. As she gets closer, I realize it’s not a tree. The box says it’s a catcondo and the thing looks like it’s going to be about as tall as Viv is, so I get out of the car and help her load it up into the trunk.
“How’s the little guy?” Viv asks as I heft the condo in.
“He’s been hissing at me since you left. I think he hates me,” I tell her.
She huffs. “He can probably sense that you don’t like him either.”
I close the trunk after she puts the last bag in. “It’s not that I don’t like him. I’ve just never been a cat person. We have Zane we have to keep alive. I don’t need another needy creature.”
The laugh that leaves Viv brings a smile to my face. I love being able to make her laugh like that. When we get back into the car, the cat quiets down with Viv back. The little asshole is just trying to make me look like a liar at this point. As I drive back toward the house, he slowly makes his way over the console and into Viv’s lap, and the little demon gives me the side eye any time Viv talks to or touches me. I’m sure he will attack if I ever make a move in his presence.
I park the car and load my arms up while Viv carries him into the house. After lugging bags and an entire cat condo up the stairs to Viv’s apartment, I’m out of breath. This cat is damn lucky I love her or he would be without at least half the stuff she bought him. Once she’s got food and water set out and has prepared a litter box for him, I grab her hand before she can get distracted by anything else.
As I tug her to the door, the cat starts to growl at me, but he’s too busy eating the little bit of food Viv put down for him to attack. “You need to get those scratches cleaned up before they get infected.”
Viv sighs. “Okay. I’ll be back soon baby,” she coos in a soft voice to him.
I never even considered that my night might end with me jealous of a cat. How the hell has the night gotten so off the rails?
Viviana
Ihaven’t seen any of the other guys since we got home. I’d kind of assumed they were upstairs in their rooms or something. Instead, all three of them walk through the door with to-go boxes and stare at me dumbfounded. In their defense, I am standing in the middle of the living room completely topless. Zane is the first one to pay close enough attention to see the marks all over my chest and stomach. I’ve just finished cleaning each scratch with alcohol and I’ve moved onto smoothing an antiseptic ointment over the wounds.
“What the fuck Lennox?! I thought you said this was just a surveillance job!” Zane shouts, storming toward me. Uh-oh he just full named Nox. Zane is big mad. He leans in close to see the damage. “Are you okay? Who the fuck sliced you up? They better be dead.”
I wince at that. “Well, it wasn’t a person. It was a cat and he’s very much alive.”
Zane’s eyes widen as they find mine. “A cat? What were you doing? Wrestling it?”
Nox chokes back laughter at that. “No, she was stealing it.”
Sloane chuckles as Cain scowls at me. Zane on the other hand is starting to get excited.
“You stole a cat?” Cain asks, his voice level.
I fidget with the ointment in my hands. “He was being neglected. He needs a better home.” I refuse to make eye contact with him.
Nox hands me my shirt and I pull it on over my head. Cain isn’t letting the topic go though. “You brought a cat home?”
Zane is bouncing up and down now. “We have a cat? Where is it? I want to pet it and love it.”
I grin at him, glad that at least someone is on my side. Maybe he’ll come with me if I have to move out with the kitty. “He’s upstairs in my apartment.”
I don’t have to say anything else, Zane is already gone and thundering up the stairs. Cain stalks into the kitchen to put away his food, and when he gets back to the living room he still has a scowl on his face, but less severe. “I thought we agreed that we’re too busy for a pet,” he says calmly as he folds himself into the armchair.
I guess we’re having a calm conversation about this. I was really expecting a lot more yelling, but Nox and Sloane just calmly take opposite seats on the couch. Before I can take the seat between them, Zane comes back into the room holding the squirming cat against his chest, taking the seat between them himself. There’s another chair but it’s further away on the other side of the room, so I sit down on the arm of Cain’s chair. “He’s so cute! What’s his name?” Zane says as he rubs his cheek against the top of the cat’s head.
