Page 6 of Missiletoe
“You don’t look that much alike to me. He has more gold in his hair and your eyebrows are darker. Also, his face is softer…” I trailed off because I knew I was beginning to sound creepy.
“Most people don’t notice those things,” the man said in an odd tone.
“I’m not most people.”
“No, I don’t think you are, are you?” It was less of a question and more of a comment he was making to himself, so I didn’t answer. I wasn’t a dumb ox, after all. “I’m Baz,” the man announced, making it seem like he was bestowing a great honor on me by sharing the information.
“It’s not entirely unpleasant to meet you, Baz,” I said because I wasn’t going to lie and say it was nice. It wasn’t. The man was going to take my bunny away from me, and I really didn’t like that. “I’m Paris.”
Baz’s mouth twitched into something that could have been called a smile.
“Do you know why Vix is like this? Is there something wrong with him?” Maybe I should have brought him to a hospital instead of to my shelter. It hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“He’s narcoleptic. Something must have happened to him to make him scared or overly excited. When he gets a burst of adrenaline, his system overloads, and he shuts off like an overheated computer.”
My face softened, and I realized I must have been holding a cross expression for a long time because my jaw hurt when it relaxed. “There was a car crash nearby. It happened a few minutes before he landed on top of me.” My poor bunny, he must have been scared witless.
“Aw, Vix, buddy…” Baz said softly and stroked a lock of hair away from my bunny’s face. I clenched my hand to keep from smacking Baz’s out of the way.
That wasn’t like me at all. I like everyone as long as they aren’t total assholes. And aside from the first rocky moments of our meeting, Baz seemed like a decent guy.
Well, decent for someone who was clearly a murderer.
But if he had a bunny like this to protect, a little murder wasn’t out of the question. Baz hadn’t laid a hand on any of my animals even though he’d been desperate to make sure Vix was safe and my animals were coming between the two of them. That meant he was more good than bad in my book.
“Does he fall asleep on strangers a lot?” I really didn’t like that thought. The sudden taste of copper in my mouth made sure I knew it too.
“Not if I can help it,” Baz said, scowling down at Vix. “I have a million contingencies in place to make sure he’s never alone in public, but today my housemates and I had a communication breakdown, so Vix slipped out during the one-hour window we had in our shifts. He does that sometimes.” His face might have been fierce, but his hand was gentle on Vix’s face.
“I imagine being under constant surveillance isn’t easy for him.” I squatted down next to Baz because I couldn’t take having him so close to my bunny. I touched a finger to Vix’s foot.
Baz’s gaze flicked to my hand, but he didn’t say anything.
“How long will he be like this?” I asked.
“Usually no more than an hour, but it depends on how big of a shock he got.”
“He’s been like this for at least an hour. Probably closer to two.”
Baz sighed, and his features went sad at the edges. “He’ll probably wake up soon then, but I should probably take him home now.”
Panic seized my insides in a way it never had before. If he took my bunny away, I might never see him again.
“No,” I blurted before I could stop myself. At Baz’s raised eyebrow and sharp expression, I added, “I’m mostly convinced you’re his brother now, but it would be irresponsible to hand him over to you until he wakes up and confirms it.”
Trixie gave awuffof agreement. That meant Baz really was a decent person.
Animals know about that sort of thing.
But Trixie was on my side. She could also tell Vix was special and probably wanted to get to know him better just as much as I did.
How did I know that? We’ll get to that in a bit, but the non-spoiler version is that I just…did. I’d always had a way with animals. Or maybe they had a way with me. Regardless, it was really easy to understand them, and Trixie was the easiest to understand by far.
“Fine. I’ll stay until Vix wakes up. But only because I can’t carry him myself, and Gareth won’t be back for another hour or so.”
Who the heck is Gareth?was on the tip of my tongue, but somehow, I kept it inside. Instead, I said, “I can carry him to your house.” Because I am a kind person who would do anything for someone in need and not because I was angling for an invite to Vix’s home in order to make sure he couldn’t vanish from my life forever. And definitely not so I could have a chance to hold his small body against my chest one more time.
I’m not a creep.
