“A cat?”
“Three months old. Litter trained,” Zevon said, lifting the kitten out of the box and plopping it gently on my lap.
My hands had a mind of their own, petting its body. Around one eye, there was a black dot. Its ears and all four legs were black, along with the tail. The rest of the body was dark orange.
“I saw her in the window, and she looked so sweet. The lady said that it’s pretty lazy for being a kitten.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off it. She started to meow before standing and putting its paws on my chest to reach my face. She stuck her tongue out, licking my chin.
“What do you think?” Zevon asked.
“Thank you,” I said, blinking back tears as the cat settled on my lap, purring away. I didn’t know what else to say as something I hadn’t felt for years took hold in my chest. I didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like, but I had a name for it.
“She’s yours,” Zevon said. “You said you wanted one.”
“That didn’t mean you had to get me one,” I said, looking up at him, a few tears breaking free.
“For that look on your face, I did. I’d move the mountains for you to see you happy, Scarlett,” he said, giving me another smile. “I have everything you could possibly need for her in the living room. Also, I may have gotten you something else.”
“What?” I sniffed.
“A tablet. So you can read, draw…waste time on, mostly. Just, no social media accounts right now. None of us are on any so we can’t be found as easily here.”
“Don’t say he didn’t need to do that,” Collin said, giving me a look. Crap. How could these men know me that well already? “There isn’t all that much to do around here, and Ace was going to send one of us out to get you one anyway.”
“Thank you,” I said instead, dropping my eyes to the kitten again as she’d apparently had enough attention and was ready to explore the room.
“I talked to Peyton while I was out,” Zevon went on. “He’ll be sending a box of stuff later this week for you.”
“He knows he doesn’t need to,” Dominic said, entering the room. The kitten ran up to him, looking for more attention. “But he’s family. He’s entitled to spoil his sister with her birthday coming up.”
“I don’t have birthdays,” I said with a shake of my head.
“You do now,” Collin said. “You will just have to accept the fact that you will be spoiled with gifts. We have too many missed birthdays to catch up on.”
I sat right inside the room, the door cracked just slightly so I could hear the voices out in the living room and kitchen. I never cared before if they talked about me, but whatever they were talking about seemed important. Okay, I was just bored. The kitten, which I hadn’t yet named, was sound asleep on my pillow. She had certainly made herself at home here, content to sleep and be adored.
I let my lips lift in a small smile. I already liked the darn thing too much. God, I so hoped that no one would take her. I couldn’t get attached, because I knew it was a possibility.
Trusting was not something I ever dived into with anyone.
“Zevon, you can’t just go out and buy everything you think she’ll like,” Dominic said. I could picture him running a hand down his face. “She’s not the type of person to want the entire world.”
“Baby steps,” Collin muttered.
“What else are we to do when she tells us what she wants? Wasn’t that what you were after?”
“Not entirely, no,” Collin said. “I’m here for her wellbeing, and to keep you two from scaring her away.”
“We won’t scare her away,” Dominic laughed. “Well, I won’t.”
“Just, back off, okay. Let her come to terms with things,” Collin said, slamming something around in the kitchen. “She’s still healing mentally. She’s not going to handle things well if you just shove everything at her all at once.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Zevon said. “I still know she needed that cat.”
“That should have been discussed with everyone here first,” Collin said. “I do agree. Just…no more furry critters, okay?”
“I won’t make any promises.”
