I grab a toy mouse and settle it as deep under the bed as I can get it without disturbing him in case he wants to play, then head to the bathroom area behind the half-wall separating the bedroom from the sink, tub, and shower.
“What are you doing?” Delaney says, prompting a round of adorable baby meows from the kittens, when I step into the open shower.
The fact that she’s not doing baby talk clues me in to the fact that she’s talking to me. “Cat litter doesn’t change itself,” I answer.
Once again, I’m getting thewhat kind of alien freak am I stuck with?look from her.
Probably shocked that I’d change cat litter. Wasn’t exactly the type the last time she saw me on a regular basis.
But that’s not me anymore.
And I have no idea how much she’s changed since high school either, so I shouldn’t be an ass for history’s sake.
“Treats are next to you,” I say. “They like the ones in the purple pouch best.”
“Where did you get kittens?”
“Heard them crying in a dumpster the day I got here.”
“Oh my god. Someone threw them away?”
I shrug. “Don’t know. Lots of strays around here. Miss Doodles might’ve just picked a bad place to have kittens. But she loves people.”
Her brows furrow. “Is it normal for stray cats to love people?”
“Here? Guess it depends on how much people feed ’em. Suppose they get pampered at a resort by all the people missing their cats back home.”
Do I think someone threw them away?
Yeah. Yeah, I do. The stray resort cats will come close, but not the way Miss Doodles does.
Miss Doodles was absolutely someone’s pet.
But will I tell Laney that?
Nope.
Not when she’d probably insist we figure out who Miss Doodles belongs to and get justice.
Not doing that. Not a fucking chance.
Justice happens when my cats have a good home. Not by making someone else pay for what they did.
Far as I’m concerned, they did me a favor.
“You’re not supposed to have a room full of cats in the resort, are you?”
“I will fucking burn this place down before I let them make me kick these kittens and their mama out into the street.”
Her jaw drops a moment, then she visibly swallows.
Is that a trick of the light, or are her eyes going dark?
Did I just arouse the Queen of the Rules by telling her the rules could go to hell?
“What are you going to do with them?” she asks in a husky voice that makes my nuts tight.
“Taking them home.”
