“Don’t be jealous that everyone likes him more than your fence,” Waylon says.
“Not even through the door one minute and I’m hit with his sass!” I comment. “He’s brutal!”
Waylon looks smug about that, so I take the cat from him and stare at the creature.
“Why are you staring at him like that?” he asks.
“Trying to see him do something magical,” I respond as the cat rolls this way and that while he purrs in my arms.
“Just his existence is magical,” he says.
“Where’s Cassel? I need to talk to him. Will the magical cat lead me to him?”
“No, but I will,” Waylon offers before he leads us to where Cassel is glued to his computer screen. I flip the cat over his eyes so the cat’s fluffy stomach is blinding him.
“It’s… it’s so soft and pleasant,” Cassel says, making my plan backfire when the cat starts grooming Cassel’s face without a care in the world.
I pull the cat back before Cassel can fall asleep in the cat’s fur and leave us to stare at the computer with absolutely no idea how to wield it like he does. “I have some information for you,” I say before telling him everything I’ve come up with.
Cassel asks, “So… are you going to trust Lucas and kill him? Lucas might very well be fucking with you.”
“I know. That’s why I want to look into him first.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Can I help?” I feel like I’m throwing so much on him.
“I mean… you could like… cheer me on.”
“I got you some chocolate,” I say, dropping it on the desk.
“That’s so much better than having you,” he says as he digs into it.
“Thanks,” I retort with much sarcasm.
“Is there anything I can do?” Waylon asks.
“I think… I think just hold this magical cat,” I say, depositing the cat back in his arms. He gives me a look.
“You know what I mean.”
“Not at the moment. I don’t even know what I’m doing at the moment,” I admit.
“Waylon, are you coming back?” Cam calls from down the hallway.
“I’ll be right back,” Waylon says before trotting off to meet up with Cam.
My problem is that Cassel seems busy enough trying to figure out what he can about the Barlow family, so I don’t want to pull him away to deal with my stalker. While I think about what I want to do, I head toward the room Jackson and I are staying in.
Tucker and his daughter, Dani, left when Cassel arrived, though I know Ava and Lewis are around here somewhere, likely in the kitchen if she’s making us something to eat. But right now… I need a moment to breathe. I flop down on the bed while Jackson shuts the door and walks over to me. Then he drops down on top of me.
A laugh escapes me. “You’re smothering me!”
“Good. You deserve a bit of smothering every now and then. Especially after that atrocious fence song.”
I feel like I’m eating his shirt as my face is smashed between his chest and the bed. I wrap my arms around him and bite his chest.
“Ow! What the hell!” he cries.
