“I’m hoping not, because his outfit is already in the mail.”
I cover my mouth with the back of my hand, but the laugh slips free anyway, slipping out in short bursts like I’ve lost the ability to hold it in. “Nick Fury,” I manage, finally, voice cracking around it. “You want to name your one-eyed rescue cat after Samuel L. Jackson?”
“Notafterhim. Inspired by.”
“Oh my god.” I shake my head, stepping back a little, but I can’t stop smiling at the ridiculousness of the situation, at the fact I now have a cat living here, and I already know I’m not saying no to Liv. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she replies, hoisting Nick Fury higher onto her hip like he’s a baby instead of a scruffy, one-eyed kitten. He assesses me, unimpressed.
“He’s glaring at me.”
“He only has one eye. That’s literally the best he can do.”
“He looks like he wants to fight me.”
Liv moves to see his face. “He looks like he’s contemplating world domination,” she says, petting him gently behind the ear. “It’s very Nick Fury of him.”
I glance around the room again, succumbing to my fate. “So he lives here now?”
She shrugs. “He chose us.”
“You mean you.”
She shrugs again.
“And where is he going to live when you go to your campus housing?”
She shrugs again. “We’ll figure something out.”
There’s a pause while I try to think of something reasonable to say about boundaries or leases or responsibilities, but the words feel a little stupid now that I’m watching this one-eyed fluff ball headbutt her chin with all the love in the world.
“I don’t even know if I like cats,” I mutter, more to myself than to her. And yet here I am, following them both into my room as she sits down with him in her arms, then he moves, nuzzling into her hair.
I sigh, and he spins to face me, sleepy eye blinking, and begins to slowly walk over until I find myself moving toward the bed, sitting on the edge, and he plops himself into my lap and purrs loudly.
“Well, that’s awkward,” she says, not missing a beat, “because it looks like he already likes you.”
Nick Fury nudges my hand with his tiny little nose, and it’s in this very moment that I realize I’m screwed. So very screwed.
“Fine. But if he destroys something—”
“I’ll replace it.”
I glance up, ready to tell her that next time she feels impulsive, she needs to ask me first, but she’s smiling at me like she already knows I’ve lost. Which I have.
Completely.
Chapter twenty
Liv
I’mobsessedwithaone-eyed cat, and he’s only been here a couple of hours. He’s the perfect serotonin boost I needed. I knew I was called into that shop for a reason. And Jay has taken it better than I thought he would. I know I should’ve talked to him about it first, but the impulse was so strong, I just acted on it. It’s been a while since I did something like that, and it felt good, like I could see the old version of me somewhere deep inside still.
Flinging the fluffy pink feather in the air, the little fluff bundle dives for it and chomps it in his little jaws, fangs on display that melt me. “You de cutest wittle Fury kitty, huh?” I croon, dangling it again just to watch him do that adorable shoulder wiggle before the pounce.
But instead of launching at the feather, he bolts straight out of Jay’s room, tail high like he’s on a mission. I groan and follow, bare feet padding down the short hall to the spare room. My spare room. Or at least it will be once the bed and mattress get delivered next week and I stop living out of suitcases.
Nick slips through the crack in the door and vanishes into my propped-open suitcase. There’s a rustle. A squeak. And then the dull thud of something toppling inside.
