Chapter Six
EMIL SWALLOWEDhard and concentrated on petting Mouse when he noticed Makai was about to move from the bed. Every inch of his body felt Makai’s presence, knew how close exactly he would have to come to get past where they knelt on the floor in the corner of the bedroom.
And then Makai aborted the movement he’d obviously been about to make and rolled over the bed instead. Emil couldn’t help but turn to look at the guy when he strode out of the bedroom.What the fuck? How is this guy evenreal?
“I think this is the prettiest,” Joey interrupted his musings, pointing at the orangeish kitten.
The babies looked more like weird oversized furry beans than actual cats, but then Emil hadn’t seen cats this young before.
“They will all be pretty cats, I think,” he murmured, still a bit unsettled by Makai for reasons he couldn’t put his finger on.
Once Mouse started to yawn, Emil nudged Joey. “Let’s go. She needs to sleep.”
“Okay,” Joey replied quietly. He petted Mouse on the head. “Bye-bye, Mouse and babies.”
They got up and went out into the living area. Emil looked around curiously, interested to see what would make up Makai’s home.
Several boxes of books stood by a wall, a small flat-screen TV much like the one Emil had in his room, and a couch that looked new.
The coffee table seemed old and definitely looked rickety, so he guessed it wasn’t something Makai himself had made.
“Can I get a drink after all?”
Emil looked at Joey who had wandered into the kitchen and peered at Makai, batting his lashes.
“Sure, kid. Can you have a Sprite?” Makai looked at Emil.
“Yeah, he can have one,” Emil confirmed, and Joey made a little happy dance.
“I need to build bookshelves on that wall,” Makai said after giving the boy his drink. He walked around the couch and kept his distance from Emil, as if orbiting him. “Obviously need a new coffee table and maybe an end table too. And a cat tree. Won’t fit anywhere else,” he mused out loud.
“Yeah, you’ll have your hands full as soon as the kittens grow a bit.”
Joey went to sit on the edge of the couch, looking very prim and proper for a boy his age, but then Emil knew Lotte would’ve taught him how to act while visiting someone’s home: no spilling things on furniture.
“So, hey, I was wondering,” Makai said, making Emil’s attention snap to him again.
“Yeah?”
“Are you big on music?” Makai asked, and before Emil could answer, he glanced away and added, “I saw you had earbuds hanging from your collar when we met at the grocery store.”
“Yeah, I have a bit of an obsession. It’s also a coping mechanism. Why?” Emil looked at Makai curiously.
“Well, I had a few favorite bands back in the day, but take out a decade of being able to freely listen to whatever, and now I don’t really know much at all when it comes to music.”
Something about that made Emil’s chest do a weird squeezing thing. “Oh,” he managed to say. “Well I can certainly figure out stuff for you to listen to if you’d like?”
“I’m going to drive to Minocqua tomorrow. Go to the Walmart there and see what I need to get. I guess I’ve started from the basics that have come to mind, you know?”
“Oh, makes sense. There are lists online you could use. Like for people who move to their own homes, away from parents and stuff. Can’t be much different situation in that sense?” Emil raised a brow at Makai who thought about it for a while.
“Yeah, I guess not. But I don’t have access to the internet right now. Might have to leave that for another time.” Makai shuffled his feet a little, looking embarrassed.
“Understandable. Once you get a laptop, though, they’ll set it up in the shop if needed, or I can take a look. I’m not much of a computer geek, but I know my way around the basics,” Emil offered, and his heart did that thing again when Makai smiled at him shyly.
“I might just take you up on that.”
“Can we go back outside?” Joey asked and held his can of soda for Emil to take.
