“Say nothing, son.” He emphasizes the word, close to my ear with his nasty, fetid breath. “Or I’ll find a way to take our spat out on your cute little neighbor.” My father steps back, releasing my shirt.
I suck in a deep breath as his damn near purple face fades to a beet red, wave off Lorien, for all the world looking completely dismissive, and turn my back on the man I hate more than anyone else on the planet, heading inside. I’m angry as fuck the woman popped her head out.
Seamus Murphy should never have laid eyes on my neighbor… my wife. Mom didn’t ask about the ring on my finger this morning, but she stared way too long to not know what it is.
I lean back against the front door, fighting to calm myself.
My anger has no time to dissipate.
Poe scurries my way, making her displeasure known that I ignored her or didn’t prioritize her or whatever. She pounces onto my pant leg and climbs me like a tree until I pluck her from my shirt. “You girls are trouble.”
Lorien storms through my back door, rounding the wall that separates the kitchen from the living area and comes to stand too close, hands flying wildly. “That was rude, and belittling and, and… is that a kitten? Aw.” Her voice morphs into oozing caramel.
The black kitten with her minty green eyes turns to her and hisses, back arched and hair standing on end.
“Fuck my life.”
“What? How?” Lorien reaches for the feline, despite the hissing, and wraps her up.
“Wifey, this is Poe. Poe, this is Lorien.”
“You got me a kitten? And you named it Poe?”
How do I answer this—a convenient lie or a brutal truth?
“She sort of… fell into my lap. And I couldn’t abandon her.”
“You’re tiny,” she says to Poe. “You weren’t ready to leave your mama, were you?” She looks from the scrawny kitten in her arms to me. “The surprise from being shot?”
“Sure. We can go with that.”
Poe slits her eyes as if I abandoned her with a stranger. “Don’t start with me,” I say to the four-legged one in front of me.
“I know you aren’t speaking to me like that.”
Just like that, I’m fired up again.
“One request. I had one fucking request. Why couldn’t you listen?”
Her eyes bug from her head and she says something quietly to the kitten before setting her gently on the sofa. Spinning on me, she bows up. “I’m not a dog to take orders, William.”
She mutters under her breath and paces down the hall to my bedroom. She’s gesticulating wildly, as if she needs to get in the last word or get out her frustrations even without me able to hear?
“Are you… Arguing with me or with yourself?”
She whirls, hair flying out, but eyes narrowing. “Why areyoumad atme?” She stabs at her chest.
I look to the ceiling before leveling her with my gaze. “The man is evil. Did you miss the part where I mentioned he tried to murder my sister?”
“No.”
“But you thought putting yourself in his crosshairs would exclude you from his cruelty?”
“He was choking you?—”
She doesn’t finish. Hand to her hair, I tug and take her mouth. Hard.
Her tongue duels with mine. Her body fights as much as it softens. The woman is a contradiction with an ass that won’t quit. I palm her with the hand not in her hair and pull her into me.
