‘I had a fish growing up. And a guinea pig. They both ran away.’
Dex’s eyebrows rise. ‘Ran away? Even the fish?’
I nod. ‘Came home one day, and it was gone.’
Dex stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. ‘Maybe it died and your dad flushedit?’
My lips twitch. ‘No. That’s not what happened. It literally ran away. I’m pretty sure it fell in love with the guinea pig, and they made off together.’
Dex lets out a laugh, loud enough that I can just make it out.
‘You funny.’
I mean, I wasn’t trying to be. It literally happened, but hey, if it scores me points, then so be it.
Suddenly, Dex stands up, and I watch his ass as he makes his way to the counter. A second later, he’s turning toward me, and my eyes catch on his groin, his thighs. The way his cock slightly bounces in those shorts.
‘Cute,’ he says when he hands me my chai. I stare down and see the kitty paw embossed on the top in foam. ‘You want to go see the cats now?’
I nod and stand up, taking a sip of my drink. Fuck, that’s actually good. I didn’t expect that from cat café–owning contract killers, but shit, they’re good with their hands.
We move through the second door, and when it closes behind us, we find a small empty table and take our seats. My eyes swivel around the large room, taking in the cats lounging on beds attached to the walls, one on a window hammock and one dangling from the ceiling.
None of them are what I expected. They all look like they’ve rolled straight out of a dumpster with wild hair and crooked whiskers, and one of them has only its back shaved. I was expecting picture-perfect model kittens.
I don’t know who the fuck would want to adopt any of these.
‘This is cool,’ Dex says as I tuck my ankles underneath me. Just in case one of them strolls over and decides to have a little snack.
‘You know cats will eat you if you die.’
Dex sputters slightly and grins at me. ‘I think any animal would.’
‘Yes, but cats have no remorse. They’d just gobble you up.’
‘At least my body will go to feed my poor orphaned baby,’ he replies as a cat stops near our table and looks up. It’s orange and white, with one glowing yellow eye. It blinks at us and then jumps up onto our table.
I lean back, not sure if it will swipe at me, but it merely sits down between our mugs of coffee and licks its paw.
Dex peers at me over the orange fluff and grins.
‘This is cool.’
I mean, it’s something. I’m pretty sure cat hair is getting into my drink, and the cat on the table is making the line of communication not Deaf-friendly. I should really reach out and grab it, but I’m scared the cat will take a swipe at me, and honestly, Dex seems so happy.
He reaches out to pet it, but the cat gives him a warning look, and he retracts his hand.
I kind of wish the damn thing would leave, but it just continues to sit there, grooming itself, my chai getting colder by the minute.
And then suddenly, another cat appears, rubbing against the legs of my chair. This one has long hair that’s entirely unkempt and weirdly…greasy? It only has half a tail, which is shaved, along with a bald spot near the side of its leg, likely where they took off a mat.
‘These are…less cute than I thought they’d be.’
Dex shrugs as he scratches the one-eyed cat between the ears. It closes its little eye and nudges his hand. Hard. ‘I don’t know,’ he signs. ‘I like them.’
I glance down at the cat with the half tail and then back at Dex, who’s watching me, humor flickering through his gaze.
He thinks this is funny. My aversion to cats, or really, cats not liking me, and here they are, swarming my space.
