Amber cackled.
I leaned in just enough for her to catch the words. “Keep assessing me like that, scientist, and you’re gonna hurt your own feelings.”
Her lips parted.
Nothing came out.
That shut her up for maybe three seconds, which might’ve been a record.
Regan cleared her throat loudly. “Anyway. While you two do whatever deeply irritating foreplay this is?—”
“It is not foreplay,” Sienna snapped.
I said nothing.
Which was smarter than usual.
Regan continued like Sienna hadn’t spoken. “I’ll watch Bandit.”
Sienna froze.
That did it. The sharpness shifted. Not gone, exactly, but rearranged around something more vulnerable.
“You’ll watch him?”
Regan shrugged. “He’s a cat.”
“He’s not a cat. He’s a felony with whiskers.”
“I’ve handled worse.”
Amber lifted her hand. “She has.”
Evie called from inside, “Emotionally and legally.”
Regan ignored them. “I’ll feed him, water him, keep him in the mudroom, and make sure he doesn’t eat anyone important.”
Bandit hissed from the truck.
I looked toward the cab. “He heard the loophole.”
Sienna didn’t smile. She was watching Regan like she wanted to believe her but had learned belief was expensive and usually came with hidden fees.
“He needs shots,” Sienna said quietly. “I don’t know if he’s ever had any. He was just outside my apartment, and I couldn’t leave him, and then everything happened fast, and I?—”
She stopped herself.
Too late.
I heard the crack in it.
So did Regan.
Regan’s face softened, but she was smart enough not to make a thing of it. “Then we’ll get him a rabies shot at the very least. Probably deworm him too. Maybe have someone check that ear.”
Sienna swallowed. “He won’t let you touch him.”
Regan looked toward the truck, where Bandit was currently chewing the corner of his crate like a demon trying to escape a church. “Then I won’t touch him until he lets me.”
