I mean, it had to be love. I was covered in animal hair and smelled like death, and yet Blue looked at me the same way he’d looked at Jax. Affection pooled in his eyes like it was an infinite thing. I wanted to tell them how I felt, but I wondered if they’dbelieve me. Just a short time ago, I’d been convinced that I loved Lukas.
Was I the boy who criedlove? I didn’t think so. This felt real in ways that my feelings for Lukas never had.
“You okay?” Jax asked. Slipping a hand into my back pocket, he gave my ass a gentle squeeze.
Before I could answer, one of Blue’s co-workers popped out of a hallway. “They’re here,” she said then she vanished just as quickly, back the way she came.
“Duty calls.” Blue squared his shoulders, and Jax and I followed him outside to the van that was waiting.
There would be time later to tell them how I felt. Right now, there were things that were more important than my feelings. Like the crate with the kittens at the back of the van. Dirty, scared, and loud. Their little cries pierced my heart, and I made a beeline for their crate. The momma cat was in with them and in my expert opinion, from having spent the past few hours looking at dirty animals, she looked to be in better condition than a lot of the others. I still made sure she and her kittens were the first ones Rex saw from this batch of animals.
“Are they going to be okay?” I asked Rex as I held two of the three kittens. They’d tried exploring and I’d scooped them up, and instead of fighting to get away, they promptly fell asleep. “What about momma cat?”
“Momma cat is a bit thin, but she’s okay. She and the babies need a flea bath and their ears cleaned, but given the circumstance, they’re pretty healthy, if a bit skinny.” Rex gently tucked momma cat back into the carrier with her other babies. “You can get them tucked away in a kennel with some soft food and some water, and we can take care of the rest later.”
I reluctantly put the sleepy kittens back in with their siblings and found them an empty kennel to cuddle up in. I was slippingsome food and water into the kennel when Jax came up and crouched down next to me.
“They’re cute.”
“Yeah.” I reached out and pet the little black one.
“You want one, don’t you?”
“Am I that transparent? I mean, look at them. Who wouldn’t want one?”
“People with a sense of smell.” Jax laughed when I shoved him for his remark, even though it was true.
“All they need is a little love.”
Jax put his arm around me and dropped a kiss to my cheek. “They’ll get it.” he said, as if he knew for sure that things would turn out okay for the little kittens. I chose to believe him.
THIRTY-ONE
JAX
With the immediate crisis handled,things had died down enough for Asher to spend some quality time with his little cat family. Blue looked dead on his feet, and none of the other staff looked much better.
Blue had swapped his clothes out with a spare set of scrubs that he kept at work, and I had to admit that the man looked good in anything. I knew there was nothing I could do to help, that the rest of the work was better left to people who knew what they were doing, but I sidled up next to Blue and Rex anyway as they examined some kind of scruffy-looking dog.
The dog was filthy from head to toe, and like the other animals, it was on the skinny side. It needed a flea bath and maybe a shave. It definitely needed several shampoos. But then he looked up at me and I smiled.
“You know, we had a dog that looked kind of like this when I was a kid. I mean, I think we did. It’s hard to tell under all the grime.” I held my hand out for the dog to sniff and after a quickinspection, he deemed me suitable enough to lick. “What’s going to happen with all these animals?”
“Once they’re cleared health-wise, the adoptable ones will hopefully find homes. There’s a few animals that will need to be fostered so they can fully recover before finding their forever homes, like that little cat family your friend is taken with. They’ll need a foster home until they’re ready to leave mom,” Rex said, without looking away from his patient. Rex was probably in his mid-forties. His hair had a sprinkle of gray. The fine lines in his face were ones that happiness left behind like the crinkles at the corner of his eyes and his laugh lines.
“How do you become a foster parent? A foster pet parent? How do you choose who fosters the animals?”
“Blue, let’s do a blood draw on this little guy, and then we can tuck him away and get him fed. We’ll clean them up tomorrow. See if you can get some of the shelter volunteers over for bath day.”
“I can come back and help out. I’m sure Asher would love to also.” Glancing back, I saw him sitting in the corner holding one of the kittens in his arms. He had it cradled close to his body, and he stroked its head as he whispered something to it. “I think you’re going to have to get the jaws of life out to pry him away from those kittens.”
“Well… I could foster them,” Blue offered. “The momma cat is pretty healthy, all things considered. What they need most is a flea bath, food, and rest. The clinic is jammed full. If I took them back to my place, we could clean them up and get them settled tonight.”
“And then you’d never be able to get rid of them,” I told him, motioning for him to look over at Asher.
Blue just shrugged. “I’m the only one here who has yet to bring home a pet from work. I figure it’s time I join the club.”
“Make a note of any supplies you take home for them, and I’ll write them off for you,” Rex said. Picking up the dog, he cradled the stinky little beast in his arms before passing him off to one of the other vet techs. “Speaking of which, you could probably head out after you get supplies for the cat family. We’re just wrapping things up for the night now.” Rex pulled his gloves off and tossed them in an overflowing trash can.
