“You boys were a real lifesaver tonight,” he said to me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Take good care of those kittens. Blue will bring them back in a couple weeks for shots and a check-up.”
He gave Blue’s shoulder a squeeze as he made his way to have a look at one of the last patients.
“Come with me.” Blue hooked our hands together and he towed me to a storage room in the back of the clinic. I thought maybe we were here to get supplies, but he yanked me into a kiss. Slanting our mouths together, he kissed me with a passion that made my toes curl.
“What was that for?”
“For being here. For being you. For never giving up on me.” He kissed me again, softer and sweeter this time, like he knew we couldn’t get too riled up in a storage room where he worked. Besides, we were covered in filth and that wasn’t exactly romantic. “I can’t believe you waited three years.”
“I’d have waited forever for you. But I have to admit, I’m really fucking glad I didn’t have to.” I brushed the hair off his face and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “We should get out there and get Asher home with those kittens before he adopts ten more.”
“He already loves them.” Blue smiled when he said that, like it was the sweetest thing he’d ever seen.
“You know he likes you. You didn’t have to buy his affection with kittens,” I teased.
“I don’t think he’d leave without them, to be honest.” Blue twisted away from me and then started pulling things off the shelf. He grabbed an empty litter box first and into it he dumped different types of cat food as well as some medicated shampoo.
“Could you grab one of those bags of litter from behind you? They’re on the bottom shelf. Then we can get all this stuff out to the car, and we can come back in and get them all tucked away in a carrier.”
“You’re kind of hot when you’re at work, by the way,” I confessed. “All competent and shit. You’re impressive.”
He rolled his eyes.
“No, seriously, Blue. You’re good at what you do. You should be proud of yourself. Hell, I’m proud of you.”
He looked like he was about to protest so I pinned him with a steely look. “Don’t argue with me. Not about this. Take the compliment.”
Blue paused, then nodded and I let the subject drop. It was clear that Blue didn’t get many compliments on things that weren’t related to his other work, but I was going to change that. Blue was one of the brightest, most loving people I knew, and it was a shame that he didn’t see what an incredible job he’d done.
We found a clean cat carrier and then went back to where we left Asher. He now had two kittens in his arms. He looked up when he noticed us approach.
“It’s time to go home, Asher,” I said. As expected, his face fell and he looked away from me, focusing on the kittens again.
“I want it to be known that you are not allowed to volunteer here or at any other place with animals,” Blue said. “Because I can’t adopt every animal you fall in love with.”
Asher looked at him and furrowed his brow, visibly confused as Blue knelt on the floor next to him and gently plucked one of the kittens from Asher’s arms and placed it in the carrier.
“What?” Asher asked as Blue took the next one and put it in the carrier.
“I can’t reach past you, Ash, so can you be a help and put the last kitten in the carrier and then momma cat too.”
“I don’t understand.” Asher grabbed the last kitten and gently stroked the top of his head. Momma cat popped her head out of the kennel and let out a worried meow.
“The kittens mostly need a flea bath and for momma cat to have some proper nutrition. It’s noisy here and overwhelming and I think they’ll recover better if we bring them back to my place. But I also think it would have to be a permanent move. It would be a shame to make them move again after they get settled.”
Asher gaped at Blue. “Are you for real?”
“Well, it’s not a prank, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Blue suddenly had an armful of Asher, who launched himself into Blue’s embrace.
“Oh, my God, I love you.”
The world stopped spinning and, for a second, none of us moved. Was he serious? Did he love Blue? I had to admit that it made me happy to hear but also unsure. Did he love him the way I hoped he did, or had it been a slip of the tongue brought on by the adoption of the kittens?
And if he loved Blue… did he love me too?
“I meant it, you know,” Asher said, extracting himself from Blue’s arms so he could usher momma cat into the carrier. “And not just because you adopted kittens for me. And I know you might not believe me, because the last time I said I was in love with someone… I wasn’t. Not in the way I thought I was. And it’s okay if you don’t believe me. But it’s true. I love you.” Asher paused and flicked his gaze to meet mine. Uncertainty swam in his expression. “Both of you.”
He looked away, like he was suddenly mortified at his confession. Blue and I probably weren’t helping much, the way we just stood there with our mouths hanging open, gaping at him as we tried to absorb the meaning of his words.
