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“So we’ll be stuck here.”
“I promise, darlin’, we will keep moving as soon as the roads are clear.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind. But… but what if cats aren’t allowed?” she asked, rubbing said cat’s head.
“Then we’ll sneak it in,” I said, shooting her a smirk.
“Alright,” Raff said, coming in, and warming his hands by the heat vents for a second. “So, they had two rooms, so I decided to take them both,” he said. “Guy at the desk said they are expecting about a foot or so, but that these backroads likely won’t be cleared for another day or two. The town has a general store, though, a restaurant, and, my sweet girl, a bookstore. That should all be open sometime tomorrow, since they will plow themselves out. We’ll be alright for a few days.”
“I don’t want to be alone,” Vienna blurted out, making Raff’s brows raise, surprised, as I forced my face to be neutral.
“Okay,” I agreed, voice soft. “You don’t have to be. Do you want me or Raff to—“
“I want you to stay with me,” she cut me off.
And, fuck, those words had no right to make my chest feel all warm. But there was no denying that’s what happened.
“Then I’ll stay in your room,” I said, taking the key that Raff passed me.
With that, I zipped her and the cat into my coat, and rushed her into the room before going back and forth with Raff to get our shit into our rooms that were right next to each other.
“Go on, be with her,” Raff said as we stood outside for a moment, watching the snow. “I’ll call Slash and let him know what’s going on.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, exhaling hard.
“What are you tensing up for?” he asked, head cocked to the side.
“I’m not,” I lied.
“Really?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “Can’t fucking lie to me, bro. What’s the problem? She seems happy enough. Got her books, blankets, and cat. She likes the snow. She likes having you around—“ he paused there, reading something in my face I didn’t want to share, but there was no hiding shit from your twin. “Oh,” he said, nodding.
“It’s not like that,” I insisted.
“Sure, sure,” he said, smirking.
“It can’t be like that.”
“Think that’s kind of up to her, not you,” he said before disappearing into his own room.
He wasn’t wrong.
I mean, objectively, Vienna would heal. Physically, mentally, emotionally. With some supportive people around her. With therapy.
And, yeah, one day, she might be interested in men again.
But there was no fucking reason to think I might be the man she’d want when that eventual day came.
On that thought that was more depressing than I could have anticipated, I went into the room I was going to share with her for the next few days, and closed the door.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Vienna
It seemed insane how obsessed I was with a creature as I was with the cat the second I spotted him.
Maybe it was something to do with having been left to try to survive on my own as well, with knowing how it felt to be saved, to be cared for.
All I knew was that the feeling seemed to be mutual as the sweet boy kept purring and massaging me on the drive.
