AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A childish, impish idea takes hold and it takes all my control to relax my facial muscles and not betray my intentions with a sinister smile. I hope Takeshi likes my surprise.
With all the commotion, I don’t notice the cat from earlier entering the house until a mover bumps a curio. I glance up to see yellow eyes glaring intently at me.
“Tora no senshi, Katsuo will be upset if you aren’t home in time for Serafina,” Riu says to the beast.
“You know this cat?” I ask slowly stepping away from the hell beast whose stare follows my retreat.
“Everyone knows Tora. He adopted the boss, then when oyassan moved in with his wife, Tora adopted her daughter, too.”
“If he has a home, why is he in this one?”
Riu shrugs. “It’s a cat thing. This entire compound belongs to him.”
“Not while I’m under this roof. Can you…you know…take it outside?” I shoo the cat with my hands.
I’m aware of how I look. I can drop-kick a man, shoot with incredible accuracy, and be as bad as my enemies, but all that flies in the face of this small animal. And I don’t care if my reaction falls on the dramatic side. Small creatures, like babies, have a way of wearing down a hardened heart. Add fur and the damage is tenfold. They carry a price tag I can’t afford, not until I’ve settled Tommaso’s debt to my family.
Riu does as I request without cracking a smile. Gotta respect his discretion.
Not one hour passes when I find the feline ninja has snuck back inside. Again, on tall furniture. And with his intense yellow-eyed glare directed at me. How is he doing this? I would call him an escape artist, but does it count if he returns after being freed?Is there even a name for this kind of behavior? Each time Riu throws him out, the black menace returns.
Visions of Mr. Johnson’s fruitless antics fromThe Cat Came Backcartoon run through my mind. Not even death saved him from the cat and its nine lives. After Riu’s fifth trip outside with the persistent Tora no senshi, I give up and allow the cat to watch the action unmolested. Though, I’m not sure how much action he is watching. His eyes always seem to be on me whenever I glance at him.
Within twenty minutes of conceding to the four-legged terrorist, I glance at the last place I’d seen him to find him no longer there. As silently as he’d infiltrated the house, he disappeared. I try not to dwell on why I’m disappointed. I should sigh in relief. I don’t need to be the next adoptee on his list. Pissing off the Kimura boss because I’ve somehow stolen his cat is not a goal in my already precarious life.
“Love what you’ve done with the place,” Shinji’s smiling voice precedes the capture of my hand and my body swinging into Shinji’s arms.
Before I can catch my breath, his mouth is on mine and his tongue plays an aggressive game of tag with my tongue.
Who needs to breathe, anyway? Breathing is such an overrated activity.
“I brought dinner. We should eat before it gets cold,” Takeshi’s surly voice throws an ice-water challenge worth of cold water on my heated body.
Shinji and I part but he keeps my hand in his as he follows Takeshi to the kitchen. “Did you get a goodie bag from Kori?” Shinji’s hopeful expression is contagious. I’m hoping the food came from Kori, too. When I ate the lunch she packed yesterday and the extras she put in the Tupperware, I swear I visited heaven.
“Yes, and she included your favorite miso butter cookies.”
“You know, Lakeshia, if there were a person alive who could compete with you, it would be Kori. I don’t know where the boss found her but she is a miracle worker in the kitchen.” Shinji eyes me speculatively. “How’re your cooking skills?”
“Nonexistent,” I respond. “It’s not too late to enlist her in your baby-making endeavors.”
The words slip thoughtlessly out of my mouth and all activity and levity in the kitchen ceases, leaving behind an arid atmosphere devoid of life. I want to rewind the last few seconds and take back the words because I realize too late I don’t mean them. Not that what I said matters. I doubt Masanori would agree to Shinji and Takeshi approaching Kori, although she might. Yesterday’s tension seemed one-sided.
I shake my head from the distracting thought. Their theoretical reaction is less concerning than the real-life backlash I’m about to face.
Takeshi’s body is like granite, and the blackness of his pupils almost swallows his irises.
I really need to learn to curb my tongue around him.
Shinji’s response is almost worse. He looks at me with a hit-puppy expression, the injury my words inflicted visible for Takeshi to see. And if Takeshi sees it…
“You’ve hurt Shinji’s feelings. How are you going to make it up to him?” Takeshi rounds the kitchen island and pulls Shinji into his chest.
I swallow the lump in my throat as my mind whirls and discards one possibility after another.
CHAPTER 10
Shinji
