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“Stinky butt?”
The cat’s tail twitched, but still, not much indication he was offended.
“Fine. What about just O? Like agent O? Because right now all I can think of is oh damn, I’m talking to a cat.”
He did actually look up from his tuna to purr.
“Okay. O it is. Maybe we go with Professor O? Sort of X-Men-ish, don’t you think?”
He meowed and went back to eating.
“Fine. I guess you can stay, but only if I get the stink washed from your fur. I have Dawn dish soap. If it’s good enough for baby ducks, I’m sure it will do wonders for your fur, and then I can order some real cat food too. So, O, chill and let me wash you.”
I turned the faucet away from him and let the water run on low as it warmed up. So far, he didn’t seem too bothered by it. That was a win. The issue? The second I moved it over him and turned the flow a little higher?
“Oh, damn dude. Get off my shit.”
Claws and all, he latched onto my shirt and meowed like he wanted to scream at the manager.
“Look dude. The tuna is still dry. Eat that while I wash you. Please? I can’t let you on my bed smelling like you just tunneled through a dead body. For all I know, you did.”
The ding of the notification telling me there was movement at the door stopped me from throwing the cat back in the sink, and instead I let him cling to me like no man had ever done to me before.
At least his panicked little heart seemed to detract from my own anxiety. Was it Ripple again? I didn’t know why, but I held my breath every time that thing went off for no reason. The cat was, so far, the most dangerous thing that had come knocking.
“O, you’re attacking if it’s someone bad. Got it? You gotta earn your keep.”
I looked at the lit screen and smiled.
Xander and Rylee stood in front of the camera. Rylee waving manically.
Holding O with one hand, regardless of how well his claws seemed to be embedded into my shirt, I unlocked all the interior locks.
“Hey there, Sparky,” Xander said and paused. “When did you get a cat?”
Maybe self-preservation should have kicked in, but it didn’t.
“All of, like, thirty minutes ago when he came knocking on my door.”
His eyes seemed to darken at that.
“You opened the door for a cat?” Xander barked. Every step he took had me backpedaling.
“You do not get to get mad that I opened the door at all. You could have been dead from that stupid knife wound, and I wouldn’t have known since you apparently forgot how a fucking phone works, you jackass. Besides, O treats me like I matter.”
I mattered for food, I was sure. But whatever.
I swallowed as my back hit the wall.
“I was busy trying to track down who can buy the poison the tox report named as cause of death. We don’t need more moronswith poison around here, now do we? Besides,” he said and leaned into me, “you don’t come across as the clingy type.”
His hand brushed my neck as he swept aside a stray hair. O hissed, and that brought a giant smile to my face.
“Good boy, O. Call me clingy, and you can face the wrath of my new boyfriend. Now move, Crash, and let me bathe my stinky little roommate.”
I didn’t actually let him move, I just shoved past and headed back to the sink where the hisses grew louder and louder until, finally, I realized maybe I just needed to get him some Febreze.
“Get into the sink, O. It’s not that hard. The dishes do it. My hair does it. I’d do it if I fit. It’s a sink.”
