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“Just you, Kitten.”
I smiled, a pool of warmth coiling in my tummy at those words. “Wanna play a game?”
“A game?”
“Uh huh.” I was already backing up, peering around until I spotted what I’d noticed only briefly the last time. “Why’s there a Monopoly board on the wall?”
“Because Knox is fucking odd.”
“You didn’t put it there?”
“Nope.”
I hurried over to it, peering at the mounted box curiously. At the bottom, all the playing pieces were scattered.
It looked intact enough to me.
I almost toppled over with the size and height of it as I lifted it from its mount, but I managed, and then I was prying open the edge and carrying all the pieces back to Rogue’s cage.
“Where’s the dog?” I asked, as I laid it all out.
“Missing,” Rogue said. “I think everything else is in there, though.”
I pouted. “I wanted to be the dog.”
I picked the boat, instead, the shoe for Bunny, and handed Rogue the top hat, because he looked like he’d dress up clean.
I used to play all the time with Bunny, back at my dad’s house. My brothers hated it, but we had a good time with whatever other plushie was lying about. I realised after the first few turns with Rogue, however, that I couldn’t really remember all the rules. It seemed pretty straightforward, though, so I don’t think he noticed.
“So, he wasn’t too angry?” Rogue asked me as I rolled the dice for Bunny.
I glanced up at him before realising he must mean Knox. “Well, he was… Kinda. But he didn’t hurt me none,” I said. Mypulse picked up as I thought about the craft store. “And he got me a—” I cut off, realising he might not wanna hear that.
“Got you a what?” he asked. His attention was on me, so it was easy to add an extra count to Bunny’s roll to land him on Rogue’s property.
“Um…” I began counting out Bunny’s money and pushing it his way (I added an extra hundred). “He took me out and bought me a gift.”
“He bought you a gift?”
“Just a stupid thing. Didn’t mean nothing,” I said, pressing the dice into his hand aggressively. “Your roll.”
We played another few rounds, and Bunny already had to mortgage his first property to stay afloat—fucking loser.
I tried really hard not to say it, but he kept giving me pretty, teal-eyed looks and eventually I cracked. “It was a sketchbook. And I’ve never… I’ve never had one before.” I was already tugging it from Bunny’s back pouch and opening the first page to show him my half-finished sketch. “And he doesn’t even seem to mind if I draw in it.”
He took it, and his honied bourbon scent seemed to wilt.
Oh… I’d got ahead of myself.
This was a mistake.
Huge mistake.
I opened my mouth, then shut it, scrambling for something better to say. “Thank you for um… for saying you’d get one for me. I don’t think he’d have done it if you hadn’t. So, it’s kinda like… like your gift, too,” I added weakly.
There was a charming half smile on Rogue’s lips even if I could still sense his slight sadness. “Tell you what, Kitten. If that worked, I’ll help you to wring him dry.”
“Really?”
