Page 40 of Feline Good

“And kicking ass.” Asher said.

August was solemn, with a hand stroking her arm. “We wondered why you were gone for so long. We attempted to follow you, but we couldn’t quite sneak into your new apartment complex. No pets.” With a teasing smile, he pinched her arm.

Amir tried to comfort her. “Malak wasn’t totally alone. We stayed with him after you left,” Amir stated. “He was understandably upset, but like any man, he bottled it up.”

The confirmed information brought fresh tears to Maya’s eyes, and she gripped their hands in thanks.

The burden of letting Uncle Malak down still weighed heavy on her heart, and she wished with all her might that she could turn back time and not make the same mistakes.

Maya thought of the amulet. Technically, assuming they could find it, she could. But every movie, novel, comic book, and basically any plot that included turning back time never ended well for the main characters. She was definitely the type to accidentally fuck up the future. They’d end up with a game show host for a president or something like that.

Chuckling at herself, she took another deep breath and glanced at the guys surrounding her. In their eyes, she could see the empathy and understanding. Knowing they didn’t pity her went a long way to proving that maybe everything would turn out okay.

“That might have been my only relationship, but I learned enough from it to make me a better person.”

“Maya, you’ve always been a good person. You just got a little twisted up. The wrong people will do that to you.” Amir spoke the truthful words.

His words warmed her heart, and she sent them a watery smile before chuckling. Wiping the tears away, she motioned to them. “Enough about my sob story. Tell me who you were before you were cats.”

A silence that suddenly rang as awkward filled the room, and Maya paused, waiting for one of them to fill it. Instead, it stretched on, until she turned to the left and focused on Asher. A shameful expression came over the man, the one she truly knew the least about. Their conversation from the library played through her head— and Maya decided she really didn’t need to know. Not now.

“You don’t have to tell me. It’s okay. I know you guys all grew up together. And I know you now. That’s enough for me, if it’s too hard.”

Asher grimaced. “After how you just opened up to us... But I have to warn you, you won’t like who I was. Hell, I don’t like who I was. But like you said…”

“Hindsight.” Maya finished the sentence for him with a soft smile. Leaning in, she kissed him chastely on the cheek, before rolling over and laying her head on his shoulder. “We all make mistakes, Asher.” August curled up to her back, and she sighed happily.

He nodded, before seeming to gather his courage and letting out a slow breath. “After Dad left, Mom went down a... dark road. We downsized, obviously, to a tiny apartment, and to keep making the payments she...” Clearing his throat, he continued hoarsely. “She... sought other avenues of work. I was only fifteen at the time, and I was so angry at everything, everyone…” A glance was sent to his brothers, who both lay behind Maya. She held any judgement off; it wasn’t her place anyway. “It was an impressionable age. I had known all along what was going on, and I don’t know, I guess it just kind of... messed with me. Instead of looking at that as an example of what not to do, I followed it. To deal with everything going on, I slept around. Partied a lot. I almost never came home—” His voice broke, and Maya rubbed a slow pattern into his chest with her fingertip. “Amir stepped up and made sure August was taken care of.” Asher looked down at her, and she peered up to see his ice blue eyes covered in a sheen of tears as he stared at the ceiling. “It’s why he’s so smart, you know? Amir made sure he went to school, ate, and did his homework. I just beat up his bullies when they gave him hell.”

August snickered behind her, and she rolled halfway over to see a genuine smile on his face. “Asher, I thought you were so the shit.” He looked at Maya, his amber eyes glowing. “He really did kick their asses. Everyone was terrified of him so, eventually, I could walk from class to class unaccosted.”

Maya would never say out loud what she was thinking; she was grateful the guys were close enough to each other to be able to talk about these things lightheartedly. It seemed Asher was the hardest on himself, and the others had already forgiven him.

Maya turned back to him. “We all cope in weird ways. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Amir spoke up from the other side of August, clearing his throat before speaking. “Yeah, man. I agree. I know I give you a hard time… but let it go. That was years ago. Forgiven, forgotten.”

“Speaking of... how old are you three now?”

Asher blushed. Blushed, as Maya patiently waited for the answer. “Well... when I turned into a cat, I was twenty-nine. That makes me... forty-four now.”

Maya gaped and rose up on her palms. “Oh my god, you’re twice my age!”

Asher winked. “But I still look damned good.”

Well... she couldn’t argue with that.

“And Amir is thirty-nine.”

“Holy shit!” Maya rolled over onto her back, moaning dramatically, teasing them. “I’m dating a bunch of old men!” Suddenly, she rose up again, her palms flattened behind her. “Wait. Does this mean I have sugar daddies now?”

Asher groaned and rolled over on top of her. “I don’t know about this daddy business, but I have some sugar.” With a grin, he leaned down to kiss her, his lips sliding softly against hers. Even after everything they had been through so far, kissing him— hell, any of them— still sent a shock through her system. Opening to him, she tilted her head, their tongues twining together slowly.

Before it could get too heated, her alarm sounded, interrupting the moment with its piercing reminder.

Asher froze, his lips against hers before pulling away with a laugh. “Do we have to open the bar tonight?”

“Oh, hush!” Maya smacked his arm. “Someone distracted me this morning, so we have extra things to do.” She threw a pointed look in Amir’s direction.