Run From Me (Barbed Wire Hearts #2)

14. Calliope

FOURTEEN

calliope

Days off gave me too much time to think, and with the whole Viper thing? Well, the drama Ripple had started and Xander had ended? Things were far too volatile for me to venture out and feel safe.

Ripple had come pounding on my door twice in less than one day. I’d been more than happy to have the Spectors to walk me to and from my apartment, and that had kept the creeps at bay. But now? I was off and therefore locked behind mini Fort Knox.

And here I sat, far too afraid of seeing Ripple. A very angry Ripple. He wasn’t yelling though, so something told me Xander had done some damage to his vocal cords. The visible bruises were a physical reminder, and I was positive Ripple hated it.

I’d missed baby goat yoga in the park already, so now what?

The alarm chimed as motion tripped it again. So far, the only thing this system was protecting me from was my drunk neighbor and a moth, and yet I jumped every time.

“Calliope you are big girl. Nothing is out there,” I said to myself. Was it bad I was already talking to myself?

Part of me was actually terrified a smarter Viper would show up and question the lack of bugs in my place. The other side of me kept hoping it was Xander. What if he’d died from the knife wound? Except Rylee said he hadn’t. She mentioned she was going to kill him.

I started pacing, trying to decide whether I checked the camera or not. Maybe I would just kill him myself if he showed up.

Blowing me off was a dick move. Even if he’d tried to push me away and I just wouldn’t let him.

No. That was a pile. He’d willingly fucked me. It hadn’t been all one sided. Not that last time. Hell. My body was still recovering from the first twenty-four hours of Xander.

“One, two, three.” I counted each inhale and stopped in front of the small screen and looked out. Nothing. No. Wait.

I saw what looked like a long tail out of the corner of the screen, and then it disappeared just to circle back.

It was a cat.

“Shoo, kitty. Go home.”

Okay, so now this little system had protected me from a cat. Right. Well, at least it was something different. I stood there and watched the cat pace back and forth. So odd. What was it looking for?

“Go home, kitty,” I said to myself, again. Of course he didn’t hear me, and I doubted he would do what I said anyway.

I laughed. “How do I even know you’re a him?”

No one was around to hear me question any of this. I’m sure my psychologist would probably love to know that there were no voices answering me back. But also, maybe she’d be concerned I hadn’t exactly answered myself but was close to doing so.

Being alone did things to a mind. I could have been at the library right now if I wasn’t freaked out about Ripple. Or worse yet, whatever Ripple had reported. Would he report back about the Viper that was never going back home?

The cat was still there, pacing and setting off the motion sensors over and over.

My lip ached as I nibbled on it. Why wasn’t it leaving?

Maybe he was hungry? “I feel you cat, I feel you.”

Instead of going back to my shitty chair and ignoring the mangy little thing, I did what anyone would do who was terrified of being hunted and murdered. I unlocked all the extra locks and cracked the door. The cat came right up to the crack between the door jam and the wood. With a quick glance on either side of the opening, I looked and listened, but still, it was just the cat.

“Hey, Mr. Kitty.”

He meowed in response.

“You hungry?”

He meowed again. I looked up and down the hallway, and there was still no one there.

“You look lost. Is anyone looking for you?”

I opened the door further and the little thing came closer and rubbed himself against my leg, purring as he got what he wanted. I shifted, taking in the hall one last time, but when I looked down, the cat had already pushed his ass between me and the door.

“Go ahead and make yourself at home, I guess.”

The door closed with ease, something my bruised hip appreciated after the old one. The purple had already started to fade into a yellow green over the last two days of not having to hip thrust to get the old one to latch.

I turned around and watched the cat strut his shit, his little tail flicking back and forth.

“Did my shitty apartment pass inspection?”

The cat didn’t say much, just walked around the open space, disappearing into the bathroom and coming back out a moment later.

“Oh,” I said when he jumped up on my counter. “Maybe stay off the counter.”

I put him back down.

“Maybe you want some water?”

I turned my back on him for a microsecond, and he was back up on the counter, but this time he brushed against me, his tail tickling my nose as he went.

“Oh, for crap’s sake. You don’t listen well, do you?”

He meowed right back.

“You talk back an awful lot. You feel like a boy, but maybe I should check.”

I went to lift him, but he sprang out of the way, so I just waited for him to turn around again. Sure enough there was the telltale sign he was indeed one more male problem in my life.

“Thank goodness. I’d hate to think I’d just insulted a fellow female.”

The stupid cat started to purr.

“Are you as starved for love as me or something? I haven’t even started to pet you. To be fair, you really don’t smell good either.”

I looked at the kitchen sink.

“If I give you water and tuna, on a scale of zero to ten, zero being you’re going to be all sweet and docile and ten being you’re going to rip my face off, what do you think it will be?”

I reached for a bowl like he was ever going to answer me.

I went about getting him the promised water and put it near the sink like, if I kept him close to where I wanted him, he would go in without a fight. I looked in my cabinet for the tuna packet I was certain I had.

The package had barely been ripped open, and the cat was my new bestie.

“Oh, alright. Guess you like tuna.” I had to fight him off to get it out of the package and into another bowl. I put this one in the sink. Good. Maybe I could wash the poor guy and at least make him smell less like death. I watched him as he ate up the only cat-approved food I was sure I had.

“You need a name.”

I leaned forward, supporting myself on the counter with my elbows propped on the hard surface.

“What about Fred?”

He didn’t even look up.

“Bob?”

Nothing. I’d never actually had a pet, so I wasn’t entirely sure what one did to decide on a name.

“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 morons with 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.”

I got one paw disconnected from my shirt and started to work on the next. Just as his claws came out of my shirt, the other paw latched back on.

I tried to make my voice as sweet as possible even as I spoke through gritted teeth.

“O, I didn’t exactly like this shirt, but the skin under it doesn’t like the sharp points of your damn claws.”

At this point, I was out of breath and out of patience. I sounded like I’d just run the mile and failed, while I was pretty sure my chest was matching the claw marks on my arms.

“Cali? Have you ever bathed a cat?” Rylee asked, coming up next to me.

I looked down at O clinging to me for dear life.

“Why would you ask that? This is going so well.” I let my head hang in defeat.

“Right. Okay. Hold please,” Rylee said, and she pulled out her phone and walked a few steps away.

I looked at her and laughed.

“He isn’t letting me go. So, yeah. No problem. I’ll be right here.”

Rylee made herself at home even though she’d only been here all of twice that I could remember. My apartment was so shitty she never questioned why we met at hers so often, but she’d never once judged me. Rylee went about finding what she was looking for, but that gave my nemesis time to recover from my rejection.

I was out of my damn mind, but I could tell the instant Xander was behind me. I could feel the heat of him before his chest ever leaned against my back.

“Cali,” he said.

I ignored him.

“It’s okay, O. You’re going to feel so much better after this. I promise.” I smiled down and watched his eyes flick over my shoulder. “Are you eyeing the big bad man behind me? Don’t worry. He’ll forget about us as soon as he realizes I’m not useful anymore now that he has his precious information.”

The words hurt my heart to say, but not hearing from him, especially when I had the final piece he needed? Well, it was obvious. At least I’d gotten to act on my fantasies for one night.