Chapter Ten
T hat three-way date – because what else could I call it when we had a competition on praising each other ? – made a seed of hope grow in my chest. I was still certain choosing only one of my neighbors would ruin things between all of us, but maybe, just maybe, I didn’t have to choose only one of them.
The thought was like a bolt of lightning to my brain; it ignited my imagination and left me on fire. My caution burned to ashes in the fiery tornado of possibility. If there was even a slight chance of getting all of them I was going to fight for it.
And the way they were with each other… there was a strong bond of friendship between them. They were a package deal. We could make this work. We could .
I gave myself a moment to think about how best to approach the situation and took a long walk around the city. During the day the nearby park was bustling with life so I decided it was safe enough to go there and take in the greenery and the sounds of life.
Deep breath in, hold it, let the air out.
I made my decision.
With purpose in my steps, I went back to my flat, intending to lay the cards down on the table.
I wanted them. All three of them.
Before I reached my block I heard angry yowling and sprinted in the direction of the sound. A cat was in trouble!
I stopped in shock when I saw it was Chester scruffing a familiar black cat.
“Enough running! We are going to have a talk,” the redhead said with narrowed eyes, ignoring the hissing and twisting of the cat.
“It’s time we end this,” Elijah nodded from Chester’s side, his expression serious.
The bigger man opened the door to the building for his friend and the distressed cat in his grasp.
Why did they have Shadow? What did Elijah mean by ‘end this’? Couldn’t they see how panicked the black cat was? It was no way to treat an animal!
My stomach clenched as the rose glasses of friendship cracked a little. Were they going to hurt Shadow? I didn’t bring it up during our date, but the cats who bothered Kevin sounded awfully like Shadow, Cheddar, and Marshmallow. I could understand Shadow being aggressive as I had seen him hiss at the people who gave him bad vibes, but the other two shouldn’t even be out of the apartment. In retrospect, it was disturbing how uncaring my neighbors were about letting their cats go as they pleased and vanish for half a day or night in my flat. And when I visited there was always one hiding in the bedroom… now I wondered if the cats were really there or if my neighbors lied to me while their cats were missing, or if they put them outside themselves… If Shadow was their runaway it was another red flag that they never told me to keep an eye out for a black cat and didn’t ask for details when I mentioned one in passing.
I had such a bad feeling about this.
My steps led me to their door for a different confrontation than I had planned.
With dread settling in my stomach, I knocked loudly on the door.
“Where’s the black cat?” I asked bluntly.
“What black cat?” Chester appeared with a big smile.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I saw you carry him here. While he was crying and trying to escape.”
“Haha, this is not what it looks like, I swear!” Chester laughed nervously.
“Isn’t it? Then show me that the black cat is safe and hale. No, show me all of your cats. I want to check all three of them,” I demanded.
Rowan appeared from one of the bedrooms, his expression stormy as he gave Chester and Elijah a side-eye. Did he disagree with the other two about something? Like… the treatment of the cats?
“There’s nothing to worry about. The kitties are safe, I promise!” the ginger said.
“That’s lovely to hear. You won’t mind then if I see for myself.”
I forced my way into the flat, which is to say the three men were too panicked to bodily block me as they knew they would need to use excessive strength to stop me, with the way determination filled my body.
Chester started to spin some story I wouldn’t believe in a thousand years. I ignored him soundly. They watched helplessly as I tore through every room. The flat was small, so it was quick work to open the rooms and even the bathroom to peer inside. One cat, maybe two, could be hidden somewhere, like under the bed, or on top of a wardrobe, but I refused to believe none of the three cats would come to me as I called for them.
Cheddar, Marshmallow, and Shadow were not here.
“What did you do with them?!” I shouted, focusing on my anger because otherwise I felt like I would burst into tears.
“They are perfectly fine. I swear, Lisa,” Elijah said, his voice trembling.
“Let’s just all calm down—” Chester started.
“Prove it,” I demanded. “Prove to me that you are good men and not some monsters who hurt animals. Please .”
My lower lip trembled as I slowly realized whatever it was I probably couldn’t do anything to make those three men confess. The only thing I probably could do was to ugly cry at them until they got tired of the noise.
Rowan stood in the middle of the room, his gaze considering. He stepped towards me and I flinched.
“It’s time,” he said, facing his roommates. “No more secrets. Let me.”
“You really want to…?” Chester asked. He looked scared. “I think… I think I want it too.”
Both men looked at Elijah. His face was pale and he closed his eyes as if he was in pain, but when he opened them again his gaze was resolute.
“The clowder has decided. I hereby grant you permission. May you hold our secret gently, Lisa.”
“What secret? What’s going—” I started to ask, but my words stuck in my throat as Rowan turned to me and changed.
Where once stood a tall and dark man now sat a cat.
Shadow jumped at me and my arms caught him automatically, cradling the suddenly affectionate cat to my chest.
“Dibs on not having to explain this!” Chester called and promptly changed into an orange cat.
Cheddar wound around my legs, purring up a storm.
I looked to Elijah for answers.
“Traitors. Fuck this. I’m not explaining this alone,” he declared.
And then I had three cats around me.
I laughed so hard I had to stumble to the couch to sit down. The cats took that as a free-for-all invitation and suddenly I had a lap full of Marshmallow. Chester attacked my boots as if he took offense that I hadn’t taken them off yet and revealed his favorite targets known as socks. Shadow perched on the back of the couch and sniffed my hair.
I turned my head to my constant nightly companion and the cat bonked me with his head. Tears threatened to spring to my eyes again, but this time there were tears of relief and of that singularly amazing type of pride you could only feel when a cat chose you and only you. The hard-won affection felt like the highest achievement of my life.
Something settled in me as I knew all three kitties were safe and happy and here, with me. I was going to deal with the rest of this mess eventually, but, for now, I took simple pleasure in caressing silky fur and feeling purrs reverberate through me.
My neighbors were cats?
My cats were three beautiful men I had a crush on?
The cats were ok?
Magic, or at least shifters, existed?
Wrapping my head around all of this took some time.
“I gave you a bath,” I said to Marshmallow/Elijah, who visibly cringed even if he was in his cat form. “You ate my trash in front of me,” I pointed at Cheddar/Chester, who was entirely unashamed of his action both then and now. He gave me his signature cute blep in response. “And you… you saved me from a mugger!” Shadow/Rowan preened and threw a smug look at the two other cats.
A giggle built in my chest and I couldn’t help but let it out.
The three men stayed in their cat forms until the mental exhaustion of the day took hold of me and I fell into slumber on the couch with three cats around me.
By the time I woke up from my nap they were back in their human forms.
It was time to talk.