Chapter Twelve
T he screen flashed with the caller ID. Dad. I scoffed at my phone and rejected the call. Instead, I dialed a different number.
“Hey Lindsey, I know I already owe you… but could I ask you for one more favor?” I asked as soon as the call connected.
“Hi, how’s life going Lindsey? Kids good, Lindsey?” my friend responded in a mocking voice and I winced.
That was fair.
“Sorry…” I started, but she cut me off.
“Nah, just pulling your chain. You sound stressed, girl. Tell me what’s up. Is your father giving you trouble again?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
Lindsay was my landlord and boy, did I pat myself on the back for refusing my father’s offers of much better flats or even houses, as the independence I gained by renting from someone who wasn’t in his pocket was going to pay off now.
I told her about the situation and couldn’t help but grin when she gave me her answer.
Not wasting any time, I knocked at my neighbors’ door and Rowan silently let me inside. The flat was a mess as the men tried to pack all their possessions. Chester was running around like a headless chicken while Elijah was speaking to someone on the phone. The pained draw of his eyebrows and the hand pressed to his forehead pointed towards the conversation not going well. Only Rowan seemed to be his usual calm self.
As he prepared tea and coffee for everyone and sipped his hot beverage contentedly, I couldn’t stop my curiosity.
“Aren’t you going to pack?”
Rowan gestured toward a corner where a stack of sturdy, big plastic containers waited.
“Are those your things? Wait… don’t tell me… you didn’t unpack yet?! After nearly three months here?” My eyes boggled at him.
“Don’t need much,” Rowan waved my concerns off.
If I didn’t already have an idea that he was likely in the military based on the way he held himself and always scanned every room, I would definitely reach that conclusion after seeing how he was ready to just pick up his things and run with barely any notice. I was pretty sure he had an emergency bag like one in those spy movies as well.
Considering he defeated a mugger as a cat, I wondered what he could do as a human. Maybe I could convince him to let me watch his gym time… or arrange a spar between him and one of the other guys. Though I feared both Chester and Elijah would rather be punching bags and not challenging opponents.
My mind started to wander a little as I sipped my tea and watched Rowan from under my lashes, but I was called down to Earth when Elijah finally finished his conversation.
“I got us a place,” Elijah said. Chester cheered, but Rowan just raised a skeptical eyebrow as if he could sense the but coming. “Unfortunately, it’s on the edge of the city. Commuting to your classes won’t be pleasant. Sorry, Chester.”
The redhead deflated.
“It’s alright. We would need a miracle to get as good a location as this on short notice,” Chester said forlornly.
I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.
“Hi, I’m Miracle.”
I grinned at them, almost seeing the spinning circles as they processed my words. Elijah was the first to get it.
“You have a place for us? Really?”
“Don’t get too excited,” I warned. “It’s a pretty small flat, so it will be a tight squeeze.”
“We will take it!” Chester pumped his fist in the air.
Rowan nodded.
“We are used to living in each other’s pockets,” Elijah pointed out. “It can’t be worse than our first flat.”
Hmm, there was history there, but maybe now wasn’t the time to be nosy…
“Alright, follow me then,” I gestured to the men, and they spilled after me into the corridor.
“The same building? Sweet. That will make carrying things so much easier,” Chester enthused.
“Yes, in fact, it’s very close…” I slid the key in with one practiced motion and opened the door to my home. “Welcome to your new abode!”
For a second I shocked the three men into silence, but, of course, that wouldn’t work on Chester for long.
“We can live with you?!” Chester shrieked, and I put a hand over his mouth, shushing him, then unceremoniously pulled him inside the flat.
Once Rowan shut the door behind himself and we were all in the privacy of my flat, Chester licked my hand like a teenager.
“I have kissed you. Do you think your saliva grosses me out?” I snorted at the redhead but pulled my hand away to let him talk.
“Are you for real? Realsies? No takebacks?” Chester chattered with supersonic speed.
“Lisa, we wouldn’t want to encroach on your privacy…” Elijah said delicately. “You don’t have to feel guilty and offer your own space. We will manage. The flat I found is not so bad, I promise.”
“Why are you trying to talk her out of it?” Chester hissed.
“It’s better to suffer than to trouble Lisa,” Elijah argued.
I put my hands on my hips and let them go at it as they traded arguments back and forth. Before they were finished, Rowan had already gone back to his flat and returned with the first of his plastic containers.
The words died on the two men’s lips as they observed their comrade calmly putting his things into the spare room.
“Well, Rowan has already made his decision.” I smiled.
“I did too! Dibs on the left side of the room!” Chester shouted.
“There are three of us! …and he is gone,” Elijah shook his head at the hyperactive redhead who didn’t want to be upstaged by Rowan and ran back to his previous flat, presumably to get a start on the moving as well.
“It will be a really tight squeeze,” I said apologetically. “But I thought one bed would do for now because, if push comes to shove, one or even all of you can sleep in your cat forms.”
“You know, there are two beds in this flat…”
“Elijah, how forward of you,” the corner of my mouth ticked up.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Elijah protested, his hands waving frantically. “I meant just sleeping together! Oh god, that doesn’t sound better… Sharing a bed to sleep. Just to sleep!”
My grin only got wider.
“…you love to torment me, don’t you?” Elijah asked, his cheeks red.
“I have to admit, it’s quite entertaining,” I giggled. “But now I’m feeling bad, so maybe I can make it up to you, hmmm? I will let you sleep with me if you let me be the big spoon.”
“Damn, I see Elijah secured the best part of the flat already. And here I was fighting with Rowan over who gets the dresser,” Chester commented, a half-open box of knickknacks in his hands.
“Be good and maybe you will be allowed in my bed one day,” I teased.
“I’m always good. I’m excellent, a prime specimen!” Chester boasted. “…but I toss and turn at night so I won’t give you an excuse to kick me out straight away.”
“Hogs the blankets,” Rowan reported.
“And kicks! He is a hazard to sleep with,” Elijah confirmed.
“That’s a shame… hope you are a better sleep mate, Rowan,” I winked.
His lips thinned and he shook his head.
“Nightmares,” he said in a haunted voice.
“Oh,” a mournful sound escaped my lips without conscious thought. If he was a soldier… was he haunted by his past? I wanted to cocoon him in blankets and give him only the sweetest dreams.
“Let’s finish,” Rowan nodded at the spare room. “Midnight soon.”
We followed his lead and, between the four of us, we managed to collect all the belongings of the three men. The furniture and appliances were provided by the landlord, so only personal effects had to be carried over.
“I hired a cleaner to come by,” Elijah said with a grimace. “Had to pay a solid premium to get it done in the middle of the night, but I don’t want the landlord, and by extension your father, to make any trouble because we destroyed the flat or something equally ridiculous.”
“Good call,” I nodded. “And take some photos in case you have to prove what state you left the flat in.”
It pained me to anticipate such vile behavior from my own father, but this time he pushed too far and I didn’t know what else he was going to do. For now, I decided to ignore all communications from him and confront him face-to-face during the Thanksgiving dinner.
Exhausted but accomplished, we got ready for bed. Chester had chosen to take possession of the couch as Rowan felt quite territorial, and it was better to leave him to get used to the new space and spread his scent around before he allowed others to sleep in the spare room with him.
Elijah came with me to my bed. He was dressed in a comfortable t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Will you keep me warm?” I lifted the covers invitingly.
“Wouldn’t that be easier to do if I’m the big spoon?” Elijah asked as he slid under the covers.
“No bargaining, no takebacks!” I said sternly and, when he obligingly turned around, I draped myself around him like an octopus.
So what if he was bigger than me? I curled into his back and sneakily moved my hands under his t-shirt to warm them on his skin. He was soft and squishy and I loved it.
“See? You can warm me like this!”
“Glad to be of assistance,” Elijah said in a strained voice I suspected had something to do with the way I was touching him. “Shall I warm your feet as well?”
“I’m not that cruel,” I said. “With the way we produce double body heat now the space under the covers should be hot enough soon, anyway.”
And it was. I drowsed into sleep, warm and cozy, with a beautiful man in my arms.