Chapter 10 #4
“Uh, that’s, she’s …” Chicot had somehow forgotten entirely that she wasn’t supposed to have a cat here. “A stray! That we’re trying to find a shelter for!”
Monty lifted a single eyebrow at Chicot. “So, you and Elijah have a cat?”
“Yes.” Chicot shivered. If she wasn’t so drunk, she’d be terrified and trying to make more excuses or lie. Instead, she just watched as Monty petted Duchess’s head.
“We hid a cat for a long time too,” Monty admitted. “He passed last year after we moved him into our parents’ because he was getting sick.”
“Really?” Chicot’s brow furrowed as she stepped to pick Duchess up, holding her like a baby. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Monty smiled at her. “What’s her name?”
“Duchess,” Chicot gushed. “I stole her from my family.”
Monty laughed. “Weren’t going to take good enough care of her?”
“I bottle fed her when she was a kitten,” Chicot explained. “I couldn’t let her go. She’s my little baby.”
“I get that.” Monty stepped closer to Chicot to pet Duchess. She purred in Chicot’s arms, leaning into Monty’s soft hand. “C’mon, you should go to bed.”
“But our night cap …” Chicot let Duchess go because she started to squirm. Monty rolled her eyes, a smile on her face.
“I don’t need a night cap, I promise.” Monty set her hands on Chicot’s shoulders, turning her around and nudging her toward the bed. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Chicot didn’t argue, letting Monty push her into Elijah’s bed. “But this isn’t mine.”
“It isn’t?” Monty blinked and then looked around the RV again. “Wait, there’s only one bed in here. Do you and Elijah share?”
“No, I sleep up there.” Chicot sat up on the edge of the mattress, her face basically in Monty’s chest because she didn’t realize how close she was, as she pointed at her hammock. This time at least, Monty didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she followed Chicot’s hand and her jaw dropped.
“How?” Monty looked at Chicot again. “Doesn’t that … hurt your back?”
Chicot shrugged. “I like it up there.”
“Can you get in while drunk?” Monty blinked rapidly, her arms crossing as she tilted her head. She was still looking at the hammock.
“Yeah!” Chicot grinned. “I’ve done it before.”
She looked at Monty, sitting up straighter as Monty looked back. They were alone now, and they were close again. An idea bubbled up from the very back of her head, and because she was drunk, it came out before Chicot really gave it any thought.
“But you know …” She bit her lip. “If you wanted to stay, I’m sure Elijah wouldn’t care if we shared the bed.”
Monty’s eyes grew wide, her whole iris visible and illuminated in the low light coming from the window.
Her mouth opened and closed, her arms uncrossing as her eyes darted down Chicot’s body.
Chicot shivered, leaning up as she set her hands on Monty’s biceps.
She wanted to kiss her, but before she could, Monty took a step back.
“You’re really drunk, Chicot.” Monty shook her head. “You need to go to bed.”
Chicot suddenly felt hot. Even with the AC blasting, she was overheating. She looked down at her hands briefly, one rubbing her forearm. Monty clicked her tongue.
“No, don’t—” She shifted to make eye contact with Chicot. “Don’t get all sad. I’m not— You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I didn’t?” Chicot’s voice cracked because her mouth was dry. She cleared her throat, shaking her head slightly. She didn’t want Monty to think she was about to cry because that was what it sounded like. “I mean, okay. Good.”
“You really didn’t.” Monty rubbed her face. “God, you’re so confusing.”
“Confusing?” Chicot tilted her head to the side. A long sigh came out of her Monty.
“Don’t worry about that for now.” Monty crossed her arms. “Anyway, you’re too drunk to have sex with anyone. Go to bed.”
Chicot probably would have pushed if she were sober, but the alcohol was both making her horny and so very sleepy. “All right.”
“Good,” Monty said. “I’m going to go back to our RV now.”
“Okaaay.” Chicot shifted to pull her pants off, which seemed to stop Monty for a moment. She then stood on the bed to get into the hammock in her boxers.
“Chicot, you need to lock the door after me,” Monty reminded. Chicot paused with her arms in her hammock and looked at her.
“Oh, right.” She hopped down, following Monty to door, and as she stepped down onto the small path in front of their RV, Chicot smiled.
For a moment, they were both pressed in the small space by the door, the two of them close enough to hug …
or maybe even kiss. Chicot considered it, but then she remembered something she’d nearly buried.
She’d never told Monty about the texting thing.
Monty still didn’t know why she wasn’t getting texts back from Chicot and Elijah.
“Oh!” Chicot’s voice was unhelpfully loud, enough to make Monty flinch, the frown returning to her face. Warmth spread over Chicot’s chest and neck, and she rubbed her palm against her thigh for a moment. She needed to make sure that Monty knew that she wasn’t just ignoring her.
“Sorry,” Chicot said for startling her. “But, if you’ve been texting us, I don’t know what’s up, but Elijah hasn’t gotten any texts from you.”
“Elijah?” Monty’s brow creased.
“Yeah, I figure maybe you have a number off or something? Elvis said you’d been trying to text us, but Elijah hasn’t gotten any messages from you.” Chicot stumbled over her words. “And I don’t have a phone, so.”
“You don’t have a phone?” Monty’s nose was scrunched slightly now.
Chicot shook her head. “I broke it in May and haven’t been able to get a new one.”
Monty’s brow slowly unwrinkled, her lips parted as she took in Chicot’s words. She just stared at Chicot, her face slowly relaxing into a perplexed, slack-jawed expression. Then, a twinkle came to her eye and she said, “Right, yeah. That explains a lot.”
“I can look at Elijah’s number for you tomorrow if you want,” Chicot said. “To make sure his contact is correct.”
“That would be good.” Monty chuckled, but for some reason, Chicot wasn’t sure what she was chuckling about. Her having the wrong number wasn’t a particularly funny thing, though maybe it was funnier to Monty than it was to Chicot somehow. Either way, she was just happy to have this all cleared up.
“But, yeah, night, Monty.” Chicot rubbed the back of her head. “Maybe we can have the night cap another time?”
Monty stepped toward Chicot, picking up one of her hands and kissing the back of it. Chicot stared, lips parted and eyes wide. Monty gave her a sideways smile, nodding.
“Yeah, another time.” Monty winked at her.
Chicot slowly closed her mouth, pressing the back of her hand to her own lips for a moment.
The thrill made her stomach turn as she reached out and shut the door after Monty, locking it.
She then scrambled into her hammock and spent only a minute thinking of Monty’s pretty lips before she was asleep.