27. Cat

27

CAT

It had been two weeks since our trip up to the cabin in the mountains. Nothing more had happened in terms of threats or even suspicious activity. Val never moved back into the loft, insisting she didn’t need a front-row seat to the two of us making out every time she turned a corner.

I also never moved back to my own room. I’d stayed in Vince’s every night since we got back. My relationship with Vince just felt right. And we were definitely making up for lost time.

In a few days, Vince’s parents were going on a European cruise for the rest of the month to see all the various Christmas markets along the Danube River , so they were hosting Christmas celebrations two weeks early. They had invited everyone from the security business over as well. Diego and Dane had plans, but just about everyone else had come over.

Val and I had spent all morning and afternoon cooking traditional Puerto Rican holiday food to bring over. I made pasteles— a family specialty of seasoned pork, marinated with sofrito, olives, and garbanzo beans, cooked inside a dough made of plantains, green bananas, and yucca root. We wrapped them in banana leaves, and they were boiled to perfection. Thankfully , we’d done most of the prep work the day before because pasteles may be delicious, but they were quite labor intensive. We also made coquito , the Puerto Rican version of eggnog which, in my opinion, was far superior.

In addition to eating, Ellie insisted we do a combo white elephant Secret Santa gift exchange so that there was no need to get gifts for everyone. We’d kept it simple and pulled names out of a hat two weeks before. Val and I had never done a white elephant gift exchange before, nor had we done Secret Santa . It had been the two of us for so long, our Christmases were usually just a simple event.

The food was done, and I was back in Vince’s bedroom putting my earrings in before we left. He was saying goodbye to someone on the phone when he walked into the room.

“Was that your mom?” I asked since she had already called twice to remind us to bring Harry .

“No, it was Parker . He wanted to know if I could meet up with him to go over some possible bounty cases, but I told him we were headed to my folks’ house.”

I nodded, then finished putting the second earring in.

“I’m giving this to you early because my sister is a pain in my ass and will likely ruin the surprise tonight anyway,” he said, handing me a wrapped box that he pulled from behind his back.

“I haven’t finished with your present yet,” I informed him, feeling bad because I didn’t know we were doing our personal gifts early.

“It’s okay. You can give me my gift on Christmas Day . I’m only giving you this so my sister doesn’t ruin it,” he repeated.

I took the box from him and opened it to find two envelopes inside. A blue one that said “ Open me first” and a white one marked “ Open me second”. Curious by nature, I smiled as excitement raced through me, wondering what was inside. I ripped open the first envelope to find it contained a piece of paper with what appeared to be plane reservations.

“Tickets…to Barcelona …in April ?” I questioned out loud.

He knew that I had always wanted to travel but couldn’t. Or was too afraid to, given our circumstances. But I’d never mentioned Barcelona specifically.

“Kill two birds with one stone,” Vince replied conspiratorially.

The confused look on my face must have been obvious.

He grinned. “ Open the rest.”

I looked down and opened the other envelope, then pulled out two folded-up pieces of paper. After I opened them, I scanned the contents and felt my breathing stop. The papers in my hand started to move, or maybe that was just because my hands shook.

“Really?” I looked up at Vince , my eyes filling with tears.

“My sister said it’s easier to get tickets to a Taylor Swift concert overseas than it was here in the States , so I figure we can go visit Barcelona and see your girl at the same time,” Vince explained simply, like he hadn’t just rocked my world.

That did it. My body rocked with a full-on ugly sob. I covered my face with my hands as I broke down, thinking about how wonderfully thoughtful this gift was and how much I loved Vince .

The papers were pulled from my hand. Both hands were gently pulled from my face, and through tear-filled eyes, I saw a blurry Vince in front of me.

“Not quite the reaction I was expecting, sweetheart,” he said with a small smirk quirking up one side of his lips.

My breath hitched as guilt took over. I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t like the gift. I was just overwhelmed by my emotions.

“I love you, Vince Fletcher ,” I whispered to him as my sobs started to slow.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized what I’d said. I’d just told Vince I loved him. I knew I meant it, but maybe this wasn’t the best time to tell him. I closed my tear-filled eyes as embarrassment began to flow through me. What if he didn’t say it back?

“Kit- Cat , look at me,” he whispered as he cupped my face and used his thumbs to wipe my tears away.

I opened my eyes, unsure I wanted to see his face if he didn’t feel the same.

“I love you too.”

That broke me again. Those words, spoken by someone who meant the world to me, opened up my emotional floodgates even more.

“Best…present…ever,” I whisper-sobbed through a new round of tears.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said, smiling.

His smile was so handsome, I leaned forward to feel it on my lips. I kissed him, hoping to convey to him how happy I was through that kiss since I wasn’t yet capable of putting together full sentences.

There was a loud cat call behind us, and I started to pull back, but Vince held me tight and kept hold of the kiss a little longer. When he finally pulled back, he took his thumbs and wiped away my tears, and likely most of the mascara that was now smeared all over my face.

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I told him, needing him to know.

“Right back at ya, sweetheart.” He smiled back at me, and finally let my face go, but moved his hand to hold mine.

“ Hate to break up this love fest, but it’s time to go,” Val reminded us as shepoked her head into the doorway with a sly smile. “ Vince , you help me gather up the food, while Alice Cooper here fixes her mascara.”

Ten minutes later, we were all loaded up in Vince’s car, Harry included. So many emotions and thoughts rolled through my head while we drove. Happiness that Vince loved me. Contentment with my life right now. Excitement for a Christmas spent with new friends. Friends who felt like family.

When we arrived at Vince’s parents’ house, the three of us carried everything in and spent a few minutes saying hello to everyone. Vince’s mom smothered Val and me with hugs before commandeering Harry to take him to his cat castle while his dad gave us much more of a sedate but still genuine greeting.

We ate pretty much right away since most of the food was warm and ready. Since it was more of a pot-luck style, we set it all out like a buffet in the kitchen, and everyone helped themselves. The meal was great, and the company was even better.

After we ate, we all sat around their Christmas tree in the living room and began our fun gift exchange.

Vince’s mom got Ruthie matching pajamas for her and Dash . Ruthie smiled, though Dash didn’t look nearly as excited to be wearing it when she tried it on him.

Axel had Jack and got him a naughty Swedish dictionary filled only with curse words and inappropriate phrases. There were also a few bags of Dala horse gummy candies.

I was next, and when I unwrapped the gift from Jenny , I started laughing when it was the Taylor Swift socks to match Vince’s . I laughed even harder when I looked over at Vince , who was just rolling his eyes.

“You can wear them to Barcelona !” Jenny yelled.

I turned back to Vince , who was looking at me with a face that read “ I told you so”.

“My turn!” Val announced. “ Vince , I had you in the exchange, and I hope my gift conveys just how much I appreciate you letting us stay with you for so long and even bringing us here to Georgia in the first place.”

“You didn’t…” Vince began to tell her, but she cut him off.

“Zip it.” She held up her hand. “ Just accept the gift and be happy about it. Besides , you don’t know what the gift is yet. You may hate it.”

There was definitely a high possibility he would hate it. Since I helped her order it, I knew Val had gotten him one of those portraits where you make people look like royalty. It was Vince painted to look like a king, with a crown and everything.

Oh, and also, Harry was sitting in his lap.

And it was huge. So big, in fact, Val had been keeping it at Ruthie’s place the last two weeks. We’d left it in Ruthie’s car tonight because we all had food to carry in when we first got here.

“Stay right there, Vince , it’s in Ruthie’s car. We’ll be right back.”

“Why is it in Ruthie’s car?” he asked.

“Don’t ask,” I muttered to him.

“Should I be scared?”

“Maybe a little,” I informed him with a grin.

Just as Val was getting up from the table, it startled Dash , causing him to bump into her. She fell backward onto the chair she had just been sitting on but ended up taking her glass of coquito eggnog with her, spilling it all over herself, the chair, and a little on Dash . In hindsight, perhaps we went a bit too strong on the rum in the coquito.

Several people jumped up to help clean, and I helped Ruthie take care of Dash , who was shaking like a leaf, the poor guy. Val was still in the kitchen trying to clean herself up, so I offered to go in her place.

“Grab your keys, Ruthie , I’ll go with you to get it,” I told her.

We made our way out the door as everyone else continued to clean up or assist Val . I went to the trunk of her car, and Ruthie opened the rear driver’s side door and reached in to slide the protective blanket off so she could push the frame towards me from inside the car.

As I began tugging on the frame, I heard the sound of a car revving its engine behind me.

I looked over my shoulder curiously, and saw a large, dark van speeding down the residential street. The sliding door was already opening before the van came to a complete stop right next to us, two men jumping out. Before I could register what was happening, one of the men was swinging what looked like a bat at my head. I fell backwards to the ground, my eyes blurring as I felt strong hands grab each of my arms and pull me upwards. I tried to squirm away from them, my movements disjointed and my vision getting darker. I tried to scream, but not much came out. My arms struggled to move, but I gave it everything I had.

"Stop fighting, bitch," I heard one man grunt. " Stay still and I won't fucking shoot you."

"Cat!" That was Ruthie's voice. It was immediatelyfollowed by the sound of two shots, which made my head spin even more than it already was.

My legs were pulled up, and I was lifted by two men, one at each end of my body, and thrown into the back of the van. More gunshots rang out. I turned my head to try to glance out the open door of the vehicle to my left, when I felt a crushing blow to my head, and then it was lights out. Complete and utter blackness.

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