Chapter 19 Cole
At nine, I turned up at Books and Claws. I couldn’t help the feeling in my stomach, both from hunger and excitement. Like butterflies caught in a storm. I hadn’t felt like that in years. I thought I never would again. I’d forgotten what it was like, liking someone. It was exhilarating.
And yet every fiber of reason in my body kept telling me this wasn’t right. This would only lead to disaster. Because dating and relationships shouldn’t be what I was focusing on right now. It should be rebuilding my bond with Ella. Strengthening it. Not trying to get me some.
Two sides of myself are at war with each other. Reason and desire. Enzo and Carson’s words of wisdom ring in my ears as much as my own hesitation and guilt. It was exhausting.
But when Samir messaged me to ask me out, I couldn’t find it in me to say no. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go one more day without seeing him, hanging out with him, breathing the same air as him.
“You’re being so stupid, Cole,” I mumbled with a sigh and walked up to the front door of the bookstore.
The lights were out already, and as I approached, Samir came out and locked up.
“Hey!” I said.
He jumped and then turned and noticed me with a big smile, which was quickly replaced by a grimace of guilt.
“What’s up?” I asked.
He squished his lips this way and that before he said, “I might need a rain check. I’m sorry. I should have called but it just happened, so I didn’t get the chance.”
I took a step back and narrowed my eyes.
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
“A customer called to say they saw a box of kittens dumped on the street down at the bay. I was gonna go and check it out.”
“I can come with you. If you don’t mind,” I said.
Samir pursed his lips and frowned.
“I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
I laughed.
“Put me out? I mean, we had dinner plans. I’m free for the night. What better way to spend the evening than rescuing kittens. Unless… you don’t want me there.”
His face softened and he shook his head.
“No. Of course not. I’d love it… if you joined me.”
I nodded with a smile and closed the distance between us, grabbed his hands, and stood up on my toes to kiss his cheek.
He froze on contact, and I took the moment to inhale his musky, woodsy, and slightly fruity scent. A scent that sparked a flame inside me that put my body right on edge.
“Let’s go,” I managed to croak before pulling away and offering him my hand.
He took it and we walked together to his car; a modest but shiny Mitsubishi Mirage. We sat inside, holding our hands in front of the vents and rubbing them together, trying to warm up inside the frozen car.
“I think it’s gonna snow soon,” I said and watched as condensation rose up from my mouth.
Samir nodded.
“Yeah. Probably. It’s the constipated type of weather where you know it either wants to rain or snow or give you a burst of sunshine, and it just can’t decide.”
I stared at him for a few moments, and he stared back before I laughed out loud.
“What? What did I say?” he whined. His eyes went so small and his upper lip curled up. He looked positively adorable.
“Constipated?” I asked.
He chuckled.
“What? You’ve never heard that before?”
I laughed again.
“No. But I guess it perfectly describes the weather.”
The more I laughed, the more his face brightened until he was laughing too, and I forgot all about being cold and am far more concerned with my cheeks hurting.
“You’re so funny,” I told him when I’d managed to compose myself.
“Thanks, I guess.” He gave me the once-over and put a hand to the vent before he turned back to me. “Are you feeling warmer? Should I set off?”
I nodded, and he put the car in Drive, and we hit the road. As we got closer to the bay, we both kept an eye out for any small cat, but thankfully, either they weren’t there anymore, or they hadn’t veered out into the road yet.
“Did they give you a specific location?” I asked.
Samir shook his head. “We might have to go kitty hunting.”
“That’s okay. I’ve got a flashlight,” I said and waved my phone at him.
He pulled up at a parking spot and looked at me again.
“Are you sure you’re okay doing this?” he asked, and his lips looked so shiny and inviting, it took all my willpower to resist giving them a taste.
“Yeah. Of course.”
He sighed, and we got out, turned on the flashlight feature on our phones, and walked down the first alley that led to the bay.
“What do we do when we find them?”
Samir turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, do we take them to yours? Do we take them to Duke’s?”
He lifted his chin up, understanding my question, and he smiled. “It depends. If they look okay, we’ll take them to mine and give them food, keep them warm, and take them to Duke’s tomorrow. If not, we’ll take them now and see what happens. He’s already on alert.”
“You two work together?” I asked.
“Of course. He’s a vet. I’m not. I always let him know when I have a report. Sometimes I go, sometimes he goes. Sometimes I keep them. Sometimes he does. Sometimes it’s someone else.”
I nodded and focused on the dark footpath instead of his wonderful, big eyes that only got bigger when he spoke about his cats and his calling.
We got to the end of the alley and turned left, then took the next one. We only passed a few people, but if they were curious what the hell we were looking for with both our flashlights on, nobody said anything.
“Why cats?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why not rescue dogs too?”
Samir shrugged.
“I’m allergic to dogs for one. And can you imagine? A dog bookstore?”
I considered the idea for a second and then nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. I reckon dog pee and paper doesn’t go well together.”
He laughed.
“That, and I would prefer not to be covered in hives all the time.”
I chuckled, and I was about to ask him how he got the idea when we heard a loud but high-pitched meow from up ahead.
“Bingo,” he whispered, and we rushed up the road until we came up to a trash can.
It meowed.
“You don’t think…” I said and looked at Samir.
Samir hissed before forcing a smile on his strained face.
“You would be surprised,” he said.
“I mean, I’ve seen tons of crap from callouts with the fire department, but never this.” I put my hand around the lid and lifted it.
Immediately, three gorgeous, bright-eyed babies looked up at us and sang at us in sync, begging to be saved.
“That’s because they call us first before they call you in these situations. The last one I found was tied in a bag full of water. The poor thing almost drowned before I found it.”
Bile came up at the mere thought.
“Who the hell would do such a thing?”
“Assholes. That’s who. Monsters; that’s who.”
I was so disgusted, I felt like I was going to be sick, so I tried to instead focus on the kittens inside the trash can.
It broke my heart seeing them all weak and defenseless; their survival at the mercy of whoever stumbled upon them.
My heart tightened, and I grabbed my chest as Samir lifted the box they were in and pulled it out to a meowing choir.
All three looked up at him as if he were their salvation. Their hero. There was fear in their eyes, but equally a desperate plea for love, affection, and life.
My breath caught in my throat, and it took me a few moments before I could breathe again.
“Will you help me?” he asked, and I shook off a tear from my eye and helped him with the box that was too soggy to hold its contents for much longer.
We continued our way up the road and turned left to where we’d parked. I took a blanket out of the trunk and got into the car as Samir passed the box to me and placed it on my lap.
They didn’t stop meowing the whole journey back, and when we got into the bookstore, a new set of meows joined in.
I followed Samir’s instructions, and he led me to the back to a cozy but small room that was full of cat toys, litter trays, and bowls before he shut the door so it was just the two of us and the rescues.
Samir took the kitties out of the box one by one and studied them closely before putting out some food for them and stroking them as they ate.
“Thank God they’re old enough to be weaned off,” he said after a while.
I sat down opposite him and stroked the cats as they ate too. They didn’t seem to be scared of humans.
“What do you think happened?” I asked.
“Well, judging from their comfort with being picked up and touched, I’m assuming someone’s cat went out on a prowl, got pregnant, and they didn’t want to keep the kittens so they decided to get rid of them.”
“Disgusting. I wish we knew who it was so we could take their existing cat from them too.”
“I know,” he sighed.
The babies ate all their food and begged for more. Of course Samir obliged them. Who knew how long they’d been out there, cold and starving, away from their mother and their home.
They were all adorable too. Not that it would justify the person’s actions if they weren’t, but they were the type of cat people usually sought out to adopt.
One was white and gray and skinny as all hell.
The other was a darker gray and a creamy white with some orange tufts above its ears.
The last one was almost a copy of the second one, only darker, and the majority of its body was gray or orange with very little white. They all had stunning blue eyes.
“How long have you been doing this?” I asked.
“Ever since I could remember myself. If I found a cat in the streets, I’d take it home.”
“And your parents didn’t mind?”
I shook my head.
“They love cats too. Although they tried to stop me from rescuing too many. Especially after Truffles.”
I narrowed my eyes and smirked.
“Truffles?”
“Yeah. The neighbor’s cat. I found her wandering the street behind our house, so of course I took her in. I didn’t know she belonged to the neighbor.”
I smirked.
“Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad. What am I missing?”
“Well, the neighbor saw Truffles lounging on our window one day and caused quite the stir: calling the police on us, accusing us of stealing his cat. Since then, my parents were a little more cautious about rescues. I mean, who could blame them?”
I chuckled, and just then, one of the kitties, the tiny white and gray one, ditched the food and climbed Samir all the way up to his chest. He gave it a nudge up to his shoulder before it nuzzled against him and started purring so loudly I thought there was a lawnmower in the room all of a sudden.
It wasn’t long before they all tried to get some love from Samir, completely ignoring me, and I was sitting there, watching a full-grown adult drink up all the kitty head-butts with the joy one would expect to see in a kid.
He never looked more attractive. And I never wanted him more than here and now, sitting in a dark closet in the back of a bookstore.
“I should probably call Duke and tell him to go to bed,” he said after a moment, and it was only then I realized I’d been staring at him. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”
“Sure.” I smiled and took a deep breath.
He put the kitties back down on the floor and turned to look at me, standing on his knees.
“How about kebabs from Mr. Faisal’s?”
The kittens tried to climb him again.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed him by the sweater and pulled him down to me; down to my lips and into my arms.
I kissed him gently but deeply. Tenderly but passionately.
The warmth of his body against mine, the taste of his tongue lashing against mine, the scent of his perfume against my nose…
They all set me on fire. A fire that burned brighter and hotter with each passing second.
Each second that felt like forever in his embrace.
I didn’t want this moment to end. I didn’t want to ever stop kissing him, but when I felt a sharp scratch on my ribs, I was forced to.
We both looked down at the light calico cat with its claws digging into my sweater—and flesh—trying to climb me.
Samir laughed. I laughed. We looked at each other and our laughter turned to smiles and more kisses until the cat dug its claws back into me again, and I had to pull away to help it in its endeavor to climb me like a tree.
I was hot and flustered, and so was Samir from the looks of it. But that second moment of reprieve gave us both a chance to breathe and gave Samir the strength to stand up and walk out of the room, leaving me alone with the cats and my thoughts.
What had I just done?
And why did I want to do it again?