Kitty
Kitty
Entering Cruz’s condo at the end of her day, Presley was struggling with the emotions she was feeling
It shouldn’t hurt.
After all this time, years since her relationship with the person she knew as Noah, Shae as they preferred now to be known, was over, she should not be feeling the sting of their betrayal as much as it was. It hurt. It hurt so much to know the person she’d once loved could be intimate with someone else while they’d been together. The fact it was her own brother was causing the ache to turn into a weird agonizing pain.
It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did.
When they were together, Presley admitted she’d always been insecure. Always knowing it was their mother who pushed them together, something Shae always joked about, she’d always questioned the devotion as being real. Now, she was convinced it wasn’t and to know her love was one–sided felt like a punch to the
stomach.
For her part, in hindsight, she knew Shae wasn’t the one for her but to cheat on her with her own brother
seemed like such a horrible way to prove the point. Who did such things? Who then admitted it years later?
“Hey,” Cruz interrupted her thoughts as he came out of the direction of the bedroom. “Rami called me. Are you
okay?”
“Rami called you?”
“Yes. He said something about God making mistakes giving you the wrong brother, but he was fixing it now by giving you his presence.” He shook his head. “He really tells people you’re his sister, by the way. Anyone
who will listen, he tells them you’re related.”
“I know. I really love him to bits. He stayed in my office with me this afternoon to help me go through some reports to help me understand. He’s really smart. Like how he is a simple mechanic is beyond me.”
“Pretty sure he’s more than a simple mechanic,” Cruz snorted as he tugged her into his arms and hugged her tight. “He told me Shae thought it would be a great idea to hurt you by confessing he f****d Odin for six
months.”
“Why would they even tell me after all this time? He could have reached out a million times over the years to confess. Why now?”
“An opportunity presented itself, but he didn’t do it for your benefit but for theirs. He wanted to hurt you for
whatever the reason.”
“Rami said the same thing. I think it’s because he used to tell me I wasn’t paying attention to him. You know me Cruz. I get lost in my imagination or if I’m reading a book, the entire world could explode around me, and I’d not even notice it. They used to get incredibly frustrated with me tuning him out when I was in the zone with writing or studying. I think Shae thought I should be hanging off every word and when I didn’t notice them not being around it hurt their feelings. I think they wanted to hurt me back today. Make me realize since I didn’t care back then, they didn’t care either. It’s funny too because I can tell you right now the exact period they was cheating on me with Odin based on exactly this.”
“Really?”
O
174
Kitty
“Yup. You guys barged in around Halloween to cover me in paint. Noah, I mean Shee, she made he expressing her difficulty in remembering, “was injured for months. We only had a x again New Years Eve They played it off like it was the first time, but they’d been putting me off for weeks. It was only when spring break came around did things really return to normal.” She grimaced, “you know they gave me some song and dance today about how they’re not meant to love one on at a time, but can I say, I think it’s simply an excuse to cheat on their partners. I know Paris and her husband swing and promote polyamory, and they do it respectfully, for the most part when they’re not trying to seduce women in public bathrooms. What I’m saying is they talk to one another, have clear boundaries, and define their relationship. They are open and communicative and are always on the same page. They don’t sneak around behind each other’s back under the guise of needing to love more than one person the way Shae uses love as an excuse to f**k other people.”
Cruz have a bitter laugh he tried to stifle.
“What?” she immediately caught it.
“You’re right. He mentioned he’s in a relationship with another couple. He lives with them, but they don’t know he has a secret apartment where he’s f*****g other people on the regular. I asked Fidelio to dig into him after Rami called me. It took him less than thirty minutes to get a bunch of details including how Shae has a place. they hide away from their partners. There’s a bunch of emails and texts where Shae comptains how his supervisor is making them work overtime and then they’re picking someone up from a bar and taking them back to their place.”
“No.”
“Rami wants to beat him into the ground for purposefully hurting you today. Fidelio sat there with the fool in his office today and feels strongly the sadness was all a performance and it’s making him dig deeper into the work because if Shae can be so damn phony it’s likely they’re being underhanded in his job. I,” he shrugged before rolling out his shoulders, “I want to hurt the motherfucker for hurting you. I want to send the details Fidelio found out about the apartment and the sordid affairs to the two people whose s****l health is at risk.” “You’re saying it like this to make me think it’s about them and not only revenge on Shae.”
“Maybe? Is it working?”
“Yes. Release it all. I’m hurting and its making me want to hurt back. I can’t believe he told me this today under the guise of a needed confession when in reality it was for his benefit. Jerk.”
“What are you doing with Shae’s mother?”
“Nothing.” She grinned. “I took a page out of Liborio’s book. I scared the supreme s**t out of her and her sister. Made them think if they even breathed my name I’d send them to Asia for work. Let them see the two other guys in my holding cells. I might have also slapped her a few times. I also asked Rami to make a show of putting a couple of guys in an empty apartment in her building and letting her know she’s being watched.” “That’s diabolical. She’s going to be scared to death.”
“Especially when Rami made his own statement to her about how he’s The Mechanic and my brother and if she wants to die a slow torturous death he’d be happy to deliver it.”
“He’s crazy.”
“Rami said you want Odin back here.”
“I want him in front of me, yes. I want him on his knees in front of me so I can figure out what is wrong w
<
50/4
Kitty
him and why he has really hated me all along, to the point he’d sleep with my boyfriend. He owed me an explanation. This is more than Jealous over getting Dad’s attention.”
“You could be right but, what if it’s not? What if he’s simply a sick bastard?”
“Then I’ll have to accept it.”
“Can you do it?”
“Probably not but it is what it is, and I’ll have to figure it out.”
“Do you know what might help?” Cruz laughed when she yelped as he swung her up into his arms and carried
her in the direction of the bedroom.
“What?” She hooked her arms around his neck and held on tight.
“Some TLC after a hard day at work where your past popped up to haunt you”
He kicked the door to the bedroom open and her head turned to look, and she squealed at the sight.
“Cruz!”
The bedroom was darkened with the curtains closed and there were candles everywhere. The bed was adorned with rose petals in the shape of a heart in the middle of it. The room smelled fragrant and heady. A bottle of wine sat in a bucket next to the bed and there were some towels and bottle of oil sitting on the
nightstand.
“It is oil and not lube, right?”
His laugh echoed in the space. “Yes. This is about making my Ladybird feel good.”
“It’s so pretty.” She couldn’t help but stare at the space. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“As if you can’t believe I couldn’t be romantic.” He gently set her at the end of the bed and smiled before ducking into the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked as the sound of ruffling came out from the room.
“Well, I was thinking of all the ways I could do this.” Cruz came into the room carrying something she couldn’t really see in his massive hands. “I thought about a grandiose display with fireworks. I thought about a small intimate dinner for two at a fancy restaurant. Then yesterday when you were all badass it occurred to me, you’re embracing your badass self. You called yourself a boss b***h. You’re right. You are a boss. Every boss, “he paused as the thing in his hands started to move and a teeny mewling noise escaped his hands, “needs
to have a cat.”
She couldn’t breathe as Cruz moved to kneel in front of her on the floor. The tiniest, fluffiest ball of floofy black furred kitten poked it’s head through Cruz’s fingers. “You got me a kitten?”
“I did.” He couldn’t stop smiling as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “I remembered when you were little you
had a cat.”
“Snowball.” She nodded.
“Well, this one isn’t fluffy white like Snowball but she’s pretty darn cute if I say so myself.” He put the kitten into Presley’s trembling fingers. “Do you like her?”
“I love her,” she whimpered as she put her face into the fur and breathed her in. “She’s so tiny.”
O
3/4
Kitty
What do you think of her collar?” Cruz asked curiously.
She held the mewling thing up in her arms and then blinked at the sparkling coller with a pendant on it le
very fancy.
Look really close at it.” Cruz encouraged her. “Might be hard to see in only candlelight.” He pulled his phone and used his flashlight to light it up.
She twisted the collar and then her breath hitched deep in her throat. Her eyes flicked to Cruz and then back to the kitten’s neck as Cruz easily undid the collar from the kitten and let a ring fall into his palm.
“The thing with the kitten is,” Cruz grinned at her as he held the diamond up, “we’re kind of a package deal In order to get her, you have to have me. What do you say, Ladybird? Want to start our family with a kitten? Will you make me the happiest man on the planet and marry me?”
“Yes,” she knew she was ugly crying now, the kitten clutched to her chest and her left hand extended to allow Cruz to slip the ring onto her finger. “This is so romantic and special,” she wailed into the space between
them.
He laughed, “I’m glad you approve.” He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I love you, Presley. You’ve made me so happy.”
“I love you too.” She kissed him back before holding the kitten up in his face, “I have a question though.”
“What?”
“Did you really think I’d be able to put her down long enough for you to give me a massage and thank you properly for this ring?”
15
