The ginger cat had jumped onto the bed, curling its tail neatly around its paws. It regarded Kota with unblinking amber eyes, expression unreadable but deeply unimpressed.
Kota exhaled through his nose, staring back.
“So,” he mumbled around the tape, voice cracking just a little, “did he kidnap you, too?”
The cat flicked an ear.
Kota’s thoughts caught up to him then, slow and traitorous.
Wait.
Had he said he was cute? He’d also said he was pretty.
Oh.
Oh, no.
TxsRngr
Uh…I have a slight issue.
BugReport404
Like you need bail money issue or a body fell out of the back of your truck issue?
Walker huffed another long-suffering sigh. He liked this app back when it was just a message board for contract killers. But the gamemaster—Tris—had turned it into a literal game, and now, the app was flooded with a bunch of wannabe assassins who thought murder was nothing more than points on a scoreboard.
Walker had met Cade and Tris one night at The Morgue when he was meeting with another asset, who was proposing teaming up for a kill. Two minutes with the asset in question had Walker contemplating killing him instead. When the asset had left, another asset, Cade, had come to the table at the request of his husband, Tris, a chatty little brat who’d never met a thought he didn’t voice. He’d admitted that he was the gamemaster and that he knew Walker’s handle.
He should. The little shit was the one who’d given him the stupid name when the app had updated.
Despite Walker being as gruff and unlikable as possible, Tris and Cade had glommed onto him. They considered him a friend. He did not return the sentiment. He didn’t have friends.
TxsRngr
Like my target was mid-kill when I found him. I saved the victim but now I don’t know what to do with him.
BugReport404
I don’t suppose he’s also a monster and you could maybe just hit a double and clean up loose ends?
TxsRngr
Nope. He’s a pretty little thing with big cartoon eyes who never shuts up and whose second language appears to be sarcasm. He wanted to call the cops and claim I killed the man out of self-defense.
BugReport404
Uh, so where is he now?
TxsRngr
He’s tied up.
BugReport404
Tell me you’re using “tied up” as an idiom and not that you tied up an almost murder victim. Wait, did you say he’s pretty? I didn’t strike you as someone who, uh, tasted the rainbow.
Walker ignored him.
