Page 5

Mr. King grunted, looking over at Lain for a moment. Despite his grumpy nature making him seem older, if I had to guess, I'd put Mr. King in his early forties. So, at least ten years older than Lain, probably more, but where Lain seemed to have lived a somewhat charmed life, I knew the world hadn't been nearly so kind to the older man.

"I went ahead and set Nyx up for her next appointment. Same time a month from now," I said, handing him back his credit card along with his reminder card for next time.

"I'll see you then."

Without another word, he was gone, taking the momentary distraction he'd provided with him. The moment the door closed, I slumped down into the chair at the desk and laid my head on the appointment book, willing my stomach to stop churning.

"One of these days, I'm going to get him to crack and smile, and it's — boss?"

"I'm fine."

Even I didn't believe that, not when my voice cracked and I had to swallow back bile.

"Right. Sure. Fuck, stop biting me, you little heathen."

I heard rustling behind me, then footsteps, but I didn't look up until a few moments later, when I saw Lain's colorful shoes appear by the desk in my periphery.

"Here." A bottle of water appeared in front of me, and I finally sat up to see Lain watching me with concern.

With his tousled brown hair and dark eyes set off by a smattering of freckles across his cheekbones and nose, Lain Harris had the kind of face made for smiling. Seeing him so blatantly worried was enough to snap me out of my shock, and I took the water, taking a few small sips to settle my stomach. A fine sheen of sweat dotted my face and I should probably go wash up, but it'd have to wait.

"Thanks. Sorry."

From his bed, Romulus let out a soft whine and got up, padding over to me as soon as Lain opened the gate to let him through. He leaned against my side, his heavy head resting on my lap.

"Don't apologize. What happened? Wait…" He narrowed his eyes. "Did you run into⁠—"

"Yes, and if you could not say his name, I'd appreciate it," I interrupted. Seeing him was bad enough. Hearing his name would send me spiraling down faster than I could save myself from.

"Are you sure you don't want me to curse him or something? If I asked nicely, I'm sure Ori would show me how."

"I don't think witchcraft will solve my issues, but thanks anyway." Lain had a strange fascination in the occult, for some reason, and upon arriving in town, he'd immediately befriended Ori Castellanos, the owner of Esoteric Oddities. Why a town of barely ten thousand had a dedicated occult shop, I didn't know, nor did I bother to ask. It was just one of those quirks of the town.

"Do you need to go home or anything? You only have one appointment left, right? I can finish up for you."

The only thing worse than getting stuck in my thoughts was being alone with them.

"I'm nearly done with Bella, but thanks. Here." I handed him the bag of sandwiches. "Let's eat while Bella finishes drying and Piddles takes a break. A little caffeine and I'll be good to go."

Lain raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing me, but he knew me well enough to let it go. The salon was too small for a dedicated break room, but we did have a small office area tucked into the corner by the tall windows that looked out into town. A half-wall lined with hooks for leashes separated it from the main work area. I'd lost my appetite, but I kept Lain company while he ate, filling the silence with silly stories between bites.

This was familiar, safe territory, and finally the last of my fear eased. There was no guarantee it wouldn't come back to haunt me tonight, and actually, that was more likely than not, but that was a problem for Later Quinn to deal with. Right now, I let my friend's voice soothe me while we ate, carrying that peace into my final appointment of the day.

Despite all my efforts at distracting myself, though, and even after I'd buried the sound of his voice in my memories, my arm burned with the lingering feel of his touch.

The scene that greeted me when I got home after work helped distract me from the encounter at Buns 'n' Roses, at least for a little while. I'd been taking care of the kittens for about two weeks now without any real issues, other than the first few days of mess before they'd started using the litter box.

Today, they seemed to have finally realized they were cats and therefore must be agents of chaos. Either that, or they'd found a hidden stash of catnip somewhere. The second I opened the door, Athos and Aramis ran straight for it, nearly escaping before I managed to get the screen shut behind me, leaving Romulus stuck outside.

"Sorry, Rom. Give me just a second," I called over my shoulder to the dog as I scooped up the two kittens, depositing them on the couch. They immediately jumped back down and ran for the door again. When Aramis realized he couldn't push through, he immediately started climbing it, his tiny claws easily catching in the screen.

At least they were contained for the moment, leaving me a few seconds to search for the missing brothers. They weren't in the living room or my bedroom, but I could hear scuffling coming from the bathroom. The door was half-closed, and I opened it warily.

Inside, an entire roll of toilet paper covered the tile floor, gleefully pulled from the roll and shredded. On top of the soft pile, I found Porthos and D'Artagnan rolling around like they were auditioning for Wrestlemania.

"Porthos, stop chewing on your brother!" I quickly scooped up the ginger menace, forcing him to release D'Artagnan's tail. I quickly grabbed the other kitten before he could dive into the toilet paper pile again and carried them out to the living area, making sure to close the door behind me.

In the forty-five seconds I'd been gone, Aramis had managed to fully scale the screen door and now yowled pitifully when he realized he couldn't get down. Athos, spying his brothers in my hands, immediately ran over and tried to climb my leg, his needle-like claws easily piercing my pants and digging into my skin.