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“Could have fooled me.”
Strangling the cat familiar wouldn’t get him in trouble, right? Arden looked ready to do it all the time. What if Gamble just did them both a favor and took him out? The temptation was there.
“Whatever.” Gamble moved past Spooky, not willing to be near him longer than he had to be. Whenever he was close to the damn man, his body heated up, and all he wanted to do was form a contract with him. Okay, maybe not just a contract, not with the way Gamble tended to map out every feature on Spooky’s face from his plump lips, big eyes and slender jawline.
But it would never happen in a million fucking years.
“Where are you going?” Spooky asked.
“None of your business,” Gamble grumbled back.
“If you keep being a stick in the mud, everyone’s going to keep their distance from you.”
“Good.” He didn’t need friends or acceptance. It was all lies anyway; he thought he’d found a home only for the people he called family to bring him here. Fuck everything.
Spooky shook his head, and his black cat ears flicked on top of his head, drawing Gamble’s gaze to them.Bet they were soft to the touch. Gamble balled his fist; he needed to get away from the annoying as fuck man.
“You’re going to get real tired of being alone. No one can survive by themselves for long,” Spooky said.
“Speak for yourself. I’m not like you, my existence doesn’t depend on others.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew he’d taken it a step too far.
Spooky’s plump lips turned down in a frown, and his eyes shimmered. “Better than being a lonely asshole.” He grabbed the door, and the moment it opened, he shifted into a black cat.
Gamble wiped his hand down his face as he made his way down the stairs and out the backdoor. Why the hell he’d said anything to Spooky was beyond him. He’d successfully avoided the familiar since he got there. Why the hell couldn’t he continue the trend? He smacked his forehead.
“Fucking stupid.”
Gamble made his way around the building, found the ladder, and pulled it down. He climbed up mentally berating himself the entire time. Now Spooky was sure to avoid him at all costs. That should have made him feel at ease, but instead, his stomach twisted and turned, and he swore under his breath.
This was why he didn’t need friends, not that he was considering making nice with the cat boy. Even if everything in Gamble said go back down and apologize, it wasn’t happening. But getting rid of the guilt that riddled his body would be a bitch and a half.
He wouldn’t have to deal with this shit if he was back in the mafia.
Gamble’s phone was out before he could think better of it. He had a total of two numbers saved. The first one he ignored. Instead, he called the man he considered a father.
“Calling to tell me you made friends?” Mario’s rich Italian voice came through.
“No.”
The man let out a heavy sigh that Gamble felt to his core. Yeah yeah, he was a big fucking disappointment.
“Are you even trying, kid?”
Why should he? Gamble wasn’t the friendly type and never had been.
“I’m going to take your silence as a no. You’re making me go gray early and no woman is going to want me at this point.”
Gamble rolled his eyes. “Lies and you were graying when I met you.”
Mario grunted, but it was true. But Gamble hadn’t called him to talk about his lack of friendship. He wasn’t a school kid, he was a grown man at a job he hadn’t wanted but was given. And Gamble wasn’t an idiot. The Manetti family head, Amy, had given him the job. There was no turning it down or walking away. But Gamble wasn’t about to be some damn boy scout about it.
Gamble cleared his throat, ready to talk about what he really wanted.
“Look, you know this is pointless, kid,” Mario said before he could even get a word out.
Of course, he knew precisely what Gamble was calling for.
Gamble groaned. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
