AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was surprised my baby didn’t have on a matching hat and kitten mittens, for fuck’s sake. That had happened before.
At least he’d left on her pretty collar that Dash had given me as a gift for my birthday. I was surprised, because Quinton insisted on them beinghis babiesand he didn’t want any of the other guys growing too attached to them or so close that my kitties had a chance to like someone more than him.
I lay down on the bed with my booted feet hanging off the end and curled up on my side. I placed Bone down on the bed beside me, and she wasted no time snuggling up to my chest.
It was nice but still weird to have something so sweet and innocent be so trusting and loving toward me. I had never, in my entire life, been as trusting toward another human being, and here was this cat giving it to me as if it were nothing.
It made me feel special, but it also kind of made me want to cry at the same time.
That insane man was lucky that I loved him so much, or I would have immediately taken his ridiculous outfit off my cat the moment I found her wearing it. Not that this would stop him. The twins took it upon themselves to change the kittens’ clothes all the time just to mess with Quinton. He never let on that it got under his skin, but I knew him well enough to know he had to be seething with rage every time he found one of them wearing a different outfit than what he had dressed them in that morning.
I imagined it was a lot like sending your kids to school wearing one thing, only to have them return home wearing something entirely different. I’d be mad too. And concerned.
Quinton handled it with grace and pretended like it wasn’t happening. I was waiting for him to snap and kick their asses. I knew it was coming, we all did.
It was going to be glorious when he snapped. It always was when I wasn’t the one in his crosshairs. I got enough of his wrath even when I didn’t do anything wrong, so it was nice to see it aimed at someone else every now and then, and even though I loved Abel and Addison very much, I wasn’t about to deny the fact that they probably deserved it.
“Meow.” I heard it coming from the floor on the other side of the bed.
“Ash, baby girl, is that you? Come on up here with us so I can love on you. I missed you, sweet baby.”
I heard her feet pad softly against the steps as she climbed them and up onto the bed. Instead of walking around me, she hopped up on my shoulder and climbed over me. Ash turned around in a circle before lying down beside her sister with her other side pressed into my chest.
They both closed their eyes and purred like happy little babies.
I had no idea kittens slept so much before these two. It made sense though, because Binx could sleep a lot too. I guessed it was a cat thing.
Perhaps it was their purring that did it, or maybe it was just how comfortable I was around them. It could have just been that I was tired. Whatever the reason, I fell asleep not long after my babies did.
My hair was splayed all around me on the grass I was sprawled on. The bright rays of the sun beat down on me, heating me up and making my entire body warm in a wonderful way.
I loved the feel of the sun on my face. It always felt like it was washing away all the dirt that clung onto me just by being in that home with my mother and whatever loser boyfriend she brought home with her that day. The sun washed away all the marks left behind by the bad men she brought into my life.
After school, I came to this park all the time after going home and finding people there, mostly men who wanted to have sex with my mother. I didn’t like to stick around for that because things usually got rather loud. And messy. But the messy would certainly be there for me to clean up tomorrow or whenever they cleared out because Vivian had to go to work so she could pay for her booze and drugs. That shit always had to come first. Even before sex with strange men and especially before taking care of her child.
This park wasn’t exactly the nicest one around because it was not like we lived in a great neighborhood or anything. But folks around here pitched in and put in the work to keep things clean so that their kids had a decent place to play while they were at work or doing whatever it was that they needed to do.
The play equipment sucked.
There was a decent swing set with only two swings, one was way shorter than the other, and a slide that was one of those tall metal numbers that would burn the skin off of your bare legs on a hot summer day if you were wearing shorts—don’t even get me started on what would happen if you were to fall over the side. You’d break something, for sure.
We wouldn’t even get into the damn wood chips you’d land on when you hit the ground. They could do some serious damage, possibly even take out your eye.
That had happened to a kid before. I thought his name was Timmy. All the kids thought he was a badass because his parents made him wear an eye patch. I just thought he looked stupid. Definitely not like a pirate. Could you imagine? Timmy the pirate.
Laughable.
There was a wooden merry-go-round that used to be missing some of the boards, but one of the kids’ dads was pretty handy and had replaced the boards. He’d also painted the thing and spruced it up a good deal, so it no longer looked dangerous and like it belonged in a dump.
There was also a sandbox, but I figured stray cats pooped in there, so I stayed far, far away from it.
And that was it for the park.
Except for the flowers several of the moms had planted all over the place. They were beautiful and really made the place something special.
There were no little kids here today, and the park was bizarrely empty and quiet. I’d never been here when there weren’t other people before. It was weird, but the quiet was also kind of nice.
I liked the quiet. It was peaceful and not something I was used to. I hadn’t had much peace in my life, if any, that I could remember.
