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“You can’t completely guarantee it. Well, you can for as long as we’re together, because they’re unlikely to pressyourbuttons. But they’ll resume being a pain in my ass if you and me ever break up.”
“We won’t, so you don’t have to worry about them.”
I slanted my head. “We won’t?”
“No.”
It was only a one-word response, but he said it with such confidence and finality that it gave me more reassurance than any pledge of love or loyalty might have done. “Careful, Danton, or I’ll start to wonder if you like me.”
A smile warming his eyes, he shrugged. “What’s not to like?”
I outright grinned at that. “Good point. Just so you know, I like you too.”
“I got that impression.”
Letting out a contented sigh, I hugged him tight. “Thank you for being here when I needed you.”
He caught my face in his hands. “There’ll never be a time when I won’t, Cat. I promise you that.”
Chapter Twelve
Sitting at my dinner table a few weeks later, I placed my cutlery on my mostly empty plate. “Damn, Briar, that’s harsh.”
Opposite me, she waved away the comment. “The whole thing was pitiful and you know it.”
“Ah come on, it wasn’tthatbad.”
“There was no plot.”
“It was a dolphin show. It didn’t really require a plot.” I glanced at both Izzy and Inaya, who looked on the verge of laughing.
It was Izzy who’d suggested that we all venture out for the day. Each of us had tossed out ideas for possible trips, and we’d eventually settled on going to the zoo. It wasn’t something we’d done as a group before. Afterward, we’d come to my apartment to have dinner together.
Briar had been moody and surly throughout the entire day. She only mumbled beneath her breath whenever we called her on it.
She sniffed. “Whatever. I wasn’t entertained.”
“Youdidhave fun feeding the meerkats, though,” I pointed out.
“Who’d have thought they growled like little Tasmanian devils?” Inaya shook her head in disbelief, balling up her usednapkin before then dropping it on her plate. “I really did not expect that.”
Briar opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Theywerecute,” she eventually allowed.
Izzy pointed at her. “That’s the first nice thing you’ve said about anything that happened today.”
Briar frowned. “It is not.”
Snorting, Izzy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. “You complained about the monkey house—”
“It reeked.”
“—you whined about the size of the tiger enclosure—”
“The cats need more space.”
“—and you decided that the ‘zoo people’ were lying that there were wolves there.”
Briar swept her gaze over us all. “Okay, when have any of you ever seen a wolf at that zoo?”
