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Alanna cleared her throat, then spoke. “Sully has attempted to make the argument that he is a better caregiver to Petunia, so I feel it only fair to offer up some important context. The reason Sully has so much time to spend with Petunia is because he is unemployed and destitute. Therefore, he doesn’t have the financial stability to care for Petunia.” Alanna gave him a smirk. Next to her, Tess’s jaw practically dropped to the ground.
The hell?Sully thought.
Hue burst into laughter, the noise like thunder in the silence. He pounded the table.
“Destitute?” he wheezed. “Woman, Sully has so much dough he’s retired. He owns her house.” Hue pointed a finger at Tess, who nodded glumly at Alanna.
As Sully watched the blood drain from Alanna’s face, his own cold anger began to rise. He knew Alanna was used to playing hardball in Los Angeles, but she’d been willing to use the state of his financial solvency to publicly humiliate him in front of the only people he knew in town. It was underhanded. Dirty. Mean.
Well, two could play that game.
He gave Alanna an icy glare. “Time for my rebuttal.”
Ch. 45 Alanna
Well,shit.
Alanna had known even as she’d accused Sully of poverty that she’d gone too far. But he’d been so damn smug presenting his fancy little charts and annotated bibliography of cat resources. Just because he spent 18 hours a day with Petunia didn’t make him the better caretaker. She’d spent time with Petunia, too. What about all those deep heart-to-hearts she’d had with the cat while Petunia hid under the bed?
But, yeah, pointing out Sully’s financial troubles had been a dick move… and, as it turned out, a humiliating miscalculation, too. Now, as Alanna stared into Sully’s hard brown eyes, she felt like she could read his mind.
Oh, it is on,those eyes told her.
“So, we want to talk about who’s the better cat guardian?” he said.
“Dude, be the bigger person,” Cam warned his friend.
Sully ignored him. “Alanna plans to move back to Los Angeles, where she wants to establish a new public relations firm. That’s going to require an extraordinary amount of work. She’ll be at the office day and night and will travel often.”
“So?” Alanna shot back. “When has it become a crime to be a kick-ass girl boss?”
“Sheba is a special needs cat. She requires a lot of attention, care, and patience.”
“I can—”
“I’m not done,” Sully cut her off, his voice so cold it made her shiver. “Alanna doesn’t have the capacity to give Sheba the attention she needs. In her time caring for Sheba, Alanna wasn’t able to improve any of Sheba’s behavioral issues. She didn’t address the litter box problems, Sheba’s anxiety, or her aggressiveness.”
Sully turned his gaze on Alanna. “She didn’t update Sheba’s chip. Didn’t bring her to the vet for an initial check-up, and she couldn’t even get a collar on the cat.”
Every accusation was a punch slammed through her guard, all the more painful because each one was true. Alanna felt like a boxer in the ring, dazed and barely on her feet, watching her opponent wind up for the knockout.Please, don’t,she pleaded with him silently. But Sully didn’t seem to notice. He turned to Theo.
“Hell, she can’t even keep a plant alive. The woman is incapable of caring for anyone but herself.”
Cam groaned.
“Shiiiiiit, man,” Hue whispered under his breath.
“I rest my case, again!” Sully declared. He sat back, a smug smile on his lips. That smile quickly began to fade as he took the temperature of the room. Tess shook her head in disappointment. Layla’s lower lip wobbled. Everly looked as if she were contemplating tossing aside the table and putting Sully into a headlock.
Even Jaxtskkedas she poured more wine into Layla’s glass. “Too far, man,” she said to Sully.
For her part, Alanna was down for the count. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. She’d always been up for a good fight, even a dirty one, but this was different. This one hurt because she cared about Sully. More than cared about him. And the worst part was his words were undeniably true.
“I’m out,” Theo announced into the tense silence. He shoved back his chair and stood from the table. “This is just… fucked up. You two need to figure this out yourselves.” He stalked off behind the bar and disappeared into the back room.
“Alanna, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—” Sully began.
“I’ll be the arbitrator,” Haley volunteered.
