Page 20 of Burn Bag (Owens Protective Services #31)

KAVANAUGH

Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before tore the lower half of my body in two. Who’d have thought that a cat could be such a vicious creature? I mean, the little devil had climbed up my leg yesterday, but that had been nothing compared to this.

I laid in bed, staring up at the bright light of the curtained-off room, praying no one at work heard of this horrible incident.

The doc said I would be fine, that I’d recover in no time, but hell…

this was almost as bad as the time I nearly killed myself on Isla’s roof.

Or when I had to share the backseat with the mummy.

There was one thing for sure. When I got home, there would be no more kittens, no more pets of any kind. I was through with anything that could attack me in my sleep. Hell, my cock was not a plaything, and as the man of the house, I was putting my foot down.

The door opened and my little vixen of a wife peeked her head in. “Is it safe to enter?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Um…because my cat mauled you?” She winced as she stepped inside, her eyes darting to the middle of my body. “Does it hurt?”

“Nah,” I said, trying to make her feel better. After all, it wasn’t like she had tried to get me attacked by a cat. It was bad luck. Bad luck and the worst possible moment for my cock to get hard and act as a toy. It was really my own fault for dreaming about my wife touching me.

I was making every excuse possible as she walked closer, tears brimming her eyes. She looked truly devastated, and I really hoped that was for me and not the cat.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. “I know you must be in pain and I’m so sorry that kitten attacked you.”

“Hey, I’ll survive,” I said, trying to sound tough.

“Please….please don’t kill the kitten. I know he hurt you, but he just thought he was playing.”

With my cock , I wanted to yell at her, but the tears in her eyes were my undoing.

I couldn’t be mad at her, not when I knew she feared for the life of the little fur ball, though I really wished she was that upset over me.

Wasn’t that the way this was supposed to go?

She was supposed to care about me, but instead, she was in tears over this… thing!

“It’s fine,” I sighed. “I mean, it’s not fine, but I’ll get over it.” Right after I kicked the damn thing out of the house.

She practically threw her body on top of mine, squeezing me tight as she cried into my chest. Fuck, now I really couldn’t be mad at her. The woman was crying over a kitten that might be put to death. It was insane.

And so fucking adorable.

I found myself consoling her instead of demanding that she take the rat outside and have him banished.

Her tears soaked through my scratchy hospital gown that I was desperate to get out of.

It was on the tip of my tongue to demand that she remove the vile creatures before I got home, but when she looked up at me, I got lost in those green eyes and forgot what I was going to say.

“I promise you, I’ll make sure nothing like this ever happens again. I can… I can have them declawed,” she choked out.

She sounded like that was more painful than kicking them out of the house. “I could live with that,” I found myself saying.

“I mean, it’s really very cruel. Even done at such a young age, it’s basically like if we cut off your fingers at the knuckle. But people still do it.”

“Well, if they’re going to stay, we’ll have to go through with it. I can’t risk my balls a second time.”

She nodded, wiping her nose on her arm. “I get it. And they’ll be fine. I mean, the recovery time is a few weeks. It’ll be very painful, but it’s a small price to pay.”

I rolled my eyes. I would not be cowed by this woman. “Good.”

“I mean, aside from the astronomical cost, the mental anguish is what I truly worry about. It can cause lameness and psychological problems. Sometimes, the claws can even grow back.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” I argued, refusing to relent.

She swiped at the tears again, smiling through the wetness streaming down her face.

“They really do get over it. I mean, aside from the stiffness that will always be in their joints. And the potential for arthritis…Not to mention the potential litter box problems…But I’m sure it’ll be fine with time. ”

She sniffed hard and wiped at her face again. Fuck, I couldn’t argue with this woman, not when she was practically begging me not to declaw the cats. She looked so fucking sad, and all I could do was stare at her, wishing those tears were for me instead of the cats.

But they weren’t. My wife had a soft heart for animals, that much was clear. And if I wanted to make this marriage work, I had to give a little, even if the little shit had just tried to castrate me.

And that was how I found myself grabbing her hand in mine and tugging her closer until I was holding her to my chest and rubbing her back. Fuck, I was such a sucker.

“It’s okay,” I cooed.

She nodded against my chest. “It will be. I mean, he might bite more and?—”

“Stop,” I chuckled. “You win. The little demon can keep his claws.”

She popped up with a bright smile, her tears still shimmering in her eyes like diamonds. Fuck, she was beautiful. How the hell could I ever say no to her ?

“It’ll be fine. We’ll make it work. Maybe I can get some anti-cat scratch spray and coat my body with it.”

She grimaced, shaking her head. “I like your scent.”

It was then that I realized that she was wearing my shirt. My cock started to harden, only to die an immediate, tragic death when the cuts opened up. I winced, cupping my dick to keep it under control.

“You should really wear a bra,” I gritted out.

“Oh, is it that obvious? I just ran out of the house.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath to control the pain. “It’s pretty damn obvious to me, and my…injured appendage isn’t too thrilled about your tits being on display for everyone to see.”

She gasped, crossing her arms over her chest as her cheeks flamed bright red. “I hadn’t realized?—”

Grunting, I tugged her arm away so I could better see those beautiful nipples poking through the fabric. “You don’t have to cover them up for me.”

But then I started to harden again, and pain ricocheted through my body. “Okay, cover them up,” I gasped. “Fuck, that hurts.”

Chuckling, she bent over and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I really am sorry.”

“Sure you are. I bet you planned this whole thing,” I grumbled. “How to take your husband out of commission in two simple steps. You could write a book on it.”

“I really didn’t plan this.”

“That’s good,” I rumbled. “Because that would be the most vicious, fucked-up thing I’ve ever heard of. I’d have to convince OPS to put you on the payroll.”

“As a cat wrangler?”

“Something like that. I’m sure we’d find plenty of uses for you.”

She bit her lip, hiding her grin. “I really am sorry.”

“I know you are. Just promise me something.”

“Anything,” she said instantly.

“No more cats.”

“Right,” she promised. “No more cats than the ones we already have. ”

For some reason, the way she said that had an ominous tone, and I had a feeling I’d be paying for that promise at a later date.

Daphne ran ahead of me and flung the door open, shooing the cats away. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified to enter my house. I was going to have nightmares about cats attacking me in the night. I wasn’t sure how I would ever get over this.

As I walked through the door, a little calico cat scurried away from me, running up the stairs. Calico. That wasn’t…

“Hey, I thought we had black and white cats,” I called out, wondering where Daphne had run off to.

“Uh…yeah!”

“And then the orange cat,” I said, remembering the one from yesterday. No, that was this morning. Two cat attacks in one day. What were the odds?

“Right. Black and white, and then there’s an orange cat.”

I nodded as she walked around the corner and smiled at me. “But the one that attacked me this morning was white.”

Her face paled and she hurried away, grabbing a pillow and fluffing it on the chair. “Uh…was it?”

“It was definitely white.”

She chuckled nervously. “Well, that’s odd.”

“Not as odd as the calico I just saw running up the stairs.”

“The…” She finally faced me, swallowing hard. “That is strange.”

“Daphne,” I said in a warning tone.

She took a step back, nearly tripping over the chair. “Yes?”

“How many cats are in the house?”

She licked her lips nervously, her eyes darting around to escape my intent gaze. “Um…six?” she squeaked out.

“Six?” I shouted, my voice booming through the house. “We have six fucking cats?”

“Seven!” she shouted. “I don’t know why I lied. I’m so sorry! ”

Seven fucking cats. That was… ”Why the hell do we have so many cats?”

Again, tears filled her eyes and I found myself softening. Fuck, what was I going to do? I needed to find a way to get this shit under control.

“They were doing horrible things to them. I had to!”

“And then you brought them with you here? Why didn’t you take them to a shelter?”

“Because I couldn’t trust that they would take care of them. Besides, they’re one litter. They could get separated, and that’s not fair to them! They’re family!”

“That family is going to rip my balls off!” I shouted.

Her face crumpled and I instantly regretted yelling at her. Stalking forward, I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me, trying to calm her down. “Hey, I’m sorry I yelled. I just…you took me by surprise.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you about them. I just couldn’t let them go.”

Sighing, I rubbed my hand up and down her back, trying to console her as best I could. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah?” she asked hopefully, wiping the tears from her eyes.

I smiled down at her and swiped my thumbs over her cheeks. “Yeah, it’ll all be okay.”

“Thank you,” she said through a watery gaze.

My heart clenched at her beauty—at the sincerity in her eyes. She was just a big sucker for cats. How could I deny her?

“But no more cats. Seven is enough.”

“I promise,” she said, but somehow, I doubted her. How long until she came across more cats and fell in love with them? Fuck, I was going to have to build a cat house or something.

“Alright,” I sighed, pressing a kiss to her cheek, hoping it would make her feel better. “Let’s get them some food so they don’t try to eat me. I’m beat and I need some fucking sleep.”

She smiled through her tears and pressed a kiss to my lips that lingered just a second longer than a friendly kiss. I almost grabbed her and pulled her to me, but she scampered off, calling out to all the kittens by name.

Running my fingers through my hair, I shook my head. “She has names for all them.”

It was fine. I could live with seven cats. The place was big enough. Two stories was more than enough room. And didn’t cats grow out of their playfulness eventually? Maybe I could make a cat run off the back of the house. Then she could keep her cats, but they wouldn’t be in the house at all times.

Fuck, what was wrong with me? The woman I’d just married had tricked me into keeping seven fucking cats. And I wasn’t actually that worried about it, other than the fact that I might lose a ball before the year was up.

I was just going to have to find plenty of toys for them. Anything to keep them busy and out of my hair. And I could put a ban on them entering the bedroom. At least then I could sleep in peace, knowing no cats would maul me in my sleep.

I glanced over at Daphne sitting on the floor, stroking the kittens as they climbed into her lap. Fuck, she was adorable. All that golden hair piled on her head, falling in tendrils around her face…she really was fucking beautiful.

And if I kept thinking of her that way, I’d give practically anything to her. If I was going to survive, I would need to set some boundaries. Some very hefty boundaries so I didn’t end up with ten more cats. She was too damn beautiful to deny anything.

“I’m going to bed,” I announced, hoping I could escape before I walked over to her and did something stupid—like begging her to go to bed with me. My cock was in no shape for sex, and I had no doubt in my mind that I would suffer through any pain to feel her lips wrapped around it.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I trudged upstairs, telling myself I was exhausted. I just needed to will myself to be sleepy. Then I wouldn’t think about shoving my cock in that sweet pussy or wrapping my hand in her hair as she swallowed me whole.

I pushed against the hospital pants I had been given and willed my cock to go down.

The last thing I needed was to stretch out the cuts.

After checking every inch of the room—under the bed and in the closet— I was satisfied there were no cats hiding anywhere.

I shucked the blue scrub pants and pulled on a loose pair of shorts before climbing back in bed.

But I just couldn’t fall asleep. PTSD was a bitch, and every time I closed my eyes, I felt those phantom claws in my dick, tearing the life out of me. How the hell was I ever going to sleep again?

The door opened and Daphne crept in, closing the door behind her.

I watched through slit eyelids as she quickly stripped out of her clothes—my clothes.

Hell, she was still in that t-shirt and her tits were still bare.

I watched as she sauntered over to my dresser and rifled through my things before producing another white t-shirt.

I sighed internally as she covered up those magnificent breasts, but honestly, it was for the best.

As she slid into bed beside me, I prayed this time I would get some sleep that didn’t involve waking up to any wet dreams where cats were involved.