Page 21 of By Rude Strength

“I understand that you’re feeling overwhelmed,” Cass soothed as he plucked the bottle of rum away, “but you’ve already made some incredible progress!”

“How the fuck do you figure that?” LA grunted.

Cass set the bottle down and then guided LA toward the stairs. “We’ve identified many of the areas you need to focus on to regain your strength, of course!”

“Oh yeah? And those are?”

“Your self-esteem for one.”

“My self-esteem is fucking fine.” LA stumbled on the first step. “Shit.”

“Here.” Cass scooped LA up into his arms.

“Ow! Hey!” LA squirmed, but his back protested at once. “What are you doing?”

“Helping!” Cass tucked his wings in and lowered his head to carry LA up the stairs the rest of the way. “You really need to be able to accept help, you know. Oh, that’s another area we can address! Being able to accept help!”

“I didn’t ask for any!” LA growled as he clung to Cass.

“Ah, asking is the first step! Don’t worry! You’ll get there!” Cass said cheerfully, using his tail to check doors until he found the bedroom. “Here we go! Time for beddy bye. Nice and easy, all right?”

“Just put me down!” LA missed Cass’s strong arms as soon as he was in bed, and he winced as he rolled over onto his back. His head was woozy, his stomach sloshed, and he closed his eyes, trying to will away the nausea.

The bed dipped with added weight.

LA opened his eyes, glaring at Cass sitting on the edge of the mattress. “What?”

“I wanted to make sure you’re all right.” Cass patted LA’s foot. “You did drink a lot of alcohol. Like, really fast.”

“Uh-huh. So what now? Gonna read me a bedtime story?”

“Do you want one?” Cass perked up. “I know a bunch!”

“Fuck no,” LA grumbled. “I was joking.”

“Oh.” Cass pouted. “See, I was gonna tell you this one about a cute guy who was having a super bad day and was afraid his life was over…”

“FuckingGod.”

“And then he met a really nice imp who promised to help him through it.” Cass purred. “Because see, the imp could tell the guy had a really good heart. Granted, it was under a really, really crusty exterior—”

“Ha, got it.”

“—and he was kind of a jerk—”

“Message received, furball.”

“—and he loved calling people names, but seriously! Under all that was a nice guy with a great smile who really cared a lot about helping other people. Sure, the guy was afraid because he didn’t want to deal with rearranging his entire life, but hey, the imp promised him that he was gonna be there every step of the way no matter what.”

LA frowned, his heart skipping over itself as he stared up at Cass.

Cass smiled and offered his big paw. “So, there was nothing to worry about. Because he didn’t have to do any of it alone.”

LA hesitated but he took Cass’s paw. His hand felt so small, and Cass’s paw was warm and soft. It was pleasant, but he didn’t hold it for long. He gave it a squeeze and then let go so he could roll over, wincing as he wedged a pillow between his legs to ease the strain on his back.

“Are you in pain?” Cass asked worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m always in pain,” LA grumbled.