Page 35 of By Rude Strength

Cass shrunk himself down to his mini size and poofed into the passenger seat. “I think we should bake a cake!”

“A cake?” LA pulled out onto the road to head home. “What kind of cake?”

“Whatever kind you would like!” Cass smiled, bubbles appearing around him. “I really am proud of you, Elly. Today was a huge first step in the right direction!”

“Because I apologized for being an asshole?”

“Because you apologized and you meant it!”

“Not sure what that has to do with regaining my strength, but sure.”

Cass patted LA’s leg. “It takes strength and great inner fortitude to admit when you’re wrong and even more so to make an effort to repair the damage. Maybe from now on you’ll be a little nicer, hmm?”

“Uh-huh. To everyone but you.”

Cass gasped.

“For the love of fuck, I’m joking.” LA laughed and reached over to squeeze Cass’s arm. His fur was incredibly soft, the muscle beneath firm. LA hesitated to pull away but he finally did, again reassuring, “Promise, just kidding around, okay?”

“Okay.” Cass sounded sad and a quick glance revealed he was pouting.

“Oh my God. Don’t look like that.” LA groaned. “How about I agree to bake with you or whatever? Will that make you happy?”

“No, because then you’re only doing it to placate me.”

“I wouldn’t do it if I really didn’t want to.” LA stopped at a red light and then looked at Cass to say more sincerely, “Come on. Let’s bake somethin’ to celebrate me being slightly less of a douche today.”

Cass grinned, baring all of his sharp teeth. “I’m not sure if I can fit all of that on a cake, but we can certainly try!”

“There. It’s settled. We’ll bake something and I’ll even let you wreck the kitchen again.” LA chuckled.

“The kitchen was wrecked because I was in a rush.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I am normally not that messy.”

“Right.”

Cass continued to try and convince LA right up until the moment he was parking outside of his home. LA grunted with effort and pain as he pulled himself out of the car, surprised when Cass was suddenly right there to help him.

LA stared at his hands in Cass’s big paws. “Uh, thanks.”

“Of course!” Cass beamed.

LA held one of Cass’s paws as he headed to the front door, telling himself it was only because he was sore from the drive and wanted the support. It had nothing to do with how warm and firm Cass’s paw was, especially one he’d returned to his full stature.

Once inside, LA excused himself to change back into more comfortable clothes while Cass headed off into the kitchen to get everything ready. LA had no idea what they were going to bake, but he was weirdly looking forward to it.

It was nice to think about something else other than his ruined relationship, decimated career, and the steadily building drip of anxiety and guilt that was brewing from ignoring his mother.

His phone buzzed.

He ignored it and finished getting dressed into a T-shirt and sweats.

His phone buzzed again, and a stupid voice in his head thought it might be Gavin.

LA hated how quickly he grabbed it to check, making a face when he saw his initial guess was correct and it was only hismother harassing him again. He refused to read her texts and instead scrolled over to a few social media apps to see if Gavin had posted anything.