Page 45 of By Rude Strength

“You… You think he was being unfaithful?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Cass looked back at LA, frowning. “Wait, he’s done this before?”

“We’d have a big fight, he’d storm off and hook up with someone else, but then we’d make up.” LA shrugged. “We wouldn’t technically break up, but he’d say it wasn’t cheating.”

“That is totally cheating.”

“Well…” LA sighed. “Guess I wasn’t in the right place to see that, you know?” He held up his hand. “You can spare the big speeches, okay? I get it. I was an idiot.”

“Just a small one.” Cass set his paw on LA’s shoulder. “It can be hard to let go, especially when you’ve invested so much time and energy into a relationship and—”

“No speeches.”

“Right. Sorry. Sort of my thing.”

“I know.” LA leaned into Cass’s touch and rubbed his arm. “Kinda wish I’d found you a long time ago. Maybe save myself a lot of heartache and bullshit.”

Cass opened his mouth to speak but then closed it.

“What? Resisting the urge to rant?”

Cass grinned.

LA sighed dramatically. “Go ahead.”

“I was only going to say that timing is vital for healing.” Cass raised his other paw and lightly cupped the side of LA’s face.“Can you honestly say that you would have been ready to hear everything I have to say and put it into practice last month? What about last year?”

“Probably would have told you to fuck off.”

“See?” Cass’s smile softened. “Every step brought us to this moment with you finding that magical bottle and welcoming me into your life! With open arms!”

LA snorted out a small laugh. “Yeah, because that’s totally what happened.”

“Well, it did take a little time for you to warm up to me, but I’m very happy to be here.” Cass purred and gently drew LA in for a hug. “It’s hug time now.”

LA groaned as if in great pain, but he hugged Cass back, turning his head to press his cheek into Cass’s furry chest. He closed his eyes and smiled as he gave Cass a squeeze. “Yeah, yeah. Your hugs? Like, bronze medal at best.”

“La la la, can’t hear you over the sound of ushugging.” Cass sounded positively gleeful. “This is wonderful.”

LA peeked up at Cass. “Hey, you’ve got a lil’ somethin’...”

“Hmm?” Cass tilted his head. “What is it?”

LA rubbed at a bit of icing that had somehow smeared its way across Cass’s cheek. “Here, I got you.”

Cass continued to purr, his lashes fluttering a little as he smiled down at LA.

LA’s heart thumped, and he suddenly didn’t want to pull away. He wanted to lick that icing right off Cass’s face and see just how loud he could make him purr. He knew it was way too fast, considering he hadn’t even been single officially for twenty-four hours yet, but…

Was it really that wrong to want something good for once?

To want someone who was kind and sweet and was maybe sort of an incredibly hot monster?

The air felt charged,thick, and LA was very aware that neither one of them had budged a centimeter. Cass’s arms remained wrapped around him, one paw fanned over the small of LA’s back and the other cradling his hip. LA was still touching Cass’s face and hugging his neck, and he didn’t know what to do.

He knew what hewantedto do, but that was probably a bad idea.