Page 47 of By Rude Strength

“Kills? As in… multiple?”

“Eat some more cake.”

The cake was delicious down to the last crumb. Once they were both done, LA lay back down like he had before, with his head in Cass’s lap and Cass’s big paw on his chest. It was comfortable, that was it.

It had nothing to do with the strange tension between them or all the weird happy bubbles that kept popping up.

Nope.

Nothing at all.

LA nearly dozed off once or twice, but Cass’s frantic gasps and squeals kept him awake. Cass hadn’t been kidding about being scared easily and even over-the-top comical gore had him squirming. LA would squeeze his paw and did his best not to laugh, but it was still adorable that such a big beast was terrified by an obviously fake dummy going headfirst into a woodchipper.

“There. I did it!” Cass cheered when the movie ended. He sagged into the couch and rubbed his paws over his face. “It’s over! It’s finally over!”

LA laughed. “What? It wasn’t that bad!”

“It was horrible!”

“Aw, come on.” LA poked Cass’s chest. “You liked seeing Alan, right?”

“He had the worst time ever! The bees! The bees, Elly!” Cass started to laugh. “Oh my God. It was so, so awful.”

“Hey, it had a happy ending!”

“Okay, yes, I will give you that.” Cass laughed again and dropped his paw back on LA’s chest. “Thank you for sharing that with me. If we continue with this Alan Tudyk marathon, I would like to request that we watch something with minimal blood, please.”

“Fine, fine.” LA rolled his eyes. “If I have to.”

Cass hummed thoughtfully. “How aboutMoana?”

“He’s the voice of the damnchicken. No, come on.” LA laughed. “What aboutFirefly?”

“As long as we don’t watch the movie.”

“What movie?”

“You know, the movie where he…” Cass giggled. “Oh! I see what you did there.”

LA tried to sit up, but he didn’t make it all the way and flopped back down with a grunt. “Dammit.”

“Are you all right?”

“Great. Just kinda stiff from lyin’ here for so long.”

“May I help you? What do you need?”

“A new spine.”

“I don’t have one of those handy. I’m sorry.”

LA grunted as he made another attempt, and he shivered when Cass’s paws gently grabbed his shoulders to keep him upright.

“Is this all right?” Cass asked politely. “I do not wish to cause any additional discomfort.”

“It’s good.” LA blushed as he hurried to stand. “Good, thanks.”

Cass picked up their dishes and stood at almost exactly the same time.