Page 36 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

He laughed at that. “Do you have a fantasy about me coming to you crying, Rosie?”

The cat squinted its eyes in an expression that resembled gloating. “Bitch,” said Rosie, as she turned away.

“What?”

Over her shoulder she said, “That cat. Shehatesme.”

He looked down at the cat like she couldn’t possibly be talking about the same animal. “Catty Kay?” Carnal grinned and the cat purred even louder, partially closing her repulsive yellow eyes. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“She’s a monster in a fur fucking coat.”

Carnal was about to laugh out loud, but when Rosie passed by them, the cat reached out and drew blood by slashing her bare arm with claws bared. Rosie hissed in a breath at the sting. When she waved her hand out of reflex, Catty Kay went flying through the air making a yeowling noise so ugly that Carnal wanted to cover his ears. The cat smashed against the far wall at the end of the bar then landed on her feet and began shaking her head like she had something stuck in an ear.

Carnal walked around the bar and went through the swinging doors to the kitchen. When he returned, Rosie was washing the cut with a clean rag.

“Here,” he said. “This will fix you right up.”

He held up a glass jar ointment. He took her hand and looked at the cut. “It’s not bad.” He began applying a small amount of the topical solution, whatever it was. “How did you do that?” he asked.

“What?”

He raised an eyebrow as if to say he didn’t have the patience for games. “How did you throw the cat against that wall?”

“How do you think? I picked it up and threw it.”

“That’s not what I saw.”

“Then thatthingmust have lulled you into a fugue state with that obnoxious sound it was making.”

Carnal looked confused. “You mean purring?”

“Yes. That.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, I can’t help that.”

Carnal shrugged. “Okay. What can you help with?”

“You want something else?”

“Yes. I have an itch.”

“I saw a backscratcher in the cistern shower.”

“Not that kind of itch.”

“Let me put it another way. I can’t help you withanykind of itch.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Why not? Your man isn’t around. And he’s not gonna be around. You said so yourself.”

She laughed. “That doesn’t make me automatically available.”

“Maybe not. But it does make you game. If you were mine, I’d never let you get away.”