Page 22 of Chaos & Carnage
“And what about you?” Alice’s voice was almost a whisper, a slight waver in the tone, a new nervousness. “Do you have an old lady?”
I stood, leaving that question hanging in the air just a second, before I turned towards her.
“I don’t have an ol’ lady, Alice. Because if I did, I’d spend every spare moment I had worshipping her body in every way I could.” Alice stared up at me, her eyes widening just a little. “And I certainly wouldn’t have my lips or my hands on anyone else.”
I didn’t move. Only watched. Watching her mouth drop open a fraction like she might say something, then close again only for her to pull at her lip with her teeth, her eyes dropping to her feet before raising back to my face. And now her cheeks flushed, a sudden eruption of pink that tried to drown the freckles. Fucking beautiful. Fucking fuckable. It was my cock that stirred this time, not my stomach.
“Shall we get these kittens fed?” she whispered.
“Yeah. Reckon we should.”
We really fucking should, before I fucked her against these cages in front of all her patients.
*****
Alice’s head bobbed, tipping backwards suddenly, her eyes snapping open. Desperately she searched for the kitten, her body rigid with panic, the arm that had rested against me for the last ten minutes suddenly tense.
“It’s alright, Al. It’s alright. I put the kittens away. They’re safe.”
She still looked confused, gazing up at me with bleary eyes.
“I fell asleep?”
I nodded. “You did, babe. Out cold.”
“How long for?”
“Couple of hours.”
“Couple of hours? The kittens….”
“I fed them all. Like you showed me. They’re all fed and snuggled back up in there.” I pointed to the cardboard box filled with blankets at my feet.
Alice relaxed again, her body sinking back against the sagging sofa in the vets’ staff room.
“They’re all fed?” She asked again, her voice heavy with sleep.
“Every little furry one of them.”
For a moment, she snuggled back against me, back to the spot between my arm and the side of my ribcage. My leg tingled, but even with her meagre weight propped against me, that tingle became an aching throb of squashed nerve endings. The last hour had ticked by uncomfortably. I wanted to shift my weight, shuffle into another position, but I hadn’t dared move in case I woke her.
My mobile had vibrated angrily. Message after persistent message from Caleb. And I’d ignored every one of them. Instead, I’d listened to Alice, to the breaths that had deepened and slowed, till her chest barely rose and fell and the only reason I could detect any sign of life was from the tiny little whimpers she’d let out as she’d slept.
At my feet a couple of kittens stirred in their box, a soft squeak and a stretch, and Alice pushed upright again, wiping a hand over her face and casting a look at me sideways.
“You could have just stayed there,” I spoke to the back of her head as she shuffled forward to the edge of the sofa.
“I’m sorry, Cade. Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
“You were shattered. And it’s fine. Don’t you think it’s time to go home?”
“The kittens will need feeding in a couple of hours.”
“Take them with you. Then at least you’re not …”
The door of the staff room creaked, opening suddenly, and I was on the edge next to her before I’d thought it through. The man who stood in the doorway looked as startled as I did. His eyes glancing from Alice to me and then back again, waiting for some sort of explanation.
“Stu…”