Page 38 of Five

“She mauled both your pillows. There were feathers all over your tiny apartment. Still are.” He’s such a prick, a lovable one, but still a prick.

“My spiteful little lady. She must have felt abandoned.” I make a sympathetic sound.

“She stole my wallet from my jacket. Twice.”

“Her previous owner must have taught her that,” Sully suggests.

“You mean the one she beaked to death and ate?” Ren jokes.

“Nobody talks shite about my lady pet! Sully-doo, release the Pink Kraken on him!” I point a finger at Ren while looking around for the cat. She can be a real bitch when she wants.

“Already have Ash’s diabolical cat in my house, thank you very fucking much.” Now, his brother’s cat is really an unholy monster—and I’m not referring to her vicious personality.

“Don’t you have a snake in your room?” Sully reminds him, and he’s correct, Ren owns a snake that likes to wrap itself around things like arms and legs.

“Aren’t you supposed to love animals working at a pet clinic and volunteering at Pet Palace?” I taunt him.

“Animals, sure. Ungodly creatures, fuck no.” Ren tsks.

“How are things at the clinic?” Sully asks him. He worked there for a couple of months, until he had a relapse and stopped going out again. I don’t know what triggered it, but it has been three months since then.

“Dr. Rupert is as forgetful as usual, and Pearl misses you,” Ren tells him.

“She misses my morning coffee and our chats during breaks.” Sully’s face has turned melancholic.

“Are you going to come back anytime soon?” Ren hazards. The two boys have become friends. I thought Sully would have hit it off with Dare, the silent one of the triplets, but Ren is the one he has more in common with. Their passion for anything furry brought them together. And perhaps their painful pasts as well.

“I want to,” is Sully’s vague reply.

They start talking about animal stuff as my eyes catch on my reflection in But right now, it’s my exhausted face in the mirrored lenses that gets all my attention.

“Fuck, I look terrible.” The words slip out of my mouth. “What happened to my porcelain skin?”

“Porcelain?” Sully snorts.

“Like a human toilet?” Ren adds.

“Eat shit, both of you.” I flip them off.

“Shouldn’t you be the mature one?” Sully jokes.

Ren clicks his tongue again. “The same guy that got drunk and dared me to do a striptease?”

“Offspring Two, come closer.” I lean toward him. “Come on, I’m too tired to slap you, so bash your face against my palm.”

“Nutcase!” Ren shakes his head at me. “Why are you sitting in this almost dark living room with those long faces?”

“Waiting.”

Ren asks, “Your friend? What’s his name again?” He turns to Sully.

“Brad. And no, he’s at an away game. You met him?” Sully frowns at Ren.

“No, but you’re always talking about him; seems almost like I did.”

“Rague and Ollie are home,” Serena announces.Finally. I’m starving.

Ren stays for dinner, and the banter at the table helps to get me out of my head for a while. After eating four slices of heaven, my eyes are sliding closed, so I say goodnight to everybody—spending a little more time to reassure Ollie I’m okay—and go to my room.