Page 15 of Romanced by the Rat (Ghostlight Falls #3)
Chapter fourteen
Ramsay
O f course, I was listening. I nearly fell out of the rafters, hanging on their every word.
This was a bad idea. After I wrote that note to Jeremy, I should have left.
Sure, Ratcliff’s has been a decent enough home, but there are other options in town.
Grim’s Bakery seemed like a nice place to live.
It’s close enough and sweet enough to put myself in a daily sugar coma.
But I couldn’t stop watching him. I can’t deny it stung a little to see him do so well on his shifts the past two days.
Tonight dug the knife even deeper. He set up a romantic dinner for her. He didn’t need me anymore.
But then, but then… that damned confession.
If I were close enough, I could have been able to tell.
I could have felt the awkward tension and the unsaid words, but from up high, the revelation came to me as a surprise.
They missed me, and now they are both on their hands and knees, calling my name and searching for me in the corners of the restaurant.
A part of me—the selfish part—wants to scurry down the wall and join them in whatever they have in mind, but the quieter part, the one I’ve learned to listen to in the military, tells me to stay put.
They can’t rely on me to fill the gaps in their compatibility.
I’ll always be a rat, and as a rat, I can’t be an equal part in their relationship.
I should let them tire themselves out, and then I’ll leave this restaurant for good.
I just have to get a better look before I go, witness their faces, commit it to memory. I crawl to the floor. Jermey searches through an artificial plant, and Charlotte paces around the dining room, hands on her hips. “I know you’re here, Ramsay,” she says.
I tense, pushing myself more into the shadow behind the leg of a chair. Can she see me?
“I know you think you’re doing the right thing by leaving us, but this could work.”
How? I want to scream, but I remain quiet, feeling like she has more to share.
“There are no rules for this. I’m pretty sure you’re the first man to be turned into a rat.”
Jeremy stands next to her, grabbing her hand. “This is Ghostlight Falls. The weird is accepted here. Maybe we can’t have a conventional relationship, but we could make this work, all three of us, together, each of us having an equal part.”
“So, tell me how this would work?” They twirl around, facing me on their abandoned dining table as I lounge against Charlotte’s empty wine glass.
“Ramsay!” They both exclaim wistfully, rushing toward me.
“You realize I can’t be an equal member of this, right? I’m a rat.”
Their smiles fade. “Maybe not equal, but we could each have our part,” Charlotte says, her brown eyes full of hope. It hurts to see.
“You could be the leader, commanding us to your will. I’d be your vessel, playing out your desires,” Jeremy says, stepping closer to me.
I prance around the table, paws behind my back. “And that’s it?” I’m being greedy. I should devour this offer. What other chance will I have at being part of any relationship as a rat? I can’t help that I want more. I want all of them.
“It wouldn’t be just sex,” Charlotte says. “You’d be a member of this. Hold your own conversations, share your own thoughts and dreams, not through Jeremy this time.”
“Why would you want that?” My heart pounds.
She steps forward, standing above me. “I like you, on the inside.”
“But you barely know me.”
“But I’d like to know more. You see me more than anyone has ever cared to. You know what I like, and you’re confident in yourself, even as a rat. You’re someone I want in my life.”
I can’t form words. I almost wish I had a smaller rat on the top of my head telling me what to do and say next.
Jeremy steps next to Charlotte. “She’s not the only one who feels this way. I like you, Ramsay. More than a friend, more than a human should like a rat. If this situation is all we can have, I don’t want to be without it.”
Tears cloud my vision. Maybe I’m dreaming. None of this feels real. They want me even in my tiny, furry form. Ever since I woke up in the body of a rat, I thought my life was over, but now I see a new—strange—but wonderful beginning for myself. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Jeremy asks, hope filling the lines of his face.
I chuckle. “Yes, okay. If you guys don’t mind me hanging around, I’ll be part of this. Whatever that looks like.”
“Oh, Ramsay,” Charlotte leans over, kissing me on my furry cheek.
It’s the first time someone’s touched me with affection in God knows how long.
My body heats. It’s nice, but it immediately drops a heavy stone into my gut.
This is it for me. Soft kisses, awkward cuddles, it will be all I’ll get from them.
But it’s good enough, because they’re so damned special.
We stare at each other, grinning ear to ear.
“So, now what?” Jeremy asks, and it’s so refreshing to see him look to me for his next steps again.
I shrug, the whiff of the food behind me catching my attention. “Let’s have a meal together.”
“I’d love that,” Charlotte says.
Jeremy runs to the other side of the table, taking his seat.
They each make themself a plate of the ratatouille, and Jeremy makes a smaller plate for me.
It’s warm in here, but only from the happiness radiating off us.
It’s quiet but not like before when it was just the two of them.
Now it has a purpose. I take a bite, my mood heightening by the delicious herby taste, but my stomach quickly sours, and my vision blurs until there’s nothing but blackness.
The last thing I hear is Charlotte and Jeremy calling my name.