Page 13 of The Break Out (Denver Dragons #3)

13

I ’m getting a cat.

This wasn’t the plan when I woke up today. The original plan was to pretend that last night never happened. And to decorate my apartment to make it feel a bit homier.

Well, on my quest to do the last part, I ended up at the pet store. I thought about maybe getting a little fish tank because I like the sound of running water and the pretty lights they can have. The idea of the peaceful ambiance for my place sounded nice.

And then I walked past the cats up for adoption. There’re a couple litters of kittens who are all rambunctious little things. But it’s not them that caught my eye. It was the corner kennel that had a fluffy black and white cat who is lying on a little bed that’s tucked under a shelf. I look at the card on the front of her cage and see that she’s five years old. Her name is Ellie and there’s something that draws me to her .

The person working behind the kennels notices me. It’s an older woman who pops her head out. “Did you want to meet any of them, darling?”

I look back at Ellie. “Yeah, I’d love to meet her.”

The older woman gestures me into the room behind the kennels and I follow her.

“She’s very sweet, but shy. We don’t know much about her other than she was surrendered to a shelter and after six months she was set to be euthanized. Our rescue took her in about three months ago,” the woman tells me while opening up the kennel.

My heart breaks at the thought of this sweet baby sitting in a cage like this for the last nine months. And who knows what her life was like prior to this.

I step up to the open cage. “Hi Ellie,” I say softly to the sweet ball of fluff.

She looks at me and it may seem ridiculous, but it almost looks skeptical the way her large gold eyes lock onto me. I rest my hand on the edge of the cage, and she starts to get up, slowly, stretching her lanky body out as she carefully approaches me. That’s when I notice she only has three legs, her back left one is missing, and I actually start to tear up. After sniffing my fingers, she drops her head onto my hand and rubs. I feel the vibration of her purring and I start to pet her.

Smiling as my fingers run through her soft fur, the purring gets louder as she continues to rub against my hand.

“I’ve never seen her take to anyone so quickly,” the woman says. I realize she might just be saying that because she wants me to adopt Ellie, but her words don’t matter because I’ve already made up my mind.

“You want to come home with me, sweetie?”

I may have gone a bit overboard with buying things for my newest best friend. But I don’t even care. I’m terrible at spending money on myself, but for other people it’s my favorite. Which is why my niece is going to be extremely spoiled once she gets here because I refuse to hold back.

And my new child, Ellie, is about to be the most spoiled cat on the planet and I don’t even care. I do, however, struggle bringing in all my purchases. She’s in the kennel meowing as I carry in the giant box containing her cat tree and add it to the corner of my apartment where everything else is.

I open up the kennel once everything is inside. “Welcome home, Ellie.”

She’s cautious about coming out, so I just sit on the floor and watch her as she explores. The way she has to hobble around because of her missing leg just makes me fall more in love with her every second.

I start to set up everything for her, starting with the necessities of her litter box, food, and water. Then, move onto building the cat tree. I am not very handy, so after a couple arguments with myself that had Ellie questioning who she’s living with I finally built it. I can only hope it’s secure enough and that I didn’t mess anything up .

Ellie immediately starts exploring her new area, meowing and purring loudly. When she finds a spot and rolls onto her back, I take a picture to send and share with everyone.

Spencer: OMG she’s so cute! I want to meet her!

Chandler: I love her already!

Brent: You got a cat?

I also sent the picture to Bryson and Bailey, but don’t expect a response from them. Bryson might respond in three to five business days, but Bailey likely won’t say anything.

Brynn: Yeah, you all should come over to meet her. Well, maybe that’s a lot. One or two at a time can come over.

Brent: I’m already trying to stop Chandler from rushing out the door right this second.

I switched over to the text thread with her.

Brynn: Don’t let my dickhead brother stop you from living your life. Fuck the patriarchy!

Chandler: Hah, this house is the opposite of the patriarchy. He is just concerned because at my appointment earlier the doctor put me on bedrest until I deliver. *eyeroll emoji*

Brynn: Are you okay??

Chandler: Oh yeah, I’m fine. She’s fine. Just a precaution. Please send all the cat pictures, I’m bored already.

Brynn: Done. And let me know if you need anything.

Chandler: I will, thank you.

And because I like to fuck with my brother, I text him again.

Brynn: Your girlfriend just told me how much of a buzzkill you are and that I’m her favorite Collee. Sorry not sorry.

Brent: I’m next to her right now.

Brynn: Probably why I’m her favorite, I don’t hover and bother her. CHANDLER BLINK TWICE IF YOU NEED HELP.

Brent: You’re a pest.

Brynn: Wow, bro, you shouldn’t talk about yourself that way. I’m disappointed.

Brent: Go take care of your cat, she’s probably already planning her escape from you.

Brynn: She loves me, thank you very much. I don’t bore the shit out of her like you would.

He doesn’t respond and I shrug it off. When Brent doesn’t reply it’s not the same as when it’s Bryson and Bailey because I know I’ll see him. I know he cares. I know at the end of the day, he would be there for me. He always has been.

“Come on, Ellie, let’s figure out what to have for dinner.” She doesn’t move from her spot on the tree, but it’s nice to be talking to more than just the empty walls around me.

And probably better than talking to a fish if I’m honest.

Which reminds me that getting Ellie kind of sidetracked my entire goal for the day of making my place homier. Though, she is doing that for me just by being here, so I don’t even mind .

As I’m going through my fridge examining the options I can make for dinner my phone goes off. I expect it to be Brent again, but then I see it’s a DM, not a text. Without thinking too much about it, I open the message and am immediately brought back to last night. The night I have been desperately trying to forget about. I feel like I was doing a pretty good job of it too.

Colton: You know, you still owe me your number since you ran out before you gave it to me.

“Ellie, this is why we don’t let asshole hockey players tempt us out for a drink and then kiss us.”

She meows like she agrees, and I knew adopting her was the right decision.

Last night I let my loneliness get the best of me, but that won’t be happening again. Nope, I have the best friend I could ever ask for in a three-legged feline. Plus, my human friends, who are usually busy, but that’s okay. I can go make new friends. Yeah, that’s what I should do.

My phone goes off once again.

Colton: If you don’t give it to me, I’ll just have to get it from your brother. Might be kinda fun to tell him I got his baby sister to slap me across the face, then kiss me.

Brynn: Please ask Brent for my number. I would love to see how that works out for you. Spoiler alert, you still won’t get it.

Colton: Maybe not, but then you have to explain to him why you went out with me. Which I know you don’t want. I’m cool being your dirty little secret, Princess.

I want to call his bluff, there’s no way he would actually tell Brent about what happened and ask him for my number. That’s a surefire way to start a fight.

Wait, that might be exactly what he wants. If I know anything about the asshole who won’t leave me alone it’s that he enjoys a fight. At least on the ice, but something tells me he would do the same off it as well.

And I really don’t want Brent to know I had a temporary moment of insanity and actually met up with Colton. I could lie, but he’s always been able to read me too easily.

Reluctantly I send him my phone number and then throw my phone onto my couch.

“And this is why you don’t give hockey players an inch because they just push and push for more,” I tell Ellie while pulling out some pasta to make prime girl dinner for myself. Buttered noodles.

Ellie purrs and settles into the soft cat bed I got her that I put on the couch so she can cuddle, but still have her own space.

“You’re lucky you’re a cat. There won’t be any little player cats coming in here to bother you.”

She makes a soft sound that I’m going to assume is her understanding. Or it’s her falling asleep noise. Either way, I know this cat is on my side with this whole Colton situation. And I decide that when he texts me, I’m just going to block his number. This needs to end before it goes any further.

The fact that I can still remember how it felt to have his lips on mine, and how quickly my body responded to the dominating way his tongue invaded my mouth, I’d hate to think how it would react to anything more. Because I have a feeling my traitorous body and vagina would happily submit to the hot hockey player.

My mind, on the other hand, refuses.