Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 99381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Ivy’s standing behind Billie, her arms crossed over her chest, and when she notices me, she beams a smile. “You made it!” she screams and throws herself at me, wrapping me in a hug. I catch her hand as she tries to pull my phone from my pocket. She smiles slyly. “I can always steal Hawke’s stuff, but I can never manage to get one up on— hiccup.” The smell of vodka wafts into my face. “I need your phone to call a cab. Our phones died.”
I feel an immediate sense of relief before fury runs through me. I let Ivy take the phone to call a cab, and then I storm over to Billie, furious she put herself in this predicament. But when she looks up at me, she’s all innocence, and I hate the way it makes my cock twitch. It’s not fucking okay.
I peer down at the box she’s so focused on and see there’s an all-black kitten with bright green eyes staring up at her. The thing looks fucking creepy. Like its face is too big for its malnourished body.
“Okay. My cab’s just pulled up. Bye, you two. Ford, get her home safely. We owe you one!” Ivy waves as she hands over my phone.
“Are you going to be okay?” I grit out, not at all comfortable with this situation. Christ, is this what all of their nights out in London were like in college?
She smirks. “How chivalrous, Mr. Ivanov. But, yes, his place isn’t far from here. Just make sure she gets home, and for God’s sake, don’t bring that thing into our home. I’m allergic.”
She’s gone with lightning speed, and I watch as she gets into the cab before I turn back to Billie, who’s now sitting—actually sitting—on the fucking filthy ground.
“Get up,” I growl as I lift her to her feet. Something as beautiful as her should not be touching something so filthy. It reminds me of the years when I lived on the streets.
She doesn’t seem to care as she uses a small leaf to tease the kitten, who seems curious to play with it. “It got left behind,” Billie says sadly as she curls into herself. “I wonder where it’s mom and siblings are.”
A small, unsettled feeling stirs in my chest, and I don’t like the way it dredges up memories I’d rather leave buried. Would she take pity on me and Hawke if she knew we were no better than this discarded kitten? Billie knows where we come from, but all our dirty, dark secrets we did to stay alive she doesn’t.
She looks up at me then, that brilliant fucking smile unsettling me because I know when she’s beaming so brightly like this, she wants something. “Let’s keep it.”
“Isn’t Ivy allergic to cats?”
“Yep,” she says, still smiling. It doesn’t take me too long to understand her line of thinking.
“I’m not taking that thing back to my house.”
She frowns. “Of course not. I’ll carry it in.” She picks up the box, and the kitten’s back straightens, frightened but doesn’t attempt to get out. That is, of course, until it’s at eye level with me, and the nasty little thing hisses and has the actual balls to flash its tiny little fangs at me.
I frown. “That little fucker probably has rabies.”
Billie clicks her tongue. “We all probably have rabies, Ford. Get over it.”
I go to counter her logic, but then she looks around as if suddenly realizing something. “Oh shit, I forgot my jacket at the club. It was my favorite one, too. It cost me ten thousand, and that was on sale. Fuck.”
I stare at her in bewilderment. “We’re not done discussing the cat.”
“Of course we are.” She rolls her eyes. “You can’t let me leave behind a stray kitten, Ford. And besides”—she looks back at it lovingly, and I never thought I’d be jealous of an animal—“it kind of reminds me of you.”
I blanch and stare back at the little fucker, who purrs for her but hisses at me. “I don’t see the resemblance.”
She giggles. “It’s fur is the same color as yours. And it’s nice to me and no one else.”
I can’t help but notice the backhanded compliment. She might be drunk, but her smart little mouth seems to be fine. “I wouldn’t say I’m particularly nice to you.”
She smirks as she passes me. That fuzzy little fucker hisses, and I can’t reprimand him for having keen instincts. I silently fall into step behind her as she coos at the kitten.
When we round the corner, I notice a few people staggering out of the club.
“Is that the club you and Ivy were at?” I ask, and she nods.
I take the lead toward the bouncer, who halts me immediately. Fair, considering I look exactly like the type who shouldn’t be let into a club.