Page 19 of Prickly Pair
Jealousy tugged in my chest. I’d never had anyone in my life that would jump into helping me like this.
“Thank you,” Avery said quietly. Her frown deepened, her eyes turning stormy. “He’s going to get himself fucking killed.”
The silence in the room was unsettling. I felt like I was intruding. Well, Iwasintruding. But what did they mean? Were they talking about Austin?
He had looked tired, but I was too busy worrying about Evie and arguing with him to really wonder why.
“I wonder if we could make him be Evie’s nanny,” June said. Avery and Dallas gave her a flat look, and she laughed. “What? I’m serious. She’s going to need it, otherwise she’ll be back here at four in the morning.”
“The oven won’t be ready by then,” I said. “I’m ordering a part for her. I have a friend who can get it in earlier, but it probably won’t arrive until Thursday. Maybe Friday.”
Dallas raised his brows. “Thanks for doing that. Um . . . You don’t really need to help anymore if you need to go. We’ve got like six of us who can juggle it all.”
“He’shelping,” June said pointedly. “We’re getting to know him. Since it’s been so long.”
“Yeah,” Avery chimed. “Learning all about him.”
Dallas glanced over at me warily, but it made me feel better. He had no fucking idea what those two were doing either.
“I’ve got the time,” I said. “Just need to take Lucky to the vet in a few hours. He needs his shot updates.”
My feline son was going to be pissed off at me later, but keeping him healthy was worth it. Ever since that furball had come into my life, he’d brought me nothing but hairballs, scratched furniture, and joy. I loved him more than anything else in the world despite the fact he was the worst roommate I’d ever had. He was a pain in my ass, and I’d happily die for him.
“Cat dad or dog dad?” Dallas asked.
“Cat,” I chuckled.
“Obviously,” June said. “He has a mullet and tattoos. Didn’t you see the cat carrier on the counter?”
“I did, but suddenly got worried that Avery decided to get another pet.”
“Hey,” she quipped. “You make it sound like I run a zoo now.”
“I mean, you got two dogs at the same time.”
“You say that like you didn’t spend three hours playing with them once we introduced y’all.” Avery planted her hands on her hips. “I give it a year before the three of you getsomesort of pet.”
“Okay, but you got pets to battle baby fever,” June said.
Avery hissed, and the three of them descended into a series of jabs and laughter. I still felt like I was on the outside, but . . .
It was nice.
“Show him the baby,” June said to me.
“June,” Dallas groaned.
“What? We all know you’re a cat man, too.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “I’ll show you Lucky, and then we can keep getting everything fixed up for Evie.”
Maybe being back in Whynot wouldn’t be so bad.
CHAPTER SIX
Evie
The pain in my arm woke me up before the sun rose. I took some pain reliever, applied the ointment Matthew gave me, and curled up on my couch with a cup of coffee.
