Blind Beast Mate(12)

First thing first. He wanted to taste my cooking. It would buy me a good day with him. I crawled back into the kitchen and opened the fridge. There had to be some eggs. Everyone had eggs. My fingertips ran over a pitcher of—I sniffed—tchai, lots of beer bottles, and one plastic box—I opened to sniff—food. Hungry, I took the food.

Scrambling from the floor, I found a drawer with cutlery and got a fork. White cake frosting melted on my tongue. Our wedding cake. Someone must’ve dropped it off this morning. Closing the fridge, I sat on the floor and leaned my back against it. I dug into my breakfast of champions. The not-vanilla cake was fluffy and delicious, the frosting sweet on my tongue.

“Good morning, house,” I said. “You and I will need to be friends, or I might burn you down by accident. Can you start a cup of coffee for me? No? Well, that sucks.”

Twenty bucks said the note left instructions on how to use the beeping vehicle to get to the marketplace, where I’d use the money to buy whatever I needed. I chuckled.



Drip. Drip. Drip.



Fork poised halfway to my mouth, I froze. “Who’s there?”



Drip. Drip. Drip.



Coffee. I sniffed again. Someone just turned the coffeemaker on, which meant someone was in the kitchen with me. I scrambled away and into the corner, and when Uncle Sam swung a pitchfork at my head, I covered it with my hands.

I rocked.

It wasn’t real.

He wasn’t real, but behind my eyes, I saw memories. When I was frightened, Uncle Sam swinging the pitchfork at me came as a flashback. I rocked some more because the scene would pass. “Who’s there?” I peeked between my elbows. I didn’t see or hear anyone. Okay, okay, I needed to cool my shit. Jamie had said he had a cat. Perhaps his cat climbed the counter and pressed the button to start a cup of coffee? “Kitty!” I called out.



By the time Jamie phoned later in the afternoon, the house and I had gotten to know each other pretty well. I’d tripped only once on the cat’s little toy mouse, but hadn’t found the cat. Maybe the cat was an outdoor type and preferred to run around the neighborhood. Just as well, because I’d called it several times while searching for cat food. No cat, but I found a bag of food.

“How’s a day in your space goin’?” Jamie asked as I sat down on the new leather couch in the living room. This entire home smelled new. Even the wall paint.

Jamie was bitter about space. “Great. Yours?” I’d much rather he told me about his day.

“You like your spacious house?” he asked.

“I love it.”

“Did you get to the market yet? It’s a space station away.”

“You’re being a big baby,” I said.

He chuckled. “I need razors, and I forgot to get you a toothbrush.”

“I brought mine so… And I have extra razors too.”

“Those little pink disposable things?”

“They’re purple.” Weren’t they purple?

“A man razor, baby. I ain’t using pink or purple shit. Get me MachoBeast number three, would you? Don’t cook on the first day, I’ll get us pizza on the way back. Did you figure out the appliances? I left you a note.”

“Okay,” I said. “Macho three.”

Silence descended. I waited because I didn’t know what to say. The Alpha Beast was not the man I’d expected him to be. He seemed to care. He could’ve bought any girl, I reminded myself.

“I also left you something on my nightstand. Was gonna give it to you yesterday, but changed my mind and thought it’d be a nice surprise when you woke up today. All alone in your space. Did you see it?”

I stood and counted the steps to the stairs. There were two staircases. Home phone at my ear, I climbed the seven steps of the first staircase, rounded the corner, and climbed up and up the step before the last.

“Meow.” The cat announced her presence.

Too late.

I tripped and tumbled down both flights of stairs, losing the phone in the process. The back of my head hit the wall. I winced when I bounced off and hit my forehead on a glass door. It shook. I immediately covered my head in case the glass shattered.

The shaking settled. Oh, thank God.

Heat rushed into my cheeks, and a small bump formed on my forehead. I tapped it. Not bad. It’d be fine, and I hadn’t broken anything, including the glass, which I was pretty sure was the back door leading to our backyard.

Still, I stayed down for a bit. The side of my thigh hurt, and I rubbed it.

“Rey!” Jamie shouted from the phone.

I got back on all fours and followed his voice. “I dropped the phone! Hold on.” Where was the damn phone?

“Rey, I’m coming!”