Page 68 of Cats Never Fly

Iturned the screen to him again.

“Youdon’t need to spend money on me.Ihave clothes.”

“Iwant to spoil you.Sugardaddy, remember?”Igrinned.

Hegroaned. “Iwish you’d forgetIsaid that.”

“Okay, if you don’t have any objections,I’mbuying everything.”Itapped the checkout button, checking tomake sureI’dselected their expedited delivery.Thenit was done.

“No, you shouldn’t?—”

“Alreadydone,”Isaid.

“Ogden…”Hestretched my name out over several more syllables than it had as he flopped back on the couch.

“Simon…”Imimicked the way he’d said my name asIcrawled onto his lap and tossed my phone aside.Iwas about to kiss him again when his phone rang.Hegroaned.

“That’llbe my mother.She’scalled every twenty minutes for the last two hours to make sureIremember to bring you to breakfast this morning.”

Isighed.AnotherRiversfamily breakfast wasn’t howI’denvisioned my morning going, but all relationships required compromise.

“Ican tell her you are still sleeping,” he said.

“It’sfine, kitty cat.I’llgo with you.”Someday, maybe, we could establish some boundaries and new traditions, but for now, it looked like breakfast with theRiversfamily was part of my new routine.

Breakfastat his parents’ place was a more relaxing experience this time.Simon’sfather was much the same, but his mother was all smiles, and his brothers hadn’t tried to scare me to death in a car.Perhapsthings were improving.They’dall been shocked about what we’d found out inAspenBay.Clive,Warren, and the twins mouthed off about hunting down my abductors on their own, until their mother went around and pinched each of their ears.Shedidn’t let go until they promised they wouldn’t go looking for trouble.

Myhappiest moment, though, was when we were onour way back out the door again.Theywere all nice enough people, butIwasn’t used to having so many people knowing so much about me and my life.Itwould take some time to get used to.

Assoon as we were back inSimon’sapartment, we crawled into bed and kissed until we fell asleep again.Wewoke toSimon’sphone ringing.Fora shy guy, he had a lot of people calling him all the time.

“Hello?”

“Hi,Simon, did you get my text?”Inthe quiet of the bedroom,Icould hear both sides of the conversation.

“Huh?Whois this?”

“It’sJeremy!Hey, you sound groggy.DidIwake you up?Sorryabout that!”Jeremysounded as full of energy as he had whenImet him at the police station. “So, there’s been a change of plans.We’regoing to postpone movie night.WhenIset it up,IforgotSaturdayswere the busiest night of the week at the pub.We’lldo it some other time.”

“Uh.Okay.”

Avoice in the background onJeremy’sside rumbled something, butIcouldn’t make out the words.

“Yeah, yeah.I’mgetting to it,”Jeremysaid to whoever he was with.

Anothermumble.

“Anyway,” he said loudly, andIfigured he was talking toSimonagain, “instead of movie night on the weekend, we’re going to play board games tonight.Jake’snever done that either, can you believe it?Everythingstarts at seven, so we’ll see you then, okay?Seeyou there.”

Hehung up beforeSimoncould respond.KnowingSimonthe wayIdid, he’d now feel obliged to go becausehe hadn’t been able to say no.Jeremywas a sneaky bastard;Iliked him.

Simonlooked at me. “I…Uh…”

“Iheard, kitty cat.Itsounds like fun.”Ipatted him on the chest. “I’dlike to get to know your friends.”

“Theyaren’t really my friends,” he said. “Jeremystarted calling and texting me one day.Idon’t really encourage him, but he keeps doing it.”Simonshrugged, like he didn’t understandJeremy’sactions.

“Soundslike he thinks you are friends.”Yep.IknewIliked that guy. “Hehas excellent taste in friends.Doyou not like him?”