“Probably because you’re not very nice,” mybest friendgiggles distantly. “I mean, I wouldn’t come with you either, if you were saying that shit to me.”
Emerging at the mouth of the hall, Aubree cuddles the sadistic cat to her chest and smiles when she—the feline—purrs. “If you’re nice, she’ll be nice back.”
“She will never be nice to me.” Setting the cage on the floor, I open the door again and prop it open. Then I stand tall and pin my colleague with a glare. “Put her in there.”
“She doesn’t want to go in.” Scratching Chloe’s neck and eliciting a long, drawn-out purr of ecstasy, Aubree is entirely too pleased with herself. “She thinks you’re taking her somewhere to die.”
“Well, I’m not. In fact…” Reaching out, I take the nine-pound furball in my hands and brace for the shred of her claws. “I’m taking you to my apartment. To my inner sanctum.”
Bending, I move slowly and angle her head through the door. It’s true she doesn’t want to go in. But I’m no one’s fool, and I refuse to chase her around this place again.
“I’m accepting you into my world, Chloe. Because Archer is my husband now, which makes me your boss.”
“But are you, though?” Cackling, Aubree turns and walks back to the kitchen counter. “You’re having a pissing match with a cat the size of a newborn baby. You’re arguing with a nonverbal animal. So… are you as in charge as you think you are?”
“Mind your damn business.”
Shoving Chloe the rest of the way in, I slam the cage door shut and yank my hand away when she hisses so deeply, I worry for my life.
“I’m the boss now. Who?” I taunt. “Me!”
“Did you ever watch that movie… um…” Aubree tosses cans of cat food in a shopping bag. “You know the one where Lindsay Lohan is playing twin sisters? Her mom and dad divorced, each parent took one twin and moved to different countries. Later, Lindsay meets the other Lindsay, and that’s when they realized they were long-lost sisters?”
“What?” Clueless, I leave the cage behind and cross the living room. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“That movie! The one with…” She stops and shakes her head. “Anyway. I know you know what I’m talking about.”
“What about it?” I move to the kitchen and help her pack so we can go. “Why are we discussing this?”
“Because the dad, Lindsay Lohan’s dad in the movie—who is super hot, by the way—he meets a new woman.”
“So?”
“That’s you!” she laughs. “As far as Chloe is concerned, you’re Meredith Blake. You bring your hoity-toity, stuck-up ass into this already established family, you want all of Archer’s attention for yourself, so now she’s mad.”
“I’m not Meredith Blake.”
“You are. And no one likes Meredith Blake.”
“I’m not Meredith!” Growling, because I know exactly what movie she means, I drop the last of the tins into my bag, then I walk away again and go in search of anything else Archer might want.
We still have to decide which apartment we’ll keep. Whose home we’ll callours. But right now, he’s too sore to do anything but slump on my couch. So I’ll pack him some extra clothes and make his life a little more comfortable while we’re holed up in mine.
I’m thoughtful and kind. I’mnotMeredith Blake.
“Two minutes and we’re leaving,” I snap.
I head back into the hall and step over Chloe’s cage, gritting my teeth when she releases a feral snarl of resentment. Moving into Archer’s bedroom, I swing open his closet doors and start grabbing jackets and button-up shirts, before I shimmy to the dresser and take t-shirts and jeans.
That’s all he wears, anyway: chesty-shirt, sexy jeans, boots like he’s fresh out of the military, and—
“Oh, boxers.” I move to the topmost drawer and grin like some kind of oddball pervert. “I’m looking in Archer Malone’s underwear drawer.”
“Oh! Really?” Aubree dashes into the hall. “Can I see?”
“No!”
I grab a handful and add them to my pile, then I go back to the closet and search for a duffel bag to store them in. I shove remaining jackets aside. Hoodies. More boots.Somany pairs of boots. I drop my stash to the floor so they land with a splat and ruin the sharp lines with which Archer folded his things, then I lower to my knees and grab a promising strap peeking from the shadows.