“I’m sorry you’re in there, all alone,” Dex said, cautiously extending his hand toward the animal.
The cat raised his head, and his nostrils widened as he leaned closer to the bars, catching Dex’s scent at a distance. Encouraged, Dex pushed his arm through the bars. The scent of fur and hay swirled in his brain as he watched the tiger rise. “I know. I’m sorry you’re unwell.”
The poor thing was just six years old, but Cora had told Dex that it was hard to predict how much longer he had. Bandit was such a majestic beast and deserved a good death. Dex could only hope that he’d enjoy the stream of human mince coming his way in the next few days.
“I don’t know how long I can stay, but I’m here for you,” he said, glancing into the golden eyes.
Bandit sank lower and crooked his head, watching Dex as if he understood every word. He might not be human, but didn’t animals have emotions too? Wouldn’t he be afraid of what was coming?
Dex scratched the floor, as if he were inviting a housecat over, but as Bandit lowered his body, the door to the cat house swung open, and Hammer dashed inside in a pair of black trunks.
“Get away!” he yelled, heading for Dex like a cannonball.
“What?” Dex frowned when Bandit growled and bared his teeth. “You’ll scare him!”
But Hammer wasn’t taking no for an answer and scooped Dex up by the waist, pulling him away from the bars. The blanket fell, revealing Dex’s naked legs and all his dangly bits.
The massive paw pushed through the bars and clawed the floor between Dex’s spread legs, missing his dick by three inches.
“You damn idiot,” Hammer growled, dragging Dex all the way to the bed as Bandit let out a bone-chilling grunt before retreating.
Dex went limp in Hammer’s arms, and remained breathless with terror until they both fell onto the clean bedding.
He wanted to bark back at Hammer, but hewasright. What idiocy had possessed him that he’d approached a caged predator?
“It… it made sense at the time,” he uttered
Hammer shot up. “It’s a fucking miracle it hasn’t eaten you yet. Thank fuck for that camera,” he roared, gesturing to the device attached under the ceiling. He paced in a motion very similar to the way Bandit moved beyond the bars. “You arenotsleeping here.”
Despite his earlier anger, Dex did not feel like fighting Hammer. He pulled the T-shirt lower to cover his crotch. “Okay. Maybe you’re right. I’ll just visit him during the day,” he muttered. “You wanted to watch me sleep or something, you creeper?” He gave a weak snort and threw a pillow at Hammer’s legs, but didn’t dare look up.
Hammer shoved him out of the cage. “No. I fucking knew you’d do something stupid. What possessed you to put your arm into that cage?”
Dex shrugged, not even bothering to pick up his beer and chips. “I don’t know. He… he looked sad, and I was sad, and kinda felt we had a connection.”
Clearly, he wasn’t very good at sensing others’ intentions, because the same had happened with Hammer. So maybe he was just projecting and the people he held dear all thought he was a fuckup.
Hammer faced him and rubbed his cheek with a heavy exhale. “Why are you sad? You were angry five minutes ago.”
Dex let out a trembly exhale. “Because I was, but then I thought about the tiger having cancer, and I came here, and he was all alone, and I thought about how I fucked up with my mom when she had cancer. It’s stupid, I know, but I had this urge to be there for Bandit. Turns out he didn’t even want me there, just like her. And you. I’m trying, okay? I’m sorry.”
Hammer’s silence was like a punch, and for a moment Dex felt as if the floor had cracked, and the abyss was about to take him away from this world where everyone saw him as a problem.
“Your mom? What are you talking about?” Hammer asked in a softer voice and took hold of Dex’s wrist, pulling him toward the exit.
The cool night air was a relief to his overheating brain, and he didn’t even mind walking barefoot over the freezing cold tiles leading to the house.
“My mom got ill with cancer when I was in high school and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t be helpful enough. I thought it would be useful if I earned some cash for us, but then got mixed up in the wrong crowd and got arrested, as if she didn’t have enough problems. So she said she couldn’t deal with me anymore, that it would be easier for her if I wasn’t around, and sent me to live with Uncle Frank. But the worst thing is that her cancer…” He had to take a deep breath as Hammer led him inside. “It got really bad last year, and she actually said it was okay for me to come see her. I think Frank told her I was doing well. And I spent loads of money to get a quick flight, but when I arrived at the airport, it turned out I bought the wrong ticket. I couldn’t even getthatright. She… it was worse than she admitted. She passed before I could see her one more time.”
Shame was a cold, empty feeling in his stomach, but unlike hunger, he could never make it go away. Hammer led him to the kitchen and sat him on one of the barstools by the kitchen island. Its upholstery felt nice and plush on his bare ass.
“It was just a mistake,” Hammer said, opening the cupboard to pull out a bowl.
Of course he’d say that, when he hadn’t seen the full scope of Dex’s fuckups.
Dex destroyed everything he touched.
“No. I should have double-checked it, but I was so nervous when the website showed me only one ticket remaining that I just… didn’t.” Dex slouched, unsure why he was even sharing the story of his pathetic behavior. Hammer would surely not want to fuck someone this useless, but maybe it didn’t matter anymore since that ship had already sailed. “When my sister found out, she just said ‘Classic Dex’, and she was right. I wish… people expected better of me, but it just makes sense that they don’t. You watched me with the camera because you knew I’d do something dumb, and I did.”