Page 9 of Interference

He turned to me, lips still apart and eyes wide.

“We’ll make it happen,” I repeated gently. “She’ll be okay.”

He looked absolutely bewildered.

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just went with, “I’m ready to roll whenever you are.” I gestured over my shoulder. “Her food is in the car.”

Wyatt blinked a couple of times, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, sure. Let me, uh…” He looked around, then found her service dog vest where he’d left it on the counter. “Let me just get her dressed.”

Chapter 4

Wyatt

I’d known from the start that Anthony had more money than I did. After all, he wasn’t homeless. Anyone who had a landlord was doing a hell of a lot better than I was.

So I hadn’t really given much thought to Anthony’s economic status beyond being grateful he was willing to let me and Lily spend the night under his roof.

When I saw his silver SUV, however, it occurred to me that this man was… not struggling. I mean, it had been a while since I’d priced a car, but I was pretty sure the base price of an Audi Q7 was a lot more than I pulled in annually with my VA disability pittance. And now that I thought about it as I watched him clip Bear and Moose’s harnesses to the seat belts in the backseat, purebred Maine Coons weren’t exactly cats people gave away on Craigslist.

It gave me an uncomfortable feeling that was hard to define. I hated where I was in life, and being around a man who could drop a ton of money on expensive cars and luxury cats just made me feel even more conspicuous. I wasn’t stupid—I knew I didn’t look or smell great. I had the privilege of enough money to make use of laundromats sometimes, but there was only so much a person could do when they were outdoors almost 24/7. Especially since people like me had been pushed more and more into the grosser parts of town so we didn’t drive down property values by sleeping in the nicer parks or streets. The alleys and underpasses of downtown Seattle didn’t really bode well for keeping clean even when I still had a tent for shelter.

I’d been self-conscious enough about being in someone’s house and on their furniture. Now I was going to sit in his expensive car on his leather upholstery? And go to his undoubtedly nice and pristine house? Ugh. It was so weird to be grateful and embarrassed at the same time.

But in the two minutes we’d been outside the clinic, Lily had already started shivering, so I swallowed my pride, put my rucksack in the trunk, and joined Anthony in the front seats.

“Will she be okay up here?” Anthony gestured at Lily, who was sitting between my legs in front of the seat.

I glanced over my shoulder at the two cats, who were occupying the entire backseat. “It’s fine.” I petted Lily as she rested her head on my leg. “It’s just one ride.”

I didn’t like taking the chance, and back when I’d still had a car, I’d had a seat belt clip for her. Tonight, though, I was afraid—rationally or not—that if I pushed my luck and asked to stop and get a seat belt clip, I’d finally hit the end of Anthony’s patience and generosity. Right now, there was a heater blowing on Lily. She’d stopped shivering. The odds of us getting into an accident seemed relatively low compared to those of Anthony leaving us on the side of the road if I asked too much of him.

Also, Anthony’s cats were in the car, and he seemed to care immensely about his animals, so he wasn’t going to take unnecessary risks on this ride.

“It’s fine,” I said again.

He studied me uncertainly, but then shrugged and backed out of the parking space. We rode in silence for a block or so before he gestured up ahead. “If you’re hungry, we can swing in to one of those.”

I followed where he was indicating, and there were a few fast food signs glowing on either side of the road. My stomach growled again, same as it had when he’d mentioned food the first time. “I, uh… If it’s not too much trouble?” I reached for my wallet. “I can actually pay for it.”

He glanced at me. “You don’t have to. I was going to pick up something for myself, too.”

“Then I definitely want to pay.” I gestured with my wallet. “You’ve already gone above and beyond. Buying dinner is the least I can do.”

Anthony shrugged. “Your call.”

We settled on a burger chain, and he pulled into the drive-thru.

As soon as he rolled down the window, both cats started… well, not really meowing. More like chirping? Squeaking? Not the sounds I expected from cats that size, but okay. By the time we’d made it to the window, both were purring loudly. There was also some clicking I couldn’t quite identify until I looked, and I realized both cats were kneading on the seat; the sound I heard was their claws popping in and out of the upholstery. For a second I worried they were tearing up the leather interior, but then I realized there was a thick seat cover. It had gray and black cat hair all over it, and the edges looked like something had chewed on it.

I chuckled as I looked at Anthony. “Why do I get the feeling they know what a drive-thru is?”

The kind-of-sheepish smile was startlingly cute. So was the subtle blush. “They, um… They might be a little bit spoiled.”

“A little bit?”

The response to that was an unrepentant shrug.

I laughed, tousling Lily’s ears. “Eh, I can’t judge.” I almost mentioned how much I spoiled her, but… I really didn’t. Not anymore. I used what little money I had to make sure she had food and clean water, and I’d bought some blankets specifically to keep her comfortable at night. But the days of actually spoiling her had ended when we’d been kicked out of our last apartment.

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