Page 54 of Sweet Revenge

Her eyes widened and she tilted her head, but she didn’t seem all that impressed. “Charming.” She shifted her attention back to me. “Can I help you with something.”

I snorted and laughed out loud when she emphasized the word, ‘you,’ knowing it was a direct insult to Ritz. It wasn’t often Ritz got shot down, and she probably had no idea that she just gave him the green light to chase. I’d bet money he’d be fucking her before the end of the weekend.

“I’m here to see Sydney Dimarco.”

Her smile grew wider. “Oh sure, no problem. I’ll just go get her.”

I shot a smirk in Ritz’s direction after she disappeared down the long hallway. “Ouch, brother.”

He grinned. “Haven’t been challenged in a while.” He rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna be fun.”

“Hey Gunner, hey Ritz.” My head snapped toward the voice, and I watched Sydney walk to the mouth of the hallway.

“Hey, honey.” Ritz winked, and she laughed.

She shifted her attention to me. “So, what’s up? Cam said you texted that you needed to see me.”

“I did.”

She leaned forward, a smile playing around her lips. “You know you took a chance saying it like that to my husband, Gunner. He’s been texting me all morning asking if you stopped by and what you wanted.”

My grin widened into a smile. “He’s fun to fuck with.”

She shook her head, but a smile still played around her lips. “What do you need?”

“A cat.”

Her eyes widened. “A cat?”

I nodded once. “Yep.”

She looked surprised for another moment, but then cleared her expression and gestured behind her to the hallway. “Okay, follow me.”

Ritz and I followed her down a long hallway to a door with a picture of a cat carved into it. She pushed the door open and stepped in, gesturing for us to go in ahead of her before closing the door.

“Christ.” I ran my hand through my hair and looked around the room filled with cats of all colors and sizes. Some were sitting outside cage doors and cleaning themselves, others were climbing those tall things people who had cats always had, and some were watching us.

“As you can see, we have a lot of cats and kittens.” Sydney frowned. “Sadly, we always do.”

My eyes searched the room while Ritz squatted down and began petting a black cat that was rubbing against his leg. “Do you know what you’re looking for. A girl or boy? A certain age?”

I cleared my throat and looked back at Sydney when she spoke. “It’s for Maggie. Tomorrow’s her birthday.”

She smiled wide, and I grinned at the happy expression on her face. “That’s so sweet, Gunner. I’ll bet she’ll love to have something to cuddle.” She reached out and laid her hand on my arm. “Cam can’t say a whole lot, but he did tell me she’s had a hard life, and he thinks being with you guys is making a difference.”

“She’s never had a pet, but she said she likes kittens.” I shrugged. “I thought it might make her happy to have something to take care of.”

Sydney squeezed my arm before dropping her hand and looking around the room. She finally snapped her fingers, looked back my way, and her eyes lit up. “I have a cat who came to us pregnant and had her kitties about six months ago. She’s healthy, a little older, but has been spade.”

I looked at her suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”

Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you look like you’re not telling me something.”

Her shoulders dropped. “Well, we haven’t been able to adopt her out because she’s kind of a package deal.”

My eyebrow lifted. “A package deal?”

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