Page 151 of Bride of Choice

“What ‘bout Odix?” he put in curiously.

“Did you fall asleep during all the horrible shit that guy’s been put through, all related to me?” My hand slapped to my chest and I patted the spot over my heart. “If he wants anything to do with me after all of that, he deserves sainthood.”

“No cookies for joining darkest side?” Lips tipping up, he grinned when I laughed.

Picking up the tea towel on the table, I threw it at his fat head. “You hang out with me too much. I’ve broken you.”

“Broken in,” he corrected, making me laugh louder, harder.

Unearthing the cookies we’d made and I’d brought half of with me to my hut, I held them out to him in offering. Kooky paused, chewing on the first of five he’d nabbed up and quickly set out in front of him, gave a loud sniff, then grunted.

Standing, quietly walking to the door with ninja-like stealth, he grabbed the handle and threw the door open so fast, Rek, Odix, and Gopher, in that order, piled up like stackable furballs, came tumbling inside.

Rek grunted, sounding breathless, at the bottom of the pile. Odix’s gaze immediately darted my way, paused to stare at the cookie I had pressed to my lips, frozen in place as I stared down at them in surprise.

Gopher groaned from the top of the pile, squinting so he wasn’t eye level with Kooky’s junk in his face.

“We helps you?” Kooky asked.

Three fluffy heads immediately started to shake vigorously. They all started talking at once. Fingers began pointing as Rek slapped at Odix to get off of him with his free hand.

“‘Kay.” Biting into the cookie in his hand, Kooky lifted a foot, shoving off first Gopher, then Odix, like dominoes, to press his foot to Rek’s head and send him sliding right out the door, then he slammed it on them, scowling as he turned to return to the table.

“Don’t… you know, do anything to them,” I huffed out under my breath.

Kooky shrugged and let out a soft chuff as if to say, Fine by me. It’s your deal. “That what Jo wants?”

“Yes…?” I mumbled, scrunching my face up until it was stuck in a moue of distaste.

He made a noise that said he’d do as I requested but he’d had other plans. I’d had a feeling. He wasn’t the type to idly let what he perceived as a slight go.

Grabbing another cookie, I bit into it, munching on it almost angrily, as if it had wronged me and I wanted revenge, or like I hadn’t eaten in a year.

“Nosy,” Kooky muttered, shifting in his seat. “Listen whole time.”

Gulping audibly, I babbled, “The whole time? Like, the whole time?”

“That what I say. Jes.” He nodded sharply.

“Those nosy… stinking… assholes!” Grabbing the empty pot Kooky’d used to boil water, he caught me up before I could rush out the door.

The crazy fool laughed his ass off as he easily held me off and I cursed those sneaks from here to Earth and back again.

Chapter 22

By the time we made it home I was hungry and tired. Too tired to want to cook, too hungry to go to sleep the way my stomach was attempting to eat itself.

“Sandwiches?” I mumbled on a yawn.

Kooky nodded and got to work slicing up the bread we’d made the other day.

“You never said what brought you back so soon,” I chimed in conversationally as I joined him at the counter and heated up a pan to toast the bread.

“Can’t come back soon?” he teased. “Jo not have ‘nough time, her males?”

“Okay,” I had to laugh at that, “first of all, boyo, they aren’t my males, not exactly, not really. They’re-”

My god, what the fuck were they if they were mine but not really?

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