Page 25 of Tangled Hearts

I didn’t bother taking off my clothes, not wanting to find a spot to store them. I shifted into an orange cat I saw hanging around earlier, running quickly to catch up with the man. He was lighting something in between his lips, inhaling and blowing out smoke. The smell was vile.

He pulled out a rectangle thing that I think was called a phone before walking out to the cars.

“Let me talk to him,” the man said, walking.

“I don’t give a shit, it's important,” he growled. “Oh, fuck you, I think this might be something he wants to hear.”

He was silent as he walked until he said a few uh-huhs and yeahs.

“Fuck. Fine. Tell him to call me. I don’t want to be blamed for not getting this to him immediately,” he said, then inhaled that awful stick. “Yeah, whatever. Fuck you too. I'm on my way.”

He opened his car and I decided his car might give me a clue as to who he worked for. I meowed while walking through his legs.

“What the fuck?” he growled.

I jumped in the car, meowing again as I looked around.

“Hey, get the fuck out of my car,” he yelled.

I walked through the disgusting car. There was trash everywhere and it smelled awful in here. How he drove in this car was beyond me. He tried to reach for me and I batted at his hand hissing at him. Being a cat was much easier than being a dog. Cats didn’t care about anything so I could be as moody as I wanted.

“Get out!” he yelled, looking like he was seconds from throwing a tantrum.

I hissed at him and jumped out of the wretched car. This is where I wished I was a dog so I could urinate on him, but I ran away when he pulled his leg back like he wanted to kick me. I hissed again before watching him get into the nasty car and drive away.

Once he was out of sight, I made my way around to our room, jumping up to climb the vine by our window. I hit the window catching Soren’s attention.

“That better be you, Max,” he said, as I meowed at him. “I’m going crazy, if I’m talking to just a regular cat.”

I shifted into a man, getting an eye roll from Soren.

“Put that anaconda away before I start getting jealous.” Soren threw pants at me.

“I don’t understand what you are saying. What’s an anaconda?” I put the pants on as Soren laughed at me.

“Never mind man, it's going to be too awkward of a conversation if I have to explain,” Soren chuckled, sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

I shrugged, really wanting to know what he was talking about.

“One day you’ll get it,” he chuckled. “Where did you go?”

“The guy you were talking to had two other guys with him. As soon as you left, they all sat at a table and gossiped,” I said, sitting down on the bed.

“I figured he had one guy, since he kept looking behind himself. He wasn’t very good at hiding his other friend,” Soren said. “I didn’t think there was another guy.”

Yeah, I followed one of them out to their car and he called someone saying he had info,” I said, leaning my forearms on my thighs.

“Shit,” Soren said, running a hand down his face.

“What did you ask?”

“I asked if he knew where we could find some Oria. I was getting desperate for my sister,” he said. “I just wanted to see if he had any info on a supplier and if that supplier was Taylin.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he heard that Oria might be off the market soon, he heard that supply had dried up.” Soren leaned forward. “He did say that he heard a few pirates had some supplies.”

“Taylin and Merrick,” I said, wondering how the hell my brother had gotten mixed up with a pirate.

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