Page 10 of The Laughing Game

I’d already known about Tarnish, Vihaal’s antique store. But I’d never seen the place and now I wanted to. I grabbed my phone and Googled it.

It looked like a cute spot. It was in Hintonburg—not exactly close to where they lived in Old Ottawa South. The word Tarnish was painted in fancy lettering over the front door.

I put my phone down and closed my eyes, finally drifting off to thoughts of Gideon making his triangle sandwiches.

* * * *

A soft ‘pat, pat, pat’ on my cheek woke me out of a sound sleep.

“Fuck off,” I mumbled, turning over.

Blessed silence for a few moments, then the sheet ever so subtly shifted and a ‘brrrrr’ noise sounded in my face as a rough tongue swiped across my nose.

“Toff. Fuck off!” Seriously, this goddamn cat.

I opened my eyes. A fluffy white face, with a black patch over half of it, and two soft green eyes stared back at me.

“Brrrr?” Toff said. Which I translated toWhen the fuck are you gonna get up and feed me?

“Hi.”

He lay down, but continued to stare at me with expectation. I glanced over to the chair by the window to see Rummy in her usual spot, letting Toff do all her dirty work.

Thoughts of two attractive, kinky gay men came back to mind, and I remembered the epiphany I’d had the day before.

“Oh, fuck,” I said, groaning and reaching out a hand to ruffle Toff’s fur. “I am so fucking fucked, it’s not even funny.” I couldn’t help smiling. “And that might not be a euphemism.”

When I sat up, Toff launched himself in the direction of the door, then stopped and looked back, his gaze sayingHurry the fuck up, you loser. Rummy gazed at me placidly from her perch. She was smart enough to know it would take me a minute to get going.

Their names were from the musicalCats. The really annoying one was Toff, short for Mr. Mistoffelees and the calmer one was Rummy, short for Rum Tum Tugger. I loved them, but man, it would have been nice to sleep in on occasion.

I reached over to unplug my phone and checked the notification screen. There was a message that was an obvious scam, and another from a Discord group I was a member of. But nothing as interesting as the text from Vihaal.

See you later today. We’re really looking forward to it. Winky face.

I grinned, but nerves hit me at the thought of what might await me. Did he know I was questioning my sexuality? Did they already know how caught up in them I was?

I texted back.

Did you talk to Sebastian? He wasn’t supposed to say anything…

There was a terrible crash from downstairs. I threw my phone onto the bed and ran behind Rummy down the stairs, skidding to a stop at the bottom.

Toff sat on the breakfast bar, licking his paw. What had been a semi-expensive vase was now in pieces on the kitchen floor, the bouquet of sunflowers I’d bought to cheer myself up scattered amongst the broken glass.

Wait a whole hot minute.

I remembered my phone, and the text from Vihaal. Then I recalled what I’d typed in response, and realized that if they hadn’t known I’d discussed something relating to them with Sebastian and Jacob, they sure did now.

I ignored the mess on the floor, knowing the cats would be persnickety enough to avoid the area, and ran back upstairs. I launched onto the mattress and grabbed the phone. Was it possible to unsend a text?

But it was too late. Vihaal’s reply had already come in.

Say anything about what? What does Sebastian know that I don’t???

Oh, fuck my life.Maybe I could pass it off as a joke.

Laughing face emoji. I’m looking forward to afternoon tea.

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