Page 24 of The Naga

We were on our third game when there was a knock at the door. I shared a confused glance with Khush, then got to my feet.

"Give me a minute," I said, and Khush nodded, turning around to watch me as I walked to the front door.

Peeking through the peephole, I cursed under my breath.

"It's my landlord," I murmured, remembering what Khush had said about his excellent senses the other day. "You need to hide."

I glanced over to see Khush give me a thumbs up, and I was smiling as I opened the door, a smile that slipped at the serious look on my landlord's face. I had a bad feeling about this.

Ten

Dustin

My landlord was anice guy. When I first moved to the city, he'd rented me this apartment for cash, even though I hadn't had a steady job back then. I still paid in cash because it was easier, and the man had never bothered me otherwise.

I had a feeling all that goodness was going to be cashed in now.

"Hey, Mr. Grant. What's up?" I asked as casually as I could, leaning against the doorframe so he wouldn't try to come inside. I had no idea where Khush had gone to hide, but I didn't want to risk him getting spotted.

"Hey, Dustin. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"Well, my cousin is moving to town, and he needs a place to stay," Mr. Grant said, proving my intuition right.

"And you want to give him my place?" I asked, and he winced.

"Sorry, kiddo, but the others all have lease agreements, so you're my only option. You still have ten days until rent day, but I'm gonna need the apartment after that."

The worst part was that he truly looked apologetic, so I couldn't even get mad at him. Sighing, I ran my palm over my face. I guess I'd need to do some apartment hunting now. So much for things finally going my way for once.

"Okay, I'll be out of here in time. Thanks for the heads-up, I guess," I said with a wry smile, and he nodded.

Then his eyes slid past me, and his brows shot up.

"Is your cat trying to eat a snake?" he asked, and I whipped around, my eyes widening as I saw Scrappy wrestling with a snake colored a familiar shade of green. Oh right. Khush had mentioned he could shift into a snake.

"Shit! I need to go," I said, closing the door in Mr. Grant's face.

Running to Scrappy and Khush, I fell to my knees and separated the two, shaking my head.

"Khush, it's safe now. You can shift back," I said, then shot Scrappy a glare.

"Were you trying to eat my boyfriend, young lady?" I asked, and while Scrappy just gazed up at me with her black-hole eyes, Khush snorted, telling me he was back in his usual form.

"She wasn't trying to eat me. We were just playing around. She likes me," he reminded me, and I scowled.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Sorry, I didn't realize we were in view."

"It's okay. I'll just tell him I have a pet snake if he asks," I said with a smirk, making him hiss softly. It sounded more like an amused hiss than an angry one, though.

We were silent for a moment, and then Khush turned to face me, his yellow-brown eyes boring into mine. "So, you have to move out?"

"Yeah. I'll have to look for a new apartment. Fingers crossed I find something in my budget."

"Or…" Khush started before trailing off, and I raised a brow at him.

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