Page 34 of Three Meows

“If only!” I snickered and we nodded commiseratingly at each other. In the weird way of life, it was Chester, the decidedly not super-wealthy student, who still insisted on buying me, a trust fund baby, the monthly gift from the art store.

I shook my head with amusement before we went back to our work.

“I think we should have a column for expenses you would have anyway, even if we weren’t there…” Chester proposed, and we got lost in scheming for the next half hour while Elijah and Rowan were out.

When the boys were back from their shopping trip I launched an offensive, using the painstakingly prepared notes as a weapon. Elijah fell under the onslaught of my reasonableness and grumpily agreed to pay half of the utility bills and household shopping.

“Let me pay you at least a small amount for the rent,” he asked desperately. “It’s not like we don’t have any money; we do have some savings and my books bring in an income…”

“No. I would be paying that rent anyway. Your presence here doesn’t change that,” I said, my hands firmly on my hips as I took an unmovable stance. Seeing how this was troubling Elijah I sighed and cupped his face. “Think about it as my investment, hmm? Use the money you would for rent to get the best covers and advertising for your books. You can thank me as a mysterious benefactor in the acknowledgment of the new book.” I winked at him.

Elijah crumbled and slowly nodded. I rewarded him with a kiss on his nose.

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” Chester interrupted, pointing wildly at us. “Hold your horses. I can’t be the sugar baby but HE can?”

Elijah spluttered.

“That’s because Elijah is sweet and not a gremlin like you,” I said, looping my arms around the writer and cozying up to him.

“Ooh, those are fighting words,” Chester gritted out through clenched teeth. “I may be a gremlin, but I’m also the sweetest! Sweetness attaaack!”

I yelped as suddenly a ball of orange fur launched itself at me and I was brutally attacked by big, wide, green pleading cat eyes. Damnation, Puss in Boots from Shrek had nothing on this expression on Cheddar’s face.

I couldn’t help myself. I reached for that cute face to pet the kitty in my arms.

Cheddar gave a triumphant purr.

“You know, cuteness is not a finite resource. How about you two share?” I asked only for Cheddar to emit the tiniest meow known to a man that made me instantly melt.

Elijah chuckled as he had to hold me up when I started to dramatically slide to the floor, then marched me to the couch where I could cuddle with both the cat and the man. To my surprise, we were joined by Rowan, who situated himself on the floor between my legs with his back to me. I reached tentatively to stroke his black hair and when I wasn’t rebuffed my heart grew two sizes. Rowan was too much of a mysterious loner to be called sweet, so he didn’t have a chance of winning this impromptu contest, but instances like this, where he allowed himself intimacy, were absolutely heart-melting if only because of their rarity.

“How about this: Elijah is my sugar baby as a human, but you will be my sugar baby as a cat. How does that sound, Cheddar?” I said to the kitty sprawled in my lap.

I decided to treat the headbutt he gave me as an agreement.

Fighting off the smile off my face was a losing battle. My only regret was not having more hands because I wanted to pet all three of those precious men at the same time.

Chapter Eighteen

The day of our trip to my father’s holiday estate came quicker than I expected. As they say: time flies fast when you’re happy. I didn’t let the looming confrontation wipe the smile off my face as we squeezed into Rowan’s car.

We have decided to suffer the cramped conditions instead of taking two cars for the joy of shared journey. The moment we sat down, a battle for the radio began.

“Absolutely not!” Chester insisted as he changed the station Elijah chose. “No fancy tunes on a road trip. We need pop music. Songs everyone knows and can belt out!”

“Have mercy, it’s too early to start the day with singing,” Elijah wrinkled his nose.

I let the two men bicker and made eye contact in the mirror with Rowan. He smirked and held up a USB stick. Chester gasped in betrayal as the radio changed to the music player and the sounds of rock filled the car.

“Driver picks the music!” I said cheerfully.

I regretted those words when Chester took his turn behind the wheel several hours later.

But hey, at least I learned Elijah had the voice of an angel and Rowan’s dulcet tones could dip so low the bass reverberation sent shivers down my spine.

It was fun, sharing snacks and stories, playing word games, stopping by the roadside to observe a herd of deer… and cuddling against a warm body when I wasn’t the one driving. We made a break for some greasy fast food along the way but otherwise tried to drive as far as possible — after all, our goal was three states over. It was already dark when we stopped at a random bed-and-breakfast.

“One room with four beds,” I decided.

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