Page 179 of Waiting Game

This world is so fucking brutal.

“Is that one even…?” I start to ask, well aware that my voice is thick with emotion, but the little thing is barely moving.

Animals are my kryptonite. I know they’re hers too, but unlike me, the coward, who runs from them because I can’t handle losing another, she welcomes them into her heart.

“Just.”

I dig into my pocket with my spare hand and find my cell. A quick search has me saying, “There’s a vet around the corner.”

“Some bastard dumped them here. Look, they’re in a carrier bag.”

“I hate people.”

“Me too.”

I drag off my jacket and hand it to her. Carefully, she tucks the weak kitten into its warm folds and holds it to her chest.

“What do we do with the others?”

“The vet will…”

When her words wane, I nod. Hating the necessity but unwilling to leave them to rot like so much trash, I pick up the bag and carefully carry it across the lot.

In silence, we wend a path through the myriad streets to the nearest vet.

It’s with relief that we make it there and the kitten is still meowing weakly—louder, though, as if it’s clearly pissed off about its current state.

Who the hell could blame it?

I open the door for her and we head straight to the front desk.

The second the receptionist locks eyes on me, I know that she recognizes me, and in this instance, I’m not afraid to take advantage of my fame.

“My partner found a kitten in the trash. It’s an emergency—it was with two others and they…didn’t make it.”

When I pass her the bag, the woman’s eyes soften but she nods her understanding, and then rushes toward the back of the clinic.

“We’ll fix this,” I promise Mia.

She stares at me with tear-drenched eyes and nods. “I know.”

I grab her shoulder and haul her into me, both of us studying the tiny face peering blindly in our direction.

“I have no idea how you heard it. Thank God you did.”

She shivers and tucks herself deeper into my side.

A few minutes later, the vet bustles out and takes charge.

Mia stands there, hovering in place, uncertain what to do now that the vet has the kitten, but I cup her elbow and direct her toward the unisex bathroom.

It might seem weird, but I draw her in and wash her hands as she lets me tend to her as if she’s frozen too.

Then, I rinse off my own and get ours dried.

When we’re done, I guide her back to the waiting room and plunk her on my lap.

Immediately, she buries her face in my throat. “I hate people,” she repeats my earlier mantra.

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