Page 91 of Beware of Dog

Toly shot him the bird.

“I don’t know who he robbed or killed to get that thing,” Shep said, turning to look at Cass, “but I can’t afford that kinda ice, so don’t expect anything that crazy.”

He was so flushed, so unfettered and boyish in his happiness, it took her a second to parse his words.Don’t expect anything that crazy. He’d saidas long as you want me, but he’d not saidmarriage. That’s what he was thinking, though, wasn’t it?

She didn’t know if she wanted to cheer or cry, so she whipped her phone out instead. “Here. You look hot, take a pic with me.”

“A selfie? Oh, come on, I’m not a teenage girl.”

“Neither am I. Take the picture.”

He sighed theatrically, but when she held the phone out at arm’s length, he dutifully pressed his face in close to hers so they’d both fit in the frame. She snapped two pics, and then he turned to kiss her cheek on the third one.

A flash blasted off to the side, and Raven said, “Aw.”

Shep shot her the bird.

“You watch yourself,” Toly said, but Raven laughed.

Cass took hold of his middle finger and folded it down. The near corner of his mouth was twitching with a held-back smile.

“If you don’t like flashbulbs, the Met’s going to destroy you,” Raven said.

Shep sat back and resituated his arm across Cass’s shoulder. “Nobody’s gonna want pictures of me there.”

With a leap of excitement, Cass noted he didn’t say he wasn’t going.

“Hm.” Raven made a considering face. A devious one. “That depends on how I dress you.” She smiled evilly. “I’m thinking red.”

“Over my dead fucking body.”

But Cass perked up at the idea. “Dark red.”

“Of course.”

“With black lapels?”

“Ooh,” Raven said. “Yes. Velvet or satin?”

Cass considered.

“No red,” Shep told first her, and then Raven. “No. Red.”

“Don’t fight it.” Toly hid a rare grin in the edge of his glass. “You know you’ll wear whatever they pick out.”

Cass scratched at his chest through his shirt, right over the tattoo, and he sighed and thumped his head back on the couch.

Raven caught her eye, and sent her a sisterly, conspiratorial grin of the sort they’d never shared before. It feltgood.

After one more unnecessary whiskey, of which Cass didn’t partake and which made Shep more than tipsy, they dispersed for the night with pleasantries and, on Raven’s part, a tight hug for Cass. Shep was being too loud, but thankfully Cass’s room was on the far side of the flat from the main, and she didn’t think he’d disturb Raven, Toly, or Nat.

“I’ve never actually been in here before,” he declared, hands on his hips, studying the array of posters and art prints on the walls.

“What? That’s not true.” Cass found a clean pair of sleep shorts and a tank top in her top drawer and started changing. Even if she’d skipped a nip from the last drink, she’d had enough that her movements were slow and uncoordinated. The room was pleasantly fuzzy, and she couldn’t stop smiling over the fact that Shep was here, and that it wasn’t a secret; that it wasallowed. “You’ve been in here before.”

“Yeah, but, like, in and out. I haven’tbeenin here.”

He hadn’tstayedin here, he meant. Hadn’t examined its contents at his leisure knowing he’d get to turn down the covers and sleep in the bed.

---