Page 16 of On A Rift's Edge
This wasn’t going well. He had to tell Kat about the whole Matchmaker thing, but somehow the conversation had detoured into organ meats.
Why the hell had Remi left, anyway? This was hard.
“We think the control object opened up the hybrid portal.” Lyall changed topics out of sheer desperation. “Remi’s father might be causing trouble as well. Since I’m staying here for a while, I was wondering if you wanted to spend time together.”
“I’m busy with work and studying.” Kat shifted his feet. “Plus, I’m seeing someone. Paul Cicero. He’s the venture capitalist who sponsored the art gallery show.”
Lyall wanted to find Paul, pin him under one paw, and threaten to eat his head if he didn’t back off from trying to get into Kat’s pants.
No, that was unreasonable. He was in his human alterform and thinking those thoughts tempted him to transform, which wouldn’t help this situation.
“What’s a venture capitalist?” That was a silly question and Lyall couldn’t care less about the answer. He asked it anyway.
“They give money to new businesses and then get part of the profits.” Kat didn’t sound confident about the definition, but it wasn’t like Lyall could correct him. Besides, it was a familiar hustle.
“Arimanius did stuff like that.” Lyall didn’t know how this conversation had gone so far off the rails, so he kept talking about things that didn’t matter. “He’d give people start-up money, and then if they didn’t pay him back with interest he’d send in the Pouch Twins to bust a few heads.”
“Paul isn’t doing anything illegal.” Kat paused. “Probably. He supported an art gallery exhibit, which was a good thing. But one of the art pieces was an actual Riftworld animal, and I helped the trash scorpion escape. So I might have done something illegal.”
On the scale of criminal activity Lyall was familiar with, this didn’t sound like proper larceny, but Kat was a by-the-rules type. “Not your fault if the crab liked you and followed you out.”
He had made no progress in telling Kat the truth, and now that Kat had a boyfriend who was a loan shark, bringing up the topic seemed like a terrible idea. After all, Kat deserved to be happy with someone. Someone who would be a much better partner than Lyall. Not this Paul guy, though. “I understand you’re busy, but if you have time to help me with the investigation into the portal that brought me and Zale here, I’d appreciate it. Plus we could ask the guardians about returning the trash scorpion while we’re at the monstertown.”
That sounded desperate and ridiculous, but Lyall was out of other conversational gambits.
“We could take a ride out there Wednesday morning, I guess.” Kat was biting his lower lip, which was a huge distraction. Lyall couldn’t think about much else other than how nice it would be to be the one biting, then kissing, those lips.
“After all, we’re friends, right?” Kat kept nodding his head, as if willing Lyall to agree.
“Friends.” Lyall tried not to let any disappointment seep into his voice and instead came closer and offered Kat a handshake. Human customs were weird. “That sounds great.”
7
Finally back in his apartment after a long day at the ranch, Kat peeled off his work clothes and tossed them into his laundry basket. He needed to figure out what he was wearing tonight to dinner with Paul.
He didn’t often need to consider the question of how to dress for a first date, because he never knew they were, in fact, dates.
Instead, he fell head over heels in love, ended up sleeping with the guy, and by the time the relationship had developed to a point where planning a date was a good option, it was close to being over.
Not this time.
Kat was going on a date with Paul Cicero because the venture capitalist was mature, successful, and smart—serious relationship material. He might not feel attracted to him yet, but that could change with time.
Time and forgetting Lyall.
Of course, now hewasthinking about the hellhound. Lyall had looked so hot when he stepped out of a hellmouth in his leather armor yesterday that Kat had felt like the breath had been knocked out of him.
Then Lyall had started talking, and it had all gone downhill.
Kat had been angry, which was a terrible emotion, and he felt awful that he had been snappish and mean. He had been distracted at work all day, ashamed of the conversation and haunted by his every harsh word and negative comment. Maybe if Lyall had explained why he needed Kaveh’s permission to talk to Remi or why Remi then needed to remind Lyall that Kat even existed, he wouldn’t have been so upset.
The first part must be a Matchmaker thing. Kaveh and Remi had been brought together by the alien matrimonial process, which manipulated events so riftpeople were drawn into an obsessive relationship with the Matchmaker’s choice. Kaveh had told Kat that for his clan, the process had profound religious and cultural significance. A Matchmaker-chosen partner from outside the clan had to be kept safe, even if it meant taking away their freedom.
Remi, whose ratkind family could care less about the Matchmaker, had explained to Kat that there were differences between Matchmaker pairings and human relationships that became more obsession than love. For one thing, Kaveh couldn’t hurt Remi, not that Kat’s mentor would ever consider it. Even if Remi cheated on him or took advantage of the situation to help his criminal family, Kaveh had to keep him safe and protect him. That had been the excuse Rhys, Kaveh’s fellow drakone, had used to justify torturing and trying to kill Remi.
It had all ended well. Remi had given up his evil ways, for the most part, and he and Kaveh were happy and working on their relationship.
Lyall had been respecting cultural restrictions when he talked to Kaveh first before meeting with Remi, even though he had known the streamer for years. That was fine, but Kat was a free human being and didn’t need his mentor deciding who could talk to him and who couldn’t. Besides, the Matchmaker had nothing to do with Lyall ghosting Kat for months, then only talking to him when Remi had suggested it.
