Page 19 of Another Chance
9
To say that Theo’s mind was whirling as he ran back across the street would be a severe understatement. It was like a hurricane in there, a red, fiery mix of arousal and emotion and fear, impossible for Theo to sort out as he sprinted across to his own house.
It was dark in the house, dark outside, too, and getting cold. Inky shadows were everywhere, deepened by the streetlights more than dispelled, seeming to reach for Theo, telling him he was insane for having left so suddenly.
But maybe he would have been insane to have stayed.
There was a moment that had been developing there between them, and Theo couldn’t help but think that it was a dangerous sort of moment. Theo’s experiences with guys hadn’t exactly been stellar, and anyway, there was so much bad blood between them. Theo’s fault and he recognized that, so how could he try to push for something now?
It would be only fair if that ship had sailed. Besides, he really did need to check on the poor kitten, who had been alone for most of the day, at this point. Indeed, as Theo pushed open the door, the little scrap of orange and white was sitting by the entrance, tail flicking, ears perked forward, obviously waiting for him.
Theo closed the door and then offered his fingers for the cat to sniff. In return, he got a little chirp of acknowledgment and even the scrape of a tiny, raspy tongue over his fingertips.
“Hey, buddy, sorry about that.” Theo ran his fingers along the cat’s spine, then caressed its tiny head. “Man, it smells in here, doesn’t it?” Being out of it had only made it worse, and Theo found his nose itching as he swept the cat into his arms and went to the bedroom. He’d left the window open there, so it was a little better, but not much.
“How are we going to stand this?” Theo asked the cat, as he opened a can of food and put it on a saucer. Jupiter squirmed out of his arms and wove around Theo’s feet, purring up a storm, not nearly as interested in what he was saying as in the fact that it was about to get some food.
It? It didn’t seem right to use that word, so Theo discreetly checked as the cat started chowing down. No, not it. He. Definitely a boy kitty he had on his hands.
“Looks like I picked the right name for you,” Theo commented and then had to shake his head a little bit wryly. He was talking to a cat. As in, having a conversation with a being who literally did not care what Theo said. He really had gone crazy. Maybe it was all the mold and dust.
With a sigh, and the definite beginnings of a headache which only nagged now but which threatened to get a lot worse if he ignored it, Theo went to stand by the open window. He put his back to it, but even so, the cool air helped.
“I guess this isn’t that fair to you, keeping you in a house like this,” Theo had to admit. He rubbed at his face, trying to clear away the fog, trying to think. Trying to do the right thing, no matter how his selfish heart protested. “I guess I’d better take you to a shelter.”
He didn’t want to, much to his own surprise. He’d never considered seeking out a cat, or a pet of any sort, but now that he had found one, he didn’t want to let go of him. Still, what other life could there be for him? Unless he brought Jupiter back to New York. Maybe that wouldn’t be as impossible as he’d thought.
At first, the cat seemed to actually respond to his comment, fluffing up to roughly twice his former size, every hair on end. Which was funny, and adorable, because he was still so tiny, no matter how huge he tried to make himself look.
“You look like you stuck your tongue in an electrical socket,” Theo started, and then frowned, because the kitten was scampering up his leg, tiny, needle-sharp claws digging deep. Seconds later, as he reached down to grab the cat and pull him into his arms before he did any permanent damage, he heard the sound of the door opening, the front, he thought, and footsteps in the house.
Slowly, carefully, still holding Jupiter, Theo started to walk through the house. The boards, luckily, didn’t creak under his feet and give him away, and he made his way down the short flight of stairs and through the kitchen, heading for the living room and entryway. What he was going to do when he got there, he had no idea, but he also didn’t love the idea of someone breaking into his childhood family home, no matter how rough shape it was in.
“Teddy?”
It was Eric’s voice, of course, and Theo had to catch his breath against the quickening of his body, the way it tugged at his heart to be called that. Teddy. No one else called him that.
Relief rolled through him, and then panic, when he glanced around and thought about how this place must look, much less smell, to Eric. The place was a disaster, and even the shades of night couldn’t actually hide that or do more than soften the edges.
“Eric.” Unconsciously soothing the ruffled cat in his arms, Theo walked out into the living room, where Eric was looking around him at the chaos, the mess, the dirt, with exactly the expression of revulsion and horror that Theo would have imagined. “Hey. I was coming back, you know.”
“Damn straight, you’re coming back, Teddy. You can’t stay here. No one could … who’s that?” Eric’s eyes had fallen down to the cat, who was staring fixedly at the interloper. Not hissing though, and some of the puff had gone down, so Theo was going to take that as a good sign.
“Uh, this is Jupiter,” Theo said, feeling a little bit foolish introducing a cat. At least he didn’t try to tell the cat, who really didn’t give a crap and who also couldn’t understand the words, who Eric was. “I found him in the room that the tree broke through.”
Instantly, he realized his mistake. The moment he saw the shift in Eric’s face, saw him go from curious about the cat to deeply worried in about half a second, he knew that he should have kept his mouth shut about that. There was no way Eric could miss it, no way that he had.
“Which room?” Eric asked, his jaw tensed, the tiny muscles flickering as his eyes fixed on Theo fixedly.
“... Eric …” Theo tried, but Eric just leveled an even more intense jade-green gaze on him.
“Which. One?” he asked again, and Theo sighed and looked down at Jupiter, who looked back, apparently having no more idea about what to do about Eric than Theo did himself. Great. He was as clueless as a cat, and a baby one, at that. That was definitely comforting.
“My old bedroom,” Theo said and then closed his eyes when, just as he’d expected, Eric burst into motion. With the speed and grace of a gazelle, he bounded off down the hallway to Theo’s old bedroom and yanked open the door, staring inside of it with what Theo had to imagine was a look of pure horror.
A moment later, there was the creak which announced the door being slid shut again, and Eric’s footsteps approaching, much more slowly this time.
“Teddy. Get your stuff. You’re going to come stay in my spare bedroom,” Eric informed him, and that’s how it was, too. He wasn’t being asked, he was being told that this was going to happen, and it ruffled his feelings a bit.
