Page 75 of Dear John
She was right.I most definitely never wanted to hang out with her again. We had slipped out of the bar sometime after my third margarita for some much-needed air, but wound up chasing a kitten down a dark alley. Call it stupidity or the alcohol, but that kitten was so damn cute and I just couldn’t resist trying to snag it.
“If you keep chasing it, it’s going to run away,” she hissed, crouching behind me as I hid behind a very smelly dumpster.
“If I don’t chase it, I won’t catch it,” I replied, feeling rather proud of myself for managing to get that whole sentence out. This night was not going to end well, I already knew that much.
“Let’s just leave the cat.”
My gaze snapped to hers in a snarl. “Leave it? Why would we do that? It’s so cute!”
“And probably full of diseases.”
“It’s not old enough to have diseases. It looks no more than six weeks old!”
She smacked me, holding her finger to her lips. Turning back around, I faced the kitty and made little clicking noises, trying to pull its attention to me. “Here, Sasha.”
“How do you know her name is Sasha?”
“She looks like a Sasha,” I answered, thinking that was a pretty silly question. I crept forward, nearly to her when I heard footsteps in the alley. I held out my hand, hoping whoever was there would heed my warning. “Come on, baby. Come to Mama.”
A low chuckle tore my gaze from the kitten, along with Anna tapping me on the back.
“Uh…I think this is one of those times when we shouldn’t have left the guys.”
I cocked my head at the man looming in the alley, staring at Anna and me like we were a treat left behind for his amusement. I sighed heavily. “You know, he’s never going to leave me alone after this.”
“Well, I did try to warn you.”
“In what way?” I argued.
“Uh…I brought you to the bar to make up with him, knowing he would show his possessive side. Wasn’t that clear?”
“No!”
“Oh. Well, I really thought you would get it when you saw him.”
I threw up my hands. “What kind of logic is that?”
“The kind of logic where you accept the fact that you have a crazy boyfriend just like the rest of us. Is it really that hard to figure out?”
“Yes, it really is. And do you know why?”
“Because you’re supposed to be a self-sufficient woman who doesn’t need a man?”
“That and so much more.”
“Well, here we are in an alley, about to be attacked by a creepy man, all because you wanted to get pussy.”
“I’d like a little pussy,” the man chuckled.
“Shut it, dirtbag,” Anna snapped, then turned back to me. “It’s a cat. You don’t even live here. I can’t believe you thought this was worth it.”
“I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t brought me out drinking! In reality, this is all your fault.”
“If you want to blame anyone, blame Fox. It was his idea.”
“Ladies—” the man tried to interrupt.
“If anyone’s to blame, it’s Kavanaugh. If it weren’t for him lying to me and dragging you and Fox out here, I would be back at my hotel room right now, enjoying a glass of wine with dinner. But instead, I’m half drunk in an alley, chasing down a kitten with a psycho’s wife, while I’m hoping this creep doesn’t attack me.”