Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Jaxon

A sh meowed, the sound echoing in the car as I turned into the parking lot for Dr. Hendrix’s office. She was in the cat carrier I’d bought her a few days ago, and she was not happy. She preferred to be out so she could roam and lay on my lap and possibly interfere with my driving.

Ash had definitely gotten comfortable in her new home, and she was making it known… as well as making it known that she was a princess who expected princess treatment.

Apparently, princess treatment did not include ensuring she was safe in her pet carrier.

I parked the car before reaching over and grabbing Ash’s cat carrier. She hissed at me and swatted at my arm through the little bars in the front of her carrier. I sighed, yanking my hand back. She was beginning to make me feel like a terrible cat dad. “I will spoil you with soft food when we get home, okay? I promise.”

She only gave a pissy meow back. Avoiding the front of her carrier, I grabbed the handle at the top and eased from the car. The sun was bright in the sky, and the humidity was insane. I felt like I was drowning in wet air. Judging by Ash’s hiss, she wasn’t happy about the heat either.

The bell above the door jingled when I stepped into the reception area. Only a lone woman was sitting with a hound with cute droopy eyes and long, floppy ears, the rest of the lobby empty. The dog didn’t even bother lifting his head to look at me—just shut his eyes again and continued sleeping.

My gut tightened, and my heart raced at the sight of Zeppelin sitting at the counter, his feet kicked up on the desk in front of him, his iPad in his lap as he drew something on the tablet. He flicked his eyes up when my frame shadowed him, and a slow, mischievous smirk tilted his lips. His boots dropped to the ground with a loud thud, and he set his iPad down, setting the pencil beside it. It looked like he’d been drawing a dragon, and it was pretty fucking good, too.

“Well, well, well…” he murmured, smirking up at me. I glanced back at him, ripping my eyes from his art. “To what do we owe the pleasure, handsome?”

Warmth pooled low in my gut, and I did my damnest to ignore it. I was straight. Straight, dammit. What the fuck was wrong with me? I’d even gone as far as going out to a goddamn gay bar two nights ago, but no one had interested me. Not a single damn soul. And I got hit on quite a bit.

Yet, the moment I laid my eyes on Zeppelin, there it all was. The want. The need. The fucking heat.

What in the hell was going on with me?

“Ash needs her first round of shots and another round of deworming,” I told him, hating how gruff my voice sounded. The effect he had on me was clear, and I wished I could hide it.

“Aww, that’s it?” He pretended to pout. “And here I thought you finally caved and just came to see us.” He heaved a dramatic sigh, but a teasing smirk still played on his lips. “We’ll settle for little miss Ash then, I suppose.”

I couldn’t help it; a smile twitched at my lips. Zeppelin grinned when he noticed, showing off two rows of perfect teeth and a damned dimple in his left cheek. Why did he have to be so good looking?

“Eros is busy grooming a dog, but once he sees Selvester, you and Ash will be next,” he told me. “You can take a seat, or…” He trailed off, letting his eyes roam over my upper body in a way that made me feel naked despite the jeans and t-shirt I was wearing. “You can always come around and keep me company.”

Nope. Nope. Nope.

I quickly turned on my heel and strode over to one of the benches to take a seat, not bothering to say a word, even as Zeppelin’s laughter rang out behind me. Ash gave another pissy meow when I set her down but didn’t let her out of her kennel. I wanted to reach through and pet her, but the last time I did that, she damn near bit my finger off, so she was going to have to suffer in there until Dr. Hendrix was ready to see her.

I would not call him Eros. I had to keep some form of professionalism between us. Had to . I was too old for this bi-awakening or gay-for-you or whatever the fuck was wrong with me shit.

I was straight. Plain and simple. And two of the hottest men I’d ever seen in my life would not change that.

Eros—goddammit, no, Dr. Hendrix —smiled at me, looking genuinely happy to see me in his office. He and his husband did not make it easy to ignore their advances. Not when they smiled so damn prettily. “How’s Ash doing?” he asked as I set her carrier on the metal table against the wall.

“Good,” I said, happy he was leading with the reason I was here instead of flirting with me like his… I glanced at the ring on Dr. Hendrix’s finger. Husband. His husband.

This shit just got more and more confusing for me.

Did they both want me, or was this just some game to them to see which one could bed me?

Wait—why the fuck did I even care ? I’d decided I wasn’t doing this shit.

“How’s the soft food going?” he asked as he let Ash out of the pet carrier. She came flying out, her tail fluffed, her claws out, but he was ready and simply picked her up, rubbing her head and under her chin until she was settled and purring.

I hated how much I liked the sight of him cuddling my kitten and soothing her.

“Better. It was… messy at first, but she’s finally figured out she doesn’t have to climb into the bowl to eat.”

He laughed and set her on the table. “Can you hold her here for me while I get her shots prepared?”

“Sure,” I said, stepping forward and rubbing Ash’s back. She seemed content to stay in one place so long as I continued rubbing her. I had no doubt she hadn’t forgotten about being locked up though.

“How have you been?” Dr. Hendrix asked as he began prepping Ash’s shots.

I roughly cleared my throat. “Busy,” I finally said. “Lot of unpacking and getting my house set up. Just started back working.”

“Yeah?” He glanced at me over his shoulder before focusing back on what he was doing, his blonde hair falling into his eyes. He flicked his head so the strands moved out of his way. Why did that little move have to be so sexy? “What do you do for work?”

“Accounting.” I hadn’t realized my hand had stilled until Ash meowed and nipped at my hand. I muttered a curse and quickly got back to rubbing my hand over her back. She’d grown so much in the past two weeks, no longer scrawny and tiny. She was still small, but she looked like a normal kitten now rather than one barely surviving. And she was an angry little thing. And moody.

“You like math?” He turned with two shots in his hand and a syringe filled with that milky-looking medication he’d given her the last time I’d brought her in. “So, you know what two plus one is, right?”

Fuck. I’d walked right into that one.

“It’s three,” I muttered, watching as he took over holding Ash. She meowed loudly as he injected her with the first syringe, hissing and attempting to bite his hand.

“Zeppelin and I would like to make three… with you,” he told me as he slid the second needle beneath her skin and injected the medication into her. Ash was pissed now, her tail fluffed. She was hissing nonstop, her claws scratching at the table. Dr. Hendrix took advantage of her open mouth and forced her to take the deworming medication.

“I, uh…” I shook my head and quickly put Ash back in the carrier once he handed her to me. I got nipped on my middle finger, but that was it, thankfully. She seemed ready to mutilate me. “I’m not interested. I’m straight,” I told him.

He arched a brow at me and leaned a hip against the metal table. “Are you so sure about that, Jaxon?”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m a forty-three-year-old man,” I bitterly told him. “I think I’ve had more than enough time to figure out my sexuality.” I picked up Ash’s carrier and spun on my heel, heading for the door. “Charge the credit card you have on file.” I couldn’t deal with this today. Honestly, I wasn’t ready to deal with this at all. It was too confusing, and I was a man set in his ways. I’d had my chance at love and happiness. I’d spent twenty beautiful years with my wife. That was enough for me. I didn’t need a second chance at love.

With that, I left the vet office, my heart slamming against my breastbone.

He’d flat out said it—that he and Zeppelin wanted to… what—share me? They wanted to fucking share me.

Two of the hottest men I’d ever seen in my life. Two men I was attracted to. Hell, the only two men I’d ever been attracted to.

I banged my head on the steering wheel once I was in my car, gripping it tightly, my knuckles white. My muscles bunched in my back.

I was forty-three years old. I shouldn’t be going through a fucking identity crisis.

But I was. I’d been married to Penelope for twenty years before she passed away and left me a widower. I’d always only been attracted to women. Always .

So, why the fuck did I want Zeppelin and Eros?

I looked at Ash as I shifted my car into reverse. “I’m going to be an old cat man,” I told her. “I don’t need to be in a relationship again.”

She just gave a pissy meow back.