13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Samuel

Fox came into my office, handed me a cup of coffee, and took a seat. “So what are you working on?”

“I’m just going through my old school materials, trying to put together something for a class I’m teaching on Monday. They left the subject up to me.”

“Any idea what you’re going to do?”

“I was thinking about talking about what we’re dealing with now with the arsonist. Not giving too much of what we know, of course, but more things like what to look for in a suspicious fire and things you might stumble on that will let them know to be extra cautious.”

“Like a dog tied to a dresser in an empty building?”

“Exactly. Not that Keith did anything wrong by saving the dog, just that something out of place like that should set off your Spidey senses and make you more aware of your surroundings.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” he said.

“Okay, well, if you have any examples I could use, let me know, and I’ll toss them in.”

“Will do.” He stood up and let out a sigh. “I guess I better get back to work. I’m waiting on the lab report on the matchbook and cigarette. I’m still hoping that will give us something we can work with.”

“You’re gonna catch him, Fox. You just stay on it.”

“I asked the mayor if he would consider bringing in outside help, but he isn’t ready to go there yet.”

He headed back to his office, and I went back to work getting things lined up for Monday. Luckily, I had plenty of material I could use since teaching this class was the furthest thing from my mind. Not only did we have the arsonist to worry about, but Mars was never far from my thoughts.

Things had been okay since our talk the other night. As a matter of fact, he seemed to take it really well, and things had gone back to the way they were BK, also known as before the kiss, because yeah, I was feeling some kind of way about it, and that kiss was still living rent-free in my head no matter what I did to get rid of it.

I knew he’d started looking for a new place to live, and I should be thrilled. The best thing that could happen would be for him to take his cat, all the stuff in my garage, his daily astrology updates, and his sexy ass somewhere else.

But just because that would be best didn’t mean it was what I wanted. Truth was, I enjoyed his company, and I didn’t want him to leave, not that I had any intention of telling him that.

This morning, he’d mentioned that he was going to a Halloween party at Kirby’s, which meant I would have the house to myself tonight. I thought about going out with the guys to The Spotted Dog, but if Mars was going to be drinking tonight, I wanted to make sure he had food on his stomach first.

I would also feel better if I was home so he could reach me if he needed anything. So it looked like this would be a good night for me to chill and finish the book I’d started the other day but hadn’t finished yet.

I left work a little early so I could pick up dinner on the way so he would have plenty of time to eat. Mars’s favorite place in my house seemed to be the oversized armchair, which sat in front of the fireplace, so that was where I expected to find him, but he wasn’t there. I didn’t see him out back either, so I set out to look for him.

“Mars,” I called out as I went down the hall and stopped outside his closed bedroom door. I was about to knock when the door was pulled open. “Samuel, you’re home early.”

“I am. I wanted to make sure you ate before you went out tonight. I picked up fried chicken with some sides.” I looked around him to find more clothes than I thought he owned at this point spread all over the bed. He’d said this was a costume party, so I guess he was trying to put something together to wear.

“Thanks, Samuel. I don’t have much time to get ready, and I was just planning on grabbing something there, but if it’s ready, I could eat.”

“Okay then, it’s in the kitchen. If you’re ready.”

He looked back over his shoulder at the mess. “I am, I guess. I bought a costume for tonight, but now I’m having second thoughts, so I was trying to see if I could put something else together before Mika gets here.”

“Well, come eat real quick. Mika can wait if you aren’t ready when he gets here.”

He sat down at the table and quickly scarfed down a piece of chicken and biscuit. “Sorry to eat and run on you, but I seriously have to get ready.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “You go get ready.”

He started to leave the kitchen but turned to look at me before he went through the door. “You could come with us, you know. You haven’t gone out and done anything fun since I’ve been here.”

“That’s sweet of you, but clubs aren’t really my thing.”

He cocked his head to one side, a thoughtful expression on his face. “So what’s your thing then? What does Samuel do for fun? You know what they say about all work?”

“Don’t you worry about me. I’m good. You just go and have a good time.”

I put away the food, grabbed a beer and my book, and got situated in my chair. Hopefully the book would be a good distraction because Mars wasn’t wrong. Somewhere along the way, I’d stopped having fun. I actually couldn’t remember the last time I did something just because I enjoyed it.

I kept busy enough working on the house, but that had always been more of a matter of having something to do, not because it was something I had fun doing. Hell, I didn’t even know what I liked to do anymore.

When Steven was in school, I was the sports dad. I helped coach his traveling soccer team, and that ate up a lot of my time. But it was something I did for him, not because I loved the sport. Then he was grown, and I focused on the house instead of picking up a hobby that could be for me. That was probably something I needed to fix.

I was contemplating that when Mars sashayed into the room, and let me tell you, there was no other word for it. He sashayed, and fuck me, he looked good. He was wearing a pair of black leather pants so tight that they looked painted on. He had on a black, mesh, cropped tank top that was stretched across his chest, a pair of kitten ears, and a collar with a bell on it.

“I decided just to go with the one I bought. What do you think?”

He spun around to show me the tail he was sporting. He gave his ass a little wiggle before turning back to face me.

I took in a deep, steadying breath because my instinct was to tell him there was no way in hell he was going out dressed like that, but of course, it was none of my business.

“Samuel?” He bit his lip. “Shit, I should have gone with something else, shouldn’t I? It’s silly.”

I put down my book and stood up, walking towards him. “You look amazing. Sexiest kitten I’ve ever seen.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I tweaked one of his ears and smiled down at him.

“You’re sure you don’t want to come?”

“I’m sure. Besides, I don’t have a costume.”

“Sure you do. You could come as a silver fox.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha, aren’t you funny. You just go and have a good time. Call me if you need anything like a ride home.”

“I will, but I should be good. Mika’s driving, and he isn’t drinking tonight. I think that thing with the guy at the club still has him pretty shaken up, so he wants to keep a level head.” A horn beeped outside, and Mars grinned. “Speak of the devil. That must be Mika. I have to go.”

“Okay, but if anything changes, you know how to reach me.”

“I will, and if I decide not to come home, I’ll shoot you a text ‘cause I know you’re a worrier.” He headed for the front door, and I trailed behind him down the hallway to the front door.

“If you decide not to come home?” I wasn’t as stupid as I sounded saying that, but seriously, it hadn’t occurred to me he might not come home. It should have. He was young, sexy, and single. There was no reason he should be spending his weekends here with me.

He shrugged and then reached for the door. “Yeah, who knows? Maybe tonight’s my night, and I’ll find someone who actually wants to kiss me.”

And with that parting comment, he was gone.

Mars

I shut the door behind me and laughed. Samuel’s face. Oh my goodness, I wish I had a camera.

I hurried down the sidewalk and hopped in Mika’s car.

He backed out of the driveway and got on the road before turning to look at me. “So, did it work?”

“I don’t know. He said I was a sexy kitten, but he didn’t come with me, so it’s hard to say.”

Mika had been convinced if I sexyed it up with my costume that Samuel wouldn’t be able to help himself, but I was pretty sure Samuel’s self-control was iron-clad. I had to admit that while it might not have worked as well as I’d have liked, he’d definitely noticed.

“Well, who knows, maybe you’ll find someone else tonight, and you’ll forget all about your sexy silver Daddy.”

I’d told Mika what Samuel had said about being a Daddy, and Mika hadn’t been surprised at all. He said the couple of times that he’d met Samuel, he gave off Big Daddy energy.

“I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the Daddy thing, but I want Samuel, so I don’t see me finding anyone else. But you might. I’ll be your wingman. Just tell me what kind of Daddy you’re looking for.”

“Nah, I just want to dance with my friends and have fun. I’m taking a break from men right now.”

“Well, if you just want to dance and have some fun, I’m your guy. Although I have to say, you’re rocking that fireman’s costume.”

“That’s all Andy. He loaned me what I needed to make it work.” He pulled into the parking lot at Kirby’s, and it was packed. “It’s a good thing Andy and Caleb are already here, or I would say there was no way we would get a table.”

We showed our IDs to a big mountain of a guy who was working the door and made our way inside. I’d never really been much of a club kinda guy, so I’d only been to Kirby’s a couple of times, but I didn’t remember it ever being this full.

“Wow, this is a lot of people.”

“It is. Andy and Caleb will be at Victor and Jesse’s table.”

“Jesse’s Andy’s boyfriend and owns the club, right?”

“Yep, and there they are, come on.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me through the crowd to a U-shaped table in the back. I recognized a few of the guys from the baseball game I’d attended with Steven a while back, but Mika made introductions all around the table.

“So you’re Steven’s friend, right?” a big man Mika had introduced as Keith asked. I thought he looked vaguely familiar, so I assumed he was one of the firefighters I’d seen at the game. “You’re the one who’s staying at the chief’s house.”

“Yeah, that would be me.”

“He didn’t mention what a sexy kitty you were.” A man dressed in a pirate costume that I’d recognized from the fire at my house winked at me, and I felt my cheeks heat. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I’d heard someone call him Fox, which was fitting cause he kinda was a fox, and he’d just called me a sexy kitty, which meant I should probably flirt back, right? Sadly, he couldn’t hold a candle to my sexy silver fox.

Luckily, Keith turned to look at me with a serious expression. “Sorry about your house, Mars. That really sucks.”

“Thanks, it does suck, but I’m choosing to believe it happened as a way to redirect my path.”

“Mars owns a shop here in town called The Chrysalis Moon. Have you ever been there? It’s awesome.” Mika slipped into the booth next to Andy, who wasn’t wearing a costume but had on a pair of bunny ears, and everyone shifted around to make room for me.

“I’ve heard of it,” Caleb said. “I haven’t been in though.”

“Well, you’re welcome in any time. We do tarot card readings, and I do horoscopes based on your natal chart as well.”

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to have a tarot reading done.” Caleb smiled. “Do I need an appointment?”

“I work Monday through Friday. You can come up any day but Wednesday, and I can do your reading. If you want to do the weekend, I’m happy to do it, but for that, you would need an appointment.”

“I’m off next Tuesday. Maybe I’ll come by. You’re off shift, aren’t you, Andy? You could come with.”

“Sure, I can come to your place, and then we can hop on over.” He reached up and wiggled his bunny ears, and everyone laughed.

We sat around and talked for a while, and I had a couple of drinks when Andy put his glass down on the table and said, “Let’s dance. We’ve been sitting here long enough. It’s time to get our groove on.”

Caleb shook his head. “Nobody says get your groove on.”

“I just did. Now, are you coming or not?”

I stood up to let him out of the booth, but once he, Mika, and Caleb were out of the booth, they grabbed me and Caleb and dragged us out on the dance floor with them.

After about the third song, Fox joined us. He was a very nice-looking guy, and at any other time, I would’ve totally been into him. He reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me close.

“Come on, pussycat, dance with me.”

I reminded myself that I was here to have fun, and dancing with a sexy man who seemed to be into me was definitely fun. So I decided to just go with it. He spun me around so that I was facing away from him and pulled my body tight against his as we moved to the music. He was a really good dancer, and I was pretty sure he would’ve been up for more if I’d been interested.

He grabbed my hand and spun me back to face him. He looked down at me with a playful grin that made me think he knew something I didn’t.

“I’m surprised the chief let you come out here alone dressed like that.”

“The chief has no say in what I do. Besides, what makes you think he cares?” I tried to sound strong and independent, but I was pretty sure it came out more like a whine.

Fox chuckled, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure that look says he cares a whole damn lot.”

He spun me around and pointed right at Samuel, who was headed across the crowded dance floor. He was moving with purpose, and he looked like he was ready to tear someone a new one.

Fox saw it, too, and evidently, he decided not to stick around and find out. He leaned down near my ear. “Have fun, pussycat.” And then he was gone.