Damien (Slater Brothers #5)(48)

I wondered if she was hungry, and then I wondered how old she was once more.

“You should have a cool name,” I said when the kitten popped her head out of the blanket and stared at me, then looked around the room. “Oh, what about Nala? She was a cool lioness in The Lion King.”

The kitten looked back at me and stared at me, unblinking.

“I’m takin’ your silence as a no.”

I pondered on a couple of unique names that sounded cool in my head, but when I said them out loud, none of them suited her. Her bored expression told me they all sucked, too. I switched on the television and selected my YouTube app. I scrolled through the videos, and when one of Barbra Streisand’s music videos was suggested, I stared at her name, then looked down at the kitten.

“What about Barbara?”

The kitten meowed as if replying to me. I stared at her, took the meow as a resounding yes, then chuckled. My ma’s middle name was Barbara, so I was sticking with that spelling because I knew she’d get a kick out of it.

“Barbara, it is.”

I picked up my phone when it began to vibrate and answered it without looking at the screen.

“Alec said you found a kitten.”

I smiled. “Hey, Bee.”

“Where did you find a kitten?” She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “I saw Alec get into his car when I was puttin’ Branna’s wheelie bin out. He said you found a kitten, and he was goin’ to get you some stuff for it.”

I filled her in on when, where, and how I found the kitten, and she grunted. “Evil bastard whoever left it.”

“Her.”

Bronagh snorted. “Have you named ’er?”

“Yup.”

“Let’s hear it.”

I grinned. “Barbara.”

Like I knew she would, Bronagh burst into laughter.

“I’m not the least bit surprised,” she said, amused. “If you said a trendy name, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“What’s funny?” I heard Nico ask in the background.

“Alannah found a kitten, and she called ‘er Barbara.”

I smiled when he laughed and said, “I love that woman.”

Bronagh and I chatted for a while, and luckily, she didn’t mention anything about Gavin, which I secretly thanked God for. I was hoping that Alec would keep my phone call with Gavin to himself because if Bronagh confronted me about it, I was scared I would break my promise to Gavin and tell her everything about him becoming a father.

We had just hung up when my apartment buzzer rang. I walked over to the door and pressed the button for Alec to enter the building. I didn’t glance at the monitor to make sure it was him because Barbara was meowing like a banshee. When I eventually turned, and looked at the monitor, the entryway was empty, so I figured Alec had already entered the building. I unlocked my door for him, and went back over to the settee and gently stroked Barbara. She moved away from me when my hand initially touched her, then she seemed to relax and didn’t mind me scratching her ears.

My doorbell rang, so I shouted, “It’s open.”

I continued to rub Barbara, and when she moved back into the safety of the blanket, I turned to greet Alec and help him with the items he brought for me. Only it wasn’t Alec in my apartment, it was Damien, and he had two large carrier bags in his hands. I paused and stared at him with my lips parted in surprise.

What is he doing here?

“Where should I put these?”

I didn’t know what was in the bags, but I managed to say, “Kitchen, please.”

He went into the kitchen without a word, leaving me to stare after him. When he returned, he closed the front door and came into the sitting room, eyeing the blanket beside me.

“So, you found a cat?”

I nodded dumbly. “She was in a box between two cars in the car park, and I decided that we could keep one another company.”

“You rescued her,” Damien concluded.

“I guess so.”

“That’s admirable.”

Blood made its way to my cheeks at his praise.

“Where is Alec?” I asked, changing the subject.

“He called me and said he needed help getting some things for you, then he dropped me off with all the stuff.” He lifted his hand and scratched his neck. “I thought we could have that talk you mentioned earlier at Dominic’s place.”

My heart thrummed in my chest when I realised I had completely forgotten about asking him that. When Gavin phoned me, everything took a back seat in my mind, and I focused on my friend and his problem.

“O-okay.”

Damien’s eyes dropped to the blanket when it moved. “Did you name it?”

“Her.”

His lips twitched. “Sorry. Did you name her?”

“I picked Barbara.”

The smile that stretched across Damien’s face was transfixing.

“Does it suit her?”

“It does … I probably should have called her snowflake, like I call you.”

“Why?”

“She’s white all over, just like your hair.”

I reached into the blanket and removed Barbara, tugging the blanket away from her paws as the fabric got snagged on her nails. I held her on my chest, careful to place her slowly against me so her nails didn’t prick me like the needles they clearly were.