Chapter 408
"It's not a hat. It's something I figured you would love when Jackson told me about it. I'm sorry about the timing, but I figure it's a good distraction." He smiles at me softly, no hint of anything suggesting he's worried I'll hate it, and I just blink at him and then the hat box and back again. My gut telling me that maybe it's something worse than a hat if it requires a box this size.
"It's not a head in a box or anything like that?" I'm sceptical, he is a Mafia boss after all, and I have visions of some severed head, maybe Marianne's, sitting in there, oozing fluids. I mean, that's what they do in Hollywood gangster movies.
We just left her with that gang of thugs to be beaten, tortured and slain so maybe it's not hers, but I'm sure it has to be something equally significant to celebrate my move to Queen Carrero. Maybe Rick's ashes or some shit. I don't know, Alexi can be weird sometimes.
Okay, Camilla, stop now.
Sometimes I even freak myself out.
Alexi shakes his head at me, almost like he can hear my babbling thoughts, and smiles encouragingly.
"No more Godfather movies for you, London. I sometimes wonder what goes on in your head. It's not a body part. It's not something disturbing. I'm not a sociopath, despite the earlier confusion on that subject."
I give him a sardonic look of "ha" and shove his arm away as he tries to prod me in the face with his pointer finger.
"Okay, give me a hint. I don't think I can take any more surprises after this morning. If it's not something gruesome then what is it?"
Alexi sighs and loses the last of his non-existent patience, hauling the lid off rather than answer me and pulls the box closer to the edge of the table. That impulsive streak of his would be almost adorable if he wasn't such a stroppy git with it sometimes. Ruining his own surprise.
From my vantage point, it looks empty, so I screw up my face and lean forward to scrutinise the contents, warily edging nearer in case it's some sort of jack in the box waving around someone's ring finger or some shit. I jump in surprise when a little furry ginger ball pops up and scares me half to death. It's mobile, breathing and makes a noise.
I literally jump, squeal and cling to Alexi when it lets out a sad, pathetic little miaow. A tiny wail that stops me in my tracks and makes me peer at the hairy gremlin again, with a less suspicious mindset.
Criticising my feral baby.
He just stops. Knowing my glare of "don't you fucking dare" which seems to cool his jets, and he switches to a charming smile instead to cover his misdemeanour.
The miaow calls to me again and I'm so drawn I completely forget all else. I lean in to peer at the delicate little bundle of ginger stripes and fluffy white tummy and really take stock that it's not some rabid gargoyle at all. It's a kitten. A little blue-eyed poofy bundle, crying desperately to be picked up. Cooing and calling me to adore its precious little fluffiness.
I do so, without hesitation and pull it into my lap to cradle and stroke immediately with careful hands, glowing with the way its warm, precious little body fills them. Babies I don't do but this, well, it is heart melting gorgeousness that makes you want to rub your face on its ickle belly.
"You bought me a kitten." Tears hit me, eyes misting up as I lovingly pet the little thing, and Alexi leans over and uses one finger to ruffle the fur between its ears delicately. Totally not an Alexi move, and I just give him an adoring watery smile, my heart full to bursting. Morning forgotten, fears, anxiety and guilt, all lost in a white fluffy wave of "ahh".
"Figured it was this or a baby." He laughs devilishly and I throw him another serious glare, followed by a swipe with a scatter cushion which he dodges. It's way too soon to be joking about all the shit that's gone down these last few days and he just shrugs at me. Doing what he does best I guess, making light of things others wouldn't and somehow taking away the heavy doom and gloom of the topic. He's still a dickhead sometimes, but he's my dickhead.
"You are so full of surprises." I genuinely beam at him, unable to tear my eyes away from this loving, wriggling little parcel.
It's true. I would never in a million years have expected to come home to Alexi having bought me a tiny kitten. I don't even know why he did it or when he arranged this, but I love her, she's the cutest thing I've ever seen, like Feral without all the battle scars, only much smaller. As she curls her little paws around my hand and licks my thumb, I grin like a lunatic. Insides melting, heart filling and senses all going gaga.
Everything forgotten when faced with such cuteness overload. I really needed this more than I ever thought I would, she heals so many wounds from this past year. She's all mine, and she fills a small dark place inside of me that Feral left behind.
My heart swells and I go all "goo" and "ahh" for this bitty little thing. Instant adoration for how sweet she is, and that warm gooey feeling normally associated with human offspring in most women. I love her already.