Tori's POV – "Emotional Support Sinister"
This was too much.
Jade was here. In my apartment. In our old place.
I felt like I was suffocating. My skin was too tight, my heart was pounding, and my brain was screaming at me to get out. I needed air. I needed space. I needed to pretend like I had somewhere else to be—somewhere better than here, where Jade was dropping her bags like this was all fine.
I could make something up. Text someone. Go on a fake date. Hell, I could just start getting dressed and pretend like I was heading out—
But then there was the cat.
Sinister.
The second Andre set down the carrier, I zeroed in on it, desperate for a distraction. And the moment I opened the door, the little calico climbed right into my arms like she belonged there.
Purring.
Snuggling against my chest.
Choosing me.
I felt an almost ridiculous rush of satisfaction when Jade scowled, watching her cat curl up in my arms like this was some kind of betrayal.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Jade muttered.
I smirked, stroking Sinister's soft fur. "Guess she has good taste."
Jade folded her arms, unimpressed. "Yeah, let's see how much you like her when she starts screaming at three in the morning."
I just hummed, too focused on the warmth of the tiny, purring body in my arms to care.
Sinister wasn't just a cat. She was an out. A distraction. A reason to focus on anything other than the fact that my ex—the girl who had left me, the girl I had convinced myself I was over—was now standing in the middle of my apartment, acting like she belonged here again.
I wasn't going to think about that. I wasn't going to think about how easy it was for her to slide back into my space, or how part of me had never stopped thinking of it as our space, even after I bought the condo.
Nope. Not doing that.
Instead, I buried my face in Sinister's fur, inhaling the soft, warm scent of cat, and decided right then and there—she was mine now.
Not that I'd tell Jade that.