Chapter 62

#Chapter 62 – Soft Paw, Hard Paw “I’m hoooome!,” Amelia sings as she breezes through the door. It’s late, nearly 10 o’clock. She stops, suddenly, in the foyer, looking around at her house. It’s an absolute wreck. “Oh my god,” she whispers.

“What happened.”

There are toys, clothes, nerf darts and discarded plastic weapons all over the floor, all over the stairs –

is that silly string on the banister?

Victor comes around the corner of the living room, in pajamas of all things. Amelia stares at him, a little horrified. She doesn’t think she’s seen Victor in pajamas outside of the bedroom…maybe ever.

“Hey, babe,” Victor says, smiling at her and running a hand through his hair which also has a little silly-

string in it. “Welcome home!”

“Hi Amelia,” Ian says, peeking out from behind his father. But Ian doesn’t smile. Alvin peeks his head out too and waves cheerfully.

“Hi, guys,” Amelia says slowly. “What are you all doing here? I thought…”

“Evelyn asked if they could stay over,” Victor says, absently palming Ian’s head and mussing his hair.

“Oh,” Amelia says, raising her eyebrows and smirking. “Are she and Edgar having a…special night?”

Victor frowns at her. “I have no idea,” he mutters, turning back into the living room. “Come on, we’re having a movie marathon!”

“Yeah, Amelia,” Ian says, smiling at her wickedly. “Come on in.”

Amelia hesitates. “I think I’ll just go upstairs…I’m really tired.”

Alvin hurries over to her and takes her hand, smiling up at her with sweet brown eyes. “No, Amelia!

Come watch with us! We miss you!”

She smiles down at him, warmed by his welcome. She always liked this one better, anyway. “Okay,”

she says, taking a deep breath. This is not what she had planned for the evening but…whatever. “Just let me go get changed.”

When Amelia comes back downstairs in her matching velour sweat set, the boys are strewn all over the living room in a mess of toys and candy. “What are we watching?” Amelia says, picking her way awkwardly through the wreckage to sit next to Victor. He gives her a nod in greeting but otherwise doesn’t take his eyes from the screen.

“Terminator 3,” Ian says, laying on the floor in front of her and ripping a twizzler in half with his teeth.

“Shhh. You’re interrupting.”

“Sorry,” Amelia says, rolling her eyes. Alvin smiles at her from the other side of the couch and holds out a bowl of chocolate-covered raisins.

“No thank you,” says Amelia, trying to smile her gratutide. But they look…wet. Ew.

“So, um, what’s the story?” Amelia says, curling into Victor’s side, one leg hanging off the side of the couch.

“Robot sent from the future to kill everyone. But this time he’s the good guy,” Alvin says, his mouth full of bubble gum.

“Oh,” Amelia says, confused and, she has to admit, not intrigued. Suddenly, she feels something tickle the bottom of her foot. Gasping, she pulls it up on the couch and quickly looks on the floor. Was there a mouse? A bug?

Nothing. She relaxes a little. Must have just imagined it.

A few minutes go buy, and Amelia feels it again. With a little shriek, she pulls her foot up and quickly bends over the edge of the couch, looking at the floor. Again, nothing.

“Shhhhhh,” Ian says, giving her a dirty look. She glares at him and notices that there’s a little feather sitting on the floor, suspiciously close to his hand. That little rat…

Amelia tucks her feet tightly up beneath her, glaring at Ian’s turned back, snuggling closer to Victor.

Victor puts his arm around her and passively asks “you okay, baby?” He’s still staring at the screen as he asks, watching men chase each other shooting guns. Amelia rolls her eyes. It’s her least favorite kind of movie, and her least favorite kind of attention from Victor.

Before these kids came, she thinks, she was Victor’s whole world. She walked in the door to a spotless house and a man who worshipped her, waiting at the threshold to carry her up to bed and ravish her.

She frowns, looking around at the mess, hating everything about it.

As she looks, she notices Victor pick up his phone, the screen bright. There’s a text from Evelyn on it.

Evelyn: Everything okay over there?

Victor quickly taps out a reply.

Victor: All good. Watching Terminator 2 – we watched the whole Alien series this afternoon.

Amelia stays perfectly still, watching Victor stare at his phone, waiting for a reply.

Evelyn: Ugh, I am so JEALOUS! I love both of those franchises! You guys owe me big time for watching that without me.

Victor: Haha, come collect anytime.

Amelia feels anger roil in her belly. She knows it’s jealousy, but why not? Here her fiancé is, smiling at his phone like a dumb kid, not even looking at her even though she’s sitting right here.

Amelia purrs low in her throat, moving to rub her hand across Victor’s chest, pressing herself against him so that he can feel her body.

Victor shrugs lightly, pushing her away a little bit. “Not here, baby,” he says, again not looking at her.

“Come on. The kids.”

Amelia looks at him, appalled, and then scoffs, getting to her feet. She stomps into the kitchen, ready to get away from these stupid boys, this stupid film, her stupid fiancé.

The kitchen is disgusting too, though, covered in flour, butter, and syrup. Clearly, they had pancakes for dinner. Amelia picks her way through, heading toward the fridge so she can pour herself a glass of wine.

As she opens the refrigerator door, she hears a small growl behind her. Spinning, Amelia looks around, but there’s nothing. Narrowing her eyes, she wonders if she just imagined it. But she thinks not. Amelia waits, glancing into the living room to see if – but no, she can’t see anything besides the back of Victor’s head over the edge of the couch.

She waits a few more moments, and then turns back to the fridge, pulling open the door and reaching for the bottle of rose. As soon as her fingers wrap around the neck, she hears the growl again – louder this time.

Amelia spins again, a snarl on her lips, expecting to see Ian crouched behind her but – again – nothing.

“Quit playing,” she says, loud enough for anyone in the room to hear as she pushes the door shut with her shoulder and heads to the island, picking up a wine glass on the way. “I’m not in the mood for –“

But before she can finish her sentence, she sees a blur from the corner of her eye – leaping for her –

Amelia screams and swings her arm out, blocking herself – something collides with her arm – she pushes it away form herself as hard as she can, dropping the wine glass as she does.

“Owww!” Ian cries, suddenly crumpled in the ground at her feet. “Ow OWWWWW!”

“Oh my god,” says Amelia, crouching down over him. Ian is grasping his right shoulder with his left hand, a cut on his left arm from the broken wine glass. “Oh, s**t, Ian, um – are you okay?”

“What the hell is going on here?!” Amelia looks up at the pissed Alpha standing over her, the other little boy peeking out behind him with wide eyes.

“Uh ohhhh,” Alvin says, his mouth in a shocked o. “Amelia did a baddddd.”