The Soldier's Hostage

Chapter Eleven

"Tucker!"

I whipped around, looking towards the hall when Arthur yelled.

"Tucker, come get your shoulder demon!"

I quickly finished sliding the bacon out of the pan I was working with before heading to help Arthur. I paused in the doorway to the bathroom. Angel was standing on top of the toilet lid, little tail all fluffed up and back arched as she stared at Arthur. Arthur scowled back at her.

"I need to piss."

I smiled apologetically and moved in to scoop up my charge, hauling her out of the bathroom. Arthur shoved the door shut behind me as I took Angel back to the kitchen with me. I stroked her a couple times to smooth her fur back down. She purred and climbed up to sit on my shoulder.

Angel was making this morning irritation a habit. I had no idea what convinced her that keeping Arthur from moving around the bathroom in peace was so much fun, but she had yet to give up the game.

I got to work on whipping up some eggs to make a pair of omelets. Arthur was finished in the bathroom and dressed by the time I was sliding the second omelet onto a plate. I set the table as Arthur came out and sat down.

I pulled Angel off my shoulder and set her on her feet in front of her food bowl. She plopped down and watched me attentively as I scooped out some kitten chow and dumped it in her bowl before sitting down to eat. Angel purred happily as she shoved her snout into the bowl.

I swallowed, glancing up at Arthur nervously as I sat down and we started to eat. "Sorry. About Angel."

Arthur shook his head as he dug in. "She's young. She'll grow out of it. I hope." He took a bite of eggs, chewed and swallowed before glancing up again. "You on the other hand..."

I froze, mouth open to take the bite of bacon on my fork. He smirked at me a little.

"We should probably work some things out if you're going to be staying with me on a permanent basis." I nodded and took the bite of bacon. "Honestly, the state of my apartment is beginning to irritate me. It needs a thorough cleaning and I'm going to need to pick up a few more hours at work if I'm going to be supporting you. So, henceforth, you are in charge of keeping this place clean to my specifications, meals, laundry, and taking care of your new pet."

I nodded, feeling cooking and cleaning was a fairly reasonable request in exchange for room and board. "Okay."

"You're already taking calls and answering the door for me so continue that and we will gradually work you up to the point where you can run errands on your own. Once you feel you're ready to move back into the real world, we'll look into finding you a job and a place of your own. When you're ready of course. It's a long term goal so don't feel I'm tossing you out in a month."

I quirked a smile and ducked my head over my plate. "Thank you." I hesitated when the door opened, glancing over my shoulder as Zach came in.

"Hey. You're off tonight, right?" Zach grinned when Arthur gave a suspicious look as he nodded. "Perfect! Come celebrate with us."

"Celebrate?"

"Yeah. Sable's birthday."

"We're getting a little too old for birthdays aren't we?"

Zach shrugged, setting a hand on the back of my chair and leaning a little. "Sable's only thirty. It's just you and me that are dinosaurs. Come on. It'll be fun! I'll bet Tucker wants to come."

I blinked at suddenly being included in this conversation, glancing between Zach's expectant look and Arthur's calculating one. I dropped my gaze from Arthur's, not really opposed to going out but unsure of how enjoyable this excursion would be if Arthur was resisting. Zach scrubbed a hand across my back with a chuckle as Arthur shook his head. I shivered at the contact and Zach dropped his hand.