The fact that Ellery spoiled the cat rotten almost—almost—made up for the fact that he’d gotten Billy Bob fixed while Jackson had been in surgery for a gunshot wound.
“I do,” Ellery said primly. “And I would feel better about both of you if Billy Bob had some company.”
Jackson looked at him, hurt. “Don’t you want to help me pick out his buddy?”
Ellery glanced away again. “Well, yes,” he admitted. “I do, but….” He swallowed. “Dammit! I’m starting to feel bad. You really are working hard at recovery, and Henry’s getting better, but he’s getting on my last goddamned nerve.” Ellery took a deep breath and pulled some of his composure back. “He was in the military for ten years, and he tends to rely on orders,” he said after a minute. “It turns out I don’t mind a little independence.” He sent a conciliatory little smile Jackson’s way.
Jackson sat up completely and held a hand to his chest, hoping his heart was doing a victory lap and not threatening to quit again. “That’s it? You’re caving?” Billy Bob leaped off the bed in a fit of pique, and Ellery stood and backed up like a hunted man.
“No, I am not caving. I am making a concession to the fact that I’m not caving.”
“Oh no,” Jackson said, hopping out of bed. “I’m not going to get that kitten without you, and if I’m not getting the kitten without you, you have to let me come back to work.”
Ellery stared at him, mouth moving like he was trying to find holes in Jackson’s legal theory, and there were probably a boatload, but Jackson didn’t care.
“So you start the coffee, and I’ll get—” Jackson wrinkled his nose. Ellery had bought him a truckload of new clothes while he’d been stuck at home in Ellery’s amazingly spacious house, and Jackson had sort of promised to wear some of them. “—dressed. In the appropriate wear for my job,” he added, all virtue. “I’ll be showered and out the door and ready to go in—”
“Five days!” Ellery countered, with an admirable return of his earlier resolve. “So help me, Jackson.”
“I’ll jockey from the office,” Jackson pleaded. “Henry can do all the footwork. I’ll just help Jade.”
“Jade will strangle you,” Ellery said seriously. “If you’re in that office and underfoot, she will kill you.”
“Jade loves me like a brother,” Jackson returned, indignation lighting him up inside. Jade Cameron and her twin brother, Kaden, and their late mother had taken Jackson in when his own mother had bailed on the job of family while they’d all been in middle school. Jackson and Jade had spent part of their lives as on-again/off-again lovers of convenience, but in truth, the dynamic that worked best for them was as brother and sister.
“Which is exactly why she’ll kill you.” Ellery scrubbed at his face with his hands. “Look, Jenny Probst at the public defender’s office wants me to take a pro bono case. I need some vetting. She’s pretty sure the kid is innocent, but he won’t speak up in his own defense. She wants some help getting him off, if she can. She says he wasn’t made for jail. If you want, I can let you vet the case, look into it, maybe even help me interview him, but you can’t leave the office. Is that understood?”
“Not even for lunch?” Inwardly he winced. God, he just had to push it one more inch.
“If you’re good,” Ellery said sweetly, “we can have lunch together.”
Jackson paused, thinking that even though they’d been shut in together for much of the past eight weeks while Ellery and Jackson’s family monitored his recovery, this was still an attractive prospect.
“Fine,” he said, thinking. “Define good.”
“I’ve got a meeting. I’ve got to go. But I’ll send Henry back for you. You may pick the files up from the PD’s office. Come directly to our office with them. Do not pass go. Do not save children from the burning building—that’s what the fire department is for—and do not rescue kittens from trees.”
Jackson grinned at him, so happy he could practically dance. “But if I rescue the kitten from the tree, does that mean I can keep the kitten!”
Ellery’s eyes narrowed to slits. “No.”
“But you’re still going to send Henry for me?” Jackson asked, following as Ellery turned to go.
“Maybe.”
“But we still get to have lunch together, right?” he prodded, on Ellery’s heels as he strode down the hallway, barely pausing to scratch Billy Bob on the stomach where he now sprawled on the kitchen table without shame.
Jackson followed Ellery’s scratch, and the cat doubled up, kicking with his back leg and biting.
“You traitor!” Jackson gasped, scooping the snarling animal into his arms. “You’re supposed to love me best.”
“It’s the stomach, Jackson,” Ellery said. “He gets one scratch on his stomach per day.”
“You,” Jackson said in outrage, “bogarted my cat!”
Ellery turned to him, his expression severe but his eyes dancing. “You could always spend the day getting another one so we don’t freak this one out with too much attention.”
Billy Bob had calmed down and was now rubbing his nose and whiskers systematically on Jackson’s shoulder to make up for the several scratches that graced his forearm.
“I,” Jackson said with dignity, “will be having lunch with you.” He sobered. “Besides, we have a Jackson cat. We need an Ellery cat.”
Ellery’s eyes darted sideways and his usually pale cheeks sported red crescents. “What kind of cat is an Ellery cat?” he asked.
“A dignified cat,” Jackson said. “Gray, like a pinstriped suit. Or tiger-striped, but dignified. Ooh, or black, like a little panther. Sleek and elegant.” He looked at Billy Bob, who had flopped into the crook of Jackson’s arm and was drooling complacently. “Something sane.”
Ellery still couldn’t meet his eyes, that shyness that sometimes took Jackson by the throat very much apparent. “We can look this weekend,” he said, biting his lip, and Jackson dumped his affronted cat on the ground to press Ellery back against the connecting door between the kitchen and the garage.
“Lotsa things we can do this weekend,” he purred.
Ellery’s eyes danced again. “We do that a lot.” But it didn’t sound like he minded.
“Not full up yet,” Jackson told him, moving in slowly so he could smell Ellery’s aftershave, his clean precision, his minty take-on-the-day scent before moving in for the kiss. He captured Ellery’s mouth and tried to devour that smell, that excitement, whole.
Ellery responded, mouth open, cupping Jackson’s face with his smooth, manicured hands. The kiss ended before it really began, and Ellery groaned and leaned his forehead against Jackson’s.
“I might not ever be full up,” he said wickedly. Then he sighed. “But I am late.”
“Fine,” Jackson said, but then he remembered he’d won. “Henry and I will be by the office before lunch.”
“Good. I’ve got some stuff you can do from the office then.” He gave Jackson another quick kiss and slid out the garage door, leaving Jackson to dress for the day.