HOW TO CATCH A BAD BOY

Chandler sauntered toward her, and he stopped just out of arm’s reach. “Agnes is a cat.”

Elena blinked up to his face. “What?”

“Agnes is Paul’s horrible, evil, mean-tempered cat that hates every human being except him. And he can’t remember how much food he put in her automatic feeder, so he’s afraid she’s going to starve to death before he can get home.”

“Oh,” Elena said weakly.

Chandler smiled. “Yeah, baby, oh indeed,”

“So, we’re … driving out into a snowstorm to check on a cat who lives out in the middle of nowhere.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

His nod was slow. “It looks like it.”

Elena looked around. Snow was already sticking to the ground. Tree branches were coated white, lending a magical air to the already stunning vista. Like a winter wonderland. Except not wonderful, not anymore since they were not going straight home. “He lives about an hour away?” she asked weakly. An hour wasn’t so bad. No reason to freak out.

“Yeah. We better hit the road if we want to get back home on time.”

Elena pinched her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. This is …” She paused. “I should’ve waited until you were off the phone.”

His hands landed on her shoulders, and he gently spun her to face him. He didn’t speak until she pried open her eyelids. “Baby, it’s fine. I still think this storm will blow past like a sweet little kitten, unlike Agnes, who is an awful, awful bitch of an animal.”

Elena’s smile came quickly, and he hummed deep in his chest at the sight of it. “Killin’ me,” he whispered.

“Sorry.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “No, you’re not. You just can’t help it.”

“I have to tell Emily,”

Chandler nodded, “Okay, love, but I’ll stay here and wait because if I go with you, your sister might punch me in the face. I don’t think she’s over the whole…Hating me… Thing,”

Elena shot him a look, “Trust me, Emily doesn’t hate you. In fact, I think she’s starting to like you. She likes to act scary but she’s really not,” Chandler scoffed and she laughed. “I’ll be right back,”

Elena walked up to Emily, who was standing with Beth and Daniel, ready to begin the journey back home. “Long story,” she began, “but we have to detour north a bit to check on something for Chandler’s friend. We’ll be fine.”

Emily didn’t look very thrilled about the news, “Oh my goodness, Elena. Don’t let him talk you into something insane. Like he cares about a freaking blizzard.”

Elena almost laughed at the look on her sister’s face, “He’s not making me do anything, Emily. It was my idea to go with him,”

Emily wasn’t listening, “This is why I should be able to track your ass. I’m making Daniel teach me how to hack your phone.”

Beth on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the drama. She even gave Elena a fist bump, “Have fun, dear. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Emily scowled, “That’s the worst advice ever because I know what you’d do and they’re not really good things I’d like my sister to emulate,”

Elena and Beth exchanged glances and then they burst into laughter.

“So am I safe now?” Chandler’s voice said behind them as he approached them,

Emily glared at him, “You better keep my sister safe or I’ll kill you,” she said,

“I wouldn’t dare bring her back with a scratch,” replied Chandler.

“Good for you,” Emily retorted.

Everyone got in their various cars, and fifteen minutes later, they were bundled into Chandler’s car as big, fat snowflakes hit the windshield in soft little pats of sound.

“You told Emily this wasn’t my idea, right?” he asked, watching her tap out a message to her sister to assure her that she was alright so she wouldn’t be too worried, “Because she looked very serious when she threatened my life.”

“She was serious.” Elena teased with a smile.

“Helpful,” he said dryly. He cranked the engine to life and sat back in his seat.

Elena sighed at the immediate barrage, tucking her phone away into her handbag. “Don’t worry, she’s never actually killed anyone.”

Chandler shook his head, pulling the gear shift into reverse. “You Davis women, you should come with a warning label, Love.”

As they pulled out of the driveway and headed into the ominous looking storm, Elena couldn’t believe it, but she was laughing.

———–

Someday, Chandler thought, he might build a shrine to Agnes, commemorating the fact that Elena thought she was a sweet old woman stuck in a snowstorm as opposed to the devil cat she actually was, thereby granting him more time with the beautiful Miss Davis.

But today would not be that day because when the drive to Paul’s cabin took almost three times longer than he expected, due to the combination of zero visibility, slick, icy roads, and blustering wind that even had him white-knuckling the steering wheel, he just wanted to get to their destination safely.

April.

It was fucking April, and he was not okay with the storm of the century hitting while he had to be out on the roads with a woman he liked way too much for his own good, checking on a cat that he hated to the depths of his soul for a man who meant a lot to him. Elena was quiet in the passenger seat, and this time, he didn’t push her.

He’d hit the irrational stage of driving about an hour earlier, where you turn down the volume on the music just in case it helped you magically see the roads better.

When he caught sight of the red mailbox signaling the turnoff to Paul’s place, he breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

“We’re here,” he told her.

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice. “Oh, good.”

Chandler glanced in the rearview mirror, and the swirling blanket of white that obscured his vision. It had been years since he’d driven in something like that, and it occurred to him, with Paul’s place close, that they’d probably be hunkered down for at least one night.

“Are you doing okay?” he asked her. If he was stressed … He couldn’t even imagine what she must be feeling.

Elena was quiet for a second, and then she exhaled shakily. “I don’t think I breathed properly for a solid hour.”

“We’re almost there,” he promised.

She nodded.