“I’m–” I sneeze, and when I rub my eyes, Liam pulls my hand away.
“Stop touching your face.”
I itch my cheek on my shoulder but hold the kittens a bit longer.
“Sage, your eyes are starting to swell. Put those nasty shits down,now!”
When one of the kittens jumps, I take a step away from Liam. “You’re scaring them.”
“I don’t–” He lets out a breath when I turn away from him. The smaller one is still on the counter, and I realize she’s not sleeping, but she looks really weak.
“Is this one sick?” I sneeze again as I rub her head.
“You’resick.”
I ignore Liam.
“We believe she is, yes.”
“Can you just wait one more day before you put them down? I can–”
“I can’t.”
I can’t hold back my tears anymore and I pull all three of them closer as I cry.
“Jesus fucking Christ. You–” Liam cuts himself off and snatches all of them away.
“What–”
“Go wash your hands.”
“But–”
“Do you have your medication with you?”
“Yes, but–”
“Take it and go wash your hands.” He shoves the kittens back into the arms of the man who’s going to kill them. I try to reach for them, but Liam steps in my way. He opens his mouth to say something, but he goes still as he watches me. A few more tears trickle down my cheek, and it’s mainly because I’m crying, but my eyes are also watering from my allergies.
“Fuck.” Liam turns around and grabs all of the cats.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll take them if you walk out right now and take your damn medicine.”
I look up at him from the kittens, and I feel my smile widen. “Really?”
“If you don’t wash your hands and face and take your medicine in the next five seconds, they're staying.”
I hurry off into the bathroom and get myself together. The cold water feels good on my face, and I drink some when my throat feels scratchy.
When I look into my bag, I realize I actuallydon’thave my eye drops or Benadryl. Oops… There’s not much I can do now so I blow my nose a few times and walk back out.
When the door closes behind me, Liam turns with all three kittens in his arms.“Did you take your medicine?”
“Mhm.” I reach to pet the sick one, but Liam takes a step out of my reach.
“Sage.”
