I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

“You know they're going to be scarred for life, right?” I asked.

“Unfortunately,” Alisha said. She was back at her desk. Alex had been given a ride back by Tye, given their earlier experience with Alisha’s underlings.

And now there was just paperwork.

“You could have just asked them,” I told her. “I don't understand why you didn't just walk down there.”

“That would've been unprofessional and I mightve been accused of poaching.”

“I... see…” I said without fully understanding.

Alisha slid Alex's employment papers back into a drawer and looked at me again, this time with her full attention. “Are you comfortable with this?” She asked. “I know Alex has agreed to it. But I still want to be sure you're okay with this.”

“I'm okay. I just think it's absurd you just decided to open a cafe.”

“It will be convenient.”

“You can't use it for your own business… doesn't that just make it another headache?” I asked.

She hesitated to answer, choosing her words carefully before saying, “it means you will be close to me. You will be within my security perimeter, and you will be able to work without being cooped up in my office all day. I know it may still feel like I'm just giving you money… but should something happen between us you'll still have the job experience.”

I felt a little sad. Even now she was planning on the eventuality that we couldn't be together.

“Alisha,” I said. “I know you still have a hard time believing this but… I do love you. For who you are.”

She looked up from more documents.

“Or if something happens to me,” she said as a continuation. “You will have savings and be able to establish yourself somewhere else.”

I sighed, letting myself deflate. I fully understood why she was a bit paranoid about potential issues like that. But it still made her seem a lot older than she was. Even beyond her constant exhaustion and constant business persona, she felt… aged.

And looking a little closer at her hair now I saw the extra silvery strands among her dark roots. There were more than just a couple.

I stood and wandered over to her side of the desk and leaned my weight back on it.

She kept her focus on her documents.

“I'm not horny,” she informed me.

“Neither am I,” I said. “I just worry about you.”

“This is the life I've inherited,” she said. “Unfortunately I don't have much choice about that.”

“I know even if you had been able to pass it to someone else you'd still be like… the royal princess. Someone might still want to destroy the bloodline.”

She nodded. “Unfortunately.”

I leaned back a little more, hearing the desk only very quietly creak as it took more of my weight on. “Do you have a retirement plan?” I asked.

“I have a retirement account,” she said.

“That's not what I asked,” I said. “Do you have a retirement plan? Or a succession plan? Or anything?”

She didn't answer right away. Instead pretending to focus on her work. But I saw the curve of her shoulders brace as the thought loomed over her.

“People don't really … retire in this life,” she said finally. “Not really.”

“You're planning on working until you die?” I asked.

“Or get arrested. Or have to move to Mexico. Or whatever forces me to step down.”

“And there's really no way for you to just stop?”

She shook her head. “Like you said. I'm a threat to anyone who wants control of the family. So as long as the family exists, I am under its control.”

I nodded. It was solemn.

“I'm here for you regardless.” I reached over and put a hand against her face and she leaned against it instinctively, closing her eyes.

“I'm sorry you got dragged into everything. I never meant for you to see those sides of me.”

I had an uncomfortable twist in my gut that I'd never actually seen her lose her temper with people. But I knew she had a darker side with people. Otherwise they wouldn't be afraid of her.

Even the murder I had witnessed was relatively tame.

Still I kept my hand against her skin until she started to shift away.

“I'm here for you,” I repeated as she shifted a little uncomfortably before turning back to her computer.

“I think, Kitten, things are going to get better. Maybe not for everyone but for the people that matter.”

She didn't look back at me, instead staring at a blinking cursor on a document she had been editing.

“You can tell me,” I said. I recognized the demeanor. She was holding her tongue about something she wanted people to know.

“I can't,” she said simply.

I waited, giving her space if she changed her mind. When she didn't I agreed. “Okay,” I said. “But I still trust you.”

“I know, Kitten.”

Alex got in the habit of texting me regularly after the kidnapping incident.

It was actually very nice. I no longer wondered if they were surviving.

It was always mundane things.

Pictures of their pet snake (which they referred to as their secret snake the first time giving me an unpleasant shock before the picture loaded and revealed a smiling python contendedly perched on a fake vine). I pointed out that referring to a texted picture as a pic of their secret snake was not very reassuring. And then they hit me with the ;p. That did not help.

We also sat in on the planning meetings for the cafe. They were sparse.and typically brief. But that was what Alisha's current schedule allowed.

The renovation started fast too. She finalized the plans with the contractors and us. It was a very basic plan. ‘Flexible’ Alisha called it. ‘The decor will set the vibe far more than a white vs black countertop.’

So they proceeded.

I watched it come together over the weeks. And watched Alisha trying to shove all of her work papers into a bag to bring home with her. She was always going over papers now.

It was all incredibly mundane business stuff. Sales reports. Sales variance reports. Inventory reports.

I didn't understand what any of the numbers meant. But she highlighted some here and there, gave me a few head pets. Then turned

the page and repeated.

For a while, life was simple.

AN: sorry for the long wait. Helping a friend with a domestic violence situation. Also became a bakery manager of all things ( turns out showing up on time in an environment where everything is perpetually falling apart is quite impressive)