“I am not cute and I’m not having kids with you!”

“You guys, you guys.” Blayne slipped between the pair. “There’s no reason to be angry.”

“I’m not angry.” Flinging her arms out and turning in a circle like a little girl, the feline exclaimed, “I’m in love!”

“That’s it.” Crush stepped away. “I’m leaving.”

“You can’t run from our love!”

Crush had almost reached the elevators when Blayne leaped in front of him. “Don’t go, Crush.”

“I can’t stay. The game’s about to start, I need to get to my seat ... I can’t stay.” He reached around Blayne, punching the elevator button. When he leaned back, he realized that the wolfdog was staring up at him. And the more she stared, the sadder she looked.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Then she looked mad. He assumed she was mad at him, but when she grabbed his hand and walked back over to the others, it was the feline who received Blayne’s wrath.

“Why are you being mean?” Blayne demanded.

“I’m not being—”

“Bullshit! I know when a feline’s being mean, and you’re being mean. I don’t like it.”

“Now ask me if I care if you—owww! You bitch!”

Blayne had dropped Crush’s hand to latch on to the feline’s hair, digging her fingers in and twisting.

“Get off me!”

“Excuse us,” Blayne said before she stormed off down the hallway, dragging the feline with her.

Crush watched the pair disappear around a corner; then he looked at Novikov. He knew the man had the same expression Crush did, and they both started off at the same time to follow, but Gwen grabbed their arms. “Don’t get in the middle.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You’re not listening to me. Do not get in the middle of this. Trust me.”

“It’s really not that big a deal,” Crush felt the need to explain. “She drives me nuts, but Blayne didn’t have to get so upset about it.”

“Blayne felt she did, so you might as well not get in the middle.” Gwen glanced at him. “Rough couple of days, Crush? Maybe a rough couple of years?”

Crush, feeling uncomfortable, asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Whatever Blayne Thorpe saw, she’s worried about you.”

“Worried about me? Why? I mean, life is what it is.”

“Ooooh.” Gwen cringed. “Yeah, if Blayne asks you a similar question, I wouldn’t give that response.”

“Do not give Blayne that response,” Novikov agreed. “Otherwise, she’ll make me adopt you.”

“That would be kind ofweird cause I’m older than you.”

“Is that really the only reason you can come up with of why that would be weird?”

Blayne stalked around the corner, the feline following behind, eyes rolling, feet dragging. Stopping between Crush and Gwen, Blayne waited for Malone to reach them, her foot tapping.

Once the feline stood in front of them, she said, “Now what was it you wanted me to say again?”

Blayne went for Malone’s throat, but Novikov caught her first, yanking the swinging, spitting, and screeching wolfdog away.

“Is there anyone,” Crush asked, “that you don’t irritate?”

The feline looked him over, and grinned. “Come on.”

She grabbed his hand, but Crush immediately yanked it back. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going to my seat and forget I ever met you and then I’ll decide whether to sue the makers of delicious Jell-O products or just the MacDermots for using Jell-O in a clearly despicable way.”

“You really are cute, you know?” And for once it didn’t sound like the feline was mocking. “My suggestion is to go after MacDermot and Llewellyn. The Jell-O people are probably a huge conglomerate that will have you tied up in court for years. And I need you to come with me because I’d prefer not to end up on the wrong side of Blayne Thorpe.”

“You already seem to be on the wrong side of Blayne.”

“If I was really on the wrong side of Blayne, I’d be in little consumable pieces for the hyena population. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Morally ... I guess not.”

“Morally, huh?”

“Should I get a dictionary so you can look up the meaning?”

Laughing, the feline grabbed his hand and started walking. “According to Blayne,” who was watching them walk by, panting hard, fangs out, “I owe you for being so mean to you. You apparently have a broken heart that needs to be mended.” She glanced back at him. “Just break up with your girlfriend or something?”

“No.”

“Well, she thinks you’re wounded and my tormenting you is beneath me.”

“So you two just met then?”

“I like how your sense of humor comes out when it’s to make fun of me.”

“You need to pick up the step, Malone,” Novikov yelled after her. “We’ve got a game to get to.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

After a few minutes of following along, Crush asked, “So where are we going anyway?”

“You’ll see.”

“If you’re just going to find another way to publicly embarrass me, can we do it at another time? Like after the game?”