Still, restlessness filled him as he willed Wiley to hurry so they could get to safety.
Man, he would hate to have something happen to the sweet guy.
“I’m all packed and ready to go,” Wiley announced, dragging a large suitcase on wheels behind him while a backpack was slung over one shoulder. He stopped sharply. “Oh wait, I should grab Queenie’s things—food and bowl. Her litter box and some toys.” Wiley set the suitcase on the floor and hurried into the kitchen. He washed the cat’s food bowl and grabbed a bag of dried food.
“I’ll get Queenie and her things,” Baer offered. He picked up the cat carrier and got a nice, long growl for his effort. An image of her biting his hand filled her head.
“I can ride with you and leave my car here,” Wiley said as he carried Queenie’s stuff into the living room. “Warning you now, she’ll bitch throughout the entire ride in the Jeep. She hates traveling as much as she hates that carrier.”
“Understood.”
It took a couple of trips to get all the stuff carried from Wiley’s apartment down to the Jeep, but Baer did it as quickly and efficiently as possible. His main concern was getting Wiley and Queenie to the plantation safely.
Of course, Queenie started complaining the second he started the engine. They couldn’t talk over her racket the entire drive home. Baer got more images of her plans for revenge and couldn’t help but laugh. Wiley was right—his cat was a real bitch. He kind of felt sorry for thrusting her onto Ruby.
When they arrived, he took Wiley and the carrier upstairs to the bedroom Wiley was going to be using. He noticed Wiley counting under his breath as they walked up the stairs. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about it, but Wiley’s expression was so intense and his shoulders so taut with nerves that Baer swallowed back the question. He didn’t want the poor guy to feel uneasy in a place he was going to be calling home for a while. And, well, Wiley seemed to have it all under control. His apartment was on the second floor. He handled stairs every day.
Wiley whistled in appreciation as he took in the room. French doors led to a balcony that overlooked the backyard and pool, letting in tons of sunlight. A full bed with a burgundy comforter graced the right wall. The room had its own bathroom and walk-in closet, and there was even a small utility room off to the side. It wasn’t as big as the room Baer was using, but it was definitely nice. Dane had done a great job of remodeling it.
He set the carrier down. “Want me to leave her in here awhile or go ahead and let her out?”
“Let her out. I doubt she’ll go far at first. She’s never been out of my apartment other than trips to the vet, so she’ll probably be cautious.”
Baer opened the small door, and Queenie shot out of the carrier and took off out of the room.
“Guess I was wrong,” Wiley said with a soft laugh. There was a screech, then the sound of barking. “Look, she’s already making friends.”
Baer tuned in to Ruby to find she was delighted to have a new friend. Poor dog.
He was getting better at paying attention to one animal than when he’d first gotten his powers. In the beginning, the voices and images had been a crazy jumble of noise that had given him headaches. Now, he could better pick the threads of images out and pay attention to one creature at a time.
“I’ve never stayed in a place so nice,” Wiley said as he walked to the window. “It’s always just been me and my grandmother. I lived with her in her small house until I went out on my own.”
“No parents?”
Wiley shook his head, staring out at the backyard. “My father took off while my mother was still pregnant, and she died when I was a toddler. So, it was just me and Grandma.”
“And she’s the one you texted earlier, right?”
Wiley nodded. “Yeah. She’s only in her sixties and still as lively as ever. She works as a receptionist at a small law firm in town. Been there as long as I can remember.” He walked to the bed and set his suitcase on it.
Baer struggled not to frown at what sounded like a lonely life. It explained why there weren’t a lot of family pictures at Wiley’s apartment, but what about friends? Did he not have close friends he could hang out with? People who would worry about his sudden disappearance? That didn’t make sense. Wiley was a sweet, funny guy. He should have oodles of friends.
But he couldn’t ask about that. At least, not yet.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you to unpack. When you’re done, come downstairs. I’ll be in the kitchen, seeing what I can rustle up for lunch. We usually grill something.”
Wiley flashed him a bright smile, seeming a little more relaxed than he had when he first came into the house. “Sounds good.”
He stared at Wiley for another moment, taking in the shiny blond of his hair in the sunlight coming in through the window. Wiley nervously adjusted his glasses, his smile turning a little questioning.
Reluctantly, Baer turned and left the room. The connection was still there. Faint and different than what he felt with Clay or even Grey, but there. Shaking his head, he headed back down to the first floor.
Grey was in the kitchen and he smirked at Baer as he walked into the room. “That guy is a real cutie, eh?”
“You interested?”
Grey shook his head. “No, just noticing that you thought so. Plus, I’m not blind.”
Baer grimaced and opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
“That his cat torturing Ruby?” Grey asked as he leaned against the counter.
“Yeah, I should probably check on them and make sure Queenie hasn’t attacked poor Ruby.”
He carried his water with him as he searched out the thread of Ruby’s voice. He found them in the dining room, both animals stretched out on the floor, eyeing each other. Ruby was all kinds of curious about the cat, while Queenie was shooting daggers out of her eyes.
On the bright side, her thoughts weren’t as chaotic as she wondered why she was here and what was going on. Poor thing was pretty damn confused and scared. He wanted to pet her to reassure her, but she was in no mood to be touched.
“You two are going to have to learn to get along,” he told them.
Wiley came into the room and once again, Baer found himself drawn to the man. Now that he was consciously thinking about it, he was becoming wary. He didn’t have the greatest dating track record. His last relationship could be tossed in the disaster column.
What was it about him that drew Baer in?
He was cute, perky, and so damn energetic. If the art he’d seen posted around the apartment and on the desk was any indication, he was amazingly creative and a hell of an artist. He also got a feeling that he was biting his tongue, but there were little hints that he could also be snarky as fuck. Part of Baer was dying to see him finally let his guard down and say what he was thinking.
Baer had to admit that he really found Wiley good-looking and kind of…sweet. Sweet was a new thing for him. He usually went for more forceful personalities, which just reminded him of his ex, Dave.
Dave had been an asshole, plain and simple.
“You okay, Baer?” Wiley asked as he walked closer. “You’ve got a funny expression on your face.”
“Just an unwelcome memory.” He shook his head as if he could shake the last memories of Dave out of his brain and forced a smile on his lips. “You get all settled in?”