Paws Chase Murder Case ✓| bxb, police drama, urban fantasy

33.2: A Little Closer

Scotch leaned on the wall of his cell and Christoph stood in his.

"Sorry about earlier," he whispered.

"You apologized already, Crispy. Apology accepted."

"I had heard Borrecki had a son." Christoph crossed his arms. "And I wondered what kinda guy he was. We'd be the same age and the same sub-species."

Scotch shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "So, you found some rumor that I got in for free or somethin' and thought I was some privileged bastard?"

"Exactly."

"Well, that's rude," Scotch rolled his eyes, "to assume—"

Christoph groaned. "And I said I was—"

"I know, I know," Scotch interrupted, "Apology accepted, I said."

They stood in silence. Mason and River were talking in quiet voices through the bars. Scotch caught Mason saying,

"And I'd, well, never met any female like you before, Riverie."

River scoffed. "Ugh, I thought I told ya—"

"But I like your name. It's pretty, like you are."

Scowling River didn't say anything, but her tail spoke volumes. Mason gave a joyous trill. Scotch glanced over at Ginger who was on her stomach with her chin in her hands as if she were watching a movie starring Mason and River. The two were in their own world, not noticing Ginger staring at all.

"Never see him talk to strangers," Christoph said.

Scotch gave a quiet chuckle. "He's never been good with strangers, unless it's a female he wants to hit on. Or a male."

"He's into males?" Christoph sounded surprised. "But I never hear—"

"He's both, but I'd say eighty-percent into females. He's been after River since Day One."

Mason said something and River, this time, smiled a little. They stared at each other through the bars until River scowled and looked away, but then she looked back at Mason who was giving her all the attention. He was so smooth when it came to starting a romance.

Unlike me. I'm the reckless, hopeless one. Scotch sighed.

"Do you want to know what the other thing was?" Christoph said.

Scotch swallowed, somehow nervous. "If ya wanna tell."

Christoph scoffed. "Either you want to know, or you don't."

What was he going to say? Scotch had no idea. It was the other reason that made Christoph become Scotch's roommate enemy.

He decided. "I want to know."

"It's really selfish."

"That's a surprise." He gave light chuckle.

"I found out that I was..." Christoph trailed off and Scotch looked at him, but his face gave nothing away. "Can you give me your paw?" he said after a pause.

Scotch arched his brow. What was Christoph up to? And it wasn't like they had to hold hand and paw. His heart thumped as he held out his paw and Christoph slipped his fingers in. On his pawpad, Christoph's hand was warm and sweaty.

Oh, shite. Stay calm and cool. Scotch lifted his gaze to try to forget about what was going on.

"You know I was dating Desiree."

"Desire Wires." Scotch slipped the nickname he had for her. "I-I mean, I—just a—"

Christoph laughed. "I never noticed that. I could've called her that when we broke up. She was cheating on me with a senior. I didn't know until, well, a while. But she could tell I wasn't that into her. I guess it was good we broke up. Probably a bit after your incident with the creepy deputy."