Coupling Two. More Filthy Erotica for Couples

Cat Lover

There was only one good thing about living with Katie in that little basement apartment-it was cool in the summer. Otherwise, it totally sucked. We could hear everything in the whole house. We knew someone had a dog, because he barked like a rabid Cujo every morning at seven, and of course, my first class didn’t start until ten. Plus, they used the back stoop and its very small area of grass as a doggie-toilet. It was really gross, and the landlord knocked on our door one morning (again, before nine-couldn’t people respect a college guy’s schedule?) demanding to know if we were the one with the dog.

It wasn’t us. The landlord was one of the few on campus who allowed pets. I didn’t even want to own fish but Katie insisted on cats. If it wasn’t the dog barking upstairs, it was the whine of the can opener from our kitchen. Every morning, six a.m.-reer-reer-reer-followed by a hundred thousand thumpity-thumps from every direction, accompanied by a cacophony of meows.

The other thing about the basement that sucked was that we lived next to the laundry room. The noise wasn’t bad-it was better than the cats and that damned dog-but it was the flooding that was the issue. Once in a while, a sock would get stuck in the wash tub and it would overflow during the rinse cycle. Someone’s brilliant design idea in re-vamping this old house as a rental had placed another door to our apartment between the machine and the drain. The carpet always had a faint mildewy smell to it.

One morning long before I should have been awake, I heard Katie doing that “here, kittykittykitty” run-on that cat lovers always used-like the cats ever came when you called them? She would have had better luck bringing the can opener. I was thinking all of this with the pillow pulled over my head to block out the light. There was one other good thing about our basement apartment-we seemed to get less light through the little windows near the ceiling.

“Bad kitty!” I heard her admonishing, but it was when I heard the splashing and knew the tub had overflowed again that I groaned and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Sebastian to the rescue! I just needed a super-suit. My bare feet squished on the soggy carpet. I was trying to remember where I’d put the box fan we used to dry it out while I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and opened the door to the laundry room.

The sight wasn’t a bad one-it could have been much worse. The floor was completely flooded, all right, but there was Katie wearing boy shorts and a tank-tee, half sprawled across the rumbling washer, reaching behind it for something. Her feet were wet and the water dripped down her legs as she grunted and wiggled on top of the machine. I stood in the doorway for a moment, admiring the view, until she slid off the washer into a puddle with a frustrated sigh, blowing a piece of dark hair out of her eyes.

“Hey,” I said, startling her. I sloshed my way through the flood, over to the tub, reaching in to find the culprit. “Whose load of wash is this?”

“I don’t know. Probably Cujo’s.” She sighed. “But Sassy’s stuck behind the washer.”

I held up the pair of pink panties that I’d pulled from the tub drain. “Hmm, nice!” I wrung them out and held them up. “At least Cujo’s owner has good taste in lingerie!”

“Sebastian!” She rolled her eyes, grabbing and tossing them behind her onto the wet floor. ust help me get the cat!”

I sighed. The tub problem had been solved. The water was going nicely down the drain again. Aside from the wet carpet in our apartment, which I would have been happy to deal with after another two hours of sleep, my worries were over.

“Please?” She leaned over the washer again, and I got a glimpse of her ass as her shorts rode up. “Just help!”

“Okay, okay.” I stepped up behind her, peering over the washer. I could see the luminescent eyes of a white cat glowing up at me, ears pressed flat against its head. Sassy saw me and hissed. “Does that one have claws?”

“Yes!” she scoffed, all horrified. Katie was one of those-altering an animal was horrible, blah blah blah. I didn’t know if it was cruel-I just knew I would have preferred picking up a soft-pawed cat to a fully loaded one. We had some of each kind.

“You know I can’t keep them all straight…” I edged around the other side of the washer to see if I could move it. I thought I could, without breaking any connections or pulling any hoses. Enough, anyway.

Katie peered anxiously over the washer. I noticed the way her pink tank-tee pulled over her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and her nipples were hard. Probably from having wet feet and standing on the cold basement floor, but still-it was a nice view. Made me want to bend her over the washer right there, but I knew better than to try. Katie wouldn’t have any of that. I leaned over to turn the washer off and my hand brushed her shoulder. She slipped back off the machine, slanting her eyes, watching me.

I grabbed the washer with both hands, rocking it forward a little at a time. The cat hissed and suddenly bolted. Luckily, Katie had shut the door at the top of the stairs and it was trapped there. She ran after it, and I heard her cooing as she carried the cat back down toward me, cradling it in her arms.

“Thank you.” Her smile lit up her whole face in such a way that it even made me forget about her ass and I remembered again why I’d agreed to move in together in the first place, in spite of the fact that sex with Katie was minimal at best. “My hero.”

I pushed the machine back, turning it on. “Do I get a hero’s blowjob then?”

“Sebastian!” Katie blushed, nuzzling the cat’s fur.

“Just a suggestion.” I opened the door to our apartment, herding the four or five cats crowding the doorway, looking to escape. I could smell the mildew already. “I’m going back to bed. Don’t you have class?”

The cat in her arms was purring now, its eyes half-closed. “In an hour.”

“Still time for that blowjob…” My dick was hard watching her walk around in her tank and little shorts as I climbed back under the covers. The cats were everywhere, as usual. I had to shove them out of the way to make room in bed. I think at last count there were fifteen. It was a lot of damned cats.

Katie stood only half-facing me, still rubbing her cheek against the cat’s ear. “Sebastian…?”

“Hmm?” Damn my dick was hard. A guy should get a little reward for a rescue like that, I reasoned. But Katie knew I’d do anything for her, no matter what. She had me wrapped, although I’m not sure she knew it.

“Are you ever going to like cats?”

I groaned. “You know I’m not good with them.” My eyes were back on her ass, where the water from her feet had made little wet spots on her shorts when she was hanging over the edge of the washing machine. I was about to make one of my usual jokes about liking cats ‘braised in light cream sauce’ and then I remembered the way she had looked sprawled across the washer.

“Come here.” I reached my arm out for her and she sat on the edge of the bed, letting me slid my hand up under her shirt in back. “I may not love cats, but I love you.”

She smiled, just a little, letting the cat jump from her arms onto the bed. I winced-the damned thing just barely missed my crotch. But Katie was letting me rub her back, and I dared to slide my hand around to cup her breast, so nice and firm, her nipples still hard from standing in her bare feet on the wet basement floor.

“Mmm.” She sighed, closing her eyes, and for a moment my cock was sure we were going to get lucky. Then she opened them again, hopping up from the bed. “How about I make you a nice ‘thank-you’ dinner tonight after I get home from work?”

“No blowjob?” I reached for my crotch, imagining her mouth on it. She didn’t do it often, but when she did, oh fuck… my cock stood up at full attention just at the thought.

Katie smiled over her shoulder, on the way to the bathroom for a shower before class. “Mayyybe tonight…”

“Tease!” I raised my eyebrows but I was grinning. “Hey, don’t forget, the show’s tonight.”

“Oh right. Well then we’ll have to do dinner tomorrow.” She threaded her way through a congregation of mewling cats. I couldn’t help watching how her hips swayed before she closed the bathroom door, feeling my cock swell to bursting in anticipation.

* * * *

We were doing “Cleopatre,” and although she kept saying how much she wanted to hear me perform, Katie had missed it twice. This is her last chance, I thought as I paced backstage, my jaw working, teeth grinding.

“Ready for the big finale?” Anne’s speaking voice was as soft as her singing voice was loud. I’d never heard a woman who could project like she could, especially when she started out with something that seemed so small.

She smiled up at me, already in full costume, her eyes heavily darkened for the role. For a while, I thought she and I might hook up, but it didn’t work out. Performers had big egos, and they got in the way. Anne was too much of a diva for me.

“Sure,” I said, stopping in mid-pace. “You?”

“Look what Theo gave me.” She arched her neck, lifting a small pendant on a gold chain. “He told me you should go see him.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Finale gift?” Theo was known for his prudence when it came to putting on shows. My entire costume had been acquired from a Salvation Army thrift store.

“Sort of.” Her eyes were bright. “He’s got boxes of stuff in his office he’s giving away. He doesn’t want the university to get any of it.”

“Holy shit!” My eyes widened and I laughed. “He’s retiring isn’t he? Sly old fox.”

She just smiled. “Go see him.”

I shook my head, heading back toward his office. He growled a “Come in!” when I knocked.

“Hey, ol’ man,” I said, crossing my arms and surveying the stacks of boxes in his office. “I heard you wanted to see me.”

“Sebastian!” He poked his head up from behind his desk. “You talked to Anne?”

“She didn’t tell me a thing.” I grinned.

“Good!” It came out ‘Goot.’ Theo’s English was ‘goot’ but his accent was still very German, and he often slipped back into the language when he was angry. We’d all been berated in German more times than we could count-I was probably the only one, though, who had been called a “verfluchter hurensohn” and knew that it actually meant some approximation of “stupid son of a bitch!”

“Anything you want.” He nodded at the pile of boxes. “You choose.”

“I’d rather have you stay,” I said, meeting his eyes.

He shrugged one shoulder at me. “Can I help it if Italian men are opinionated?”

“Ah.” I poked through the box closest to me. It was full of the props we had used for Don Giovanni. “Sal wants to go back to Italy?”

Theo sighed, leaning back in his chair and taking off his round glasses to rub his eyes with his thumbs. “Europe isn’t what it was.”

“Nothing is.” I sifted through another box. God, the memories. These were the props from my very first performance as a freshman in Le Boheme, as a lowly Studenti. I went over to his desk and sat on the edge, swinging my Marc-Antoine sandal. It looked great under the toga.

“Truth is…” He put his glasses back on. “They’re bringing in someone else. An upstart-some kid-they want to modernize, the dean says.”

I frowned. “Great. We’ll be doing Carmen using cell phones and wearing leather chaps. They think modernizing means cultural rape.”

“Preaching to the choir.” Theo waved his hand at the boxes. “Anyway, it’s done. Take what you want. I wanted you and Anne to have first pick. After that, it’s to the vultures.”

“I don’t want anything.” I slid off his desk. “Just glad next year is my last.”

“Maybe you can come to Italy?” Theo asked and I glanced back at him. Singing at Teatro alla Scala? I could only dream of it.

“If that’s an offer, I’ll take it.” I noticed a sandal very similar to the one I was wearing sticking out of a box in the corner and I went over to investigate.

“If I can make one to you, I will,” Theo replied, standing.

The box looked like rejected props from “Cleopatre”-there were all sorts of Egyptian relics piled in with gold headdresses and jewelry.

“Where’d this come from?” I lifted the box and tilted it in his direction.

“Curio shop in town.” He leaned over to look out the window. It was still an hour until show time and the parking lot was empty. “Just junk we couldn’t use.”

I investigated further, past the tangled gold chains and vases decorated with hyrogliephs and little gold pyramids made in China. At the bottom, I found a small statue of a svelte cat. It had a winged figure carved on the front. I turned it over, looking for its “Made in Taiwan” sticker, but saw the word “Bast” carved into the bottom. It was perfect for Katie-I knew the minute I saw it that she would love it.

“I’ll take this.” I held up the little two-inch figure between my thumb and forefinger.

“Whatever you like,” Theo replied, his gaze still scanning the parking lot. “Ah, here’s someone. Our finale will at least have an audience.”

I saw the car and knew it was Katie. I headed for the door, smiling at his words, the cat figure still in my hand. “Isn’t that the best we can ever hope for?”

* * * *

“Malcolm, you’re an ass!” It was Katie’s voice, and she sounded-well, scared. I hesitated just a moment outside our door, wondering what in the hell her ex-boyfriend was doing in our apartment. I knew the guy by name and reputation, but we’d never actually met. “Get out!”

“All right, doll.” A guy’s voice. Obviously Malcolm. “Take it easy. I’m going.”

The door opened and I found myself face-to-face with Mr. Testosterone. This guy was twice my size, which would have been formidable enough, but he was also wearing leather chaps and chains and resembled a younger, less gentle Grizzly Adams. He didn’t even look at me as he shoved by, using his shoulder to knock me out of the way as he headed past. I stared after him as he clomped down the stairs, straight-arming the screen door on the way out.

“Sorry.” Katie apologized from behind me and I turned to look at her. She was hugging herself like she was cold, although it was still eighty degrees.

“Are you okay?” I frowned back at the door. I suspected Malcolm was the reason Katie was scared of everything all the time-especially sex. Having now experienced him in person, I started fantasizing about buying myself a gun. “What was he doing here?”

She shrugged, heading to the stove. “He just wanted some old stuff I still have of his somewhere. I told him I’d try to find it. I think we put it in that closet in the laundry room.”

Whatever she was cooking smelled even better in here than it did outside. I should have been used to the cats-they were everywhere-stretched out on the sofa, curled into those little cat towers, there was even one lying belly-up in the middle of the kitchen table. But after six months, it still annoyed me.

“Anyway, welcome home.” Katie look flustered, leaning over to give me a kiss as I put my backpack full of books on the floor and she led me into our little living room. She shooed a cat off a chair for me, and I sat in a thick pile of white hair. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Do we have any Coke?” I asked as the white cat I’d rescued leapt back up into my lap, her blue eyes checking me out as she turned around and flicked her tail past my nose. I wanted to push her off, but I knew Katie wouldn’t like it, so I tolerated the paws kneading against my thigh. “Why in the hell did you let that asshole in the house?”

“I bought some Coke just for you.” She stood in front of the open refrigerator on one bare foot, the other tucked behind her ankle. I could see her through the doorway.

“Don’t let him in the house anymore, okay Katie?” I winced as the cat’s claws dug into my leg. Katie handed me a can of Coke and sat across from me on the sofa with a glass of wine. That surprised me. Katie didn’t drink.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again, looking toward the door. “He just kind of pushed his way in…”

I popped the lid and sucked off the foam. The cat perked up at the noise and then wiggled her nose against the can.

“He’s always been an ass like that.” She sighed, holding her wine glass against the side of her neck.

“That’s obvious.” I frowned, leaning back away from the cat in my lap and discovering another one draped over the back of my chair. “But I don’t like him in our apartment.”

“I don’t either, Sebastian.” She took a big swig of wine. I watched her slim throat working as she swallowed. She let out a soft burp, smiling apologetically. “I told you-he just pushed his way in.”

“Well next time call me,” I snapped as the black cat lying behind me starting making his way across my shoulder. “Or call the fucking cops.”

“Okay, okay!” She sighed and held up her hands in a warding off gesture as the white cat dug her back claws into my leg when she jumped off. I winced but didn’t make a sound. Katie made a soft noise in her throat at the cat striding toward her, and she picked her up and cuddled her against her cheek. The cat looked like it was tolerating it rather than enjoying it.

“What did he want, anyway?”

“Believe it or not, baseball cards. He says they got mixed into my stuff. They’re supposed to be very valuable.” She shrugged. “I think he wants to sell them.”

“So… what’s for dinner?” I changed the subject, watching Katie kiss the cat’s pink nose before dropping her to the floor.

“Lasagna. Oh! The garlic bread!” She jumped up and rushed through the doorway into the kitchen.

From where I sat, I could see her bending over to look into the oven. She wasn’t wearing her boy shorts, which I loved on her-too bad-but the cutoffs she had on rode up her thighs quite nicely. I liked the way her red t-shirt pulled up a little when she stretched to get plates out of the cupboard, and the way she had pulled her long hair up into some sort of pony tail configuration on the back of her head, all loose and droopy, like it could fall out at any minute.

I shrugged the cat off my shoulder and stood. “Want some help?”

“Sure!” She was plucking pieces of hot garlic bread from a cookie sheet and tossing them into a towel-lined basket, blowing on her fingers between each one.

I opened a drawer and pulled out a spatula. “Here.” I slipped the utensil under the rest of the bread and up-ended it into the basket.

“Thanks.” God, that smile. It reminded me once again why I put up with the fifteen cats, the menacing spectre of her ex-boyfriend and Katie’s endless bouts of frigidness. I just couldn’t help smiling back at her, even though it felt goofy to be standing there in our kitchen just smiling at each other. “You’re sweet, you know that?”

I shrugged, looking down to see what was rubbing against my feet, and Katie moved around me to grab the plates. It was the huge orange cat, fatter than any television Morris or Garfield. He always muscled out the rest of them at dinner time. I opened the drawer back up that I’d just closed and grabbed two forks.

Katie retrieved our drinks from the living room, shooing two cats out of the way as she went who were trying to make figure-8’s around her ankles. I got napkins from the counter and put the basket of garlic bread on the table.

“Wow!” My eyes widened, my mouth already watering as she pulled the lasagna out of the oven. “You went all out, baby! That’s not even Stouffer’s!”

She laughed, using the spatula to cut a huge corner chunk and plopping it on my plate. The fat orange cat was sitting at my feet, looking up at me and blinking like he was bored, but his tail swished and his gaze was on my plate. The lasagna was too hot to eat so I munched on garlic bread while I watched Katie serve herself about half my portion.

“So how was work?” I asked, although most of the time I didn’t. Katie was majoring in veterinary medicine and her internship often involved disgusting medical procedures she liked to discuss in gory detail.

“You don’t want to talk about that.” She smiled, tucking her foot under her as she sat. I looked at the pink instep and found myself wanting to kiss it.

“How did you guess?” I grinned, watching a grey cat appear from around the corner and jump up into her lap. She adjusted as it settled in.

“How was the after-party last night?” She blew on a piece of lasagna hanging off her fork. Her mouth made a little ‘o’ when she did that and it enthralled me.

“Not bad. Wish you could have stayed.” I took another bite of garlic bread and followed it with a swig of soda. Katie had begged off, complaining of a headache. “But Theo was all depressed and being kind of a dick to everyone. You know how bitchy he can get.”

“What do you expect?” She tested the pasta with her lips and found it cool enough to slide into her mouth. “I think you may be the only one in the entire performance who isn’t gay.”

“Just because I sing opera doesn’t mean I’m gay.” I tried out my lasagna. It was still way too hot. I knew I was flushing. I could feel the heat creeping up my neck. “Quit teasing me, Katie.”

“I like teasing you.” She reached for her glass of wine, smiling. She knew I was sensitive about it. Singing opera didn’t exactly make me a chick magnet-quite the opposite, since girls seemed to find it about as masculine as a guy sporting a tutu.

“Besides, I know it’s not true.” She licked a bead of wine from her lip. “Believe me, I know. I’ve always thought it was sexy. Italian, German, French… you sing in all the romance languages.”

She knew just how to twist me around her little finger. “You know, most opera singers don’t know the languages they sing in. They just learn the words… but you do.”

She smiled at me with those dark blue eyes. The cat in her lap had nearly identical ones, and they were both staring at me, blinking. “Fluent in seven languages and conversational in twelve.”

“Almost as many languages as we have cats,” I joked. “You really find that sexy?”

“Uh-huh.” She shooed the cat off her lap and I blinked in disbelief as she crawled across the kitchen floor, nuzzling my crotch under the table.

“Katie?” I said her name as if to check-who was this girl and what had she done with my girlfriend? The one who had to have sex in the dark with most of her clothes still on, the one who barely made a sound, even when I knew she was having an orgasm? Who was this Katie?

“Mmmm, I think it’s time for that hero’s blowjob,” she murmured, working on the zipper of my jeans.

I stared at her, wondering if it was the wine gone to her head. I didn’t want to even entertain that it might have been the visit from the ex that had precipitated her change of sexual mood. It had to be the wine.

“Oh god, Katie.” I moaned and she sucked and we forgot all about dinner and school and Malcolm’s unwelcome interruption. We forgot about everything but each other for a long, delicious while, and I decided that night, with Katie asleep in my arms, that I didn’t care if it would make her an alcoholic, I was going to make sure she had alcohol in her system as often as I could!

* * * *

I was lying on the sofa, balancing a bowl of Trix cereal on my chest. Deciding I was mostly done, I let one of the cat drinks out of the bowl. He lapped around the little fruity circles, his tongue soaking up the sweetened milk.

“That’s not good for them.” Katie didn’t even look at me from her perch in the chair. She was peering out the window. Since the surprise kitchen-table blowjob, things had been cooler than ever. I didn’t get it. I’d tried everything-including lots more alcohol, which just ended up with me holding her hair while she puked in the bathroom-but she went back to the quiet, frigid Katie I’d come to know. And after getting a taste of sexy-Katie, going backwards was particularly painful.

“He likes it.” I tipped the bowl so he could get more. He sneezed when some milk got up his nose.

She snorted, tilting her head as she watched a bird move skyward. “Just because we like something, doesn’t mean it’s good for us.”

“Tell me about it.” I pushed the cat off my stomach and sat up, setting the bowl on the end table. “The new director is a complete fuck-up. He emails line changes every night we’re supposed to learn the same day. I swear he sent me that virus. Hey, did you pick up my laptop from the computer shop?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot,” she murmured, absent-minded. She’d forgotten a lot of things lately.

“I’ll get it before rehearsal tomorrow.” I just shrugged. “Anyway, he wants me to sing baritone, and he refuses to put Anne in the lead. Although, I don’t know why she’d want to dress up as a cat anyway.”

“A cat?” Katie’s nose wrinkled and she did look at me then. She was sprawled across the chair by the window on her belly, her hands draped over the edge so she could look outside. Fall had finally come, and we’d been blessed with some cooler weather.

“The English Cat.” I snorted. “That’s our next production. He wanted us to do The Fairy Queen-nude. Like a Midsummer Night’s Dream version of Hair. The dean shot that down in a hurry. Now we’re stuck with this-what are you doing?”

Katie had rolled over and was leaning her head back over the arm and batting at the white filmy curtains. “Nothing,” she said, not stopping.

“I almost didn’t get the lead either,” I said, noticing how her sweater rode up when she was arched backwards like that, showing her navel. God, I missed summer, just for the sight of her tank tees. “New director nearly gave it to a freshman, and I found out later, it’s his cousin. Holy nepotism, Batman.”

I noticed that the cat had settled back in front of my bowl of cereal milk and was lapping away. The white cat, Sassy, was sitting below Katie’s chair and batting at her long dark hair hanging off the side.

“But you got the lead right?”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, leaning back on the sofa. “But this freshman kid is the new bane of my existence. Now he stalks me all over campus. I think he’s the one who’s been going all Hannibal on me and leaving dead animals in my car.”

Katie looked over at me, eyes wide. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope.” I watched her stand up, taking the bowl of milk away from the cat and shooing him off the table. I smiled, noticing that she was wearing the necklace I’d made for her out of the cat statue I took from Theo. I’d had a friend drill a small hole through the ears and had strung it on a soft leather tie. “I’m just so glad it’s my last year.”

“Then what?” She walked the bowl toward the kitchen.

“Sing or teach singing, I guess.” I put my feet up on the arm of the sofa so I could watch her. “Nothing else I’m qualified to do.”

“I’m thinking about changing my major.” She was standing at the sink, her back to me.

“What?” I sat up, stepping on Sassy’s tail as I stood. She hissed and bolted down the hallway. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not kidding,” she replied. “I quit my job last week.”

“Why?” I leaned against the doorway, staring at her back.

“The dogs.” She turned toward me, still holding the bowl of milk.

“The-dogs?” I shook my head at her and we both jumped at a crashing sound from down the hall.

“Damn cat,” I said. “I’ll get it.”

I went to investigate, finding Sassy sitting on the bathroom counter, her tail swishing as she looked down over the edge-there was water everywhere.

“Stupid animal,” I muttered, heading back toward the kitchen for a broom. I turned the corner to the kitchen doorway. “Sassy knocked a glass off the-”

Katie was on her hands and knees on the kitchen table with my cereal bowl in front of her. Her eyes were closed, and I stood, transfixed, watching her tongue dipping into the bowl and then pulling back into her mouth as she lapped at the milk. I’d seen enough cats drinking to know what it looked like.

“Katie?” I whispered, still not quite believing what I was seeing. Her bottom was way up in the air, waving a little, and her hands were flat on the table as she leaned in to the bowl. When her eyes opened and she looked up at me, they were a huge, luminescent green and I noticed she had milk dribbling off her chin.

The pounding at the door made us both jump. Katie leapt off the table, eyes wide.

“Yeah?” I opened the door, still too stunned by Katie’s behavior to react. It was Malcolm. He didn’t say anything to me. It was like I wasn’t even there. Katie was standing in the doorway to the kitchen as he just barged in, stalking over to her.

“Where’s my stuff?” He leaned his hand above her head against the door frame. “I need my stuff, Katie!”

“I can’t find it.” Katie’s voice was small, and her hand was at her throat, fingering the cat statue there like it could protect her.

“Dude, I suggest you get the hell out of my house, before I call the cops.” It took everything I had to stay still and not make a move on the guy, no matter how big he was.

“Fuck you, Debbie Boone.” Malcolm snarled in my direction.

“Get out.” I opened the front door.

He laughed, looking back at Katie, and then stopped. When he turned back to me, his eyes were dark. “Listen, fairy boy,” he said, stepping toward me. I didn’t move back an inch. “You don’t tell me what to do.”

“This is my house. Get out of it.”

He snarled at me, and pushed me hard in the middle of the chest, slamming me against the door as he went out.

“This isn’t over! I want my stuff!” he yelled as I shut the door and hooked the chain. I hadn’t expected that to go so well. In fact, I’d expected to end up in the hospital. My heart was hammering in my chest.

“Baby, are you okay?”

She was collapsed on the floor, curled around herself, and I knelt beside her.

“Katie? Katie-did?” I used my nickname for her, trying to call her back from wherever she seemed to have gone. It wasn’t working. I tried to get her to stand, but she just went limp again, eyes blank. I listened for sounds of Malcolm coming back but didn’t hear anything.

I was no He-Man, but I got her propped over my shoulder and did a fireman’s carry to our bedroom, laying her on the bed. She curled up around herself like that again, her hand clutching the necklace I’d given her, and I just slid in beside her and curled myself around her too.

I held her like that, stroking her hair, waiting, half-listening for Malcolm to come back, wondering if I should call the cops. Or maybe an ambulance. Because Katie seemed almost catatonic.

“I’m sorry.” Those were the first words she said, and they startled me.

“For what?” My voice was thick and I realized that my hand had found its way up under her sweater and was resting flat against her bare belly. I started to withdraw it, but she tucked her hand over mine, pressing it there and then sliding it further upward.

“Oh, Katie.” I sighed. “No. Not like this.”

“Yes.” She slid my hand up over her bra and wiggled back against me. “Just like this.”

Turning in my arms, she wrapped herself around me as her mouth found mine. This was no chaste Katie-kiss-her tongue probed deep and her hands grabbed at my t-shirt, pulling it out of my jeans, seeking skin.

“Katie…” I groaned when her thigh moved between mine, rubbing there. I knew I should stop her, that I should call the cops about Malcolm, that we needed to talk, but the more she rubbed her soft body against me, the harder she kissed me, her mouth eagerly sucking and licking at mine, the further that part of my brain seemed to get.

She shoved my t-shirt up over my head and I let her as she nuzzled my neck, biting there, her teeth sharp, making me wince. She was sitting up on me then, looking down with greedy eyes in the half-light, pulling off her sweater, unhooking her bra. Her body was incredible. The necklace I’d given her swung between her high, pink-tipped breasts above her smooth, flat belly.

Part of me was still listening for Malcolm coming back, but that part of me was losing focus too. She grabbed my hands and put them on her breasts, leaning over to kiss me, grinding her hips into mine, denim against denim. God, the feel of her flesh under my hands, the way she moaned against my mouth when I squeezed her nipples, making her pelvis rock-I couldn’t resist.

I kissed her back, sucking her tongue into my mouth. Her belly undulated against mine, and I rolled over onto her, unsnapping and unzipping her jeans. My cock strained against the material as she rubbed her hand between my legs, scratching her nails there.

“Hurry,” she murmured as I tugged her jeans off. She was wearing a pair of pink panties, her pubic hair a dark patch underneath the pale material, and I remembered my comment in the laundry room about the neighbor’s pink panties. I wondered if Katie had gone out and purchased them just for me-but I didn’t have time to finish the thought before she was peeling them off, exposing her soft, glistening triangle.

“Come on.” She grabbed the waistband of my jeans as I knelt between her thighs, tugging at the snap, unzipping me, pulling them down my hips. It still wasn’t fast enough for her, and she knelt up, kissing me as she slipped a hand into my boxers, squeezing my shaft.

“Oh god.” I thrust into her hand and pressed her to me, her breasts flattening against my chest.

“Mmmm.” She hummed against my mouth, pushing me back onto the bed and then pulling my jeans and boxers off. My cock pointed straight up to the ceiling as she crawled up my legs on her hands and knees, her nipples grazing my thighs.

I groaned when she slipped the tip of my cock into her mouth and started giving me a hot, wet suck that seemed to go on and on. I couldn’t keep up with her-her hand and mouth and the eager noises she made. My breath came faster and faster, and my hand went to her hair, pressing in deeper. It just made her moan louder and the sound of her lust made me want to come in her mouth.

I held back, my eyes looking for a distraction. I could hear purring, and saw Sassy, the white cat, lazing on the dresser, watching us with half-closed eyes. Her motor was really running, and I wondered if cats knew when humans were having sex, what they were really doing and feeling. Ah, that was better-thinking about that helped hold off my climax.

I felt Katie’s nails scratching lightly over my balls, sending shivers through me. My eyes rolled back into my head as she continued to swallow my cock again and again, and I found myself petting her head, her hair soft under my fingers. Her tongue slipped underneath my cock as she sucked me, running under the shaft, and then she used her hand, pumping as she slid her mouth further down.

“Oh, Katie!” I cried, feeling her tongue moving over the sensitive skin of my balls. She lapped at me, long, rough licks that worked their way back up my shaft again. The skin there was tender, and her tongue was softly grating, almost irritating. The sensation was oddly familiar but somehow completely out of context. I couldn’t place it.

Jesus, what the hell is she doing?

My hand tightened in her hair, but there wasn’t anything to grip. I felt something softly pointed on the side of her head, moving, nuzzling, underneath my hand. When I looked down, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Katie’s eyes glowed a bright, luminescent green-that was the first thing I noticed and the one thing my mind seemed to want to stay focused on.

Blue. Katie’s eyes are blue.

My mind didn’t want to register the rest, and it was happening too fast for me to try to digest it. She slid her body upward, and I felt the skin of her belly and breasts, and that was all right, in fact that was incredible, but her thighs, spreading against mine, were so soft-impossibly soft, really, like she was covered in some sort of velvety down.

What the fuck?!

“Katie?” The light in the room was fading, but I could still see her eyes, that odd luminous green, as she nuzzled her way up my chest. Her body rumbled under my hands as she kissed me, her tongue rasping over mine, and I realized with a sudden jolt that it wasn’t Sassy I’d heard purring-it was Katie. The sound quivered through her and seemed to be coming from between her breasts as they pressed hard into my chest.

She sat up on me and pressed my cock between us, trapping me between her pussy lips and rocking. I gasped, looking up at her, my breath gone, just gone. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t possibly be seeing-was her hair pulled back? No-it was gone, just gone. My brain tried to assimilate the transformation, but there wasn’t enough blood left there as Katie tugged on my erection, which was still like steel in spite of my shock-it was as frozen as I was.

It was the long, black tail I saw swishing back and forth behind her back that brought my breath back, in one long groan, expressing both the pleasure of her sliding herself down onto my shaft and my sudden astonishment and dismay. Katie was purring louder now as she began to ride me, making little kitten noises as she rolled her hips.

Her eyes closed, concentrating on the sensation between her legs, and I started getting lost in my own. God damn, she felt good-I had to fight my first instinct to throw her off me in my shock, but I was starting to be carried away by the delicious, slick squeeze of her pussy. When I closed my eyes, I could imagine it was Katie-it was Katie-grinding herself on top of me.

My hands fell to her thighs, the long muscles in her legs working her up and down, and I felt the soft black fur there, running my fingers through it in wonder. She pressed her hands-paws? — down against me and began kneading my belly just like a kitten would. I didn’t feel any claws, but the sensation of her massaging my stomach while she made little circles on my cock was glorious.

She started making louder mewing sounds, little cries that sent shivers through me. I felt her muscles quivering around my cock, and I watched her face in the dimness, seeing the unmistakable shudder and tremble of an orgasm hovering there.

I wanted to be the one to take her there, and that’s what finally moved me. I grabbed her hips-oh god, she was covered in fur there too, luxuriously soft under my hands-thrusting deep up inside of her.

“Oh yes!” she cried, and I watched her knead her breasts, the tips of her fingers rubbing the nipples again and again. “Oh, Sebastian, yes!”

I groaned at the sound of my name in her mouth when she was so close, and I drove a little harder, a little faster, watching her ride the wave starting to overtake her. She leaned into me, biting her lip and gripping me with her thighs.

It happened like that, her body thundering with the quiet roar of her purr as she rubbed herself on top of me. I felt the rhythmic quaver of her cunt, the light fluttering of her muscles squeezing and releasing my cock as she gripped my shoulders, her claws sinking into my flesh, making me gasp.

“Oh god,” she whispered, and I winced as I felt her retracting her claws. I knew I had to be bleeding. It stung like a bitch. She was still purring like crazy, and I felt the wet pulse of her all around me.

I reached to touch her face as she rested against my chest. It was her face still, the delicate features, the little freckled nose, but there were whiskers emerging from her cheeks that quivered when I touched her and her ears twitched on the top of her dark head. The fur all over her body was sleek and black, covering every part of her except for her belly and breasts.

I looked at her in wonder, still not quite believing what I was seeing. “Are you okay?”

It was probably the dumbest thing in the world to say, but it was all I could think of. What was I supposed to ask? ‘Did you turn into a cat?’ My senses were telling me what had happened-it was my rational mind that needed to catch up.

“More than okay.” When she smiled and climbed off me, nuzzling my cock with her soft, furry head, like she wanted her ears scratched, my senses threatened to take over again.

When she turned around and presented her behind to me like an offering, and I saw her, open and exposed, her pussy lips swollen and wet, her black tail rising in the air and curving at the tip like a question mark, my senses weren’t threatening anymore-they overpowered everything else.

My cock knew exactly what it wanted and it jerked me up until I was kneeling behind her, spreading her lips with my fingers. I couldn’t resist tasting her, slipping my tongue into the softness between her thighs. It was a shock not to feel the wiry sensation of pubic hair against my lips, but rather a slick, light fuzz that gave way to the pink flesh of her pussy.

She purred loudly as I licked her from behind, lifting her ass high in the air so I could slide a finger into her wetness. Her tail twitched above my head, back and forth, putting her whole bottom on display, the pink tender flesh of her cunt and the little wink of her tiny asshole. I wanted to press my finger there, but I didn’t dare.

When I slid a hand down the fur along her spine, from her neck to her lower back, she arched, first down and then up, her pelvis tilting with the motion. When her bottom rose up again like that, I groaned, feeling my cock jump. I wanted her. I had to have her.

Kneeling up between her legs, I pressed my cock into the pink heat of her flesh. She cried out when I slid into her, burying myself balls-deep. Her tail swished slowly back and forth in front of my face as she arched, meeting my thrusts. The light was nearly gone now, but I saw her kneading the mattress in front of her, and I felt the roar of her purr deep in my pelvis. I could actually feel it vibrating my cock. It was extraordinary.

I grabbed her furry hips, feeling the shock of her fur-covered thighs every time I drove back into her. She made little mewing cries, louder and louder, and still the purring went on underneath, like a running motor, signaling her pleasure. She arched back, again and again, still massaging the mattress like it was clay or something she could shape and form with the heat and pressure of her hands.

“Oh god, Katie,” I groaned, feeling her tail curling around my back, the tug of it pulling me deeper as she rounded her spine and arched, again and again, purring and mewing all the while. I couldn’t stand much more, and I think she knew it.

“I want your cum,” she purred, the sound of her voice trembling with a soft vibrato. “Fill this pussy, baby.”

Oh, fuck! That was it-I jerked up hard against her fur-covered flesh, grunting as I thrust my cum into her, waves of hot, white fluid pulsing deep into her body. She mewed softly, and I felt the quivering of her muscles around me and I moaned louder as she came again around my cock, milking my shaft with her cunt.

When I slid out of her, she mewed again, a forlorn sound, and she turned around, nuzzling her head against my belly and chest, rubbing her velvety ears against me. Breathless, I collapsed back onto the bed and she followed, crawling up me and settling against my side, her furry thigh over mine, her whiskers tickling my cheek.

I stared up at the ceiling and listened to her purring, soft now, a low, contented sound. I waited until I was sure she was asleep before I tried slipping out from beneath her. She sighed and moved around on the bed a little, adjusting herself to my absence, but she stayed asleep. I could barely make out her outline on the bed now, but I knew what I’d seen, what I’d experienced. I grabbed my clothes, tugging them on as I headed out the door.

* * * *

I sat staring into the glowing square of the computer at the figure on the screen. I had typed one word into the library computer’s search engine: “Bast,” and had come up with 2,940,000 results. It wasn’t long before I found what I was looking for though. I clicked over to “images” and there it was-the little statue of the cat Katie wore around her neck.

It was the only explanation I could imagine.

The page read: “Bast is the daughter of Ra, and she is the intrinsic, instinctive rage of the sun-god. Bast is his instrument of vengeance. She is the cat-goddess of the Egyptian civilization who destroys vermin, but yet, she is approachable, if you are fearless, and she can be stroked.”

I sat there lost in my own thoughts for a long time. Too long. Students came and went. The librarian came over the speaker to tell patrons the library was closing in ten minutes. I didn’t think about Katie, alone in the apartment. Not until I pulled into our parking lot and shut off the engine. Sliding my keys into my pocket, I found the baseball cards I’d slipped in there. They were where Katie had remembered, but they were too high up on a shelf for her to reach, far in the back, in an unlabeled box. The pawn shop had confirmed their worth, all right. I was effectively carrying around $200,000 in my pocket.

I got out of the car, frowning at the house. It was quiet for a Friday night. That’s when I heard Cujo barking frantically upstairs.

When I rounded the corner, I saw Sassy sitting on our front steps, licking her paw and washing her ear. That was my first hint, and it jolted my numbed and overloaded senses awake again. I bolted to the top of the stairs to find the door wide open.

“Katie!”

I heard her crying. Oh, thank god. I closed my eyes for a moment. She’s alive.

I ran back to the bedroom, flipping on the overhead light. She was crouched on the bed, and I had a moment of deja-vu, remembering Sassy sitting on the step, washing herself. Katie looked almost the same, except that her black fur was matted in blood.

“Oh my god,” I breathed, seeing blood all over the covers. I looked her over to find where it was coming from. “Where are you hurt?”

“It’s not me,” she croaked, pointing to the other side of the bed.

When I peered over the side, I somehow already knew what I was going to find. It was Malcolm, his sightless eyes peering up at me, throat slit from ear to ear.

“What did you do?” I whispered, covering my mouth with my hand.

“I killed some vermin.” Those words jerked my head toward her, remembering what I’d found on the Internet, and I saw her green eyes flashing.

Katie’s eyes are blue.

I looked at the cat statue hanging around her neck for a moment, and then I looked into her eyes, wide with fear now.

I knew what I had to do.

“I love you, Katie.” I knelt next to her by the bed, taking her hand and turning it over, kissing a bare place on her palm where it wasn’t stained with blood. It was true, had always been true. Being with her was all I wanted to do, for the rest of my life. I’d been waiting patiently for months for something, not really knowing what it was I was waiting for, but now I knew. This Katie was the one I’d fallen in love with, the one I’d somehow known existed all along-buried, repressed, trapped, dormant. I didn’t believe in fate, exactly, but some part of me knew that none of this was an accident.

“I worship you,” I whispered, and that was true too. She’d brought me to my knees time and again, but I’d never given up hope for her, for us. “You’ve been my goddess since the day I met you.”

She gave me a small, trembling smile, the same smile I’d fallen in love with.

“Come on.” I stood and held out my hand. I knew I would do anything for her, even this, and was about to spend the rest of my life proving it. “We need to get you cleaned up.”

She cocked her head at me. “Where are we going?”

“Italy.” I pulled her up and headed toward the shower. “You’ll love it there.”