He yanked the Blackhawk out of the holster and stopped himself, barely, from firing.

The big, fat tabby arched her back, looked at him, and swished her tail once, apparently having decided Hazard was not worth further attention. She strolled past him.

Hazard barely noticed; the aftermath was bad. He was shaking, and he had to try twice to get the Blackhawk holstered. Leaning against the wall, he let himself close his eyes. Just an overreaction, he told himself. When he opened his eyes, though, he could see himself in the mirror.

Footsteps from the front of the apartment told him Marcus was coming, so Hazard scrubbed his cheeks and moved back into the bedroom.

“You didn’t tell me he had a cat,” Hazard said.

“Princess isn’t just a cat,” Marcus said, scooping up the tabby. “She’s royalty.”

“Nico can’t even take care of himself. Exhibit A, this whole fucking apartment. Why the fuck does he have a cat?”

“Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”

“I almost shot the damn thing. It would have been nice to have a little warning, Marcus. For fuck’s sake, I could have killed it.”

“God, you’re such a drama queen,” Marcus said, nuzzling into Princess, who batted at his face and obviously wished she still had her front claws. “If you even cared about Nico, like, ten percent as much as he cared about you—”

“For the love of Christ, Marcus, I get it. I’m shit. I was a shitty boyfriend. I’m a shitty friend. I never deserved Nico. I understand. Get it all out of your fucking system and then shut the fuck up. It’s not my fault he’s not into you.”

Marcus’s eyes screwed shut, and he buried his face in Princess’s side. For a long moment, he stayed like this, his shoulders shaking. Princess stared at Hazard over Marcus’s head; her golden eyes made it very clear what she thought about this whole situation and, more importantly, who was to blame. Then Marcus hugged Princess against him so tight that Hazard was surprised her little kitty eyes didn’t bug out, and he shuffled back into the room and sat on the sofa, one hand over his face.

Hazard walked through the apartment again. He shut the front door. He searched the fridge, found a jug of sweetened iced tea, and poured a glass. When he carried it over to the sofa, Marcus still had his hand in his face, and his whole body was shaking.

“Come on,” Hazard said. “Have a few sips of this.”

Marcus shook his head.

“Come on,” Hazard said. “I, uh. I shouldn’t have said that. I was mad about something else, and I took it out on you.”

Marcus mumbled something into his hand.

“What?”

“I just don’t get it,” Marcus said in a slightly louder mumble. He delivered another eye-popping hug to Princess, who meowed a little, her back legs pedaling air as she tried to get purchase. “You’re so mean to him, and it doesn’t matter, he still—he still—he still loves you!” The last few words, delivered between choking sobs, shot up into a wail.