Heart Beats (Joker's Sin #3) - Davidson King Page 0,10

so hard he had to put his boxes down. “No, Lion is my pet. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

I didn’t move at first. Ledger looked over his shoulder and cocked a brow as if to say, “Move it.” Slowly, I stepped forward into his living space. It was a huge open plan for sure, but I had trouble focusing on the design because every sound made me feel like something was going to jump out at me.

Once I got my heart to stop trying to beat out of my chest, and nothing tried to murder me, I took in the place. It was vast, the living room and kitchen one big area. The walls were painted slate gray and white throughout the entire space. As I moved farther in, I saw a wall that blocked off the huge space and assumed Ledger’s bedroom was there. When Ledger opened the mysterious door, I heard the roar again.

“Yeah, no. I’ll stay here,” I said.

He shrugged and went through the door. I stood there, waiting for screams. My imagination was picturing a large cat mauling Ledger to pieces. Maybe I should’ve run to the elevator—self-preservation and all.

“How’s my fierce baby?” Ledger was talking in baby tones, and I wondered what was wrong with him, but still, I didn’t move. “Come here. I want to introduce you to someone.”

I was about to shout to tell him not to bother when I heard another voice. “Friend or foe?” What the hell?

“Friend.”

When Ledger stepped out I saw a bird…on his shoulder. A flipping bird. It was gray mostly, with white around its eyes. I spotted some red below and I figured that was his tail.

“Shane, this is Lion, Lion, I’d like you to meet Shane.”

“Um…hi?”

“Hello,” Lion squawked, and I chuckled.

“Did he make that roar when we got here?” I asked, my eyes not leaving the bird, still unsure if it was vicious or not.

“Yeah. He’s my security system.” When Ledger petted Lion, the bird nuzzled against his finger.

“What kind of bird is he?”

“African Grey Parrot.” Ledger fed it a snack he took from his pocket, and the bird munched away.

“It sounded so much like a real lion, and with the place being so big, the acoustics made it scary as hell.”

Ledger made toward the elevator. “Yeah, that’s a plus. Come on, we have to get the last of the boxes. I’m sure you’re tired and want to get some rest.”

“Wait,” I said. He turned, and he and the bird looked at me. “Don’t you have to like put him in a cage or something?”

Ledger rolled his eyes. “Lion doesn’t go in a cage. He lives here. He’d never leave me.”

I followed quickly and as we brought everything in, Lion never left Ledger’s shoulder.

“How’d you get him trained so well?”

Ledger placed Lion on the back of his large, black couch and waved at me to follow him. “I’ll get you a drink and tell you about Lion.”

There was no way I was passing up an opportunity to spend more time with Ledger. His place was fabulous, and I loved how open it was. I watched Lion fly around the space and chuckled. Ledger had beams instead of a solid ceiling, and I got the feeling Lion loved hanging out on those.

“I got Lion about five years ago. I was still living in my old place and was coming home from work. I heard fire trucks and saw a huge fire. It was about a mile from my place. It was a barge—I guess they were shipping animals and things…Anyway, I went to the roof of my apartment building to see better, and as I was sitting there, I saw this tiny bird. I thought it was a sparrow or something at first, but the longer I sat there, the more I realized it wasn’t. I also noticed it was hurt.” He handed me a beer and twisted his open as he spoke.

Lion must’ve known Ledger was talking about him, because he flew over and perched himself on his shoulder.

“I brought him to the vet, and the vet said he wasn’t sure if he was hurt in the fire or if it was shitty owners. He was malnourished and scared. He didn’t make any noise, and for a parrot that’s odd.”

I watched Lion, who was clearly in good shape now, and I realized Ledger was actually a big softy when it came to that bird.

“I kept him—well, more like he refused to leave me. I named him Lion