“Oh no, poor Mr. Fluffy, are you all right? Did he hurt you?” She drew Mr. Fluffy out of her bag, inspecting him as well as she could with the amount of lighting there was out there.
“He bit me!” Spike stared down at her incredulously.
“You obviously scared him. He’s never bitten anyone before.”
Well, that she knew of. She’d only known the puppy for forty-eight hours and for most of those hours she was sleeping off a migraine.
“Why is he in your handbag?”
“I couldn’t leave him alone. He might get separation anxiety. Or have a panic attack. Poor baby. Did the big, mean man scare you? I bet he tastes bad too, doesn’t he?”
“For fuck’s sake,” the big man muttered.
“There’s no need to be so rude. We’re leaving.” She put Mr. Fluffy back in her bag and turned on her heel.
What a jerk! Why did she bother coming here? It was obvious he didn’t even have the brains to be worried.
“Wait!”
She stilled. She shouldn’t. She should ignore him the way he had ignored her. Thing is, she’d been raised with better manners.
“Yes?” She turned to look at him.
He gave her a once over. She stiffened, wondering what he saw. Did he find her lacking? Did he think her hips were too thick? Her boobs were too big and saggy?
What was it?
“Where’s your car?”
That’s what he wanted to ask her? She didn’t get it.
“I don’t have a car.”
“How you getting home?”
“I was going to call a taxi.”
He pinched the top of his nose. “At this time of night?”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“Lady, where did you come from?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?” she muttered.
“Can’t believe I’m saying this.”
“Saying what?” she asked. “At the moment you’re not saying anything that makes sense. If anyone is speaking gibberish, it’s you.”
He stiffened then let out a deep breath. “Fuck. Don’t come back here, okay? Ever.”
Hurt flooded her. Tiny pinpricks of pain stabbed through her skin. She wasn’t able to prevent the pain from filling her and it took her a long moment to push that hurt deep where it couldn’t reach her anymore.
If anyone knew what it was like to feel like she didn’t belong, it was Millie. But she didn’t care.
Or at least she tried not to. One day that box she kept everything locked up in was going to smash open. Everything would be laid bare. And she’d be overwhelmed by the feelings she’d kept at bay for years.
But today was not that day.