“Shut up, you like what I do to you. Even when I’m rough with you, you come, so don’t fucking lie.” I’d never push her too far. I always make sure she enjoys it too.
“No.” She shakes her head. “That’s not what I mean. You don’t hurt me when we have sex. It’s just… I don’t know what this is between us. You don’t talk to me. Every time I think we’re getting close, you push me away.”
“What do you expect? How do you want me to act? Like fucking prince charming?” I squeeze my hand around her throat before I release her completely. “This is who I am.” I jab my finger into my chest. “And that’s not going to change.”
“I’m not asking you to change. I’m asking you to let me in.”
“That’s not going to happen either. I could never trust you again.”
Her face contours into pain, like the words physically hurt her. Part of me wants to wrap her into my arms and tell her I don’t mean it. Instead, I hold on to that last bit of pain. I have to because if I don’t, I won’t survive letting her go when this is over.
* * *
We’reon our way to pick up Mojo. I have Penny in the truck, and together we’re about to go on an extended vacation.
I should be in a great mood.But I am definitely not.
I let what Penny said earlier replay in my mind. She wants me to let her in and not push her away. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how. This will never work. Not in the long run anyway. She’ll come to realize that soon enough.
“I think you just passed it,” Penny’s voice drags me out of my daydream. “There was a vet on the right.”
“Shit, yeah.” I make a U-turn and pull into the vet’s parking lot a few minutes later.
Penny gets out with me, and together we walk into the vet’s clinic Mojo has been at for the last few days. I pay the lady at the front, and she has someone else go get my dog from the kennel in the back.
When the guy walks my 150lb Rottweiler into the lobby, I smile. Mojo looks like shit, groggy as hell, and there is a good-sized shaved spot on his side. The scar still looks angry and red, but when he sees me, he perks up a little.
“Hey, bud.” I get down on one knee and run my hands through his fur, giving him a good behind the ear rub. He nuzzles his face into my chest, just as I see Penny kneeling down next to us.
Her small hand reaches out and pets him between the shoulder blades. He waddles closer to her and goes to lick her face with his slobbery tongue.
“We took the stitches out and left the cone off. He hasn’t messed with the incision so far, but if he does, he’ll have to wear the cone again.”
“Got it.” I nod as I stand back up, and the guy hands me Mojo’s leash.
As soon as we walk out through the front door, I see him.
Maddox is sitting on his bike, parked right next to my truck.Fuck!
“Get in the back seat with Mojo,” I tell Penny.
When I glance over at her, I see her face has gone pale, and her shoulders are slouched, almost like she is trying to make herself smaller… invisible.
“It’s going to be okay, just do as I say,” I tell her. She moves closer to me and slows her walk, so she is positioned a little behind me as we approach my friend.
Opening the back door, Penny scurries inside, then I lift Mojo onto the backseat as well.
“How the hell did you know when I was coming?” I ask after I shut the door. I’m not really mad at him, but I am annoyed that he is here. I shut down my phone for a reason.
“Called them this morning, asking when I was supposed to pick up Mojo.”
“Of course, you did. Look, I know this is not how it’s done, but I’m leaving town for a few weeks–”
“I know where Tucker is,” Maddox interject.
“Where?”
“If I tell you, what are you going to do with him?”