Now, we sat in my car on the way home as she grumbled about wanting to go to the humane society.
That place was one that calmed her and she probably used it a lot of the time to distance herself from me.
I didn’t want distance anymore. I wanted Morina with her crystals and bikinis and baggy t-shirts to be only mine. I’d seen her out there on the beach with Quinton and I knew she might not belong to anyone but I was going to belong beside her at the very least.
Fucking mine.
That was the difference between her and others I’d been with. I hadn’t realized before. She was an ocean that moved and rocked with the wind. She couldn’t be owned by anyone but me. I’d be Poseidon if she was that. I wasn’t letting her go so easily.
The company shares would be worked out.
We could work things out together.
I veered toward where she volunteered.
The animal shelter was probably more for her than the animals. I found she came back happy, full of life, and smiling every time she went. She told me about the dogs and how Moonshine still hadn’t been adopted but she would be.
I had my doubts.
“What do you need to do there tonight?”
She didn’t answer, just glared at me. “I want to go by myself.”
“Too bad.”
“You’re such an asshole. You know that? You do everything for everyone else. You smile in their faces and accommodate everyone’s demands. And with me, you don’t try at all.”
That was probably true.
I didn’t give a fuck.
I let her stew. I’d stew too. She’d gone over the edge and I wasn’t willing to climb back up to sanity with her right now. She stormed out of the car and I sighed and pounded my fist on the dashboard.
You’re going to get a heart attack from a woman who probably wants you to drop dead.
Then I followed her in and watched as she packed up her little box at the front desk and stomped to the kennels. I observed her lighting each candle with care.
She soothed even animal souls with that spirit of hers. Why did she rattle mine instead?
I was hanging on by a thread after seeing her let Quinton pull her top off. I should have seen it coming, though. Elizabeth had been too bold in her advances and I shouldn’t have put my hand on her back. I hadn’t even glanced at Elizabeth throughout it all. I wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone the color of her outfit, if she’d worn heels or not. I could only describe the pain and fury in Morina’s eyes and knew they matched mine. Still, had a man been as close to her as Elizabeth was to me, well, I was already contemplating killing Quinton.
She’d toldhimthe story of her parents. That had pushed me completely over the edge.
Morina murmured to one of the dogs. “Should we play some music or just let the silence descend on us?”
They didn’t answer her but she still put on a thunderstorm. Moonshine whined and Morina opened the kennel and scooped her up. Her hair fell over her face and covered the dog too. The pup was almost too big for her to hold.
She went down the line, catering to each of the animals with the same amount of care, her attention never drifting back to me.
And my attention was solely on her. She’d been abandoned again and again by her parents and then one final time. She didn’t tell me they’d done that to her.
I understood her pain better and it was only because another man pulled the information from her.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your parents were addicts?”
She glanced back and then rolled her eyes. “So you were eavesdropping too?”
“Answer the question, Morina.”