I didn’t offer advice because the men for me lately were just about sex. Those butterflies she was feeling, the uncertainty, the interest…I’d had that once but only once.
Her attention shifted to behind me, anger moved across her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked but looked and answered my own question. The man was big and muscled, the dog was too thin, his head down in submission, and his legs shook in fear. Every move the man made, the dog flinched. There were a few triggers that brought an irrational anger in me, and a bully was one of them because they reminded me of Brock, what he endured and how it fucked up his life.
I sat and watched the terrified dog, who didn’t run off, because the monster was his master, and the man who was getting off on the power. I didn’t think of the consequences, acted purely on rage, when I jumped from my chair and walked toward them. “Hey,” I shouted.
He glanced over. Cruelty just poured off him.
“Leave him alone.”
As if to prove his power, he ordered the dog to sit in a voice that had him peeing himself.
“You feel manly breaking his spirit,” I taunted. “Makes you a big man, does it?”
“Shut your fucking mouth.”
“You gonna hit me?”
He curled his fist.
“Better me than him. Do it.”
“You bitch.”
“You’re beating on a broken dog, but I’m the bitch.”
“You won’t shut your mouth, I’ll shut it for you.”
He raised his hand, but I didn’t move. I was riding completely on rage, all that I’d buried deep burst out. I was being irrational and reckless, but I didn’t give a fuck. There was a part of me that acknowledged I was taunting him because I felt something, a blinding rage, but it was a feeling as opposed to the numbness I’d been in for far too long.
His fist never connected because he was yanked back so hard that he dropped to his knees. Killian stood over him. For someone who didn’t show emotion, he was fucking pissed.
Someone else appeared, a kid in a uniform, cuffs in his hands.
“You got nothing to hold me on. I didn’t touch that cunt.”
Slowly, as the rage subsided, I came to appreciate the situation. His soulless eyes glaring at me caused a chill.
“Animal endangerment and abuse to start,” Killian said.
That had my eyes flying to Killian where I saw the silver star pinned to his shirt. He was the sheriff? Natalie forgot to mention that. Explained why he brought me home the other night.
“Lock him up, Johnny.”
“You got it, Boss.”
Those angry eyes turned on me. “You, with me.”
I glanced behind me to see if there was someone else that was directed at, but no, he was talking to me.
Natalie was at my side, offering support. Killian’s hard eyes turned to her. “Get him to the vet.”
She glanced at me. I nodded, before she hurried to the dog. One of the bystanders helped her.
Killian waited for me to take the two steps to join him, and when I did, he led me to the station, to the back. The door slammed shut, but he didn’t turn to me immediately. Every muscle in his body was tense. I braced because a storm was coming.
When he finally turned around, that emotionless mask was back in place. “That was the fucking stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”