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“Run!” I cried out.
The footsteps went faster, turning from shuffles to hops. “Door’s open. Just come inside!”
The door swung open, revealing Theo’s worried face.
“Monster, go outside!” I cried out in frustration.
Monster started running like only a dog about to barf could do.
Theo, understanding the problem now, followed him at a much faster pace than she’d come in here with. I heard the back door open, the alarm start to go off, and then the door slam back shut.
Moments later, I was lying on the bed, wondering what I’d done in a previous life to deserve this.
She hesitantly arrived back at the door, took one look at me, and burst out laughing.
“This is not funny!” I bellowed, dislodging a piece of Monster barf off of my chest. I felt it roll down my side and start to seep into my shirt as well as, probably, my sheets.
She covered her hand with her mouth and tried to cover the laugh, but she needn’t have bothered. I could still very much see the laughter.
“The code to turn this off is 4894,” I called out loudly. “Can you please go turn it off before the police get called?”
She disappeared again, showing up moments later with it blissfully quiet and still laughing her ass off.
“Now, will you please find a way to get this massive pile of dog barf off my chest? Please?” I begged.
Five minutes later, with a garbage bag between her hands and the still warm throw up, she wasn’t laughing.
“This is disgusting,” she said.
“Try having it on your chest,” I countered.
She made a squeaking noise in her throat. “I can…I can only imagine.”
Monster barked at the door to be let in, and I growled in frustration.
“Do you want me to let him back in?” she asked softly.
I shook my head. “Negative. I’ll bet he barfs four more times tonight. His ass is sleeping in the dog house—literally.”
She finally managed to get most of the puke off of me, then gestured to the shirt. “I can cut it off you, and we can just roll it up…or you can take it off, and get this in your hair.”
“Cut it.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was shirtless and fresh out of the shower.
Unfortunately, I had to walk to the laundry room in only a towel.
Monster had barfed on my last clean shirt. My last clean, in really good shape, shirt.
I’d have to make a run tomorrow to the men’s section and get some when I took Theo to the store to get her own clothes.
Not that I had a problem with her staying in my clothes for the foreseeable future, because goddamn did she look so much better in them than me, but I wanted her to have her own things. To begin to feel comfortable here.
“You were right. He’s barfing again,” she murmured as she watched the dog heave from the glass sliding door that led to my back yard.
“He ate a sock today,” I admitted as I walked past her to the laundry room. “And he knows damn well when he eats socks it makes his stomach hurt. Yet, every fuckin’ time I accidentally leave a pair on the ground, he eats one. Like fuckin’ clockwork.”
I’d just made it to the door of the laundry room when I heard her gasp.
She must’ve turned around and seen my naked back.
Grinning, I walked inside and closed the door almost all the way, allowing a large enough gap in the door to allow her to look if she so chose.
I wasn’t sure if she did or didn’t, but I wanted nothing more than for her to look.
“Hey, your phone is ringing!” Theo said, sounding not as distant as I would’ve thought.
“Can you bring it to me?” I called out, hurriedly slipping into a pair of sweats sans underwear.
I heard her feet pounding as she once again hurried in the direction of the room, and I closed my eyes as I carefully thought about why I liked the sound so much.
I just liked her.
A lot.
I also liked the fact that she was where she was supposed to be—with me, in my house.
But not for long.
I viciously tore myself away from those thoughts.
I couldn’t think about that right now. Couldn’t think about that at all.
Because if I did, I’d admit that I really didn’t want her to leave. I’d also have to admit that there was something about her that called to me—to the man that I was within. Not to the person that I let the world see.
I wanted her to know the real me…and that was where it got dangerous.
I couldn’t let her know the real me. I…
“Here,” Theo said breathlessly, breaking me out of my inner thoughts.
I blinked, swallowed hard, and then took the phone from her hand.
After catching her eyes, I gave her what I hoped wasn’t a forced looking grin, and then placed the phone to my ear.
