“Front seat it is.”
While struggling to conceal her smug grin, Demi latches Max into place before sliding into the back seat behind him. I stomp to the driver’s seat, wordlessly announcing my annoyance that my hand can’t warm Demi’s thigh during our drive.
It’s my favorite thing to do, and Max just stole it from me.
“Holy Mother of God.” I squeal like a bitch when my slide into the driver’s seat has my ear almost chewed off by a vicious, wild beast. Max is up in my face, growling, seething, and barking like a police attack dog.
I fall out of the car before my face is ripped off. Mercifully, Demi does the same, but her maneuver is more eloquent than mine. She lands on her feet, and I kick up dust with my ass.
“What the hell was that?” Demi asks after joining me at the front of the Buick’s hood. Her voice is as high as my brows. I’m as shocked as hell by the seemingly placid puppy sitting in the passenger seat of Rocco’s Buick, giving Demi gaga eyes. That wasnotthe face seething an inch from mine only moments ago. “It’s like a switch inside of him flicked on when you got in the car.”
“It was more than a switch. He’s a fucking psycho. We need to ask for a refund.”
Demi stops my stomp back to the animal shelter by bracing her hand on my arm. “Let me try something?”
“Oh, hell no,” I push out when she finalizes her sentence by slowly pacing toward the open driver’s side door.
I step back with my hands held in the air when Max responds to my grab of Demi’s arm by fogging the windshield with a string of growls. He’s fastened in, so technically, I should feel safe. I just don’t.
“Demi, if you get in that car…” I hate threatening her. It is the bane of my existence, and my objectives haven’t changed because we adopted a schizophrenic dog, but I don’t have a choice. She could get hurt. That overtakes anything. Morals. Ethics. Integrity. None of that matters when her life is on the line. “I’ll… I’ll…” I can’t do it. I can’t threaten her. So instead, I support her as I promised the night she cried in my arms. “Please be careful.”
After jerking up her chin, she rounds the car door. “Hey, Maxie. What’s got you all worked up?” The licking of Max’s lips is for Demi, but his evil glare is solely devoted to me. “I know he looks big and burly, but he really is a softie.” Aware her comment was for me, I roll my eyes. She often jokes I’ve been able to grow a beard since I was fourteen so I could easily slot into the big ‘teddy’ genre. “He just wants to get you out of here as fast as me.”
I don’t breathe when she slots into the driver’s seat, then I hit Max with a stern glare when he fails to cite an objection to her intrusion. I can’t say I blame him. If I had to pick between sitting next to Demi or me, I’d always choose the former.
“Come on,” Demi says with a giggle a short time later, loving the jealousy on my face. “If you behave, maybe he’ll let you have the front seat next time.”
With a grumble like she reneged on an offer of a blowjob on the way home, I trudge my way to the seat Max should be sitting in, for once, bowing out of a fight without any bloodshed.
14
Maddox
“Sweet mother of Jesus, we were playing, you friggin’ lunatic!” The pure bliss on Demi’s face switches to worry when I stumble back with a grumble. “Max needs to learn the difference between your moans and groans. He bit me on the ass.” I angle my head to the side when Demi clamps a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. “It isn’t funny. I think he drew blood.” She laughs even louder when I attempt to assess the damage Max did. Years of fighting have made me flexible both on and off the canvas, but not even rubber limbs would have me authenticating his bite is as vicious as his bark. “He’s not even sorry. Look at him.” I nudge my head to Max sitting next to our bed, grinning with his eyes. “He’s fucking smiling.”
“Aww. He is smiling. Look at that adorable face.” I pout like a child when Demi scoots across the mattress so she can scratch Max under his sloppy jowls. He drools as much as Demi does when she’s sleeping. He just does it while he’s awake. Excessive fluctuance seems to be his ultimate nighttime trick.
When I say that to Demi, she playfully tosses her fist into my stomach. It doubles Max’s toothy grin. “Don’t be a sourpuss. This wasyourplan. You wanted me to have a guard dog.”
“Yeah, I did,” I confess, unable to lie. “But I wanted him to keepothermen away from you. Not me. I’ve barely sampled your lips the past two days. Killjoy over here…” I once again nudge my head to a three-foot brick shithouse with fur, “… loves ruining my fun.”
My point is proven without precedent when Demi endeavors to lift my dropping lip by pressing her mouth to mine. I barely get in one full lick before Max is up in my business, warning me to back the fuck off without nothing but a glare.
“Your dog hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Demi talks over my mouth. She’s so desperate to have my lips on her, she’s willing to place my ass on the line to get it.
I’m not as eager. Max eats more than Caidyn and me combined, but I swear he eyes my cock like its sausage meat hanging in a deli window every single time I exit the bathroom in the buff. “He hates me enough, I’m confident in saying he’d rip my dick off without hesitation if he knew you wouldn’t be upset.” When I hit Demi with a flirty wink, my cock twitches back to life. “Lucky that willneveroccur within the next million years.”
My jaw falls to the floor when Demi shrugs. “It’s all right, but a million years is pushing it.”
“All right?You think my cock is onlyall right?” I clutch my chest, certain I’m about to die. “How could you be so cruel. What did my cock ever do to you?”
I get where Demi is going with this when she mutters, “The past two days…not a damn thing.” She returns my frisky wink, toothy grin and all. “Why do you think I’m trying to goad him into proving hisabilities.” She says ‘abilities’ with a purr that could have me doing a Flint. My cock hardens in an instant, and even quicker than that, I’ve forgotten about the fanged mental patient standing guard next to his owner.
After playfully tackling her, I pin Demi to our bed, uncaring that she’s freshly showered and smelling divine, whereas I reek to high heaven from an hour workout in the gym after my last run. My fight last Friday almost saw Dimitri’s investment take a loss. If Demi hadn’t shouted out my opponent’s weak spot I missed during our seven-round bout, I would have come out of the match a loser, and a majority of that loss could be blamed on me not putting in the hours of a full-time fighter. Well, if you exclude my part-time career as a drug mule.
Ignoring the bitter taste in the back of my mouth, I drag my scratchy beard down Demi’s stomach. The roughness of my beard near the apex of her thighs immediately suspends the scissor-like movements of her legs. She freezes like she did when I first found her in a towel before her hands fist the blanket and her eyes locked on me.
