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“Oh my God!” I cried out in surprise. “Tell him to let him go, Ignacia!”
Ignacia looked up as if she was just now seeing what was really happening.
She gave a half-hearted tug at the pitiful excuse for a leash—it was one of those long extendable leashes that people liked to use on walking trails to allow their dogs to go farther. The kinds that always tripped me up because it was inevitable that people wouldn’t get them reeled in time for me to pass.
The cat, Tater, I could tell was really banged up already.
And when the dog gave a vicious shake of his head, causing the cat to flop like it was already dead, I came unstuck from my door.
“No, Giant. Let the stupid ass cat go.” Ignacia gave another small tug on the lead.
Whirling around, I ran back inside for the thing that I used to take on my runs before I’d gotten my little concealed carry piece.
Running back out with it in my hand, I walked straight up to the dog and tapped the button twice.
I didn’t touch him with the prongs yet, but the moment he heard the sound, he whirled around and barked, startled.
The cat fell limply from his mouth, and I bent down and scooped the dead weight up with my shaking free hand.
The dog lunged at me, and I tapped the button again.
“Swear to God, Ignacia,” I growled as I looked at the dog. “If he even pretends to come at me again, I’m going to fuckin’ drop him.”
“You took his meal away.” Ignacia sniffed. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“What I think,” I snarled, “is that you need to control your motherfuckin’ dog!”
I ended that last part on a roar because the goddamn dog lunged at me again.
Luckily, this time I think Ignacia realized that I wasn’t fucking kidding.
She finally caught hold of the dog’s collar—something she could’ve done in the very beginning—and contained him for the most part.
“Leave,” I snapped. “Leave now, and I won’t ask questions about why the fuck you’re in my alley. Which, might I add, I own. You being back here is like you trespassing on my property. You have your second warning to leave. The next one I’ll be calling the cops and pressing charges since you can’t seem to stay off my property.”
My hissing words seemed to fall on deaf ears, but I didn’t fucking joke.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and had 9-1 dialed into the phone before she growled under her breath and turned to leave.
“Don’t you dare come back!” I called out, voice cracking.
Ignacia gave me the middle finger, and I steeled my spine to look at the poor cat in my arm.
I could feel his warm blood leaking all over my shirt, and I just knew it was going to be bad.
I looked down and instantly saw some of the damage.
His left front leg was holding on by tendons.
The second eye was almost gone, and oh, God. There were so many holes where he was bleeding from.
“Tater,” I cried as I cuddled him closer. “Oh, Tater.”
The cat wasn’t going to survive.
There was no way in hell.
But I got my keys anyway and ran out to my car.
I was crying profusely now, and the solid thump-thump of my walking boot slamming onto the asphalt sounded like death.
I hadn’t driven since I’d gotten the walking boot. With it being on my right leg, that meant it was kind of hard to do.
I was in sore need of not only groceries, but a run to Sephora.
Yet all of those things would have to wait.
Yanking my boot off the moment we got into the car, I tossed it in the passenger seat floorboard and then gently placed the cat on the seat beside me, thankful that there were a couple bags of towels I’d purchased from Target before I’d done the whole breaking my foot thing.
Tater let out a pitiful moaning sound when I started the car, but ultimately didn’t make another peep.
I’d just turned onto the main road that led out of downtown and frantically thought about where I’d seen a vet clinic.
The first one that I knew of was clear across town, and I contemplated pulling over to Google one that was closer when I realized I could barely see due to my tears.
Tater meowed, and I turned my face to see him with his eye open.
“Oh, baby,” I said, leaning over and pressing my hand to his chest. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’ll get you to a vet. We’ll get you to stop hurting.”
And that only made me cry all the harder.
At one point, I passed a biker, and it was as I saw him that I realized that the man that I’d been trying not to think about all day would be losing a friend.
