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But my eyes were all for the brown-eyed beauty that was wearing hot pink scrubs and dirty black shoes.
“Zakelina, you remember me, don’t you?” Brown eyes asked.
That’s when I realized that she’d broken eye contact when my eyes had started to scan her body.
With the unshapely scrubs she was wearing, I couldn’t tell anything about her body type.
Like, they were so big and baggy, there was no way to tell if she was curvy, fit or even had a little more junk in her trunk.
Hell, the only thing I could seriously tell was that she had very delicate wrists, and no outward signs of tattoos on her arms.
Unlike me.
I had so many on my arms that there wasn’t a lick of space left for any more ink.
Complete and total opposites we were, that was for sure.
“I do, Ms. Catori,” Zakelina confirmed with a nod.
Again, barely opening her lips to speak.
Catori.
First name or last?
“Please, call me Cat.” Catori must be her first name. “Are you ready to get to work?”
Hesitant, Zakelina nodded her head, but even I could tell she was not looking forward to what was about to happen.
Zach tensed, but Crockett placed her hand over his arm and gave him a look that clearly said ‘control yourself or else.’
I snorted, causing both Catori and Zach to look my way.
I mimed a whip at Zach, causing him to flip me off.
Catori, Crockett, and Zakelina all stared at me now.
“Ms. Cat,” Zakelina said as she made an honest effort of opening her mouth a little wider to speak. “This is my best friend, Laric.”
Cat’s eyes flared, as if she liked knowing my name.
But then that flare left just as quickly as it came.
“It’s nice to meet you, Laric,” Catori spoke quietly, almost timidly.
Her voice was soft. So fuckin’ soft.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would assume that she was a soft-spoken woman that rarely raised her voice when she wasn’t around people that she knew well.
She was likely an introvert while I was quite the opposite.
I did not like being left alone. When I was left alone, my thoughts turned turbulent, and I started thinking about things I’d rather not think about.
That was why, I had a feeling, Zakelina and I got along so well. Zakelina, like me, had a lot of baggage. When you gave us time to think, we thought about the worst possible things we could think about.
And that wasn’t always the best idea. Especially in the dead of night.
Hell, that’d been why I had dated my last girlfriend, Chastity, for so long.
She was something to help me focus on instead of the demons.
Chastity had been blonde, blue-eyed, and the complete opposite of the woman standing in front of me.
But even the short interaction that the woman and I had with our introductions was more heartfelt than what I’d felt for Chastity.
“Sorry, Lina.” Zach chimed in. I must’ve missed a comment from her. “But you’ll have to do it here in the living room with Crockett. Laric has a dog bite that he needs me to clean up and stitch for him.”
Catori’s eyes went wide and she looked from my hand to my face and back.
I grimaced and stood.
Being reminded of the dog bite brought back the pain.
And it was throbbing now.
Like a bitch.
“Yep, Al got a hold of me today,” I told Zakelina.
“Again?” she gasped, opening her mouth wide.
I wasn’t sure if the gasp was from pain or outrage on my behalf, but either way, it made my heart surge in fear.
I hated seeing her in pain in any way.
She reminded me so much of myself when I was a kid that it was uncanny.
Child abuse, in any form, was abhorrent.
But, especially to another child abuse victim, it was downright debilitating.
“Yes, again,” I confirmed.
Zakelina’s eyes met mine. “He’ll get better.”
I was glad that one of us had confidence in Al.
I sure didn’t.
Not at this point, anyway.
If this had been a few weeks ago when I’d first gotten him, I would’ve said maybe. But after spending eight weeks with the dog, and seeing absolutely no improvement, or hell even decline on some days, I wasn’t sure that this dog was going to make it.
But, like me, Zakelina saw a broken soul. And broken souls were attracted to other broken souls.
So, even though Al had bitten me today, I wouldn’t be giving up unless I absolutely had to.
“I hope so, darlin’. I hope so.” I patted her head lightly as I passed her on my way to the kitchen.
I passed so close to the woman, Catori, that I felt the heat of her body.
I smelled the soft feminine scent of her as well, and it was enough to make my chest tighten in anticipation.
What I did not notice, however, was the blush that crawled over her face and upper chest as I passed.
