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“We’ll get you a big lunch, I promise,” she says around her coffee while petting Hades’s head on her lap. The poor dog is muzzled again since we’re out in public, which bothers me since it’s still early and no one’s around.
“Take it off of him, baby,” I beg. “It’s only six in the morning. Nobody is going to be here this early on a Saturday.”
She shakes her head and pulls apart her scone. “I know he’s harmless. But all it takes is one person calling the police and I could lose him. Be happy I didn’t get him the muzzle shaped like a duckbill.”
I stop mid sip. “There’s such a thing?”
She nods with a smile. “It’s adorable, too.”
Oh, hell no.“Don’t you dare make my boy wear anything like that.”
Josephine cocks her head, the breeze catching a couple strands of her wavy hair. She gives a teasing smile. “So, he’s your boy now, hey?”
God, she looks fucking good with her hair all wavy and full from her braids yesterday.
“You’re both mine now,” I say with the utmost seriousness as I drink my coffee, watching her over the brim.
“Is that so?” says a snide voice from behind us.
I turn around in my seat and glare at Jacob.What the fuck is he doing here?Is he following my woman now?
Hades is up on all fours, snarling at Jacob. I run my hand down Hades’s back and feel his muscles shaking. The dog clearly dislikes Josephine’s ex-boyfriend. Was Jacob the intruder last night and Hades recognizes his scent?
“Jacob? You’re still in town? I would have thought you’d have already left for Denver.” Josephine asks with surprise, pulling on Hades’s leash to make him stop growling, but he doesn’t stop. I take the leash from her since I’m able to restrain him better.
Jacob smiles tightly down at her. “I’m staying near here, remember? Came here to get my morning coffee and breakfast. I was hoping to have some company last night and stayed in town.”
Having heard enough, I stand from my chair with Hades in front of me, making Jacob step back a pace.Good, a line needs to be drawn in the sand.
“Sorry, but Josephine will not be keeping you company again. She’s mine.”
Jacob gives me one of those polite smiles which really means ‘fuck off.’
“Didn’t realize you speak for Jo,” he chides before addressing Josephine. “So, what, you’re into bikers and bad boys now? Are you going to let him control your life? Seriously, what would your parents say if they knew?”
I bark a laugh and thumb at Josephine. “If you think she could be controlled, you really never knew her.” Josephine snorts in agreement.
“It doesn’t matter who I’m with, Jacob, as long as the person is decent, which Maceo is. He’s honest and compassionate, and all things I deserve in a relationship. And don’t bring my family into this. I’m done with their negative opinions anyways. No one, especially you, has the right to judge who I date,” Josephine chides back.
I frown because ‘date’ isn’t the word I would use. It simply isn’t strong enough for what we have together. I will address it later with her when dickhead is gone.
Jacob’s face puckers and his eyes narrow at her. “I won’t be leaving for Denver until after the weekend, maybe, and I’m not sure when I will return to San Diego. I have lots of vacation days I plan on using while I’m here,” he says in a possessive tone.
My fingers twist into the Velcro of Hades’s muzzle. Jacob just needs to give me a reason to unleash our hellhound.
Josephine sighs, like she’s exhausted with Jacob pushing himself on her. “You’ll be wasting your time sticking around here. I would head to Denver now or go back home if I were you.”
Anger is clearly etched on Jacob’s boyish face, and he takes a deliberate step toward Josephine.
Hades, suddenly free and clear of his muzzle and off his leash, takes a running leap at him. He jumps against his chest, snarling and gnashing his teeth near Jacob’s face. Jacob shrieks like a little kid.
“Whoops! He must have got away from me,” I say unapologetically, pulling Hades back to me by his collar. Hades continues to bark at Jacob, yanking hard. I hook him back up to his leash. “Wow! He really doesn’t like you. Almost as if he senses you’re a threat.”
Jacob’s eyes are bulging. “I’m the threat? He attacked me!”
I shrug my shoulders and hand the leash back to Josephine, who is looking as wide-eyed as Jacob. “He’s a guard dog. He protects Josephine with his life. He doesn’t attack anyone unless he senses a threat. Are you a threat, Jacob?”
Jacob straightens out his shirt and throws me eye daggers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
