AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My Mom and Dad drop me off at my place a few minutes past two o’clock. As soon as I get inside, I take my books and set them up at my tiny desk, push a pile of laundry off my chair, and get to work. It’s the other side of balance, the side where I have to make up for the time I spend with my family by working even harder than before. It feels good to dive in like this, to sink into my work and put everything else on the back burner. Even my feelings.Especiallymy feelings.
I work until there’s a knock at the door that startles me from my book. I look at my phone to check the time. Eight already?
“Come in!” I call, typing the final sentence on the page before I shut my laptop.
Cole opens the door, and FaerieBeast trots in ahead of him, his arms full of takeout bags, a tray of drinks, and FaerieBeast’s leash in his hand. She makes herself at home, running into the kitchen to drink from the water bowl I have there for her. Cole sets everything down on the countertop and wipes his brow.
“Sheesh. What did you order? We’re watching a movie, not hiking Everest.”
“Like you’re not going to eatmorethan half of this,” he retorts, pulling the containers out of their bags. The room is immediately filled with the smell of garlic, oranges, and sugar. “General Tsao’s chicken, beef with broccoli, and House Lo Mein.” He fills two plates with some of each, and carries them to the couch. “Do you want to study a bit before we start the movie?”
I hesitate, then shake my head. “No, I think I’m good. Maybe after.”
His eyebrows rise in shock. “Be still my heart,” he sings.
I throw a pillow at him. “Shut up and start the movie.” I plop down on the couch, grabbing my set of chopsticks.
It’s a horror film with enough spook factor to keep me on the edge of my seat, alternating between covering my eyes and shouting at the screen.
“Oh, don’t watch this, Faerie girl,” Cole says at one point, holding his hand up in front of the dog’s eyes. She’s asleep, snoring through our gasps and squeals.
After the movie ends, we tidy up the plates and table and I get Cole a blanket and pillow for the couch. By the time I close my bedroom door, he’s asleep, snoring in harmony with FaerieBeast.
I toss and turn, unable to sleep, my brain conjuring up scenes from the movie. It feels like I just closed my eyes when there’s a knock at my bedroom door.
“Rise and shine, soldier,” Cole barks in his best drill sergeant voice. “Coffee waits for no man, and there’s a seat at Cupitol with our name on it. And FaerieBeast needs her scone,”
I pull the pillow over my head, checking the clock with one eye. Seven-thirty.
“Why are we up so early?” I groan, getting out of bed in slow motion.
“Earth to Jordan, you’ve got class today. Coffee. Study. Class. You know the drill. Now up!”
A nine-thirty class, right. I hurry to get dressed, multitasking by brushing my teeth with one hand and pulling on my jeans with the other. We’re out the door before eight, FaerieBeast straining at the end of the leash in her puffy jacket. I loop my arm through Cole’s elbow and we march to Cupitol, ready to claim our booth. There’s a happy buzz in my chest at having things back to normal with Cole again, but I can’t seem to banish the pit in my stomach that grows every time I think of Tyson. It never ever occurred to me that I could miss somebody so much.
Chapter 27
Tyson
“Wow,youarefilthy.Do you even have fur under all of this?” I bring the nozzle closer to the Aussie-Retriever mix’s body, running warm water over the mud-caked coat until the dirt starts to loosen and run down into the tub.
“She’s been living outside for a long, long time,” Cindy, the head of volunteers at the animal shelter says as she drops a fresh pile of towels on the floor next to the tub. The smell of laundry detergent mixes with the aroma of dirty wet dog, making me wish I had a hand free to pinch my nose.
The dog wags her tail as Cindy passes. Her fur is matted and there are raw spots of skin visible on the skin, and splotches of pink on her prominent ribs and hip bones. Her name was Lucy, but I don’t think the person who treated her like this deserves to give her a name, so I’ll call her “Girl” for now.
“She’s really been through the wringer.” Girl leans into my fingers as I lather the soap into her fur, careful to use a gentle touch, especially near the raw patches. “Haven’t you, Girl? Was someone not treating you right?”
“She was so hungry, I think she would’ve inhaled the whole bag of kibble if we’d let her.” Cindy snarls.
Cindy is an older woman, hair streaked with gray, and has no tolerance for the assholes who treat animals this way. Frankly, I don’t understand how she walks away with the animal without giving the good-for-nothing owner a black eye. Maybe because she’s pint-sized, barely coming up to my chest and weighing about as much as a soaking-weight cat.
“Did the owner get any jail time?” I ask, hopeful.
“You know he didn’t. A slap on the wrist. A measly fine. Barely anything, and definitely not what he deserved. There’s no justice for innocentpossessionslike you out there, is there, girl?” Cindy pets Girl behind her ears and shakes her head, disgust obvious on her face.
“Any chance I can get his address?” I flex my fingers. A bully who picks on innocent animals who can’t defend themselves is the worst kind of bully. True monsters. “I could give him someadvicethat might make him reconsider ever doing something like this again.”
Cindy sizes me up. “I have no doubt about that, Tyson. But as I’ve said before and I will say every time you ask, we can’t go dealing out our own vigilante justice to every person who abuses an animal. Not enough hours in the day, I’m afraid. So let’s just do the good we can, okay?”
