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He turns and walks away this time. Tate is a lighthearted, easygoing guy who loves to joke and laugh. So when he gets serious, people listen. He doesn’t hand out that kind of advice on a whim. When he speaks about things that matter, he’s wiser than anyone gives him credit for. Sometimes, I think he may have missed his calling and should’ve been a psychologist or something.
When I’m in my truck, I check my phone to see if I have any missed calls or texts from Brittney. I don’t and it’s more depressing than it should be. I wonder what she’s been up to all day, and I hope I’ll see her tonight.
I call Wren and let her know I’m dropping by. She tells me she’s at Family Paws, the animal shelter she helped fund and build. When I get there, I walk in and the girl up front blushes as she directs me to the back where my sister is sitting on the floor of a kennel with a smaller dog who is crouched in the back corner shivering.
“What are you doing, Wren?” I ask, perplexed by her sitting inside the kennel.
Without glancing in my direction, she answers, “I’m trying to get this poor baby to trust me. Do you think I’m sitting in a dog kennel for shits and giggles?”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. It sounds likeHurricane Wrenmay make an appearance in the near future. “What’s his story?”
Wren cranes her neck to regard me with eyes that are almost like mine. They’re more hazel like Mamma’s but with flecks of green. “She. And some jackass thought she’d be better off starving and left to die in a ditch on a scarcely traveled dirt road than to treat her with the common decency she deserves. She may lose her front leg because it was wrapped tightly in a fence when she was found.”
I move slightly closer, and the animal somehow shrinks even smaller than before and faces the wall. Wren blows out puff of air after she climbs out of the kennel, securing the door when she stands. She turns toward me but doesn’t look me in the eye.
I reach for my sister and tip her chin up. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
Her watery eyes meet mine, prompting me to wrap her in a hug. I can’t stand to see my sister or my mamma cry. She hugs me back and sniffs into my shoulder. We pull back and she quickly swipes her cheeks to erase the evidence she has a heart beneath her stormy exterior.
“I love being here at the shelter and helping the animals find homes and spending time with them, but something about this one has gotten under my skin. I can’t stand to think what she must’ve felt when she was abandoned and starving with no one who cared. I want her to trust me so she can find a good home when she’s ready. I mean, her stay will be extensive here because of the need to rehab her once she’s in the clear, but if I don’t help, who will? I feel an overwhelming need to make sure she gets the life she deserves.”
I smile at my secretly kind sister. Most days she’s hell on wheels and spoiled. At least in my eyes. But she’s got one of the biggest hearts out of anyone I know, even if she tries to hide it. “Why don’t you keep her when she’s ready for a home?”
She glances at me with surprised wide eyes. “I don’t have pets. We never have. I’m always busy. She needs someone to love her and give her all the attention she could possibly want.”
I shrug my shoulders casually. “It was just a thought, Wren.”
She bites her lip and gazes at the little ball of fur still in the same place she left it. Then she peers back up at me. “What are you doing here anyway, Hawk?”
“I wanted to check on you and see if anything else strange has happened that maybe you wrote off as nothing. When was the last time this black vehicle appeared?”
She crosses her arms and her nostrils flare. “Last night it creeped by here when I was leaving, but I can’t think of anything else out of the ordinary,” she says, but her eyes shift to the side briefly.
I clench my jaw because she’s not telling me something, but I don’t call her on it right now. “Promise me you’ll tell me if anything else happens. It’s important.”
Her fiery stare penetrates my own determined one. “Why, Hawk? What’s caught up with you now? Or should I ask who instead?”
I clench my teeth together. Wren only knows I came home with a bitter outlook on life when I got back, but she doesn’t know why. I told her our father was a sick bastard and it’s all I left her with. She trusts me completely, so she didn’t need more. And up until now, nothing has dared to touch her. I’ll make sure it stays that way.
“Nothing that will touch you,sorellina.”
She stares at me blankly as if trying to find a way to read my mind. “I’ll let you know, I promise. But I can handle whatever comes my way.”
I kiss the top of her head and then smile as I start to back away. “Don’t give up on the dog. You’ll win her trust, I’m sure of it.”
A ghost of a smile touches her lips. “I don’t give up, you know that.”
I get back in my truck and decide to drive by High Road. When I don’t see Brittney’s SUV, I make my way to her apartment. Except, her SUV is still nowhere in sight. My gut churns with dread and I do something I should’ve done this morning. I dial the number that used to be Matteo’s and hope it still is.
He answers on the second ring. “Hawk Abbott, the lost son. We’re talking a lot lately. What can I do for you?”
My knuckles turn white as I grip the steering wheel so tight it might break. “Where is she?” I ask with deadly calm.
He laughs like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The hell you don’t. I told you to stay away from her. If you want to come for me, then bring it. Leave her and everyone else out of it. I’ve been waiting on this for a long time.”
“Oh, Hawk. Don’t you remember? I don’t fight fair. I told you I’d take her from you and make her mine,” he says in a mocking tone.
