AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I pause and lift my brow at her. “Even before the fire?”
Nodding, she bites her bottom lip as she looks around our little picnic spot if you want to call it that.
“What is it, boy?” I ask.
Kraine shoots off running.
“Shit!”
I take off behind him without hesitation, but my ankle screams at me and rolls. I slow down, furious my body won’t let me do what I do best.
“Kraine!”
Pop.
A gun goes off in the distance, and my heart pounds in my chest.
“Kraine!”
Ignoring my ankle, I run as fast as I can as worry engulfs me. If Kraine’s shot, I’m going to go on a rampage. Not only have I fallen in love with the dog, but Maitlyn will be destroyed, and like hell, I’ll endure that without severe consequences to whoever hurts her.
A man’s screaming, and when I round the corner of the mountain, Kraine has his mouth wrapped around the man’s hand, and there’s a gun flailing wildly.
Maitlyn’s coming up from behind me, and I want to yell at her to run, but I don’t want to give myself away. I have nothing to protect myself from a gun, so I jump behind a charred tree as Kraine and the man struggle. The dog never gives up, and he’s ferocious in his attack. The man drops the gun, kicking at Kraine.
Rage boils inside me.
“Never fuckin’ liked you, dog. Now, I’ll kill you, too.”
Her ex? Fuck! He’s following her.
There’s no running for me, but Kraine has him occupied, and the gun is past them. I move to get it while Kraine kicks the gun away from the ex’s reach, but Kraine lets go and moves to protect me as the other man grabs the gun and points it at us. His hand shakes as his blood and bite marks are all over his hand and arm.
“If I can’t have her, no one can.”
Is this guy for real? Are we in a bad movie?
I know I’m sleep deprived, but this is something from a B-list thriller movie. But telling him that isn’t going to help.
Holding my hands up in surrender, I calmly say, “Hey, I get it. It hurts to find out the person you loved isn’t who you thought they were.”
The man rage-spits as he talks. “No, you’re gonna be hurt, and she’ll be out of my life.”
“Letting go of someone can be hard. I know,” I soften my voice even more and Kraine stops barking.
The guy cocks his head. “She blamed me for everything!”
“And that’s her choice. You can choose to be the bigger person, or you can choose to spend the rest of your life in prison.”
“She won’t make you happy.” He takes a step back.
“No one is supposed to make you happy. You makeyouhappy.” I step closer, hoping to get through to him.
The man steps back, keeping our distance. “I never meant to hurt anyone.” He lowers the gun to his side. “I’m just tired of feeling like I lost something.”
I agree. She’s something fuckin’ perfect and I don’t want to be in the same boat.
I ease myself closer. “I know how it is. You’re gonna be okay without her, but we need to get you some medical attention for those bites. Can you please put down the gun?” I imagine he’s going to need a ton of stitches and therapy. Lots of therapy.
