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“The ER was filled with all sorts of goodies,” Pike said, dropping the bags to join the mountain of bags we already had stacked. “More suture- What’s wrong?” he asked, picking up on my body language and looking around.
“Can’t you feel it?” I asked. “Something is watching us,” I told him.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just the creepiness of being left alone?” Ethan asked gently.
“Oh, I’m sure,” I replied. There was a rustling in the trees across the road from the entrance to the hospital, and our eyes all snapped to that area. “See!” I hissed.
“I stand corrected,” Ethan hissed back. We waited, weapons drawn, for whatever was out there to show itself.
Chapter nine
Twigssnappedastheyapproached. Then, to my surprise, a black and tan dog stepped out of the overgrowth.
“It’s a German Shepherd!” Pike exclaimed quietly. It watched us cautiously as Ethan put his knife away and approached it.
“Be careful!” I told him. “You don’t know if it’s friendly or not.” He crouched down several feet away and started talking to it.”
“Hey, pretty baby, come here,” he crooned, clicking his tongue. The dog turned its head to the side curiously and took a tentative step towards him. “Pike, bring me a piece of jerky, would you?”
Pike grabbed a couple of pieces before I could protest them, feeding our food to a wild animal that could still rip our throats out at a moment's notice. He slowly crouched next to Ethan and handed him one of the pieces of jerky. I watched with some amusement as they began to baby-talk, the dog slowly creeping closer to them on its belly.
Once it was close enough, it delicately took a piece of jerky from Ethan’s hand and fell in love. The dog immediately rolled over on its back and practically melted into the floor when both men petted it. “It’s a girl,” Ethan called back to me, “and she’s a real sweetheart, aren’t you? Yes, you are!” I rolled my eyes and sheathed my knife as I approached. When she saw me coming closer, she moved back to her feet and started growling.
I froze in place but glared at her. “Really? Who do you think made the jerky you’re eating, ungrateful?” Ethan reached back and grabbed my hand, pulling me to them to crouch between him and Pike.
“Hold out your hand so she can smell you,” he told me. “It’s ok, pretty girl. Bailey is a friend. We like her.” He stroked her head softly, bringing my hand to her nose to sniff.
“I think smelling me is half the problem,” I said dryly, “I currently smell like a zombie, remember.”
“Ok, but she’s a smart girl. She’ll see that you aren’t one,” Pike said. She sniffed my hand and then huffed at me before turning her head to dismiss me. Her tail thumped against the floor as she gazed up at Ethan lovingly.
“Can we keep her?” Ethan asked.
“Fine, but only if I get to name the little witch,” I grumbled. I put my hand on Ethan’s thigh to stand, and she growled at me softly. “Get used to it,” I told her, “he was mine first.” I returned to where I had laid out our meal and sat down—stupid dog. The men followed me, and the dog followed Ethan, sitting on his other side as he sat beside me.
“Don’t be jealous, baby,” he said, grinning. I rolled my eyes and began shelling my egg.
“What are you going to name her?” Pike asked.
“Witch,” I said without hesitation. They both chuckled but didn’t comment. “And she stays outside.”
“That’s fine. She can be our little guard dog. You’ll be a good guard dog, won’t you?” Ethan said to her, stroking her back. She leaned into his touch and sighed contentedly. I rolled my eyes and bit into my egg. We sat silently as we ate and rested for about five minutes before the unmistakable sound of engines approached.
I stood excitedly and grinned when two vehicles pulled up. One was a twelve-foot moving truck, which Boone hopped out of with a massive grin. The other was a Ford F-250 with a covered trailer hooked to it. Caleb slid from the truck with a smug look on his face.
“Did I do good, or did I do good?” he asked.
“You did great!” I said excitedly, jumping into his arms. “Do we have enough gas to get us home?”
“Sure do,” he said. He wrapped his arms around me, his hands on my ass to hold me up. He spun us around to press me up against the side of the pickup. “Boosting cars really gets the blood pumping,” he said quietly. He trailed light kisses down my neck, and I tipped my head to the side to give him better access.
“Umm, where did the dog come from, and why is it eating our food?” Boone asked.
“What!?” I shrieked. I pushed Caleb back and dropped to my feet. Sure enough, Witch was taking advantage of the distraction to eat the rest of the food I had put out. “No! Witch! Bad dog!” I yelled as I stomped over to chase her away. She looked up at me and growled, baring her teeth at me as she stood over the scraps of food left.
I immediately pulled my gun and pointed it at her head. “I will shoot you,” I growled back at her. I guess she was smart since she stopped growling and slowly backed away while staring at the gun. “Ethan! Get your new girlfriend. She ate the food.”
“Come here, Witch. Come here, girl. That’s a good girl,” he called. She walked up to him with her head hung slightly as she wagged her tail slowly. “See, she’s sorry, Bails. Hers is sorries. No need to shoot her.”
