AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I’m done, I towel off while standing on a soft bathmat. I brush my teeth and get ready for the day, slipping on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and tying my hair up into a low ponytail. I’m out of contacts. I need to order more while I’m home. I clean my glasses with my t-shirt and slip them on.
“You look lovely,” Vince calls when I walk down the stairs.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
He’s wearing dark jeans and a deceptively simple white t-shirt that probably costs four hundred bucks. It clings to his torso in all the right places. His biceps ripple as he pulls me into a hug.
“You smell good. Did you find my sugar scrub?” he asks.
I pull away for a moment. “That’s yours?!”
“Yeah. Okay, don’t tell Apollo or Henry, but I love a good excuse to exfoliate. It makes me feel fresh, like when snakes shed their skin. It’s satisfying.”
I can’t help myself. I start laughing. “I won’t tell. God, I thought it was your ex’s or something.”
“Oh no. I don’t let anyone into my house,” Vince quips. “I don’t want Violet to get too attached. Speaking of …” he nods to his left, and I see Violet sitting politely at the front door, wearing a hot pink collar.
“Ask her if she wants to go for a w-a-l-k,” Vince stage-whispers.
“Okay, um. Hey, Violet. Do you want to go for a walk?”
Violet whines in affirmation and scratches at a nearby closet.
“She knows where her leash is because she’s a genius,” Vince supplies. He walks over to her and strokes her ears, opening the closet to pull out a long, black leather leash.
“Vi, sit.” Violet sits at Vince’s side and leans her head against his thigh as he clips the leash to her collar. Her tail thumps against the ground.
Violet pulls Vince out through the front door, and I follow behind, watching as Violet intently sniffs each plant that lines the driveway.
She goes to inhale a mouthful of grass, and Vince yanks her leash, “Violet, no!” he chastises.
“I swear, I drop so much money on her food, but all she wants to do is eat plants and wood chips,” Vince grumbles as we walk down the driveway.
The houses in Vince’s neighborhood look more like castles made out of stucco with landscaping budgets that would rival most botanical gardens. We pass houses with fountains of Greek Gods in the front, houses with Ferraris lining the driveway the way, and elaborate curlicued iron gates. I spot an actress walking her pug, and she gives Vince a dirty look as Violet approaches him; her head’s approximately the size of his body.
“She’s friendly,” Vince supplies as Violet’s tail wags, almost knocking the pug over.
“Is she?” The actress shoots back as Violet places her human-sized paw on the pug’s delicate head.
“She’s trying to play! Gentle, Violet,” Vince says, tugging at her leash.
The pug stands on his hind legs. At his full height, he barely hovers above Violet’s paw. He leaps up and yips. Violet licks him, coating his body in slobber.
“Can I get a picture?” Vince asks. The actress grimaces and starts to pose.
“Oh, sorry, ma’am, not you. Of Vi and her new friend,” Vince clarifies.
“What’s his name?” Vince asks as he snaps a photo of Violet and the pug.
Violet’s lying on her back, and the pug is clamoring around on her like she’s a playground. It is cute, but the actress looks genuinely offended.
“His name’s Reginald,” the actress says.
“Violet and Reginald, how lovely. Here,” Vince hands her his phone, “What’s your number? The dogs should play sometime. Violet needs more friends in the neighborhood, and there’s that dog park on Wysteria.”
“Well, now that I have your number, I’ll have to call you sometime so we can go somewhere without our dogs,” the actress coos as she types her number into his phone.
Vince shrugs. “Nah. I’m taken. That’s my girlfriend, Lyndsey!” Vince says, pointing to me.
