far too happy to be in the presence of Jeremy, I call out, “Come into my bush, Jerebear.”
He stops so abruptly that the poor dog hits the end of the leash. Jeremy stands still for a moment, the scowl on his face deepening.
“Join me in the bush,” I say.
Jeremy looks over at the bush, walks closer and peers behind it just to glare at us. “I’m not even going to ask or care,” he decides as his dog thinks otherwise.
“Jerebear, how come your dog is so cute and you’re so mean?” I ask as the dog busts through the bush to wiggle and ask for attention.
“Dammit, don’t look at them. Bite them if you need to. Come on,” he cries, giving the dog a tug as it mauls me with love.
“Jerebear, they say that dogs recognize good in people,” I say as the dog drops onto my lap and rolls onto his back for a belly rub.
“Yeah, well, my dog watched a mouse walk over his paw yesterday, so he’s not the best judge of character.” He reaches down and picks the sixty-pound dog up to get him off my lap before busting back through the bush. “Sometimes, I want to ask what’s going on, and then I realize… you two are both crazy and I should leave.”
“We’re hunting a perv,” I tell him, since it’s clear he wants to know.
“It’s weird that right now, you two kind of look like the perverts,” he warns us.
“That’s reasonable. Have a good walk. If you see a perv who’s about six foot with brown hair cut short, narrowed eyes and a constant scowl who’s walking or carrying a black dog, let us know.”
His eyes narrow (like my prediction) as he realizes I’m describing him. Instead of rebutting my assessment, he grunts as he hurries off carrying his dog like it’s a lapdog.
“Have you heard anything else about him and Cassel?” Jackson asks curiously.
After Jeremy had helped Cassel when he’d been shot, Cassel suffered enough brain damage to think that he actually wanted to be with Jeremy. I’ve tried undoing the brain damage by punching him on occasion and, oddly, it doesn’t seem to be working.
“Not besides Cassel randomly remarking how handsome he is. It’s just creepy and weird.”
“Cassel’s really attractive too—”
“Excuse me, what?” I ask as I lower my binoculars.
Jackson shrugs. “You’ve said it yourself.”
“Yeah, it’s fine when I say it. My god, are you wanting to have a threesome now?”
He sighs while almost looking disappointed. “Yes, definitely. That’s definitely why I said it.”
I grin at him. “You naughty boy.”
We sit for a while and wait and watch as I press up against Jackson. He keeps an arm hooked around my side as we do our best to keep an eye on the whole park. The students leaving the game start wandering through and I try to keep a good eye on the girls who are walking alone or with just one other, but they all seem to make it from point A to point B with no issues.
“There’s a cop,” Jackson says. “They must be taking this more seriously.”
“Good, but if they grab him before us, they probably won’t crush his balls.”
“Probably not, but as long as the man is taken in, I think it’ll be fine. Quiet… the cop is patrolling this way.”
We stay quiet as the officer walks past us. That’s when I notice a lone man step out behind a girl talking on the phone.
“Jackson,” I whisper as I nudge him and nod.
“Let’s move closer but try to stay out of sight,” he says. We get up and Jackson pulls out his phone to record the man so we have “documented proof.” The only issue with this is when the cops want to know why the man has two balls during the video and none when I pass him over. But I love Jackson, so he can do what he wants.
We stay far enough back and out of sight of the man to watch him. Right now, he’s just tailing her, but she seems to have noticed and picked up speed. When he matches her speed, I know we have him, we just have to wait for him to make the move.
“Police! Stop right there!”
Five
Leland
Ah, fine, the police can have him. I wanted to torture him a bit first, but if the police are willing—wait… why is the officer stepping in front of us?
Jackson pulls me to a stop as the officer faces us.
“Wait… what?” I ask as