in the air behind him like a snake charmer’s flute.
“Come on, boy. Give me the cat,” I said.
As soon as I reached out for it he darted off, this time to the left, and ran another large circle around me.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him today. He’s usually so well behaved,” said Ian, laughing at the giant dog’s antics.
I was not amused. Once again I looked like a fool, being yanked around by a slobbering mutt. I was sweaty, dirty, red-faced, and now, a dog was outwitting me. Josh finally made his appearance, walking with his head down, looking thoroughly defeated.
“Just let him run, I can’t catch him,” he yelled.
“He’s got my cat!” Marcelo pointed to the dog.
“He’ll drop it. Just ignore him and walk away. Once he realizes you’re not interested, he’ll lose interest as well,” Josh said.
“What if he rips it to shreds? Or eats it?” I was a little sick to my stomach just thinking about it. We’d put the cat on ice, so it hadn’t decomposed yet but having it in the dog’s mouth couldn’t be good for anybody.
“What? Are you afraid he’ll hurt her?” Marcelo teased. The three of them began to laugh and the sound distracted the dog. I took advantage of the moment and grabbed the dead cat by the front paws and ripped it out of his jaws. The dog jumped at me, his jaws snapping together in an attempt to wrestle it back from me. I stumbled back several steps but kept it out of his reach.
“That’s enough,” Josh scolded the dog, but Shaolin didn’t seem to agree with him. He lunged forward again, trying to grab it out of my hands.
I felt my foot slip into the tiny hole I’d carved out in the hard, rocky dirt thirty minutes ago. I lost my balance and I knew that Shaolin would take advantage of the moment, so I twisted as I fell to the ground, sticking my hip out to keep him away from the carcass. Just as I predicted, he lunged, jaws snapping and I snatched the dead cat away from his mouth and presented him with my ass instead.
What I hadn’t predicted was how fast and sharp a dog bite could be. It was obvious that I wasn’t the target. As soon as I yelped in pain, the dog backed away, making no attempt to regain possession of the cat or jump on me. I was now on the ground, the cat beside me, with a tiny rip in the seat of my pants where an overzealous dog had just bitten me. Could this afternoon get any more humiliating?
Chapter Nine
The answer was yes. Yes, it could. And it began with having to watch my ex and his new lover give the fucking cat the kind of dignified and somber burial that I hadn’t been able to pull off without humiliating myself.
Josh even took off his shirt and handed it to his new lover while he quickly, and neatly refilled the hole and tamped down the dirt. It occurred to me how much he had in common with Marcelo. I mean more than just the well-sculpted chest, tanned skin, and flex that wasn’t a flex (which paradoxically made it the BEST kind of flex). I was always the kind who said I didn’t have a “type”. My sexual history was pretty much a testament to that fact. But, it seemed that when my heart was involved, I definitely had my preferences.
Both men were good guys. They were kind and honest and attentive. And neither one of them was above getting their hands dirty if necessary. When something needed to be done they didn’t bitch about whose responsibility it was or look for somebody to do it for them, they just got it done. They were blue-collar guys even if Marcelo’s work didn’t technically involve any manual labor. My father would be horrified, which made them all the more attractive to me.
“We should get that looked at. Shaolin is healthy but you don’t want to develop an infection,” Ian said, crouching down at my side.
“Idiot. Don’t you know you should never admit to a fault at the scene of an accident?” I rubbed my sore behind.
“He’s not an idiot, he’s just not an asshole,” Josh growled at me.
“We won’t sue,” Marcelo said. I shot him a dirty look and he returned fire. I tried to hold my ground in this silent war of dueling eyebrows and bitch-faced expressions, but I