walk. Somehow, he still looks handsome, not even a hair out of place. I scowl at him, and even though he probably has no idea why I’m scowling, his smile just grows.
“Come on. Do you need me to carry you?” he asks.
“Yes, please. I would love that.”
“Well, I’m not going to. We need to build some character and you can’t do that by hanging on to me.”
I stare at him in exhausted disbelief. “Then why’d you ask?”
He looks both ways before hurrying us across the street. “It was like a test.”
He thinks he’s so funny. I think he’s hiding evilness beneath that smile.
“Now I’m going to run into that store there, and you’re going to sit under this bush with the dog. Stay out of sight and quiet. Alright?”
“Are you coming back?”
“I’m not leaving my dog, if that’s what you’re asking.”
It wasn’t, but I’ll warily hang on to the dog to make sure he doesn’t leave me. I crouch down and crawl under the bush, pulling the dog after me. Once under it, he lies down, but his unmutilated ear perks up at everything he hears, and his head is constantly turning to look at things.
“You’re kind of ugly,” I tell him. “Are you going to eat me?”
His tail wags a little and I can’t help but sigh.
As I wait in the dark of the night, dog by my side, arm throbbing, I question how the hell I got here and where I’m planning on going.
I’m abruptly pulled out of all thinking when the dog lunges out of the bushes, growling and barking. Some women scream and take off running. Since I’d been hanging on to the chain, I’m dragged out of the bush and onto the sidewalk at the feet of a man who the dog continues to bark at.
“Oh, fuck off, mutt,” the man says as he looks at me. “Well, I’ll be! Today’s my lucky day.”
He grabs for me, but I quickly push up to my feet and step away. I tug at the dog, but the dog is too busy barking, and I realize that if he wants to risk his life barking, then I’m not risking my life to save him. I take off running as the man grabs the chain I’d dropped and loops it around the light post. The dog lunges for him and he jumps just out of reach before taking off after me.
I slip into an alleyway, unsure where I’m even at or where to go. Who would even be able to help me? There’s no saying where I’m safer in this city. When I hit an opening in the alley, I take a quick right, planning on running back to the store in the hopes that Shepherd comes out and miraculously saves me.
As I slip around the corner, someone grabs me, pulling me back into a door recess. It takes me a moment to realize it’s Shepherd and not someone else who is determined to kill me. Just as the man rushes past, Shepherd releases me and grabs the man in a headlock, driving his knees into the back of the man’s legs. The man lets out a gargled cry as Shepherd proceeds to choke him out and drop him on the ground before turning to me.
“Ready?”
“What?” I ask, clearly having heard this man wrong. “You act like you didn’t just choke a man out in the middle of the street.”
Shepherd kicks the man. “He’s still alive. Do you want me to kill him?”
What world am I in where that is an acceptable response? “I want to leave this insanity.”
He watches me closely. “You want to go off on your own?”
“God, no. You can’t take your ninja moves and just leave me! Save me, Shepherd!”
He starts laughing as my body deflates. “Alright, alright. But please, call me Prince Charming.”
“Fuck off,” I say as I head back for the dog. “How’d that asshole even find me?”
“I told you that Tony has eyes everywhere. He probably saw my transaction, assumed we were in the area, got the closest people to search and voila. There you were, rolling around on the sidewalk.”
“Your demon dog dragged me out!”
He walks up to the big-headed thing and grabs its face in his hands. “This thing?” he asks. As he shakes the dog’s head, the loose skin around its jowls flops around.
“Yeah… Can we get a hotel room or something?”
“Probably not in this city. Come on,” he says, and he leads me off.