Underdogs The First Stories - By Geonn Cannon Page 0,38

my lip the past couple of times we've been in bed."

"Why?"

"I don't like saying it at any time it can be... misconstrued. I wanted you to be sure I meant it and it hadn't just slipped out. Can't get more premeditated than this."

Dale laughed and spread her fingers over Natalie's cheek, her thumb resting on Natalie's bottom lip. "Nope. Your place tonight?"

"I'd love to. But I have an early appointment tomorrow, so I'd have to wake up by five at the latest. I need my sleep. You're bad for my sleep."

"I know how you feel. Tomorrow night? Do you work Saturday?"

"I don't. Tomorrow definitely." They kissed again and Dale turned her head to look down the street. There were other people around, but most were ignoring the show they were putting on. "You know the downside is that now we have to walk back."

Natalie laughed. "Yeah. I didn't exactly think this through. Who knew you couldn't see the Space Needle from every street in Seattle? Television has jaded us all."

"Next thing you know, people will find out you can't see the Eiffel Tower from every hotel room in Paris." She took Natalie's hand. "Come on. Walk slow. If I'm not going to spend the night with you, I want every minute with you I can get."

"Deal." She put her hand in the small of Dale's back as they started the trek back to where Dale had parked.

#

Ari ate dinner in the kitchen with the three of them, dining on sandwiches and potato chips. Sadie opted to make a salad for herself, sitting on a stool at the counter while the others sat around the table. Beck offered her a beer and Ari thanked her by raising the bottle in a toast before she took a drink. Once Ari had gotten relaxed, the real interrogation began.

"You said you lived on the streets for a while." Sadie's voice was casual, and she was half-turned from the counter so she could eat and join in the conversation at the same time. "How'd you pull yourself up out of 'em?"

Ari had decided to be as truthful as possible with who she was. "Sugar mama. She saw me in a caf茅 and decided she liked what she saw. Let me live in her guesthouse and bought me pretty things in exchange for, ah, the pleasure of my company."

Beck grinned. "Not a bad job, if you can get it."

"So you were a whore," Sadie said, just as casually.

Ari's smile faded. "I like sex. A beautiful woman was offering me that, plus a warm place to sleep at night. You want to label it, sure. Whore is as good a name for it as any other."

Beck was staring at Sadie. "We've all done things we're not proud of in the past."

"Who said I wasn't proud of it?" Ari said. Now was the time to start stretching the truth. "The sex was fantastic and she had a great house. I'd go back in a heartbeat if she'd have me."

"Why did she kick you out?"

Ari shrugged. "Got bored with me, I guess. She's got a younger pup on her leash now."

Pen snorted. "Oh. It was one of those. You were lucky."

A silence fell over the room until Beck cleared her throat. "Pen was with a guy for a while who would, ah, punish her if he saw her in human form."

"He wanted her to be in canidae form--"

"Not for sex," Pen said quickly. Her face had gotten darker in the past few seconds. "He wanted a fighting dog. One that could understand strategy and tactics."

Ari leaned back. She'd heard about bastards like that, but she thought it was just an urban legend or something restricted to the deep south. "Damn. How'd you get out of that?"

Pen met Ari's eyes. "I fought him."

"Did he live?"

"I didn't stop long enough to check." A pause. "But I doubt it."

Ari didn't feel anything about the man's death. If Pen was a killer, then surely the murder had been justified. The man used her as a weapon, set her against defenseless animals for the express purpose of watching them die and earning money. The world would be a little lighter without a person like that in it. She picked up her bottle and held it out to Pen.

"Let's hope it took him a long time to pass."

Pen gave a half smile and tapped the neck of her bottle against Ari's.

Sadie slipped off the stool and gave her lips a dainty tap with a napkin.