Page 22 of Unbound | AllFreeNovel

“They had one for him at the children’s hospital he worked for—Superdog.” My dad smiles, lines crinkling around his eyes. “So I think you’ll have to name him. Any ideas?”

Brow furrowed, I cross my arms and shake my head.

Rhys laughs a little, now fully sitting on the ground with him. “Maybe you should name him Gretzky? Or Crosby?” He shrugs. “Something hockey related, since he’ll be living with us. Name him after one of your heroes.”

“Seven.”

The word pours out of me too fast, and my cheeks heat in the aftermath. I duck my head and scratch at the back of my neck.

“Seven?” Rhys questions. “I think—”

“It’s a great name. A lucky number.” My dad reassures me with another brief touch. “Welcome home, Seven.”

I nod as if I agree.

The truth? I have one hero—and that was his number when he played.

Rhys’s phone rings in the distance and he backs away from Seven apologetically, swiping his phone off the kitchen counter with a rueful grin.

“Miss me already?”

The phone is on speaker, so it’s easy to hear the gruff voice of Max Koteskiy as he shouts to my dad, “You could’ve told me you were driving over.”

My dad only grins at the sound of his angry best friend, walking over to speak closer to Rhys’s phone. “I needed to see Bennett.”

“And I wanted to see my son.” He grumbles something in Russian, which Rhys replies to in the same foreign tongue, shaking his head.

The three of them continue to speak, but I don’t hear it anymore, too distracted by a sudden warmth against my leg.

Seven, sitting nearly on my feet, head titled to my thigh. He looks minorly contented, enough that I can’t tell who is comforting who. I reach my hand down slowly and pet his soft, smooth head.

I’m not sure how long we stand there, staring at each other, but the phone call ends and my dad walks back toward me. Seven stands at the intrusion and I spot the fine dusting of black hairs across my jeans and . . .

And it doesn’t bother me. I don’t feel the need to take them off and wash them now. If anything, it brings a hint of a smile to my lips, knowing he’s leaving a mark in his own way. The warmth of his body on my leg, the heavy weight on my foot—it felt calming.

All right, Seven. Maybe this will work.

My dad leaves much later, after having dinner with us and checking on me a little heavy-handedly—again. I pretend I don’t see him asking Rhys if I’m all right before demanding I follow him outside to his car. Practically pushing me down the sidewalk.