AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hoped my face didn’t give anything away as I asked, “Can you give me a description of the dog?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over his shoulder like he was spooked about something. “Uh, he was… small. He’s only seven weeks old. Just a mutt, you know? Uh, he’s brown and white. His ears are floppy.”
Holy. Shit.
My spine straightened and I nodded my head as my gut told me I needed to get the hell out of the parking lot and go home. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye out and ask around. Do you want to leave your name with me and I’ll get in touch with you if the puppy ends up here?”
“No, uh, no. That’s okay. I’ll come back. Just wanted to see if someone found the little mutt,” he practically growled before taking a few steps back and turning on his heel.
I stood there until he was out of the parking lot and then bolted to my car, jumping in and locking all the doors. The one day I didn’t bring Sadie to work with me and I ended up in the lot with some creepy animal abuser.
I sped out of there and took the winding back roads home, trees lining either side of the road as I drove towards Port James. Confused, angry and scared, I had no idea what was going on. But I had the sneaking suspicion that Logan had the answers to whatever questions I had, and I wasn’t leaving him alone until he told me the truth about what happened last night.
Who could hurt an innocent animal? Who could do something so vile and cruel? Animals just wanted love and affection, especially puppies that didn’t know how to do anything on their own. Any kind of pet relied solely on their owner which was why I was so strict about the adoption process at Arden. I needed to make sure that my dogs didn’t end up with someone like that man who hurt the puppy.
When I got home I jumped out of the car and stormed down the dock, my boots slapping against the faded wood as I went to my own house, let Sadie jump all over me for a few seconds and then charged towards Logan’s with her in tow. He was going to give me answers or I was going to let my dog tear him to pieces.
“Logan!” I shouted and banged my fist against his blood red front door. I could see light from the tv and knew that he was home. He was not going to avoid me. “Logan, open the goddamn door right now!” I said. Sadie was looking up at me with her ears back. It was rare that I ever raised my voice and the poor thing had no idea what to do when I was upset.
I banged the side of my fist against the door again once, twice and on the third time it swung open and my hand connected with something firm.
Too bad it wasn’t just something firm.
I had just hit Logan directly in the mouth and boy did he look pissed.
Chapter 3
“Did you just hit me in the mouth?”
Logan slid his tongue over his lower lip- I’d be lying if I said it didn’t look completely erotic- and then glared at me. “You just hit me in the fucking mouth!”
I’d never hit anyone a day in my life but I really couldn’t say that I regretted it, even if it was an accident. He wasn’t honest with me last night and I was going to get some goddamn answers before I took the dog and went to the police.
Without waiting for an invitation I shouldered my way passed him and into his home. It was nice, sparsely decorated and screamed “perpetual bachelor”. Sadie followed me in and then zoomed past me and jumped on the couch as soon as she realized the puppy was laying down on a pillow. Nose to nose with the much smaller animal, she yipped once and was silent.
“You hit me and come in uninvited?”
I turned and fixed Logan with a frosty glare, my arms folded tightly over my chest. “Tell me why some random man just showed up at my job looking for a seven week old puppy. Tell me why he gave me the exact description of that-” I pointed towards the couch. “Animal.”
Logan held up a hand and turned around, locking the door and peering out the window before turning back to me. “Okay, I need you to tell me what he looked like.”
I raised my eyebrows and guffawed. He had some nerve questioning me as though I was the one who was guilty. Logan was in some sort of trouble with God knows who because of God knows what and he was not going to turn the tables. Did it have something to do with drugs? Money? Drug money? For all I knew I could have been standing in the home of some drug lord who beat up puppies when people didn’t pay up.
My mind was going a mile a minute and I went over to the couch and, carefully, scooped up the injured animal. I had to admit that he seemed much more lively today than last night. He wasn’t shaking and his tail wasn’t between his legs. The gash on his head looked like it was starting to scab, but the one on his paw looked as though he’d been gnawing at it. The poor thing didn’t know any better.
“You tell me what I want to know or I’m taking this dog to the police.”
“No!” Logan shouted and vehemently shook his head, a vein appearing in the long column of his throat as he raised his voice.
Sadie, not appreciating the raised tone, jumped down in front of my legs and gave a low growl, tossing him a clear warning that she was on edge and feeling threatened.
Logan’s eyes widened and he took a small step back, brown eyes bouncing between me and the bulky shepherd. “Look,” he began, much softer. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine. But I need you to promise me that you won’t go to the cops. Please, Juliette. That won’t end well for anyone.”
Maybe I should have left. Maybe I should have refused to listen to him, taken the puppy, and ran like a bat out of hell. But something about the way he was looking at me and the soft plea in his voice had me pausing. I stormed into his house wanting answers and he wanted to give them to me. I could hear him out and let him explain himself. If I didn’t like what he had to say then I could leave and go to the cops. He wasn’t holding me prisoner. For my own piece of mind and the safety of the dog, I agreed to stay.
AFTER BOTH ANIMALS were comfortable on the couch, Logan led me into the small galley kitchen. I accepted the beer he offered me and sat down on the bench at the table, sliding the bottle back and forth between my hands as he sat across from me. He was clearly uncomfortable and clearly dreading the conversation we were about to have, but I didn’t care.
“His name’s Greg Conlon,” he finally said after I gave him a description of t
