Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 74668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
So I pounded hard twice with my foot.
Bump-bump.
There was a shocked moment of silence from the moaning dog…err-woman, and then a masculine chuckle.
Then the real barking started and I gave up. Seriously, I was through.
My face was flaming as I did a backwards roll off my bed and promptly tripped over my dog.
“Owww, fuck!” I yelled.
My dog, Peter, stood up and licked my face, apologizing, I assumed, for being such a big bastard and blending in with the floor.
“It’s okay, my big furry friend. I love you anyway,” I said to my scruffy buddy.
He put his nose underneath my arm as I stood from my sprawled position on the floor and walked with me out to the living room.
I contemplated trying to sleep out here, but it was too cold. The heater didn’t work in this part of the apartment, and no matter how many times I’d called maintenance, they weren’t going to be able to come out until next week at the earliest.
Since it ‘worked in half the apartment’ or some bullshit like that.
Personally, I’d have tried to stay out here, but the box containing all of my warm winter clothes, as well as all of my blankets had been lost in the move, and I hadn’t found hide nor hair of them anywhere.
So, I was making do with what I had until I could make enough money to pay for something other than just bills.
Peter walked to the door and scratched while looking back at me with that sad, pitiful look he always got when he knew I didn’t want to do it. However, that look got to me, just like it always did.
I sighed and slipped on my house shoes, which I had to find first.
They were sparkly pink boots that came up to mid-calf with hot pink faux fur around the top edge. They were knockoff UGGs, but I loved them despite their fakeness.
They were comfortable, and they kept my feet warm.
That was all that mattered.
Grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around me, I grabbed my keys off the counter and walked out the door, locking it behind me.
We went down the flight of steps slowly like we always did.
The complex itself wasn’t in the best of shape, and the stairs were often overlooked since most of the occupants used the elevator.
My dog, however, was scared of elevators, so we took the stairs.
As we made it out into the parking lot, I walked with him around the side of the building and waited while he walked to the field beyond the complex and did his business.
What I hadn’t expected, though, was somebody else to be out here doing the very same thing with their dog.
A black missile took off after Peter, and my heart lurched into my throat as I started to move forward to do, I don’t know what, but I knew it’d have been good. Maybe fall on my face while my dog was eaten alive because he was a lover, not a fighter.
What stopped me, though, was a man’s deep, soothing voice.
He stood in shadows, leaning against the brick of the building as he watched our dogs play.
Play.
“She’s a good girl. She won’t hurt your dog,” the man said gently.
I relaxed, but only slightly as I took a wary step away from the man whom I couldn’t see and stepped into the halo of light above me.
The only thing I could see about the man was the way his eyes glittered from the lamp.
I stood there in awkward silence, not able to see anything but the small section that the light illuminated around me.
The man stayed silent, but somehow, I knew all of his attention was on me.
I could hear the dogs playing in the field, and I was suddenly exhausted. Utterly exhausted.
I must’ve slumped or something, because the man in the shadows asked, “Are you all right?”
I nodded, rolling my neck and said, “Yeah. I just haven’t gotten much sleep lately.”
“Why?” He asked.
I must’ve really been tired, otherwise I wouldn’t have answered him. That was really none of his business, was it?
Needless to say, I answered with, “There’s some loud commotion going on in the apartment beside me. Nearly every night. And at really odd hours. It’s interfering with my sleep.”
I don’t know why I was reluctant to tell the man that my neighbor was having extremely loud sex, but I was a prude like that sometimes.
And I’d been raised in an environment where that went on all the time. It was normal for me to hear sex through the night hours. My dad was part of a MC. It was normal to hear it. Like…really normal.
“Did you just move in?” He asked.
His voice slid over me like velvet, making me shiver with the deep, rough cadence of it.
“Uhh,” I said. “Yeah. I did. Well, like a month ago or so, I guess.”
He made a non-committal sound and I didn’t know what else to do. Should I keep talking? Should I shut up?
Silence had always worked for me, so I kept my mouth shut for another two minutes before I decided that Peter had had enough playtime. It was nearly four in the morning, after all.
“Peter!” I called.
My Peter, he was a good boy. He loved his mommy and I loved him.
Which was why it came as no surprise that he abandoned his new friend so fast. He didn’t spare the man a glance, and came straight to me.
“You’re such a good boy,” I cooed.
“Wish I could get my dog to do that,” the man muttered, then louder called, “Mocha. Come!”
Mocha came alright, just not to him. She came to me.
That was when I saw she was a beautiful German Shepherd. “Oh, you’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?
She preened at the attention, rubbing her face along the side of my leg while I scratched her behind the ear.
“See? No loyalty what-so-ever,” the man’s voice said.
From right in front of me.
Startled, I looked up to find him standing right in front of me. If I reached out my hand, I’d be within distance to wrap my hand around his neck. To pull him in close and feel his hard body against mine.