by Linda Cooper
“So, you’re putting me to work on our first date?” I raised an eyebrow, but I couldn’t help smile. Jacob returned my smile.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said, motioning me to follow him into another room. As we entered the room, I was met with kennels and kennels of dogs.
I was astounded by the amount of dogs I saw. Some sat looking at us with wide eyes; others jumped on their kennel, barked, and spilt water all over the kennels.
Jacob led the way to two kennels side by side. He reached out for the leash that hung beside one of them where a small black pit-bull sat quietly. As the kennel door opened, she limped towards Jacob. He reached out for her as her tail wagged frantically. “Hello beautiful,” he whispered as he knelt down in front of her.
After half a minute of petting her, he slipped her leash on and motioned for her to come out of the kennel. The dog was happy to be given to me as he went to the kennel beside her. “That is Casey,” he said opening the door. He bent down to pet the large brown pit-bull. “And this is her best friend. Johnny.” He leashed Johnny and guided him out of the kennel. The two dogs wagged their tails at each other happily as they greeted one another. “Johnny is the only dog that Casey will walk with. All the others, she is either scared of or she becomes aggressive towards.”
My heart sank as we started to make our way to another door. Jacob entered a pin and the door popped open. He gestured with his head for me to step out first.
“Why is Johnny the only one she will walk with?”
“He was found with her when we took her in.” Turning his head away from me, he continued, “About four months ago, we got a call from someone about a pit-bull in an alleyway. We didn’t realize there were two of them until we arrived. Casey was …” he paused for a moment as we made our way along a pathway side by side. “Her leg was all cut up, and it had become infected. We’re not sure how it happened, but if we had to guess, we’d guess it was some sort of trash left on the street. They were both mangy and dirty. When we approached Casey, Johnny came running to her defense. It took us over two hours to calm them both down enough to get a leash on them and get them into the car.” I felt a tear prick the corner of my eyes. “We managed to get her to the vet that night, we’ve got a vet that will take our calls no matter how late it is, and we got them both cleaned up. Casey has a thick scar along her leg, I’m not sure if you noticed it?”
“No.” I felt guilty saying it.
“Well, that’s all that is left of her old life, except her fear and aggression towards dogs other than Johnny. We’ve been working with her on it. It took us so long to actually get kisses or a tail wag from her when we came to see her.”
Looking down at Casey, I said, “She seems happy to see you now.”
“It took a lot of work on my part and even more work on her behalf.”
I stepped closer to him. My arm hooked around his, and we fell into a silent walk. “So this is where you found Jas?”
“Yes.”
“And you work here now?”
“Yup. I needed a job, so I approached them, and they were the only people who would consider me.”
“Why didn’t others consider you?” Was it just the job market? Maybe he didn’t go to college. Either way I thought it could be a good way to get to know him a little better.
He paused. “Because I’m an ex-convict.”
Well, I hadn’t been expecting to learn that. “Oh.” I stared at the dog I was walking. She just seemed happy to be outside sniffing things.
“I guess they figured since they worked with dogs who had a bad reputation they would give a guy with a bad reputation a shot.” He laughed dryly. “I must be doing something right because I haven’t been fired yet.”
“Well … that’s good.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. My mind raced trying to figure out what he’d gone to jail for. Was I safe alone with him? I had been the other night. Oh God. Was Luke an ex-convict too? I had to tell Jade. She had a right to know, didn’t she? I hadn’t heard from her since my birthday party, which wasn’t abnormal, but I was sure her and Luke had been into each other.
I felt him staring at me. Finally, I forced myself to look at him. “What?”
“You’re not saying anything.”
“Was I supposed to?”
“Well, I’ve found that when I tell someone I’ve been to jail and they fall silent, they’re thinking it over.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I’m not going to hurt you or anything Ashley.”
I won’t lie, hearing that somehow made me feel a little bit better. “So what did you go to jail for?”
“I tried to kill someone who hurt my friend.” He looked up at the sky as he spoke, then towards his dog and away from me.
“Oh.” Again, it was the best I could come up with. He tried to fucking kill someone? I was on a date with an attempted murderer. How the hell was I supposed to break that to my family when they wanted to know all about him?
“It was when I was 16. I went to jail for ten years and got out just over a year ago for good behavior,” he said as if I needed an explanation.
He was young when he tried to do it, but did that really change anything? I wasn’t too sure about it, but I was sure my father wouldn’t think so. The thing that struck me the most was that even though he wouldn’t look at me, he didn’t sound ashamed of what he’d done.
“They must have really hurt your friend.” He came to a complete stop. I turned to face him, and he looked pale as he stared straight ahead. “Jacob?”
“Yes, yes he did. He hurt her more than I can ever put into words.” With that he fell back into step with me, and I reached out and took his hand in mine, a silent statement that I wasn’t going to try to run away from him after hearing about his past. I wanted to find out more about this friend.
“So this is your place?” I looked around. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was nice. Two bedrooms, well, one bedroom and a dog room, with a kitchen, bathroom and living room. It wasn’t big, but the yard was huge for a city lot. It was fully fenced for Jas.
“Yup.” He nodded as he opened the door to let the dog in from her pee. She wagged her tail at the man in front of her, her butt moving from side to side as her tail went the other way. She paused to let out a sneeze so violent that her snout smacked the ground.
Jacob lowered himself to her, and her head collided with his chest as he pet the pit-bull. Her tail whipped back and forth as she nuzzled into him, licking his neck and his cheeks.
He toppled over onto his back as she pushed against him.
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the two of them. The love he showed for this dog … I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d showed the same amount of love towards his friend that he had tried to kill for. I slipped out of my shoes and padded into the living room, looking around. A big TV, lots of DVDs and video games, and a few different types of consoles. A large photo hung above the couch of five people.
There were four guys, and in the middle stood one girl with bleached blonde hair and her red lips. I spotted Jacob to the far right, his hair was a lot darker then, but still brown. Beside him was Luke; though he was much younger, it was still obvious to me, his hairstyle hadn’t changed at all. The other two boys, I didn’t recognize.
“That was a long time ago,” he said as he pushed himself up from the floor and motioned for Jas to follow him. They both made their way over to the couch, the small white pit-bull hopped onto it and with her snout tucked herself under the blankets. Jacob came to my side.
“So, you’ve known Luke for a long time?”
“Yes.”
“What about the other three in this picture, do you still stay in contact with them?”
“Dom,” he pointed to the one on the far left, “and I still see each other often, Priest not so much.” He pointed to the other guy, then towards the girl. “And Becky … Becky passed away when I was 15.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. “Oh �
�� oh, I’m so sorry.” Was she the friend that he’d gone to jail for? She must have been. I took a risk.
“What happened to her?”
“A car crash.” He turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”
“Um, sure.” I sat down beside Jas and reached out to pet her. I could see her tail wag against the blankets. “So, how long have you lived here?”
“Only a couple months.” He glanced over at me from the kitchen and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, three quick raps on the door caught his attention. He strode from the kitchen into the living room, handed me my drink and made his way over to the door. I watched as he pulled it open and was met with a man I’d never seen before. What had Jacob said his name was? Dom.
Jacob looked from me to the man at the door. “Hey.” He stepped out of the way and let the guy in. He glanced at me then at Jacob.
“I can leave if you’d like.”
“No, I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyways.”
I pushed myself to my feet. “I was just getting ready to leave.” With the looks they were giving me, it wasn’t hard to tell that they wanted some privacy.
“No,” Jacob said quickly. “I just … why don’t you get Jas tucked into bed? I just need a couple minutes with Dom, and then I’m all yours. She’ll probably want to be carried, but she isn’t heavy.”
I stared at him for a couple seconds trying to process his request. He wanted me to tuck his dog into bed? It was a dog, right? Not a kid.
“Okay.” I managed as I turned my attention to the dog and uncovered her. “Are you ready for bed?” I asked feeling only a little stupid. Her head perked up as she reached out and pawed me. She pushed herself to her feet and came to a stop in front of me. Carried? How did I carry a dog?
I scooped her up into my arms the same way I’d carried my younger brother when he was three years old and my mother needed me to hold him. It seemed to work fine because Jas just rested her head on me and let out a deep breath.
If Jacob and I get together, is this going to be a normal thing? Was this as close as I would get to having a kid? Tucking the dog into bed every night.
I wasn’t sure if I was okay with that or not.
I heard talking as I made my way into the bedroom and closed the door.
“What are you doing?” Dom snapped. “You’re not getting attached, are you?”
“No. That would be stupid.”
“You’re right, it would be.”
Attached? To me? Why would it be stupid? I felt a flare of anger at this guy. He didn’t have any right to tell Jacob he couldn’t get attached to me.
I sat down beside the dog as she curled up near the top corner of the bed, pulled the blankets over her, and began petting her softly.
“I think it’s time to start looking,” Jacob said.
“I agree. Priest … he needs to do this.”
“I know. I ran into him the other day … he’s not doing so well. Though you might want to talk to him about getting attached.”
“I have. Trust me; Priest isn’t getting attached to any of the women he hooks up with.” They fell silent for a couple seconds.
“We’re going to find him.”
“I know.”
“And then …” He trailed off.
***
And then what? Kill ourselves. That was always the plan, but Dom was right, I was getting attached even if I wasn’t willing to admit it. I had feelings for Ashley. So, in other words, I was screwed.
“Then we are done.” Dom said it easily. I couldn’t help but wonder if he were going to be sad to see his life go. I wondered if he had someone he was going to miss. Had he managed not to get ‘attached’ to anyone? We’d all promised we wouldn’t do it, but that was easier said than done.
I forced myself to nod, not sure if I could actually go through with it.
Dom gave me a smile. “I’m sorry man. I’m sure she’s a nice girl, but that’s the issue.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I’m an ass for even letting her come back here. For leading her on … She just …” I paused. “Do you remember how Becky never gave up on any of us?’
“Of course.” Dom nodded with a dry smirk. “She was such a pain in the ass, but it felt good to know someone had faith in you.”
“Well, Ashley won’t give up.” It reminded me of her a little. They would have gotten along well.
***
So I reminded him of Becky.
Was that why he was so willing to give me a shot, or was it because he actually liked me for me? Either way, I wasn’t sure how to process the conversation I’d just overhead. It sounded like they were planning to do something, I just wasn’t sure if it was something stupid. Something that could get Jacob sent to jail again.
And the ‘We’ll be done’ couldn’t stop playing in my mind. There was something they had to finish, and I had no clue what it was. The only thing I could do was ask Jacob, but I wasn’t so sure he’d tell me. They talked about the Priest guy too, what was his deal? Other than being their friend.
A few seconds later, I heard them say goodbye as the front door opened and closed. My pulse picked up as I heard Jacob come towards the bedroom. He pushed the door open and gave me a weak smile. “Hey.”
“Hey, is everything alright?”
“It’s as okay as it’s going to be.”
“Anything I can do?”
“No. It’ll be fine; I’ve just got a bit of a second job now.”
Yes, finding someone. I would find out who that was eventually, but as of right now, I wouldn’t bring it up.
“So are you going to break up with me?” He raised an eyebrow. “I mean, what with you and your friends getting into something. It sounds intense.”
Jacob smiled softly. “You heard the entire conversation, didn’t you?”
“I heard most of it,” I confessed.
“Well, no I’m not going to break up with you yet. After all, we aren’t even together. And I tried to warn you to run; now it’s too late. I don’t want to let you go.”
His words shocked me. I stared at him, unsure how to react to what he had just said. He didn’t seem to notice as he made his way over to the bed.
“Are you going to stay the night?”
“I’m allowed to?”
“Of course, you are.” He snorted. “I’d never tell you not to stay the night, that would only make you want to do it even more, wouldn’t it?”
I felt a blush touch my cheeks. It was true I would probably just want to do it more if he told me I wouldn’t.
“Well, I’d like to stay the night as long as you want me.”
“Of course, I want you.” He pulled me into his arms. “I’ve wanted you this entire time.”
His lips crashed against mine. Pulling me closer to him, he guided me down onto the bed and my arms wrapped around him as his fingers traced the curves of my body. A soft moan escaped me, and I pushed him away so I could remove his shirt off. I grinned as my eyes roamed over his chest, down to the tattoo that his pants covered half of. I had them undone in a matter of seconds and reached into his jeans. My fingers curled around his already hard cock, and I bit back a moan as I slipped it out from his pants and rubbed gently. He let out a deep breath, his eyes rolling back. His lips touched mine softly while his hands slipped up my shirt, pushed past my bra and massaged my breasts gently.
Drawing away from me, he stood up. “Take your clothes off,” he said as he reached for the nightstand. I did as I was told, slipping out of every garment of clothing I had. When he turned around to face me, condom in hand, his eyes roamed over my body. A grin spread across his face as he slipped out of his pants and guided me to the bed. He placed the condom by the pillows and nuzzled into my neck, his teeth softly grazing my skin. I moaned as his left hand found my breast again, his right hand supporting him.
I jumped as I heard something shake beside us. Jas looked from me to him, jumped off the bed and ma
de her way towards the corner where she kept all her treats.
Jacob chuckled as we moved into the center of the bed. “Is she always like that when you bring girls over?”
“Yes. I think the whole thing bothers her. She doesn’t normally like it when I bring girls over.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Normally?”
“She seems to like you just fine.” His lips traced their way down my body and stopped at my breasts, his mouth circling around my nipples. I gasped as he sucked my skin into his mouth. A soft moan passed through my lips as his fingers found mine. I squeezed his hand as our fingers interlocked; silently trying to tell him I didn’t want him to go anywhere. This ‘second job’ as he called it … it was going to mean the end of us, wasn’t it?
I mentally shook myself. Now was not the time to be thinking about that. Now was the time to enjoy him.
I pushed him away gently. “I want you inside me,” I said.
The corner of his lips tilted up as he reached for the condom. “If that’s what you want.” He ripped the condom wrapper and pulled it out. I sat up, taking it from him, sliding it down his full length carefully. My eyes locked on him, and I was about to do something I never thought I’d do. “I want you,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around him and pulling myself closer. My legs lifted over his and our lips met. I gasped into his lips as I felt him push into me gently. For the first time in years, sex felt romantic to me.
He lowered me down onto the bed, our lips still locked as he pulled out of me and pushed back in. Stroke. Stroke. Stroke. Each movement was gentle but enough to make me moan. Pleasure overwhelmed me as I held Jacob close to me. His lips pulled away from mine and traced their way down to my neck. Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.
He pushed into me faster and faster, his hands tracing the curves of my body and resting on my hip, pulling me towards him with every thrust.
“Harder,” I urged. He obliged, pushing into me harder and harder. “Oh yes.” I let my fingers trace their way down his body, and He let out a sound of pleasure. He pushed into me faster and harder. Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.