Freedom

by Mary Crawford

  “I think we have more important things to deal with right now. Are you ready?” Zoe says as she positions herself at the bottom end of the tarp.

  I examine the dog carefully as I try to figure out how to grab him without causing more pain.

  “I guess I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” I admit.

  “Okay, on the count of three we’re gonna lift him up and place him on the tarp.”

  “I hope I do this right,” I say with trepidation.

  “Anything would be better than leaving him here. Just try to be smooth.” She answers. “One, two, three,” She counts down.

  I take a deep breath and position the dog as carefully as I can in the middle of the tarp. Miraculously, he doesn’t seem to be fighting us. It’s almost as if he knows we’re trying to help.

  “Okay, that was the scary part. Now we simply need to carry him over to the truck. When you’re driving, the brakes on this are a little touchy. So, please be careful because I don’t want you to jerk us around in the back.”

  “Alright, I’ll be careful,” I pledge feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the tasks in front of me. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone on this trip. But, this is so far out of my comfort zone I don’t even know what I’m doing.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ZOE

  “YOU GUYS DID A PHENOMENAL job getting this pup here,” Sydney Austin says as she hangs another IV off the grooming table.

  “Thank you. But it wasn’t really me. All the credit goes to Phoenix because he called it in,” I respond.

  “Where is he?” Sydney asks, looking around.

  I roll my shoulder. “I don’t really know. I thought he said something about cleaning up, but he’s been gone for a while.”

  “You are braver than me. I’m not sure I would’ve allowed him to drive my rig. He’s kind of rough looking.”

  “I like the long blonde hair and black leather. But he is a little odd.”

  “What do you know about this guy?”

  “Next to nothing. He says his name is Phoenix Wolf. He drives a nice bike. When he talks, he doesn’t always make much sense — but maybe he was just nervous about the dog. By the way, he’s attached enough to this critter to name him Bruiser. If he likes dogs that much, I figure he can’t be all bad.”

  Sydney sighs wistfully. “Yeah, there’s nothing sexier than a guy who likes animals.”

  We both jump when we hear the sound of a throat clearing behind us. “Umm … would you feel better if I came back?”

  “No, that’s not necessary. Dr. Austin was just about to tell me what’s wrong with your Bruiser.”

  Sydney’s curls bounce as she looks at me with surprise. “I was?” When she sees my look of consternation, she adds, “Oh yes, I was.”

  Phoenix stuffs his hands in his pockets and waits expectantly.

  Sydney looks at Phoenix. “I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself, I’m Dr. Austin. I understand that Bruiser is your dog.”

  Phoenix shakes his head. “No, I don’t know this dog. I just saw him get hurt.”

  “Oh, in that case, I probably need to scan for a microchip,” Sydney says as she removes a portable scanner from her bag.

  We all wait with tense expressions on our faces as she scans Bruiser. After a few moments, Sydney says, “Unfortunately, this pup does not have a microchip. After I get him cleaned up, I’ll take a picture and post it on the local lost-and-found boards.”

  “Is he going to last that long?” Phoenix asks as he looks over at Bruiser.

  Sydney nods. “I think he will. He seems to have an angel sitting on his shoulder because dog versus motor vehicle collisions rarely go well. It looks as if he only has bruising around his rib cage and the one laceration. I can stitch that up here, or we can go back to The Critter Clinic. I don’t know what you guys plan to do with him —”

  Sydney and I look over at Phoenix. He puts his hands up in front of him in protest. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know what to do with him. I’m on a motorcycle. I can’t take him. I’m on my way to Oregon.” Phoenix wrings his hands. “Maybe I shouldn’t have rescued him if he’s going to be homeless,” he frets.

  I whirl around to face him. “Do you realize Hope’s Haven is a rescue organization? We take dogs all the time. Many are in worse shape than Bruiser. I train them to be service dogs or search and rescue dogs. I can’t believe you were so quick to give up on him.”

  “What? I never said I gave up on him. I don’t want him to be homeless and end up at a shelter. They might kill him there.”

  “Not if we have anything to say about it,” I respond. I look at Sydney. “We can board him here if he doesn’t need additional support.”

  “He seems to be coming out of his state of shock. His injuries don’t look severe. I can take x-rays if you’d feel more comfortable, but he doesn’t seem to be having any trouble walking down your hall. Even the bleeding from his laceration seems better. I’ll still take time to stitch it up just so it heals evenly.”

  “Bruiser was really out of it on the side of the road. Is he likely to relapse? If you think he needs physical therapy, I can pay for that,” Phoenix offers.

  “It’s possible he was just very frightened and his fear contributed to his symptoms. He isn’t having any trouble breathing and doesn’t appear to be in distress. I think having the fluids onboard from the IV has helped. If he’s homeless, he might have just been dehydrated.”

  Phoenix moves closer to Bruiser and starts to stroke his head. “Would it be possible for me to stay with him tonight just to make sure he’s okay?”

  Phoenix’s about-face confuses me. How could he say he almost wished that he didn’t rescue Bruiser and then suddenly be so concerned he can’t leave his side?

  “I don’t know. I’ll have to check with my boss. Right now, Dr. Austin needs to stitch up Bruiser before we do anything else.”

  Phoenix looks in Sydney’s direction but does not make eye contact as he says, “This is where I make my exit. I don’t deal well with blood and guts.”

  Sydney chuckles. “Well, unless something goes terribly wrong, there won’t be any guts involved in this one. I simply have to fix this flesh wound.”

  “Blood is not my thing,” Phoenix answers with a shudder. “I’m going to see if I can find a taxi to take me back to my bike. When I get back, we can talk about where I’m going to stay.” Addressing us both, he says, “Thank you so much for fixing him.” There’s something odd about the way he says that phrase as if it’s somehow rehearsed.

  “I’m just happy I could help and that it didn’t turn out to be more serious,” Sydney answers with a smile.

  “Me, too,” Phoenix answers. “It looked dire there for a while.”

  “Don’t you worry, we’ll take good care of him at Hope’s Haven. It’s what we do. We take dogs people have thrown away and give them a chance to be productive and active.” Pivoting back toward Sydney, I ask, “Do you know how old this dog might be?”

  “Based on his teeth, I’d say he’s less than a year old,” Sydney answers as she takes out a suture kit and lays it on the tray next to the table.

  When Phoenix sees the needle, he blanches. “Okay, that’s my cue to leave, I’ll be back later.” He quickly leaves the grooming room. I hear the bells from our front door ring as he exits Hope’s Haven.

  Sydney cleans and stitches the laceration. I used to help out a vet tech when I was in high school. I stand at the head of the table and keep Bruiser distracted while she works. It is silent while Sydney finishes suturing the laceration. When she is done, she moistens a blue towel and cleans Bruiser up as best as she can without disturbing him. “I wouldn’t want to traumatize your biker guy with Bruiser’s blood,” she says with amusement. “In vet school, it was always the guys who claimed to be the toughest who were the first to face-plant during anatomy and physiology classes.”

  “I don’t know what to think about Phoenix. He’s just so odd. See what I mean about his conversations not
making a lot of sense?” I ask as Sydney strips off her gloves and picks up the wrappers from her equipment.

  She shrugs. “He’s a little unorthodox. But, I’ve dated guys who were way stranger than Phoenix. At least he seems to have his heart in the right place.”

  “I wonder if he’s just really shy or has anxiety or something.” I theorize.

  Sydney looks thoughtful before she answers, “That’s a possibility, but he reminds me a lot of my cousin. My cousin has Asperger’s syndrome. He does that thing with his eyes. Sometimes it feels like he’s staring right past me.”

  I take the hairband out of my hair and form a new ponytail. “You know, that would make sense. He told me he has a hard time looking at people he doesn’t know well. In a weird way, he reminds me of Ketki.”

  “I don’t know for sure; it just seemed that way to me,” Sydney cautions.

  “Oh, I would never say anything to him. I was just trying to figure out why our interaction seemed so strange. I wonder if I should let him stay with Bruiser.”

  “That’s a question I can’t answer for you. It all depends on how comfortable you feel around him.”

  “I can stay at Mitch and Jessica’s place. That’s not a problem. I’m not worried that he’ll do anything to Hope’s Haven. Tristan has this place decked out with monitored security cameras.”

  “I know you think he’s cute. Are you going to be able to resist the temptation?” Sydney teases with a wink.

  “Oh! Heck yes! I have sworn off guys and relationships forever. I’m done.”

  Sydney’s eyebrows fly up in surprise as she asks, “Why would you say something like that? You are so young and beautiful.”

  I grimace and sigh. “Let’s get Bruiser into a kennel. After we get them settled, I’ll explain.”

  “Wow! There must be quite a story,” Sydney replies.

  “You have no idea.”

  “This sounds serious. Are we going to need something stronger than soda to have this discussion?”

  I shake my head. “I’ve been there and done that. I’m all out of tears. Now, I’m just mad.”

  I spread chicken salad on croissants and grab some chips. I walk over to the table where Sydney is sitting and give her a plate. “I made you work through lunch, so I better feed you.”

  “I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. I work through lunch a lot. So, you were going to tell me why the biker dude is not a temptation.”

  “I forget you were new in town when all this happened. But, my big brother Vincent is about to go on trial for kidnapping and rape.”

  “Oh no! Are you going to testify for him?”

  “No. In fact, I have been subpoenaed by the prosecution. It’s pretty much torn my whole family apart.”

  “Gee, that’s too bad. It’s not like you have a choice about testifying.”

  “You have no idea how hard this is for me. I grew up idolizing my big brother. In my eyes, he could do no wrong. Now, I have to testify against him.”

  Concern fills Sydney’s eyes. “Did he ever do anything to you? I know that sometimes abuse can start in the family.”

  “No. Thank God he never touched me — at least not physically. I didn’t know what he was doing to other women until after Katelyn ditched him at the altar. That was the beginning of the end of my brother. I don’t know if he had a psychotic break or if he just hid it really well before the facade of happy relationships crumpled.”

  “Did he hurt Katelyn?”

  “I don’t know. There was an ugly scene at the wedding. Vinnie was trying to get her to come out of the bathroom and said horrible things to her. I hate to think about it, but if he would do that in public, who knows what he did to her in private?”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to know what people do in private,” Sydney replies.

  “So, if my big brother can do something like that, how do I trust any guy?”

  “I know it’s hard to imagine it right now, but not all guys are total creeps.”

  “I understand that, but I’m not sure I’m ready to play the odds if you know what I mean. I think I’ll just stay around here and work with dogs. At least they don’t lie.”

  “I don’t blame you. I’d be cautious too. So, what does that mean for Phoenix?”

  I shrug. “I wish I knew. Phoenix seems safe — then again so did my brother before he kidnapped a girl and held her hostage. On the other hand, doesn’t seem fair to punish Phoenix for things my brother did. I just wish there were easy answers.”

  “I don’t know if this makes it any easier, but I generally have a pretty strong sense about people. Phoenix seems like one of the good guys. Even though he may seem a little strange, I don’t get the feeling he’s dangerous. Still, if you decide to let them stay, I would give Tristan a heads up so he can monitor Hope’s Haven a little more carefully when Phoenix is around.”

  “That’s a good idea. Tristan might loan me one of his guys in training. I think Mitch told me Tristan has a bunch of new employees at Identity Bank. Maybe he can spare someone to stick close to me.”

  I feel a little ridiculous making this call. I’ve only met Tristan once when he came to the celebration of Darya and Dr. Stuart’s engagement. Still, if this debacle with my brother has shown me anything, it’s that you can’t always judge a book by its cover — or a guy by his manners. After Tristan picks up the phone, I attempt to articulate my request. “Hey, I’ve heard you have some new employees at Identity Bank. Would you be able to spare a couple of them to keep an eye on me?”

  “What’s going on Ms. Hurlington? Is there something I need to know? We monitor your feed from your surveillance cameras. Do we need to step it up a little?”

  “You'll probably think I’m paranoid, but we’ve got a client who wants to stay and check on the recovery of a dog. Mitch and Jess are out of town. I’d just feel better if someone was watching my back,” I answer.

  “You want me to run a background check on this guy?”

  “Umm … I don’t know if I want to go that far. Wait. I think I do want you to run a background check on him because I’m not sure he gave me his real name.”

  “I see. If your gut is telling you something is off about this guy, you definitely need me to do a background check. What is his name?”

  “Get this—his name is Phoenix Wolf,” I answer skeptically.

  After a couple of beats of silence, Tristan says, “Well, I don’t have to run a background check on Mr. Wolf. I have a recent one in his personnel file. Mr. Wolf is one of my most talented game debuggers.”

  I sink down on the couch in disbelief as I ask, “Are you sure? This guy has long blonde hair. It’s probably longer than mine.”

  Tristan chuckles. “Yep, that’s him. He’s supposed to be on his way to Identity Bank West. I wonder what happened. Last I talked to him, he had everything planned meticulously.”

  “Phoenix witnessed a collision between a motor vehicle and a dog. He’s formed an attachment to Bruiser and would like to watch his progress.”

  “Phoenix has worked for me for a while. Although he is shy and awkward, I don’t perceive any danger from him. However, if you’d like I can still send a couple of my guys over.”

  I chew on my fingernail. “I don’t know if it’s necessary. If you know Phoenix and can vouch for him it makes me feel better. Besides, if he’s so shy the additional people around will be hard for him. He is already nervous enough about the health of Bruiser. I don’t want to make this any more difficult for him.”

  “Okay, I’ll monitor things remotely for now. I might send Nick over to do a cursory check on things to make sure everything is fine.”

  “Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”

  "It’s the least I can do. You do great work at Hope’s Haven. I'll send you pictures of the guys I’m assigning to you so you know they're supposed to be around.”

  “In case no one told you this lately, you're a life saver. I’m sure Bruiser will be grateful. He’s quite attached to Phoenix.”
<
br />   CHAPTER THREE

  PHOENIX

  “CRAP!” I MURMUR UNDER MY breath. This is the second time I’ve entered a room while Zoe is talking about me. My timing sucks. I back out of the room and make some noise with my keys as I reenter.

  Zoe looks startled as she puts her phone down on the table. “That didn’t take very long. Was everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I’m surprised. I figured someone would try to take my bike. Apparently, no one saw it.”

  “That’s good. Hey, I thought you said you were headed to Oregon. You didn’t mention you work for Identity Bank.”

  My throat tightens before I choke out an answer, “No, I didn’t. So, how do you find out?”

  This time it’s Zoe who looks away. She reaches down to pick up a paper towel which had fallen on the floor during Bruiser’s treatment. Finally, she meets my gaze. “I called Tristan about some security stuff here at the training facility. I had no idea you worked there. Your name just came up in conversation.”

  “Somehow I find that hard to believe. Tristan runs a multimillion dollar company. He has no reason to talk about me. He couldn’t possibly know you and I met.”

  Zoe blushes. “Okay, you’re right. I called him to see if he wouldn’t mind checking in on me. I’m a little nervous about having someone I don’t know stay at Hope’s Haven.”

  “Why didn’t you say something when I asked you if I could stay?”

  “I don’t know. Things seem pretty awkward between us and I didn’t want to make them worse.”

  “I know I look scary because of the long hair in the motorcycle clothes, but basically I’m just a boring, nerdy computer programmer. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I seem to do that a lot.”

  “Please don’t think it’s you. I have a lot of drama in my life right now. It’s shaking me to the core. I’m a little more frightened of the world these days.”