Jagger

by Kristopher Rufty

  Jeremiah turned back to the dense woods on the right. “Hell, he might even be out there now, watching us, sizing us up. Seeing if we’re any kind of threat to him.”

  Mark looked toward the thick bushy trees that stood close together with darkness filling the gaps between them. Jagger could easily be hiding out there, shrouded by the cover the woods provided.

  “And you’ll be here to nab him,” said Mark.

  Jeremiah looked back at Mark from over his shoulder. “That’s right.” He smiled.

  “With your tiny-ass cage.”

  Jeremiah’s smile sagged. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

  Mark figured he could probably get along fine with Jeremiah if his personality wasn’t always ruining it. He came from Boston, though he’d lived in North Carolina long enough to lose some of the sharpness from his accent. He was one of those types that thought he was surrounded by idiots, and Mark was inclined to agree with him for the most part. However, Jeremiah conducted himself on the job as if he were levels above his fellow officers in skill and knowledge, as if he were light years ahead of them.

  And Mark could never fully like—or respect—somebody like that.

  “I just want you to understand,” said Mark. “I’ve seen pictures of this dog. And he’s a beast. I doubt even you, in all your infinite wisdom and experience, has seen anything like him.”

  Mark pulled the crumpled sheet of paper out of his back pocket. Carla had handed him a stack of them before he’d left the station this morning. Flattening it out, he saw Jagger’s happy face on the front. The information was printed below it.

  “The vet’s office emailed this picture to us this morning. He’s so big they took pictures of him to hang on a bulletin board in the waiting area.”

  He handed the paper to Jeremiah, who studied the image for a few moments. There was a brief flicker of concern that passed on Jeremiah’s face.

  Looking up at Mark, Jeremiah smiled. “I welcome the challenge. Ain’t no damn dog going to beat me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  On her back, the sheet pulled over her breasts, Amy stared at the ceiling. Daylight filtered through the curtains, filling the room with a calming brightness. She felt a combination of guilt and relief from last night’s activities. That enjoyable soreness inside was back after such a long absence. And it was a feeling she was glad to have, though she hated how she’d gotten it.

  And she really hated how she’d acted toward Mark when they’d finished.

  What’s wrong with me?

  Sighing, Amy had no answer for that one. She sat up. The sheet fell away from her, and she kicked it off her legs. Last night had been a great distraction from the news Mark had delivered to her. After she’d coldly forced Mark to leave, she had a restless night of sleep, tormented by nightmares. Her body felt great, less bogged down after her powerful release, but everywhere else she felt incredibly drained.

  Bad dreams of Jagger attacking Teresa had replayed in a constant cycle.

  In the nightmare, Teresa had begged Amy for help.

  “He’s going to kill me!” she’d screamed.

  Amy had shaken her head. “That’s not like Jagger.”

  Then he’d arrived and suddenly they were in the woods, and Amy had stood behind a tree, her hands gripping the rugged bark while Jagger tore Teresa limb from limb. She’d tried commanding him to stop, but her orders had been ignored. And during the process, she’d kept thinking: This isn’t like him. He’s a good dog. A good dog.

  “He’s a good dog,” she muttered.

  But three people were dead because of him. One of them was someone he considered a friend.

  He was just defending himself.

  Amy knew that was only a smidgen of truth. Mark’s explanations of the attacks proved there was too much evidence of brutality for it to have simply been a defense kill.

  He’d eliminated them, picked them off one by one.

  And now he was on the run.

  Still, she couldn’t fathom that her Jagger had done those things. This was the same big goofball she’d watch roll around on his back in the yard, kicking his legs in the air and spinning circles as he scratched all the itchy spots. This was her cookie eating companion. Though he wasn’t picky with his choices, lemon-flavored sandwich cookies were his favorite. Whenever Amy brought them home from the store, he knew what she had just by the particular crinkling the packaging made inside the shopping bag.

  She’d never seen Jagger act hostile toward anybody. Other than the guy in the park, his only other enemy was the UPS man. And Amy had to admit she was glad Jagger showed the man his teeth whenever he came to drop off a package. He was a good looking guy, but very creepy and awkward. She got the feeling whenever he looked at her that he was trying to picture what she looked like underneath her clothes.

  With Jagger gone, who will protect her from him?

  The UPS guy? Really?

  Who would protect her from the people living around her?

  What would she do if an intruder broke in? Or if Jim came back to spy on her lying out in the sun?

  When she’d finally decided to move into her father’s house, she had known she would need to get a dog. A big one, too. And Jagger was perfect for her. Nobody messed with her whenever she walked around collecting lot rent with Jagger on the leash.

  If Jehovah’s Witnesses came knocking on the door, usually all it took to run them off was the deep thunder of Jagger’s barking.

  I want him back!

  Tears misting her eyes, Amy crawled out of bed. She wasn’t going to cry right now. She’d done enough crying the past two days and enough was enough.

  For now.

  Standing beside the mattress, she stretched her arms high. She pushed up on the tips of her toes. The movement pulled at her muscles. She felt a tingling lug work down her back and into her calves. Then she bent over, touched her toes, and felt another wave wriggle back through her body. When she stood up straight, her muscles felt loose and relaxed. The tightness from her fitful sleep was gone.

  She needed to do something. She had no idea what, but she couldn’t sit around here all day again.

  I have to get out there.

  Amy wanted to find Jagger herself. The cops would just kill him on sight. To them, he was a dog who’d turned wild and needed to be put down. Even if he had gone mean, she wouldn’t be convinced he was the monster Mark had told her about until she saw him for herself.

  She got her clothes together and left her bedroom.

  Inside the bathroom, with the hiss of the shower tapping the tub as the water heated, she stared at herself in the mirror while it slowly fogged up. Her mind was a fury of thoughts and worries. She dreaded finding him maybe a little more than not. She was scared to learn what kind of wild animal he’d become.

  Under the shower’s hot spray, she washed herself as her thoughts continued to stampede in her head. She understood how slim her chances of finding him were, but she was going to try.

  What do I do if I see him?

  That was another concern she had no resolution for.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Kenny threw the flat stone at the pond. It stabbed into the water at an angle and skipped across the surface a couple times before plunging into the murky depths. “Just like that,” he said.

  Brianna scrunched her face, poking out her bottom lip as she tried to hold the stone he’d found for her. She reached her arm back and even before she tossed it, Kenny knew it wasn’t going to do anything.

  It crashed into the water.

  And sank.

  “Oh, hell,” said Brianna, shaking her head. Her red ponytail rocked behind her. “I suck at this.”

  Laughing, Kenny bent over and grabbed another stone from the collection he’d gathered earlier. “No, you don’t. Your form’s just wrong.”

  “My form?” She arched an eyebrow. “I thought you liked my form.”

  Kenny smirked. “This form, yeah.” He reached out, cuppin
g a breast. The fabric of her bikini top was slick under his hand. He felt the point of her nipple pushing against his palm, hard and stiff.

  Closing her eyes, Brianna smiled. “I thought so.”

  The sunlight made her freckles seem darker than usual. Her creamy skin was speckled with them as if she’d drawn them on with marker. She was embarrassed by them, but to Kenny, the faded dots made her even lovelier.

  He pulled his hand away from her breast and replaced the springy feel in his hand with the flat hardness of the stone. Curling his forefinger around the top, he angled his thumb under the bottom, turning his hand into a backwards C around the gray shard. “You hold it like this,” he said.

  Brianna crouched in front of him, and sorted through the rocks. He liked the shapes of her legs, how they bowed out, lean and curvy. He could see the imprint of her groin through the purple sheath of her bikini bottoms.

  His swimming trunks became tight as his erection grew.

  Finding a rock she was happy with, Brianna stood up. “How’s this one?”

  “Good,” he said. “Now hold it like this.”

  He watched her awkwardly struggle to get her fingers just right. She needed to use her other hand to push her thumb down into the correct position. Finished, she held her hand out. “How’s this?”

  “Looks okay to me,” he said. “Now turn sideways.”

  He turned his body so he was facing her. Mirroring his stance, she put her back to him. He glimpsed the muscles in her back pulling taut as she raised her arm, the milky skin tightening and freckles lurching. Her rump jutted out, pushing against the shiny seat of her briefs in a smooth arch.

  “And when you throw,” he said, “stop your arm and flick with your wrist. Know what I mean?”

  “Sort of,” she said, looking at him from over her shoulder. A few strands of fiery red dangled around her eyes. “Show me, again.”

  He threw his stone, watching it twirl as it lowered to the water. It smacked the surface and bounced four times before sinking. That was his best one yet today.

  Brianna laughed and cheered. “Way to go!”

  “Now you do it.”

  “Okay,” she said, turning away from him.

  He watched her body move as she got the stance just right. She pulled her arm back, hips turning slightly. He glimpsed a pale strip of breast behind the bikini. Then she pivoted on her heels, flinging her arm out, and releasing the rock. It twirled away from her.

  The rock went out further than his had before hitting the water. It pranced across a couple times, then was snatched under by the cloudy water.

  Bouncing, Brianna clapped her hands and cheered. She spun around, hopping in place. Her breasts shook and jiggled with her celebration. “I did it!”

  “Yes, you did!”

  “Did you see that? It skipped right across!”

  “I saw it. A champion quality display.”

  She came to him, pressing her warm body against his and hugged him. “You really are a great coach, you know?”

  “Well, you’re my star player.”

  Moaning, Brianna writhed against him. He felt the slickness of her bikini rubbing his bare chest. She looked up at him with her gray eyes, the outer corners narrowing to points to give her a constant expression as if she were doing something naughty. “Got a prize for your all-star player?”

  Smiling, Kenny leaned down and kissed her. Her lips were smooth and moist, a thin upper strand and plump bottom made it easy for his mouth to insert into hers. He felt sweat dotting the skin above her upper lip, smearing over his as they kissed.

  During moments like these, it was easy to forget how wrong their relationship truly was. He was twenty-six and the coach of Brianna’s softball team. She’d just turned sixteen back in April and had gotten her license on the last day of school. It made meeting her easier, but the risk of getting caught would never completely go away.

  Sometimes he thought his sister suspected he was closer to Brianna than he should be, but she’d never accused him of anything. She was the reason he’d taken on coaching the team in the first place, so this was, in a way, her fault as much as it was his.

  Nice try, Kenny. Can’t blame her for your stupidity.

  He’d known he had a connection with Brianna from their first conversation. He’d called all the players to introduce himself and talk about his plans for the season. She’d laughed at all his jokes and had talked openly with him. Her voice had hooked him right away. It had a husky tone to it, like a sweet whisper, as if she were talking to him in secret. And when she laughed, it flowed out of her loud and smooth. Their phone chat had lasted longer than all the others.

  But it wasn’t until the night after the team’s third practice that things became interesting. He was sitting in his car, parked in line at a drive through when she’d texted him.

  Doing anything?

  He wasn’t then, but had been ever since.

  But I’m happy. Damn it, I’m really happy.

  And so was she, at least he thought so.

  Brianna pulled away with a smack. “Ready to go swimming?”

  Kenny turned his head to look at the water. Where the rocks had skipped, he saw dirty clouds swirling just beneath the surface. He felt himself wince. “In there?”

  “Sure! Why not?”

  “There’re probably leaches in there.”

  Laughing, Brianna pressed her breasts tighter against his chest. “You’re so silly. There aren’t any leaches out here.”

  “I hate to disagree with the lady who’s rubbing her hot body against me, but this is the perfect place for them to be. One dip in there and we’ll have them clinging to us.”

  Brianna rolled her eyes. “Whatever!”

  “And this is Dinky’s Pond, right?”

  “So?”

  “Isn’t that where they found that dead body last year?”

  Brianna frowned, thinking. “I think you’re right.” She stuck out her bottom lip to form a fake pout. “Aw, boo. Now I’m sad.”

  “Let me make it up to you,” he said, rubbing his finger down her sweat-slick neck. It slid down the hollow of her throat, dipping into a shallow puddle of perspiration. He ran it lower, over the ridges of her chest, turning it to glide over a slope of her breast. His finger slipped behind the bikini patch.

  Brianna sucked in a gasp. “Kenny?”

  Smiling, he looked up at her. “Lay down on...” His words petered out when he saw the horrified look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “There...look.” Her wide eyes didn’t blink. Her lips curled around her teeth, nearly a grimace as she thrust her chin up.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Look!”

  Kenny turned his head to look behind him, not knowing what to expect. The smile still hung on his face, though it felt strange, like a plastic appliance. His first thought was he was going to see her father standing somewhere behind him with a shotgun.

  He saw no one, and kept his awkward-feeling smile.

  It dropped away when he saw the impossibly huge dog. Its dark fur was disheveled on its bulky body, caked with filth and some kind of paste that was not unlike strawberry jam. Its hackles were raised from its snout all the way to its tail like a dingy Mohawk. The dark lips trembled around teeth that curled out like hooks. Water streamed down its chin, dripping onto its puffed out chest.

  The dog must’ve been drinking from the pond when we showed up. How did we not see it?

  Because they were too involved with each other, holding hands, prancing around each other and sneaking kisses. Not realizing that something so ridiculously monstrous was just feet away from them.

  And now we’re screwed.

  An assembly of chaotic thoughts scaled his mind, most of them hoping neither he nor Brianna were bitten. How would they explain what they’d been doing to an ER doctor? Her parents would find out they were together and then he’d have to convince them he wasn’t being uncouth with their daughter.

  The dog
put a beefy paw forward.

  “Oh...shit...” Kenny muttered.

  Brianna pressed against him. “What do we do?”

  “Don’t run...”

  “Oh, Kenny…” Her breaths were hot and quick on his sweaty skin.

  “Start walking backwards,” he said. “Slowly.”

  “O...okay...”

  He heard a squeaky moan resonate from Brianna as she took a small step in reverse. The dog didn’t move. It watched, growling.

  It was Kenny’s turn to take a step of his own.

  And the dog did as well.

  Brianna started to cry.

  Putting his hand on the small of her back, he felt her skin quivering. “Calm down,” he told her. “Just keep going. He’ll see we don’t mean him any harm and he’ll go away.”

  Though, Brianna didn’t reply, she gave a quick nod. She sucked her lips inward, biting down.

  They moved back a little more. The dog followed, keeping a slow, stalking pace. His erect tail stuck out behind him like a furry saber. Kenny had never seen such a big dog in all his life. It easily reached his hips in height, and the dark color of its pelt gave it an overall semblance to a small bear.

  It wore no collar, but its claws looked manicured.

  Somebody owns this bastard.

  Man’s best friend to Leatherface.

  “He’s still coming,” said Brianna in a shouting whisper. Her husky voice was choked and sharp.

  “Yeah,” said Kenny. He wished he was more educated on how to handle situations like this. But how could he have known to prepare for such an event? “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

  He felt Brianna turn slightly, her head twisting toward him. When he looked at her, he saw her eyes were spilling tears down her face. She looked so vulnerable, scared. And alone. He quickly leaned in, kissing her softly. Her lips were moist and salty from her tears.

  “We’re going to turn around,” he said. He felt her tensing up, trying to pull away from him. “Stop it.”

  “I don’t want to...”

  “Listen to me.” Brianna stopped fighting, her body going slack. Her head dropped down. “We’re going to turn around and keep walking. Okay? If we show him we’re no longer interested, he’ll stop trying to defend himself. He wants the damn pond so bad, he can have it.”