Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 213(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 142(@300wpm)
“Babe, you in here?”
“In the back,” she replied, her voice faint. Entering the kitchen, I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she seemed out of it—almost dazed.
“What the fuck’s going on?” I asked. She jumped, looking toward me with something like fear in her expression. Jesus, had someone hurt her? A burst of adrenaline rushed through me—nobody touched my woman. I’d fucking kill them. She didn’t say anything, though. “Marie?”
She shook herself, almost as if she needed to wake up.
“Sorry, I was sort of lost in my thoughts.”
“What’s going on?”
She stared at me for several seconds, her mouth tight. “We need to talk.”
Great—words every man loves to hear. So much for my “welcome home” blow job.
“About what?” I asked warily.
“Sit down,” she murmured, glancing away from me. “You want a beer?”
Up to that point, a beer had been damned high on my list of priorities. Now? Not so much. I pulled out a chair at the big wooden block that served as our kitchen table and sat down with a thump, leaning back. Then I crossed my arms over my chest.
“So let’s talk,” I told her, forcing myself to stay patient. Marie swallowed, then reached for the cup of tea sitting on the block in front of her, taking a nervous sip.
“Okay, so here goes,” she said quietly, refusing to look at me. “We’ve got some big changes ahead of us. You need to remember that it just happened, babe. It’s not like I did it on purpose. Please remember that.”
She shot me another quick look, her face full of dread. Put that together with the puffy eyes and I realized we were in the shit. Deep shit. Had she cheated on me? Rage roared through my soul, drowning out my ability to think.
Whoever the fuck the guy was, I wouldn’t just kill him. I’d kill him slow. Wasn’t sure what I’d do to Marie. Jesus. Never saw it coming, not even for a minute. I’d thought my wife was happy.
“Tell me,” I ordered her, my voice cold. I forced the feelings down, burying them deep under a layer of ice. Hold it together, don’t do anything stupid ’til you hear her out.
“Okay, so while you were gone I—”
A piercing howl tore through the kitchen from behind the house, followed by a series of agonized, terrifying yelps.
Marie’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. “That was Ariel!”
Another howl tore through the air. Sure as shit, she was right—that was definitely our dog. Good God, of all the fucking times for the mutt to go apeshit. Marie was halfway to the door when I caught her, instinctively jerking her behind my body as I pulled out my gun.
“Stay inside,” I told her. “Could be anything.”
Full of dark purpose, I reached for the door handle—irony, anyone? Here I was, ready to do anything to protect this woman, even though she’d probably cheated on me. Fuck it. Opening the door, I looked outside cautiously.
The smell hit me first.
Jesus.
Christ.
Skunk. Fucking dog had found a skunk. The harsh reality sank in as Marie moaned behind me.
“That is the worst smell on earth,” she said. There was a rustling in the bushes, and then Ariel burst out into the open, racing toward us.
“Down!” I shouted at him, because the dog was about two seconds from jumping me and then I’d reek, too. Ariel fell back cowering, whining up at us even as waves of stench radiated off of his body.
The stink was strong. Seriously strong. My eyes started burning and I felt the tiny hairs inside my nose standing straight up. I opened my mouth, hoping that bypassing my nose might do some good. This only made things worse because now I could taste it.
“I think I’m gonna puke,” Marie whispered behind me. “Shit, what should we do? Have you ever had to clean skunk off him before?”
I shook my head, frustration mixing with the anger that still filled me. “No, I remember my mom cleaning off a dog when I was a kid, but I’ve been lucky out here. I’ve smelled skunks but never had one get too close to the house. Fuck, I got no idea what we should do. Hose him off?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let me look it up, see what I can find.”
“We could just shoot him,” I grunted, glancing down at my gun. “Of course, we’d still have to deal with a skunked dog corpse.”
“Please tell me you aren’t serious.”
I glanced back to find her holding a hand over her mouth. There was a distinctly green tinge to her skin, and as I watched, she gagged.
“Just go look it up,” I said, the words short. “I’ll stay out here, keep him calm.”
She stepped back into the house, and I blinked, eyes still watering. It wasn’t just a smell. No. This was a tangible, evil presence wafting around my body like something out of a horror movie.