Page 6 of Interference

I’d been on the brink of doing what I’d done a few weeks ago—breaking into an abandoned house to ride out a rainstorm—but even that hadn’t seemed like enough. A roof was great, but I couldn’t make this poor dog ride out a cold snap in a house with no heat.

I’d been walking through this parking lot, losing my mind as the sun had started to go down, taking the temperature with it, when I’d caught sight of the clinic.

I hadn’t thought it would actually work. At the very, very most, all I’d hoped for was a kennel she could sleep in for the night. Shelter, a little food and clean water, and heat. In my wildest dreams, I hadn’t imagined any of this.

Somehow… by some miracle… Lily was going to spend tonight in a warm house with a full belly.

And by some even bigger miracle…

So was I.

Chapter 3

Anthony

As soon as Wyatt and Lily were out of earshot, the exam room door clicking shut behind them and Dr. Green, Sue turned wide eyes on me. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, of course.” I signed the credit card receipt she’d handed to me. “It’s not that much.”

“I didn’t mean this part.” She inclined her head. “Honey, you’re really going to bring a homeless man into your house?”

“What’s the alternative?”

“Well, I… I don’t know, but…” She glanced in the direction Wyatt had gone, then looked up at me again. “But you can help him without bringing him into your home, can’t you? Foot the bill for a motel or something?”

I guess I understood her reaction. She didn’t sound disgusted, just worried, and given the things people said about homeless people being scary and dangerous, I got it. I didn’t know Wyatt from Adam. He could have a weapon. He could have a serious addiction. It was entirely possible he would try to hurt me. Damage or steal my property. Do something to make me sorely regret this. What if he was a scam artist or something? What if he was trying to get into the clinic to steal drugs, or he’d have designs on stealing things from me he could sell for drugs? There was, in fact, a part of my mind screaming at me that I was taking a massive, reckless risk, and it could quite possibly blow up in my face.

But I couldn’t make myself say no. Even finding him a hotel room or something didn’t seem like enough. And now that I was considering Sue’s question and my own conflicted feelings about it, I could suddenly articulate why, from the moment I’d offered my spare room, I’d been committed.

“I’ve got two options,” I explained. “I can let him and his dog sleep out there and potentially die. Or I can take them in and potentially get robbed or scammed. My conscience would never forgive me for the first choice. And the rest?” I half-shrugged. “That’s what insurance is for.”

Sue and Amanda stared at me.

“You’re not worried he’ll hurt your boys?” Amanda asked.

That question seemed simultaneously absurd and like a slap in the face.

Uh, yeah, Anthony—did you think about the safety of your boys? Jesus Christ.

But I couldn’t shake the image of this man pleading for nothing more than someplace warm and safe for his dog. Even if it meant riding out the night without his service dog. Regardless of what waited for him out there, he’d been ready to face it alone as long as she was warm and safe.

That… wasn’t a man who was going to hurt an animal. I could feel that truth all the way to my core.

Shaking her head, Sue slipped her copy of my receipt into a manila folder. “Well, you’re braver than I am.”

Maybe. But this was a risk I was willing to accept.

It occurred to me, though, that my boyfriend might not accept it. Then again, he’d moved out. His name was still on the mortgage, and in theory, we were still together, but he’d packed up his shit and left. So… fuck it. I didn’t need his approval. The fact that this would almost certainly infuriate him wasn’t nearly as much of a deterrent as it probably should’ve been, and I didn’t feel like picking that apart right now.

“Are you really going to let him stay in your house and ride in your car?” Beside Sue, Amanda wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think there’s enough Febreze in the world.”

I scowled.

Sue glared at her. “Why don’t you go check the water dishes in the kennels?”

Amanda shrugged and wandered off to do exactly that. As soon as we were alone again, Sue and I both rolled our eyes, but neither of us said anything.

I got it, I supposed. No, Wyatt didn’t smell spectacular, but who would after living out there? And it wasn’t like I smelled like roses whenever I was sweating in my hockey gear.

---