Page 104 of Mayhem and Minnie

For fuck’s sake, Marlowe! Being jealous of a dog is low, even for you.

“Maybe he would learn to pee outside if you walked him more often and made an effort to teach him instead of punishing him,” I mention.

“You have no right! It’s my dog! I’ll call the police!”

“Please do. Here, I’ll even help you,” I say as I pull out my phone and dial 911.

“W-wait…” the man mumbles then jumps at me to try to get the phone from my hand.

I’m at least a head taller than he is, so I simply raise my arm. My lips twitch as I watch him try to jump up and down to grab the phone.

“What do you say, Minnie? Should I give him the benefit of the doubt?”

“No,” she answers immediately.

Good girl.

“He doesn’t deserve to own a pet,” she continues.

“You heard the lady.” I smirk and press call.

I might not be able to murder him on the spot for his offenses, but I can certainly do…something. And getting the authorities involved will at least give him a taste of that punishment he’s so fond of inflicting on a little creature. But it will also help me save face with Minnie, since I doubt she’d warm up to me if she sees me murder someone in cold blood.

I want her forgiveness for whatever I did wrong. The last thing I need is for her to recoil in fear if she knows just how far I’d be willing to take this—well, only as far as having his body chopped up in small pieces before feeding them to wild beasts. It might be an affront to said wild beasts to eat something so unpalatable as this coward, but it would be a kind of poetic justice.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the operator speaks.

The man pales and right as I start reciting what had happened, he gets ready to run.

He makes a couple of steps before I’m on him, grabbing him by his coat and pulling him back, half lifting him off the floor.

Scrawny-ass coward.

He squirms and wiggles in an attempt to free himself, but he’s only battling the air at this point.

“We’ll send a car over,” the operator says after I tell her our location.

The man begs me to let him go, his words more fervent with each passing moment.

I chuckle and shake my head.

One glance at Minnie, though, and I thank all the known and unknown deities that I resorted to a non-violent method to make sure this lousy coward gets his comeuppance.

Her expression is soft, and a sweet smile appears on her lips as she regards me—as if I were her hero.

It finally dawns on me that’s exactly what I want to be—and maybe what I’ve been subconsciously trying to be all along.

Her hero.

In his desperation to escape, the man tries to kick me but misses. I shake my head at him and his feeble attempts. What I wouldn’t give to be able to teach him a lesson—one that he would never forget. But just as that thought becomes more and more tantalizing, the blaring sirens dispel all my fantasies.

Damn it.

The police arrives, and upon confirming the validity of our allegations, they arrest the man and take the little frightened dog to a veterinarian for urgent care.

Minnie pouts when she has to hand over the dog to the policewoman, but she eventually relents when she learns it’s for the best of the dog.

As the police car drives away, I quickly text Giles and ask him to monitor the case for me. In my experience, the police won’t do too much, so I’ll have to intervene at some point. It doesn’t matter if it’s two or ten years later. If it means doling out the proper justice, I’ll do it.

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