Page 124 of Assassin

“Someone dumped this menace, and I didn’t have the heart to take him to the shelter. He stays with the horses to annoy them.”

Gamble sat up, and he was fine. He was a lover of dogs, and he enjoyed them. The Hunters had one roaming around, and that always made him happy to see it.

“You can let him go. He’s not hurting me,” he reassured as Rufus went right back to him and climbed into his lap to get scratched behind the ears.

His tail was going, and he was drooling like he’d never seen before.

Poe watched, and it was his first look at the man Gamble had once been. Gone was the pain, and in its place was actual joy.

“I like dogs,” Gamble said. “I had one when I was a kid. He was this hideous mongrel but the most loyal dog in the world. He died from cancer, and to this day, I think about him.”

Poe let him talk, and he actually sat across from him, so they would be facing each other.

This seemed like a good therapy moment without him making Gamble nervous.

Sometimes, you had to do things on the DL.

Even in therapy.

“Dogs understand,” Gamble said, continuing to talk. “I don’t know how, but they know when you’re hurt, sad, happy, or struggling.”

It was clear that Rufus had homed in on that. He was curled up in the man’s lap.

“Animals are sometimes better than people,” Gamble said, his voice cracking.

Poe gave him a moment, and then continued talking to him.

“Did we make too much noise to wake you up?” Poe asked.

“I heard you check on me, and then I heard Rufus. I was curious about the horses.”

Poe knew that along with dogs, horses knew when people were struggling too.

The one in the stall not far from Gamble was trying to sniff the man. It was clear that Gamble was different when he wasn’t focused on pain.

“Well, Rufus likes NO ONE. He pisses on my loafers, and he tried to bite Reginald on the ass. We are definitely not his favorite people, but you appear to be.”

Gamble actually laughed.

The mutt was falling asleep on his leg, and he was enjoying petting him.

At Poe’s words, he reassured the dog.

“You’re just cranky, Rufus. I get it. I’m cranky too,” he admitted. “It happens. You had a rough life before being dumped, didn’t you?”

Poe watched as the man connected with the animal, and how Rufus was laying on his lap, staring at Poe as if daring him to tell him to move.

“He likes you,” Poe said. “A lot. He must think you’re a decent human being.”

Gamble ran his hands over the dog.

“A broken clock is right twice a day,” he admitted, thinking about all of the bad things that he’d done in life.

“Can I ask you something?” Gamble asked.

Poe nodded.

“Do you think my daughter died because of all of the people I’ve hurt in my life? All of the missions where I killed someone? Where I did horrible things? Was she the collateral damage because of me?”

---