Page 83 of Forgive You

But regardless, there’s one feeling that covers my heart like a warm blanket on a cold winter day. The feeling that she belongs, and all is right in the world.

When we were still in high school, everyone knew about Hunter and Charlotte hanging out. The inevitable couple followed by the inevitable heartbreak, and we were the assumed sidekicks. But no one realized that Julie and I have been friends from the moment we first met. Or that she used to be at my house all the time because of my brother. Having her around me feels…normal.

“What’s a good name for him?” Julie takes his little head in her hands, staring into his coffee-brown eyes that spell victory.

Bet the mutt feels like he hit the jackpot.

“Mutt.”

“Mutt? We can’t name him mutt.”

“Why not? It fully sums him up.”

“Oh, please,” she huffs, followed by a chuckle. “Don’t pretend this little fella isn’t cute as hell.”

“He’s a mutt.”

“And you’re a grump.” She sticks out her tongue, and that gets a laugh out of me.

“What? Remember how Berry’s dog bit me at that pool party? The son of a bitch tried to eat me for lunch because I kicked his ball. Sorry if I’m not as excited to take in a domesticated wolf as you are.”

That dog was a psycho.

“Oh my god! You’re still traumatized from that?” Her eyes are wide, her grin expanding—and yes, I’m still traumatized from that.

I still have the scars to remind me.

“Look at him.” She turns Mutt toward me, two sets of dopey eyes pleading with mine. “He’s not a killer machine. He’s a cuddle machine.”

He does look cute. Especially when she traps him against her chest, and he settles into her body even deeper. I’m not gonna admit that, though.

“Still think his name is Mutt.” I shrug.

“Maybe you’re right.Mutt.” The name rolls off her tongue a few times to get familiar with it, and I park my car in the garage below my building. “Okay, Mutt it is.”

We get out of the car, the dog trailing behind Julie with his new collar while I get all the other shit that we picked up on the way home.

Dog bed, food, and water bowls, the ones with an army green pattern because that was moretough, a leash, a bag of food that doesn’t say‘here for a couple of nights’but what do I know? And a toothbrush. A goodman toothbrush for a dog.

Not sure who’s going to be brushing Mutt’s teeth, but we all know it’s not going to be me.

What did I get myself into?

A couple of kisses from the blonde I can’t get out of my mind, and I already have a roommate. And it’s not the one I want.

When we get to my floor, she takes some of the load so I can open the front door, and as soon as I do, Mutt races in, jumping on my soft gray velvet couch.

“No, no, no!”Goddamnit.

Before I have one foot through the door, he’s curled up in a corner of the couch, looking at me like he doesn’t understand why I’m yelling.

“Wow, this is yours?” Jules strides past me, walking into the open space of my living room.

There’s nothing special about how she slogs in, nothing sensual about her moves, so why does my heart feel like it’s about to explode?

The final rays of sunshine glisten above her blonde hair, her blue sundress looking almost purple from the light of my windows cascading at her back.

“Welcome to your temporary home, Mutt.” Her cheeks are rosy, her smile relaxed as she rubs her fingers over his head. “He likes it.”

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