Page 26 of Through The Woods

Her eyes had widened before she dropped to her knees in front of him. Her small hands cupped the puppy’s body as she cradled him to her chest, rocking him like he was a baby.

I’d wanted to think that I’d saved him that night, but she had. One of the club whores had said that nothing was better than a woman’s touch, but I don’t think she was meaning it like that. I never bothered to remember their names; they never stuck around long enough for it to matter.

She’d been right about one thing though—my girl had something I didn’t and it had kept Bones alive.

That was what she’d insisted we name him because he was all skin and bones when we got him. AJ followed us one day and demanded to be allowed a turn to take care of Bones too.

His hair always stuck out in every different direction like it had never seen a hairbrush and I teased that he looked like a rooster. He was always up at the crack of dawn too; his loud voice echoing off the walls of the clubhouse, waking everyone within a five-mile radius. Luck would grumble that he was going to build onto the edge of the property and throw all of us kids over there, but he hadn’t made good on that promise yet.

It wasn’t long before taking care of Bones had become an inside operation with us kids—even Matt showed up to help. He never spoke a word; his dad said it was because he was as dumb as his bitch of a mother, but I never saw it like that. He was quiet, but he was far from stupid. He’d write out questions to us on the dirt floor of the old barn and seemed to understand everything that was going on. There was just something in his eyes. You could tell a lot about a person just by looking into their eyes.

Rocky had tried to help, but we figured out really quick that he’s allergic to dogs. He’s allergic to everything. She gave him another task after he covered Bones in his snot.

Vic stole some medical supplies from the basement and managed to get Bones’ eyes completely cleared up. “I’m gonna be a veterinarian, so I need lots of practice. Bonesy, you’ll be my first patient.”

Bones had just stared up at him, trusting that Vic knew what he was doing. And we had. Well, we’d figured most of it out along the way. She made sure that we all had a shift on the schedule she’d made—even convinced some of the older guys to help out when we couldn’t.

Billy complained every time he had to help, but he kept showing up, so it couldn’t have been that bad. His twin, Bobby, showed up every day though—sometimes, even twice a day. They were nothing alike; some days I wondered if they’d gotten mixed up at the hospital.

All of us had worked together to get Bones healthy and now, six months later, we’d been busted. Luck didn’t tolerate strays of any kind. As I faced him, I could only hope that he’d let me take Bones back to town. Miss Pearl would keep him for us; I just knew it.

I nodded. “You told me, sir. I found him and he was sick. I thought I could get him better and then take him into town to sell. Maybe earn some money.”

I hadn’t thought about doing that once, but Luck always seemed to be pleased when I said I was going to make money.

His eyes suddenly looked sad and I became alert. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain. I should’ve known you would’ve had a plan; you’re not such a little kid anymore. You’re turning into a man.”

My stomach started to hurt as I asked, “Where’s Bones?”

He shook his head and pointed up above me.

Into the trees.

“I was going to teach you a lesson. Seems like you’ve taught me one though.” He left me standing there, staring up to where my dog—our dog—had been strung up and shot like a criminal. I angrily swiped tears from my face.

I had to get him down.

Before she saw him like this.

I closed the book and replaced it, suddenly regretting ever picking it up in the first place. Luck, whoever he was, had killed their dog. I shouldn’t have pried. Now, I was left with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and an unhealthy suspicion that at least a few of the men had chosen their road names after a stroll down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.

What was I expecting?

That Charm would’ve written about the girl who sat by him in class or what his dreams for the future were?

I was just contemplating who she could’ve been when the door handle began to turn and I immediately rushed into the bathroom where I began throwing cleaning products around, trying to mask what I’d been doing.

Charm froze when he saw me. “What are you doing in here?”

I pointed down at the bottle of glass cleaner as if it was suddenly going to speak up and save me the trouble. “I—you said—I—the door was unlocked.”

The corner of his mouth turned up and he crossed his arms over his broad chest. “You came in because the door was unlocked?”

I nodded and then shook my head. “No—well, yes. You wanted me to clean and the door was unlocked, so I assumed you wanted your room done too.”

I cleared my throat and looked down at the tile floor, afraid he’d see the truth written on my face.

I know about Bones.

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