Page 47 of Pet Project

56

TOBY

Don is going to be pissed at me. I don’t want to wake him up before the ass crack of dawn. Hell, there’s another hour or so before you can even start to consider it bird thirty, but I can’t take standing outside in the cold for much longer. I would try to call Shiloh, but my phone is in my hoodie pocket — the hoodie still laying on the bean bag chair inside the apartment.

I’m a fucking idiot for forgetting my hoodie.

Not only am I freezing, but I also have no way of calling for a rideshare to take me home – not that I necessarily want to go home. I want to spend more time with Donnie and Shy, but in my rush to surprise them with breakfast, I forgot that I wouldn’t be able to get back in.

I’ve never had to deal with having a locked door between me and my home before. Growing up in a small Alabama town, we didn’t lock our door because the only time the house was empty was when we were all out as afamily, and my parents took care of locking and unlocking the house. Kink Manor is never locked. We all have locks on our individual rooms, but the house itself is never locked.

Wait a second…

Did I just refer to Shy’s apartment as home?

Of course it’s home. Home is wherever Shiloh is.

Before I manage to get my mind wrapped around my brain’s epiphany, the backdoor flies open and I’m face to face with an irate coffee shop owner. He practically throws me inside and gathers up all the bags I had set down while I paced to keep warm.

While he yells at me, I struggle to keep myself present. I never could handle being yelled at. It reminds me of my grandfather and how worthless he makes everyone feel. It reminds me of how I’ve only ever been a disappointment.Maybe I should just grab my hoodie and go…

My eyes lock onto Don’s and I find myself relaxing in his arms. I know he’s not happy, but he says he was worried for me. Has anyone ever worried about me other than Shy? I mean, my father and Uncle Robert seem to, but one summer doesn’t really make up for twenty years of feeling like I’m a permanent disappointment.

Don starts to ask me something, but Shiloh’s scream echoes off the walls of the stairwell. I don’t stop to think. I race up the stairs. I don’t give a fuck if the door’s closed or not, I will break through steel to get to my kitten when he needs me.

Luckily for Don’s wallet, the door to the apartment isopen, and I rush back to the bedroom where I last saw Shiloh. I am used to dealing with carpeting andnotwearing shoes, so when I tumble into the doorframe, I’m somewhat surprised.

I ignore the pain in my shoulder and push back to my feet to stumble to the bed where Shiloh is thrashing violently. He’s gone beyond nightmare into full on night terror mode.

“Don’t touch him!” I say just loud enough for Don to hear above Shy’s whimpers when he reaches for our kitten. “He won’t wake up until it’s done and he’ll only feel worse if he hurts you.”

He looks as anguished as I know I feel, but he gives me a nod before grabbing some clothes and heading out in the hall to the bathroom. The second I hear the lock click on the door, I stuff my fist into my mouth to hold back my sobs as I watch the man I love more than life itself suffer through the hell of his past.

57

SHILOH

The smell of bacon is the first thing I notice waking up. That is the one thing I really enjoy about this apartment over living in Kink Manor. Don is very quiet in the mornings to the point where I don’t usually hear him until he comes back after his morning run. Usually, I wake up to the smell of the coffee from downstairs, but bacon is a welcome change.

Do we even have bacon?

I sit up and my confusion intensifies as I notice that I am not inmyroom. The sheets that are tangled around my naked body are not mine…NAKED?

A quick glance around the room and the only piece of my clothing I can see is my t-shirt.Where the fuck are my pants?

I don’t see my pants, but I do see the straight jacket and spreader bar over by the closet and the memories of last night start to flow back into my head. The soundswe coaxed out of Toby before we all collapsed in exhaustion have my dick taking notice first thing in the morning.

Now, if only I had some pants to cover up, I could go out and see what the fuck is going on and discover where the fuck the bacon came from.

Ultimately, I grab a pair of sweats from Don’s drawer and yank my t-shirt from last night over my head. This will have to do for now. After a quick trip to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my teeth, I plan to find out what my best friend and my roommate are up to at this ungodly hour of the morning. But first I really need to get this morning wood to disappear.

“How often do they happen?” Don’s voice carries down the hallway as my dick finally gets the memo from my bladder. Toby always gets a kick out of the fact that I sit for my morning bathroom routine, but I refuse to make a mess trying to aim a hard dick to piss with a boner. Having dealt with my stepbrother and his nasty ass friends made me hyper-vigilant about making messes.

Toby’s response is too soft for me to make out over the sounds in the bathroom. He doesn’t sound like my carefree pup. I rush through washing up and try to keep calm. Did we hurt him last night?

“I can usually calm him down before they get as bad as that was.”

I skid to a halt to see Don and Toby standing shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen. Toby is facing the stove, but Don is leaning against the counter next to him, looking at whatever is on the stovetop.

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