Page 67 of Leashed

Bo sat on the floor across from her. “Neither do I.” He glanced at her hand and tucked his hair behind his ear. “That thumb still bleeding?”

“It’s fine,” she murmured, trying to reconcile the normalcy of Bo with the weirdness of her night. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

He shrugged and turned his attention to the ceiling. “There wasn’t really any reason to until, well, tonight, I guess. I mean, yeah I was going to tell you if you permanently ditched buddy-boy but this kind of sealed that. So, surprise. I’m a dog.” When her lips turned up in an involuntary smile at his flippant comment, he leaned back on his elbows and crossed his ankles. “Why’d you come by?”

Blinking a few times in confusion, she stared at the wall. It felt like weeks ago she’d buzzed his apartment, not knowing what she wanted but knowing she wanted to see him. “I don’t remember.”

He smirked at her. “Don’t suppose you were coming here to tell me you decided to put a stake in your relationship and were dying to kiss me again.”

“Bo.”

“I’ve got nothing to lose, do I?” he challenged, returning his attention to the smooth expanse of the ceiling. “Why hold back at this point? Know where I was last weekend? In the underworld with Dio, arguing with Seph over which nymph she wanted me to marry so there was someone obligated to take care of my sorry ass since my brother Ryan walked out. Two months ago, I would’ve gotten plastered and gone along with it to shut her up and end the interruption to my drinking time. But last weekend? Even facedown in a bowl of wine, all I could think about was getting back up here. Getting that library book returned. Seeing you again.” He lolled his head back. “Of course, I kind of envisioned it going a little different than this. More like it went at your place. Without buddy-boy calling.”

They sat in silence for a moment as she thought over what he said.

The underworld.

Seph.

Dio.

“I need to return that book you left at my place,” she whispered, getting to her feet and walking to the front door without looking back.

*

Bo stood atthe entrance to the living room and watched Sage zip her boots up, her coat tightly buttoned around her. She opened the door, pausing halfway into the hall. “I’ll call you, okay?”

Holding no trust in his voice, he nodded and waited for the door to close before he stumbled forward and locked it, using the wall for balance on his way to his room.

Not even the sobering events of the night could erase the amount of wine Dio had poured down his throat when he’d returned from Sage’s house, the taste of her lip gloss swiftly drowned out with copious amount of booze.

Dio had known.

Had to have known.

He’d been relentless with the wine, maintaining a near-constant hand on Bo’s back as he topped up glass after glass, thoughts of kissing Sage shoved unceremoniously aside under the assault of Dio’s influence.

Flopping onto his bed, he tossed his arm over his eyes.

Dio knew the moment he left the area, Bo would have no hope of holding dog form, no way he could focus enough in his inebriated state to wait until Sage was gone.

The sensation of her fingers tentatively running over his head ghosted over him and he groaned.

Of course she was scared of dogs.

And he was pretty certain he hadn’t helped the situation by morphing on her lap.

Her arrival at his door had paralyzed him, her voice penetrating his drunken haze and yanking him into enough alertness to know he didn’t want her to see him, didn’t want her to find out what he was in that way.

His phone buzzed on his dresser and he launched across the room, swiping his thumb over the screen.

Up?

He tapped on her number without thought, lying back when she answered. “Have I ever not waited up for you?” he asked, his slurred speech making him wince.

Sage exhaled. “That’s the kicker, isn’t it? One guy ignores me unless he benefits somehow, the other is you. And you…”

“Bark?” he offered, knowing where the conversation was going but clinging to the sound of her voice.

---