Page 33 of Leashed

He shut the door and stepped back, watching the car until it disappeared over the hill.

“Come here, boy!” Dio yelled from the forest. “We’ve got some misery to drown.”

He took a step forward, stumbling when he felt the warring beasts inside him rear up, one reaching for the wine, the other dragging him away. “I can’t, Dio,” he grunted, the pain radiating through every nerve in his body.

“Sure you can.” The old god chuckled. “One step in front of the next.”

Shaking his head, he remained rooted on the spot as the agony eased into a dull ache. “Let me put it this way. I don’t want to.”

They stared each other down, Dio finally relenting with the surrender of his hands, the amphorae dropping to the ground and splashing the wine at his feet. “I’ll indulge this phase for now, Boreus. But you’d be wise not to test my patience.”

With the rippling of the air around them, the earth opened and Dio disappeared in a flash, nothing but a few singed leaves left where he’d stood.

Backing away from the overpowering scent of wine calling to him, he jogged to his truck and climbed in, checked the glove box for his cell phone and cigarettes. Lighting one, he revved the engine to warm up the cab and checked the notifications on his phone.

Alex had a great time camping. Caught two rabbits.

Turner’s Automotive had a leaking hydraulic hose.

And nothing from Sage.

He adjusted his seat and tapped the window defrost button.

He hadn’t spoken to her since that night in the parking lot a week earlier when he’d definitely overstepped his bounds out of frustration.

She was a good woman. A little too meek for him, but for a nice, intelligent guy? She’d be perfect.

And seeing her wasting her time with buddy-boy pissed him off.

Slipping his cigarette butt into a half-filled water bottle, he put the truck in drive and began inching forward before he threw it into park, opened his door, and jogged back into the forest to retrieve the abandoned amphorae.

*

Sage added thelast of the empty glasses to her tray, arching over the table to snatch up the discarded napkins before she slid the sizable tip into her apron.

Exhausted as she was, taking the extra night shifts at the lounge was definitely helping her bank account and ensuring she wouldn’t come out of school with crushing student loans.

She used her elbow to push through the swinging kitchen doors, nodding at a table of customers as they called out to her for another round of drinks. Emptying her tray into the dishwasher, she returned to the bar, pulled her soggy notebook from her apron, and flipped it open to the table’s previous orders.

“I need three pints, two reds, one vodka coke, and a Bloody Mary, please,” she called over to the bartender.

“Could you add a water to that?”

She startled, turning to look up at Bo. “Oh. Hey.” With her heart thumping, she leaned over the counter. “David? Could you please add a water?” The bartender nodded and continued assembling the order as she tightened her grip on her tray and glanced back over at the guy she definitely shouldn’t be around. “No drinking tonight?”

“Nope. Just swung by to say hi.” He accepted the water from her and shoved a twenty into her tip jar. “So hi.”

Between her overwhelming work schedules, essays, impending exams, and tensions with Nixon, Bo was the last person she needed to see. He was a distraction. A time-sucker who needed to be placed back where he belonged among the other nameless people she encountered day after day.

“Had a good week?”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the computer as she entered in her order. “Busy. You?”

“Busy.” He dropped his elbows onto the counter and looked up at her. “I have something in the truck I think you might find kind of cool.”

“What is it?”

“Just something kind of vintage you might like.”

Her interest piqued, she scanned a new group of people walking in the door. “Could you maybe bring it in? I already used up my break time.”

He shook his head. “Rather not. I could maybe hang out here until you’re done, though.” His attention dropped to his glass as he swirled the ice cubes. “You okay with that?”

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