Page 36 of Crash

I ignore his arrogant attitude and snatch Zeus’s leash from him, pulling the dog towards me. Zeus sits down and doesn’t move an inch.

“Zeus, come here!” I command and point directly in front of me. Zeus just stares at me, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. “Come here, boy.” I pull the leash, and this time he stands, but instead of walking, he runs to me, stands on his hind legs and put his front paws on my shoulder. I open my mouth to tell him to sit, but he barks and licks the side of my neck, and the sudden movement knocks me on my ass.

“Jesus,” I hear Luke say under his breath as he pulls Zeus off me. He offers me his hand and I take it, ignoring the jolt of electricity that my body experiences as he pulls me up. “You okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine. I need another shower now that I’m covered in dog drool.”

He swallows at my words. “Well, you can come with me to walk them if you want. You can hold Lady’s leash.”

A little embarrassed by what happened, I decline. “It’s fine. You go ahead since your brother asked you to do it.”

He doesn’t say a word, but he looks at my body again before turning around and walking out the door with the dogs.

Finally, able to breathe again, I run to the bathroom and scrub my neck and face clean of Zeus’s spit. I return to the kitchen and throw the leftover red beans and rice in the microwave. While the rice is warming, I toss a salad and pour myself a glass of water.

Just as I’m plating my dinner, Luke and the dogs come back. He sets out food and water for them, and as they eat, I set my beautifully plated dinner on the kitchen table.

I look over at him. He’s leaning against the sink, watching me.

“Have you had dinner?” I ask, hoping he’ll take the hint and leave.

“Nope,” is all he says. He crosses his arms, his eyes going from my plate to my face.

“Well, I’m sure you probably have plans with Zoey.”

“I don’t.” His eyes go back to my plate and then back to my face. He tilts his head to the side, waiting for me to speak. He arches his eyebrows as he waits.

“I’m sure you like fancy food, and this isn’t fancy, but if you want, you can have some.” Before the words are out of my mouth, he’s grabbing a plate and filling it. When he sits down, I see he’s taken most of the remaining salmon and has a mountain of rice on his plate. He also has a small bowl, but the only thing in it is cucumber slices.

“I’m not even going to ask you what you meant when you said I like fancy food,” he says right before he shoves a mouthful of rice and fish into his mouth. He lets out a loud moan as he chews.

“Caviar, steak tartar, or whatever rich boys like yourself eat.”

He rolls his eyes at me, but his mouth is too full to talk. When he swallows, he says, “I had that for lunch.” His green eyes twinkle as he lets out a small laugh.

I smile at him as we eat in silence.

I’m halfway through with my meal when I hear the scraping of the chair. He walks back to the kitchen and refills his plate, taking the rest of my salmon and most of the rice. When he sits at the table, he takes the cucumbers from my salad and put them in his empty salad bowl.

“Um, excuse me. I was going to eat those.”

“Not anymore you’re not,” he says as he scoops the cucumbers with his bare hands and shoves all of them in his mouth.

“Who raised you? I thought someone like you would have better manners.”

“Lilian and Joshua Clark did, and they did a fine job of it. I would never do this if my parents were around.” He eats the rest of the salmon in one bite and starts to eye my plate. I shield my plate with my arm and quickly finish my salmon.

“I think you were raised by barbarians.” I look up at him. He lifts his plate from the table and puts it face level with him. He catches my eye, and without breaking eye contact, he picks up his fork and shoves the rest of the rice in his mouth.

“Wow,” I say. “It’s a fork, not a shovel.” He tries not to laugh but can’t help himself. His mouth is full, and pieces of food fly out and land on the table.

“Oh my god! You’re disgusting.” I say as I push my plate away. “I’ve lost my appetite.” He quickly snatches my plate and eats the rest of my food within seconds.

“That was fucking fantastic!” he declares, rubbing his flat stomach. “I don’t think I’ve had a bad meal in this house since Sandy moved in.” He stands up and picks up our plates and walks back to the kitchen.

“Excuse me, but I cooked this meal.” He turns his head and looks at me. He nods as if he’s impressed.

“Well, it was delicious. Thank you for sharing.” He turns his back to me again and I watch his shirt stretch across is wide back as the muscles in his shoulders flex. I take advantage of his back being turned to ogle his ass. It fits well in his jeans and not flat like Blake’s. I wonder what it would feel like to bite it.

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