Page 83 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

The neighbour’s dog stopped then and the muffled sounds made clear it’d taken off, but the damage was done.

“What happened?” Shock and accusation made an ugly combination in Katie’s tone as she stumbled out onto the deck. Her hair was rumpled, her shirt hanging loose, making clear she hadn’t stopped to put a thing on, but her expression made clear that ogling was off the table. “Was that another dog?” A far off bark confirmed it for her. “Shit.”

She didn’t wait for an explanation, making a beeline for Garrett’s bedroom. We all followed hard on her heels, catching the moment she slid to her knees.

“Hey, buddy.” That was the high-pitched, comforting tone that the dog trainers talked about in the videos I watched. “Hey, it’s OK.”

I was half terrified Bronson wouldn’t respond, but with a heart breaking yodel, he clawed his way out from under the bed.

“What did you do?” Garrett jerked on a pair of shorts and then sat down beside them. “And what the hell were you doing in my room?”

“Rhys—” Rhett rumbled, but right as I looked from one of them to the other, feeling about ten inches tall, Katie answered for me.

“It’s the dog next door.” She helped the massive dog up onto her lap, and he panted hard as he pressed his head into her chest. “Half the reason why I chose you guys was because there were no dogs close by.”

“Must be the new neighbours,” Rhett said.

“Bronson was a bait dog,” she explained. “Used to rile up more aggressive dogs before a fight.”

“No…” I wasn’t trying to negate what she was saying. It was just that I didn’t want to go back there again. Every time I heard about our dog’s history, I saw it. The motherfucking cruelty of it all, to throw a dog like Bronson… I blinked and then crouched down beside him, reaching out slowly, but he didn’t spare me a second look. We’d gotten closer, but right now, he had his human, and that was all he needed. “I’m sorry.”

It felt like I was always saying that. To Garrett when I forgot to replace the milk when it ran out. To Rhett when I didn’t lock up the house right. To Drew when I neglected to inform a staff member of a change to the schedule. Right then, I sat back on my heels and sat with the sense of shame that flamed through me.

I had to stumble in and ruin shit. Everyone was taking a massive step forward in the relationship, in helping Bronson fit in, and I?—

Katie’s hand slid across the carpet and grabbed mine.

“You didn’t know. It’s not your damn dog next door that’s barking and carrying on.”

“Something I’ll be having a chat to them about,” Rhett growled as he got dressed. “Letting your dog bark over a certain period isn’t legal.”

“Not now.”

Katie hugged Bronson tightly, stroking his broad back over and over as he snuggled into her. This was our cue to do the same. Right then, I could see how it’d be, if we could just convince Katie that this could work.

Our girl and our dog were at the centre of the circle we formed around her. Each one of us mumbled those nonsense words you used with dogs, even Rhett. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, searching our faces for some sort of cue about what to say, but he found his own. Over and over we told Bronson what a good boy he was until he stopped shivering and then flopped down on the floor.

“So what do we do?” Garrett asked carefully, giving Bronson’s belly a scratch when the dog rolled over. “We can’t soundproof the backyard.”

“I’ll have to have a think about it,” Katie answered. When she smiled, it felt forced. “There are devices you can use that stop dogs barking, but they’ll affect Bronson as well as the neighbour’s new dog. Having a chat with them at some point would be smart, but they’ll need to engage in some kind of behaviour modification if their dog is so reactive now.”

Would they be prepared to put in the work? None of us vocalised that because we knew we wouldn’t like the answer.

“I should get home, make some calls, and check in with the shelter.” She blinked. “They knew I was taking a few weeks off, but it's time I went back. I can talk to Marg?—”

“You can talk to us.”

I never got jealous, ever. The reason why I’d suggested us forming a polycule was for that exact reason, so why did my heart sink as Garrett edged closer, pressing a kiss to the back of Katie’s neck? It wasn’t just that I wanted to be doing the same thing, but I wanted to have the right to. To possess the kind of familiarity that apparently came from one morning of yoga. Looks like I’d need to sign up for a class or two. She looked back over her shoulder almost shyly, and he smiled.

“We’ll work this out, Katie. Won’t we, bud?”

Bronson peered over our girl’s shoulder, his ears flat to his skull. The frantic beat of his tail made clear he wanted to do whatever it was we were asking from him, especially now his nervous system wasn’t being flooded with fight-or-flight hormones.

“You could stay for dinner.” The hopeful note in Garrett’s voice was clear. “I could cook you something nice, and we could talk about a plan for Bronson.”

“I can duck out and grab a nice bottle of wine.”

Katie snorted at Rhett’s offer.

---