Page 61 of Hidden Desires

“Autumn, turn the fuckin’ car around and go home.” His voice rose as she parked the car.

“Mind your own damn business, Jackson.” She clicked the phone off and he immediately called back. She turned it off and tossed it in the passenger seat. If he wanted to be an ass she could be a bitch. Simple as that.

The night was cold. Autumn climbed out of the car and replaced the key in its spot so she didn’t have to keep up with it. Darkness surrounded her. Only a few lights illuminating the drive as she walked up the gravel walk. Small pebbles crunched beneath her shoes, filling the silence around her.

Once she got closer to the people milling about, Autumn ducked into the shadows the trees provided. She moved toward a building that appeared to house the animals. A quick glance inside proved Jackson was right. Gallagher bred animals for the simple task of producing prime fighting dogs to win his competitions. She couldn’t help wondering if he ever sold any of the puppies to commoners or if he kept it within the dog-fighting cronies he knew.

The dogs started to growl at her, aware of her presence. She dodged behind the building. She heard Frank’s voice from a distance. He was informing someone about how the show was run.

“You pay your cash upfront and the winner splits the dough.” He opened the door to the puppy mill and the dogs started barking, growling and whining. Autumn listened as he continued to tell the person about his prime fighting dog, one he began to agitate.

The dog’s growl was anything but warning. It was out for blood and had it been loose, Autumn had no doubts he’d find blood to quench his hunger. How could someone dedicated and trained to help animals harm them in this vicious way? It broke her heart to think she helped him get to where he was today.

“What happens to the dead animals?” the other person asked.

“They’re tossed in the dump. No one ever finds out.”

Autumn moved to the edge in an effort to look around the building and came face to face with Frank Gallagher himself. At five-eleven and one hundred fifty pounds, Frank was hardly a threat to someone like Jackson. He was hardly a threat to anyone if Autumn recalled right. But the look on his face, the hatred, the surprise, the sadistic satisfaction that she was on his turf now gave her reason to fear him. The Frank Gallagher standing before her today was not the same man she knew all those years ago.

“Well, if it isn’t a blast from my past.” Frank came over to her with a sardonic smile on his face. “This is private property and I don’t recall inviting you.”

Smooth, Autumn. How are you going to get yourself out of this one? She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced around at the massive amount of people attending Frank’s ‘show’.

“I just thought I’d come to see with my own eyes the monster you’ve become. I can’t believe that after all your training and education, you’d do something so horrible to these helpless animals.”

Frank propped his arm on the building, forcing her to meet his eyes. “And what are you here for? To save the world?”

“I’m here to tell you to leave me the hell alone. Stop threatening me. Stop destroying my life to satisfy your meaningless one. I’m sick of it.”

Frank grabbed her arm in one hand and pulled her close enough that their foreheads almost touched. “You’ve destroyed my life. Why shouldn’t I return you the favor, huh?”

“Frank, show’s about to start,” someone yelled.

Frank’s cold expression changed before her eyes to a half-assed grin that was laced with nothing but malice. “We’ll be right there.”

He pulled her toward the walk. “Let go of me!”

“No. You wanted to see the show, you’re getting front row seats.” Frank dragged her to the crowd where she was greeted by over a hundred questioning faces. He leaned in and whispered, “They’re not used to me bringing my bitches to the show so this is a real treat for them.”

“Let go of me.” Autumn jerked her arm from him and scanned the crowd.

Jackson and her brothers were nowhere to be seen. Surely she hadn’t mistaken Davis’s message? She figured since Frank was here tonight this is where Jackson would go. Great. How are you going to get out of this mess?

Her cell phone buzzed and she jumped, forgetting she put it on vibrate. Frank cast her a glance and paid her no mind when she narrowed her eyes at him. She glanced at the screen to read the text message. It was from Nick.

Are you okay?

Autumn typed in “yes” and hit send. She glanced back to the cage where two men held the two dogs that were to fight. Both were pit bulls, one brown, one white like Dodo. Both were jumping, lunging at the other in an aggressive form of attack. Autumn knew what was about to happen and didn’t dare allow herself to react emotionally. Frank was baiting her, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d take the bait.

The dogs were released into a sealed, fenced cage. Autumn stared into the crowd, trying to avoid watching the viscous animal cruelty. The men in the crowd cheered as if they were rooting for their favorite football team. The sight sickened her almost as much as the blood spilling from the brown dog.

You don’t have to be here. You don’t have to watch this. Just get up and walk out of here. Autumn took one last look at the animals and immediately wished she hadn’t. The white dog ended the charade, leaving the brown lying limp in its own pool of blood. The white dog lifted its bloody face to the crowd with pride. She gasped, the urge to vomit striking her like a truck running into a brick wall. Never had she seen anything like this.

“Quite a show, huh?” Frank asked, leaning toward her. “That white one is mine. I bred her myself from only the finest dog lines and she just won me a quarter of a million dollars.”

Autumn stood. “You’re a sadistic bastard for treating these animals this way. I’m leaving.”

He grabbed her wrist in one hand and held a gun in the other. “I don’t think so.”

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