Page 62 of Hidden Desires

He pulled Autumn down beside him and poked the gun in her side. “Now, which one of the next two do you think will win, huh? The German shepherd or the black mix mutt? My money’s on the shepherd.”

Autumn stared at the man holding the German shepherd and tears formed in her eyes at the recognition. The dog was Bear, the cancer patient’s beloved pet that her brother saved from the fire.

* * * *

From where Jackson stood he had a clear view of Autumn, his damsel in distress. Damn it all to hell and back. Beside her sat the one and only Frank Gallagher with a gun pressed into her side. Jackson’s blood pressure spiked as did his adrenaline and fear for her safety. Why couldn’t the woman listen to him for once and stay home?

“What’s the plan, Jack?” Davis glanced around at the crowd. “Jeff is bringing the whole fuckin’ police crew, but I have a feeling we can’t wait until then. How do you suggest we get her out of this mess?”

Jackson kept his eyes on Autumn. She looked sick, like she was about to puke all over Frank’s expensive shoes. Fear wasn’t on her face but he could tell the love for animals she had was shining through. The longer she sat there watching them, the larger the emotional scar would be. A scar because she couldn’t help the animals.

“Keep your eyes on Autumn. We’ll wait until Jeff gets here, but if she moves all bets are off and we go in for her.” He looked at both Davis and Nick. “Got it?”

They nodded.

Damn this was fucked up. All he planned on doing was punching Gallagher around a little bit, then throwing him into Jeff’s arms for the police to handle the rest of the matters. He should have known Autumn wouldn’t back down. And he should have prepared for this predicament. He was a damn fool for provoking her into this mess.

He watched the fight while keeping an eye on Autumn’s face. She sat like a zombie staring at the bloody battle of the two dogs who went round after round in the enclosed cage. Unlike the first fight which was over in ten minutes, this one dragged out, dog whimpers and screeches filling the air over the crowd’s cheers.

Autumn held her emotions in really well, Jackson noticed, though her eyes spoke volumes on how she felt. Even though he was beyond pissed with her, she didn’t need to see the action taking place. She didn’t need to be put through this after going through weeks of hell prior. He clenched his fist and waited. Jeff would be here soon and then Autumn would be out of this mess. She would be in his arms before he knew it and he made a vow to see she never left them again, no matter how stubborn they each were.

“Dude, Autumn’s getting up.” Nick pushed Jackson’s shoulder and pointed.

She rounded the cage with Gallagher at her side poking the gun against her. She came to the opening and Jackson held his breath as the man in charge of entering and exiting the fighting cage opened the door for her to enter. Gallagher gave her a rough shove, and she stumbled inside with the two fighting dogs.

Jackson was on his feet in two seconds. “Get your brother here now because I’m fixing to kill the bastard.”

Chapter Seventeen

“You want to play doctor, go ahead,” Frank taunted. “Be my guest.” He shoved her inside the cage and locked the door behind her.

Autumn’s heart thumped against her ribs almost painfully while fear gnawed her deep inside. Never in her life had she been honestly fearful of an animal until now.

Bear stood above the wounded mutt nipping at it to make it yelp. He taunted it like Gallagher taunted her. What did he expect to come of this? For her to be eaten alive with witness to her death? Autumn clutched the chain link fence behind her, looking for an escape. Is this what they do? When dog fighting gets boring they go all Roman on each other and throw people into the lions den?

Bear lifted his head and turned toward her, done playing with the wounded dog. Although his mouth was dark she could still see the blood lining his lips. This wasn’t the dog she knew and took care of. This wasn’t the sweet, lovable creature that helped a child cope with cancer. No, this was a dog reacting to malicious treatment by its owner—the man who gave life to the small child dying with a horrible disease eating her insides up.

So what am I suppose to do?

Her first thought was to stay right where she was until Jackson arrived. She knew Jeffery was involved and knew the police would raid the place soon enough. Surely she could wait it out until they arrived.

Bear barked at her, clearly a warning, she knew. She saw that the dog remembered her, sniffing the air in her direction. She hated being vulnerable. She hated she had a stupid stubborn streak that ran miles high and miles wide. But mostly she hated that the outcome was probably not going to be as well as she intended.

“Dr. Callahan?” Troy, Bear’s owner, asked her when he recognized her. “What are you doing here? What are you doing in there?”

She clutched the fence harder. “Oh, I just thought I’d drop by and stand in the middle of a cage with a possessed dog for fun. What are you doing here?”

His eyes widened and if she hadn’t been fearing for her life she would have laughed. Idiot.

“Go on, Autumn. Show everyone the work of the good doctor.” Frank grabbed the megaphone one of his cronies held. “Listen up, everybody. This here is the legendary Autumn Callahan, who is not only a fuckin’ goddess to all who hail her but a fuckin’ dog whisperer as well. She’s going to talk Bear down from his frenzied state.”

Bear growled at him, and Autumn smiled. “I’d let you bite him if there wasn’t a cage between us.”

Bear walked around toward the far side, away from Autumn, growling at the people that gathered around. Nobody stayed in their seats. They wanted to get closer to see what would come of her being in the cage with the sadistic dog.

“What’s wrong, Autumn? Have you finally met your match?”

“No. But you have.” Jackson pulled Frank back and slammed his fist into his face.

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