Page 10 of Assassin's Game
The sound of what I could’ve sworn were claws scrabbling against tile, then my brother’s voice shouting, came from the bathroom. They were followed by a black streak shooting through the door, headed straight for me. I rushed forward, determined to contain whatever threat was advancing.
Next thing I knew, a shit-ton of bricks hit my chest and I was flat on my back, wondering a bit desperately where my fucking breath had run off to.
“Levi? Shit.” More scrabbling, a low whine, and more cursing reached me before Eli’s face appeared above mine. “You all right, bro?” Gripping my hand, he tugged me upright, his other hand slapping my back—presumably to get my lungs working again.
Good luck with that.
“What the hell?”
Eli grinned. Motherfucking grinned. “Packs a punch, don’t he? Still needs to put on a few pounds, but he’s strong.”
He, who? “What the hell are you talking about?”
Eli gave my back a final slap, nearly knocking me over onto my face, then stood up. “Diesel.”
Diesel. I knew Diesel wasn’t a guy, so... Dread started a tight squeeze around my rib cage. “Who. The fuck. Is Diesel?”
If my youngest brother felt any hesitation at my tone, he didn’t let it show. “My dog.”
He turned away without waiting for me to comment, leaving me to wheeze through the vise doing a number on my chest.
“Tell me you didn’t,” I demanded. I already knew it was true—whatever had knocked me flat had definitely been dog shaped, and not a smallish dog either—but that didn’t mean I had to accept it. I’d accepted too much lately: the mansion, my father’s company, Remi with his fiancée and a freaking six-year-old that, while cute as hell, was one more responsibility, one more person in what seemed like a sea of them that I couldn’t control. Couldn’t keep safe.
I knew the thought made me a bastard, but fuck that. They were multiplying like tribbles. And now a dog?
Fuck. No.
“Fuck yeah, I did.”
Eli’s response shattered the tightness in my chest. Only problem was, without it holding me together, I scattered into a million pieces of absolute panic I knew would never come back together again. I was on my feet in an instant, turning to blast Eli with every way I knew of to say,Hell no.
Then I looked down at myself.
“Why am I soaked?” I took a deep breath, the scent of wet dog doing nothing to ease the jackhammering of my pulse. “What—”
“He needed a bath.”
Eli crouched near the corner of the room to my left. The light from the bathroom barely reached there, though it illuminated the trail of water and suds leading that way just fine. I strode to the wall and flipped the light switch up.
“Don’t— Damn it!” Eli got on his hands and knees, ass in the air, and inched closer to the corner. “He’s spent too much time hiding in the dark,” he crooned, his tone the direct opposite of his words. “Light means danger.”
Light means danger.How many times had I said that to them growing up? Light meant predators could find you. Well-meaning citizens would report you. Your victims could sure as hell get a bead on you before you managed to get a bead on them. We’d known how to hide in the dark, but in the daylight...
My finger pushed the switch down without conscious permission from my brain.
Eli had rescued this dog off the streets; I knew it down to the core of my being. And I hated knowing it because I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t take on the responsibility for one more soul. It was the family I had now, or him.
“Get rid of him, Eli.”
The whites of my brother’s eyes showed when he jerked a look at me over his shoulder. “No way in hell, bro.”
“I mean it.” Despite the water chilling my skin as it trickled down the front of my body, I planted my legs and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not having a dog in this house.”
Eli turned his back on me, all his focus on the huddled black mass in front of him. “In case you don’t remember, this isn’t just your house; you split the deed between you, Remi, and me. And I’ve got a dog inmyhouse. It’s a done deal.”
Not if the heartbeat threatening to choke me had any say in the matter. “No, Eli. There are too many people here as it is.”
“Dogs are great with kids. We just have to introduce them slowly.”
