Page 36 of Fate
Seeming to forget our conversation, Fate dropped my hand instantly and turned in his seat. Unhooking his seatbelt, he leaned over to remove little Daisy from her kennel. “You okay there, Daze?” he asked in concern. “I got you a chew toy to keep you busy and a special snack.” He raised her up like a prized baby and grinned at her. Setting her onto his lap, he reached down to dig into a backpack at his feet. Pulling out a small cat shaped squeaky toy, he squeezed it.
Hearing the telltale squeak, Daisy let out a growl and snatched it from his hand.
“Manners!” I admonished my little dog.
Fate chuckled. “She loves these toys.”
“I know.” I shook my head. “But she needs to act better. She is not some clueless poodle named Princess.” I rolled my eyes. Someone was spoiling her alright and it hadn’t been the rest of the Walker family. Fate had jumped like Daisy was his queen and he was her slave. If I didn’t know better, I would be jealous. I giggled.
Petting Daisy, he kept smiling down at her. Raising his head, he asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Spoiled, anyone?” I teased.
Fate petted the terrier some more as she chewed on her kitty toy. “They don’t have a lot in life, ya know?” he reasoned. “Dogs, I mean. Except what we can do for them. Give them a big grassy yard, the right food, treats and toys. And they will love you forever.”
I stared at him. Ok, that did it...I was in love. I know it was a complete 180 from just 2 hours ago, but I had never met a guy that really loved dogs before. He was intent on being sweet to Daisy. In fact, he ignored me now while he talked to her in a sweet tone. I could see it wasn’t a ruse to win me over either. Yeah, I’d met a couple of guys who tried that. A.) It never fooled me and two: it never fooled Daisy.
I could see that he really loved her already. Thing was, would he love me? Ok, so maybe he would stay with me for the dog? I laughed at myself.
We were now getting onto the freeway from the side frontage road. Our speed picked up as the scenery blew by.
Suddenly, the quiet was broken by a voice over the console, “We got unknowns in the back lane.” It sounded like Bones.
“Smoke here,” another voice came on. “Yeah, we got something strange coming up behind us.”
“Strange, like what?” Bones replied through some static.
“Like a group of bikes,” Smoke said. “I’m gonna slow down, so I can see them better.”
“Might be nothing?” Justice’s said from the SUV behind us.
“With Deacon, it’s never nothing,” Glory’s grumbling voice replied.
“This happen often?” Legend finally spoke after listening for a couple of minutes.
“Whenever we leave our hidey hole,” Bones answered.
“Yeah, he doesn’t give up,” Scarlet added.
I tried to figure out if we were really under attack. Then I heard it. Steel pings hitting the SUV’s doors. Someone was shooting at us. This was most definitely real.
“Fuck,” Bones’ voice came over, “Make ready, guys.”
“Holy shit,” Smoke came over again, “About six of them with AK 47’s.”
“Wow,” Justice came on. “We are about to have fuck of a party!”
Panic rolled over me. This was way too real. I rose up and kept looking at the highway behind us. Sure as shit, the fast bikes came up in the left lane.
Two of the bikes stayed behind his SUV, while the others moved up along the lanes on either side of the highway.
I felt a sudden fear that Fate could get hurt and I looked up to see him hanging out of the open window, shooting at someone. I sucked in a deep breath. Oh, my God…He could get hit with a bullet and be hurt or killed.
“They have machine guns!” Smoke’s voice came on now. “Coming your way, guys!”
“Shit,” Bones came on. “Get ready!”
Glory was already on it, as she hung her upper body out the window of their SUV with a rifle and took potshots at the men on the Ninja bikes.
