Page 13 of Touch of Innocence
On they went, with nothing between them other than a silence thick enough, heavy enough, that Gunner was starting to think that it might take a machete to hack through it. He looked at Shadow, who seemed to be utterly immune to the heat, like all of these other insane people.
In fact, Shadow seemed as perky as ever. Full of energy, trotting along the hot pavement, he was soon running off. Just a short distance at a time, and then he would come right back, but it made Gunner a bit nervous.
“It’s fine,” Sam spoke abruptly, utterly unexpectedly. “He just knows we’re close to the park. He likes it there.”
Had Sam just actually spoken to Gunner like a normal human being? Or almost, anyway? Gunner wanted to say something, anything, back, but the comment was just one instance of Sam being reasonable, even nice, in his own way. It was like tiptoeing around quicksand to be around him because any stray step could send him sinking down into the ground.
The park was nice, at least. Shadow led them into it, and it was pretty, planted with nice, big trees with long, leafy fronds to cast lots of shade. Gunner leaned against a trunk and wiped his forehead, unsurprised to find that it was dripping with sweat. Did these Texans have lava in their veins or something? Sam didn’t seem bothered by it at all.
Gunner glanced over at Sam, taking in his strong, classic profile, straight nose and high forehead and beautifully formed lips. Why did he have to be so gorgeous, anyway? Why did he have to bring Gunner’s mind to some very dirty places so easily?
Just as he turned his head away, he caught Sam moving, saw his head rotate around to look at Gunner. For a moment, their eyes caught, and something hotter than even the summer Texan air around them sizzled between them.
It was just for a second, and Gunner was left wondering if he’d seen it at all. Well, even if he had, even if it hadn’t been his imagination, the longing in Sam’s eyes, it wasn’t like Sam would ever admit to it.
Gunner broke the gaze, and glanced around the park, desperate for something, anything, to get his attention. His eyes narrowed when he realized that he wasn’t seeing much of anything. At all.
Trees, and grass, and some forlorn, abandoned playground equipment. That was it, and that was notable because there was no happy black puppy anywhere. No trace of Shadow, and Gunner looked around more earnestly.
“Uh, Sam?” Gunner was finally able to break the silence because he was pretty sure that Sam was going to want to know about this. “I don’t see Shadow.”
For a moment, Gunner was sure that Sam was going to make some sort of pointed, nasty comment, probably with one of those superior looks like Gunner was nothing but trash. But then Sam turned to look, and those lovely jade eyes of his widened as panic filled them.
“Shadow!” Sam called, and there was a bark, but one that came from surprisingly far away. Shadow was a good dog, well trained if a bit rambunctious. He didn’t tend to be the type to wander off, and Sam and Gunner shared a look and then started to run.
There was an area of the park where the trees grew thicker, and that was where they headed. As they got closer, Gunner heard the sound of running water. With one more look at each other, united in their worry, Sam and Gunner pushed into the trees, following the sounds of the barking.
The stupid dog had seen something, maybe a squirrel, maybe a bird, maybe just a bug, and was chasing merrily after it, heedless of anything going on around him. The river was clearly low, running well below the high water marks, which wasn’t surprising, given that it was the summer and it didn’t exactly rain a ton here.
But the water was running, and Shadow was barking and prancing happily at the edge of it, his canine face turned up to the overhanging trees, scanning the green for whatever little critter had brought him here in the first place.
“Shadow!” Sam called out, his voice hoarse and desperate, and it was then that Gunner realized just how much this dog meant to Sam. This was not just a dog, this was pretty much Sam’s best friend, and Gunner shook his head.
Damn it. He hated when Sam had to go and be a human being instead of a bratty, stuck up monster. It was much easier to dislike him when he was talking down to Gunner, than when he looked like he was going to cry.
Shadow turned to look, and that’s when it all started to go really wrong. The bank had been undercut enough that the edges of it were crumbling, and Shadow had been balancing on it just fine until Sam distracted him. Then the bank was falling, caving in, crumbling into the water, and Shadow along with it.
There was no time to think, no time for anything but action. Gunner paused just long enough to dump his phone and wallet out of his pocket and onto the ground, and then he was off, sprinting down to the bank and tumbling into the cool, muddy water.
It only came halfway up his legs, so that was a small mercy. He let the current push him along, his eyes scanning everywhere for the dog, but the water was brown and dark, and the dog was black, and at first, it was hard to see him.
Dirty water came up with his frantic movements and splashed him right in the face, making his eyes sting, making it almost impossible to see. Impatiently, Gunner dashed it from his eyes with the back of his hand, and once they were clear, he gave a triumphant little shout.
“There!” He started to wade again, and the current made it easy, pushing him along, improving his speed. Ahead of him, valiantly trying to paddle his way over to the bank, a sleek, black head broke the water, looking something like a seal or an otter but making the most pathetic whining noises that Gunner had ever heard.
The river was slippery, the rocks which made up the base slick with slime and mud, and more than once, Gunner slid, and a few times he actually fell. So he was soaking wet by the time he made it to Shadow, who thrashed in the water, pushing at Gunner.
“You stupid dog, I’m trying to save you,” Gunner growled, but Shadow was a big, strong dog, nearing his adult size, and he was terrified. Not to mention that he barely knew Gunner, and certainly didn’t have a lot of reason to trust him.
“Shadow,” a soft voice called, soothing and warm and friendly, though with an undertone of near panic that Gunner sincerely hoped the dog couldn’t sense as well as he could. Gunner managed to get an arm around the freaked out animal as Shadow was distracted by his human’s voice.
Because it was Sam who had called out, and when Gunner planted his legs, when he refused to let the current carry him or the dog any further, he chanced a quick look back. And there was Sam, proper, neat, too good to get his hands dirty Sam, standing in the water, just as soaking wet and filthy as Gunner was.
There had been no time to think, but if Gunner had had the time, he knew that he would have assumed that Sam would stay up on the bank, try to help from there. That was part of why Gunner had been in such a hurry to get to the dog, because deep inside, he had assumed that Sam wouldn’t.
But there Sam was, muddy from his waist all the way down, and splattered with mud even above that. There was Sam, with a beautiful, pleading look on his face, moving slowly to keep himself from falling, and, Gunner realized, to keep the already scared dog from panicking more.
It turned out that Gunner really didn’t know Sam as well as he’d thought he did. It turned out that Sam could care about something, really truly and deeply, enough to let himself literally jump into a muddy river to protect that thing.
And that made it just a little bit more difficult for Gunner to hate him. He had rarely seen this sort of devotion before, and when Sam got close, Gunner, for once, kept his mouth shut. He didn’t make any smartass comments, they just both put their hands on the dog and led him gently to the shore.
Once they were all safe, Gunner turned to look at Sam, who, thankfully, was looking only at Shadow. He took in every detail of his flushed cheeks and messy hair, of the dirt that liberally decorated his lean, long body. He noted the worry glimmering in his eyes as Sam soothed Shadow, as he stroked over that shivering, wet body, the fur all matted and pressed down with the muddy water that had been all around him.
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated, hadn’t they? Sam’s eyes glistened with tears as he soothed the frightened animal, and all Gunner wanted to do, at that moment, was to try to soothe Sam in the same way.
