Page 96 of Love in Training
“Hello?” I shout.
The man’s hand whips from my hair to my mouth—my throat.
I panic, flailing my arms, grabbing for anything. My fingers wrap around the glass bottle by the sink, and I arc it through the air at his head. But instead of smashing and knocking him out, it lands with a thud against his shoulder and falls out of my hand, shattering on the counter as my phone rings again.
“Caprice?” a man calls through my apartment door. His voice is deep with commanding concern, and when I hear him, I want to cry.
I push out with my arms and legs until I have just enough leverage to sink down and bite hard into this douchebag’s wrist. He shouts and lets go, and I urge my legs to get me past him. But he grabs my shirt as I round the counter. One of my barstoolscrashes to the ground as he yanks me against him, and I manage to scream.
“Drew!”
The knocking becomes a pounding—hard and clear now over the music—except my head is also pounding and I’m having trouble working my arms and legs. The angular fucker is dragging me to one side, and I’m so dizzy now I can hardly keep my feet under me when I see him picking up a piece of broken glass on the counter.
My lips feel numb. “Please, no?—”
And then several things happen at once.
There’s a loudbangsomewhere in the room, followed by thunderous, powerful barking. Then a deep voice growls, “Go get him.”
I see a blur of golden fur as I fall to the floor, and then a man is screaming.
“Ahh! Get it off me!”
There are snarls and thrashing. The room feels like it’s underwater as I turn my head, but when I do, I see Rufus, his teeth tearing into my attacker’s arm while the man lies on the floor shrieking.
My gaze traces to the large figure holding the leash, and my heart swells when I swear I see a blurry Superman. I squeeze my eyes shut, and when I open them it’s even better. Drew stands over me, eyes burning into the man on the floor like all he has to do is take off his glasses to incinerate him. But then he registers me looking at him, and his green eyes immediately soften.
“God, I was so—” He kneels, placing himself between me and the chaos of snarls and screams. “You’re safe now.”
“I...” My throat is tight. My head swims.
“Caprice! Oh my God, girl.”
I blink, registering for the first time that there are more people here. Gentle hands roll me over, touch my wrist, and I’m staring up into my neighbor Darius’s gentle eyes.
“Todd, is that ambulance on its way?”
“Five minutes,” his boyfriend responds from the hall.
Suddenly, thankfully, the too-loud music cuts off, and for a second all we hear are the bitten man’s wails.
“Hey, uh, maybe you should call him off before the cops get here?” Darius suggests.
Drew frowns, then utters a command, and Rufus, the best boy ever, releases his bite, returning obediently to his trainer’s side. The man moans on the floor. I hope Rufus bit him in the groin.
My phone rings again, and somehow the pulse in my head pounds harder. I try to sit up, but the room spins, and Darius stills me with one hand.
“Could someone just—tell her I’m okay?”
“I got it,” Drew says, rising and picking up the phone. “Hi, this is Drew Forbes.”
As he attempts to reassure my best friend, something cold and wet nudges my arm. I pry my eyes open to find Rufus beside me, golden eyes dark with concern. He issues a low whine and licks my hand as a group of voices moves toward us down the hall. I reach up to stroke the softest part of his ears and whisper, “My hero.”
The next moment, a slew of first responders troop in, and we’re inundated with people and questions. Drew tucks Rufus into his crate where he’s safe before returning to my side and taking my hand.
“Hey guys,” Darius says, slipping further into nurse mode. “Assault victim over here—multiple witnesses present, including myself. Laceration to the head and a likely concussion, possiblebroken ribs. Also pretty sure she was tased. Alleged perpetrator is over there with a dog bite, but that motherfucker can wait.”
There’s alotof back and forth from there, between police, firefighters, and paramedics. I doubt this many people have ever crammed into my apartment. Someone takes my pulse. Blood pressure. Shines a light into my eyes, which is excruciating. I’m asked questions. Drew answers others. But he stays by my side the entire time.
