26 Caroline
If anyone had seen me right then, I don’t think my training classes would be as popular. I had taken aggressive dogs and shown them how to trust their human family and be mindful of other dogs and humans. I’d trained stubborn bathroom users out of their habits. I’d trained dogs in agility and basic commands. There were many areas in which I lacked confidence, but my skills with animals wasn’t one of them.
Right now, I was questioning all of that though. I’d leashed Pepper Jack and decided to take him on a walk through the neighborhood. We’d made it all of three houses before he stopped walking abruptly, lay down, and flipped over on his back with his legs in the air.
I chuckled. Well, at first.
“Come on, Pepper Jack,” I said and tugged on his leash. He didn’t budge or even acknowledge me. I’d commanded him in a voice he usually followed. I bribed him with treats. Nothing. The dog wouldn’t move. Wouldn’t walk another step.
I groaned, swiping the back of my wrist across my forehead. I tried to pull him, hoping the slight pressure on his harness would get him moving, but it didn’t. And I could barely drag him an inch. He was still a growing dog, and I couldn’t even drag him an inch.
I put my hands on my knees, breathing deeply and resisting the urge to flip off the teenage boys that passed by on skateboards laughing at me. “Am I going to have to carry you?”
One eye popped open and he stared at me before shutting it again, belly still in the air like he was tanning. “Fine, let’s go home,” I said. At the words go home, Pepper Jack popped up and sprinted to the house, dragging me behind him. I barely managed to stay on my feet. He pulled me up the porch steps and jumped on the front door. I was breathing even more heavily than I had been.
“You have to be quiet,” I said. Kiernan had been on a work call and I hadn’t wanted to disturb him, so Pepper Jack and I had snuck out of the house. I opened the door quietly. Before I could unharness Pepper Jack, he took off into the living room, jumped on the couch, and plopped down. His first snore broke through the room before I’d even closed the front door. He was breathing deeply like he’d just run a marathon instead of walking three houses.
“He did what?” Kiernan shouted. I froze and walked slowly down the hall to my office. I poked my head through the half-open doorway. He was sitting in my desk chair with his phone pressed to his ear. His elbows were propped up on my desk and his head hung low as his free hand scrubbed through his blonde locks.
“You can’t keep doing this,” he said. “Don’t start that. I’ve asked you a million times to leave that bastard and come here. You won’t.”
He let out a frustrated growl. “I’ll send it.” He jabbed at his phone screen and tossed it aside. One hand fisted in his hair, and his other hand punched the desk. “Fuck,” he muttered. He took a few deep breaths, and I walked into the room.
“Kiernan,” I said quietly, approaching him slowly. I’d never seen him so mad and agitated. His head popped up, and he spun the chair to face me. The scowl on his face slid away.
“Fuck,” he muttered again and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I didn’t mean for you to hear that. Did I disturb you? What have you been doing?”
“I took Pepper Jack for a walk,” I said. “Well…I tried anyway.”
He snorted and shook his head. His shoulders were tense, and his hands were fisted on the arms of the chair. I could feel the anger and frustration rolling off of him in waves. “How far did you get?”
“Three houses.”
He laughed, but there wasn’t much humor or life in it. Not like there usually was. The smile on his face wasn’t nearly as bright or all-consuming. “That’s more than I’ve ever gotten. He will only go two houses in my neighborhood. But he will walk in a park.”
I snickered and shook my head. Pepper Jack had a huge personality. It was as funny as it was frustrating. I closed the space between Kiernan and me, placing one of my hands on his chest for balance as I lowered myself into his lap. He sighed deeply as he brought his arms around me, placing his forehead on my shoulder, and breathed quietly for a few moments. One of my hands was holding the back of his neck, brushing the skin, and the other was resting over his left pec. His heart was beating beneath my palm. “Are you okay? Who was that? It didn’t sound like work.”
“It wasn’t,” he said. His finger traced a meaningless pattern along the skin of my thigh under my shorts. “That was my mom.”
My brow furrowed. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever heard him mention his parents besides the fact that they were still in Tennessee. When he spoke about “family,” it was always his group of friends. “Is everything alright?”
I tried to lean away to see his face, but he kept his grip tight on me. “Stay right here,” he said. “Please.”
I nodded and nestled into him even more, allowing my body to completely melt against his. He sighed. “I haven’t seen my parents since I left after high school graduation. I joined the army and never looked back. My dad is a drunk and a mean bastard. It wasn’t…” His voice trailed off and his head rested against the back of the chair. He was staring at the ceiling. His jaw clenched. “It wasn’t easy growing
