In trotted the yellow Lab that had led them to Gavin and Chas.
“This is Sam,” Pen said as the yellow dog trundled up the stairs and nosed Bobby in the face. The dog was significantly cleaner and better smelling than earlier. He was also wearing tags. “He told me his name. I cleaned him up. He wants to be yours.”
Bobby didn’t know what to say but followed the dog’s urging to pet his neck and scratch behind his ears.
“You’re crazy; this is a stray. How do you know it’s not full of diseases?”
Pen scoffed. “With all the wild animals you’ve eaten and played with over the years, do you think we should be concerned about that?”
Bobby shook his head. “Thank you, Pen.”
“You’re welcome. But you also have to talk to a professional. Promise me.”
They sat together in a brief, comfortable silence for a moment. Then Bobby said what needed to be said. “Pen, a professional can’t fix the real shit that’s gonna come down. The police are gonna be looking for me. I killed Manny, in case you forgot.”
Pen spoke sharply and slowly so he would fully understand. “About 78 people in New Orleans called 911 or animal control that night to report two huge wolves running through the French Quarter and elsewhere in the city. Then within that same hour, a man was killed in what was clearly an animal attack. The police don’t even know you were there.”
Bobby shook his head, and his words came out unsteadily. “How do you know all this?”
“Because Gavin and Chas took me to the hospital to get my ear stitched up, and we told the doctor everything. The police were called, and we told them the facts. About how a wolf came into the shop out of nowhere, Manny had his gun on the wolf and was going to shoot it; I tried to stop him, but he fired a gun at me, and then the wolf snapped and killed Manny.”
“That’s ludicrous,” Bobby said, petting Sam’s blond fur.
“But,” Pen said, “it’s the most plausible explanation, isn’t it? We’ve spent our whole life learning how to lead the general public toward the most believable explanations for these kinds of incidents, have we not?”
“Great,” he said with a shrug. “So I’m not in trouble with the police. Yet. But it’s going to happen again, and maybe the next time, you get killed. As it is, I’m a monster, and that is all you will ever see when you look at me.”
Pen grunted in frustration. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me. And you don’t get to decide what I see when I look at you. If you think that, you’re no different than old Lionel DuChamp trying to set me up with the blond haircut trust fund son of some asshole friend of his.”
Sam the dog nudged Bobby’s face and licked. Bobby muttered. “So, then, what do you see when you look at me? Do I even want to know?”
Pen squeezed in next to Bobby on the stairs and joined him in petting down Sam, who showed his appreciation with plenty of licks.
“Bobby, when I look at you, I see my rock. You are the reason I am alive today. Over and over again, you have saved my life. Whether in middle school or on the hunt or in real danger like we were back there at the tattoo place. You are the biggest damned hero of all of the wolves, and don’t you ever forget that.”
Chapter Twelve
Bobby
Bobby felt the lump in his throat. “Shut up.”
Pen laughed. “No, you shut up.”
“I love you so much, Pen. You’re all I think about, every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep, praying I don’t have nightmares about you dying. But I gotta let you live a better life.”
Pen said in a trembling voice, “Bobby, I don’t want to spend my life shopping for dresses or going to brunch or waiting on clients who can’t decide between leather or leatherette sofa upholstery. Fuck all that. I want to run with you until our goddamn paws fall clean off.”
Bobby stopped petting Sam and turned to Pen. Her eyes were shining in the dim light. He took her hands in his.
“If I kiss you, there’s no going back. If I kiss you, then I’m going to touch you. If I touch you, then I’m going to take off all your clothes. Then I’m going to devour you, and then I’m going to make you pregnant. Once I cross the line, mating is all I want to do.”
Pen wiped a tear from her eye. “My whole life, that’s all I ever wanted. I’ve only ever wanted you.”
And then, just as naturally as if they were running wild in the woods under the light of the full moon, their lips came together, and they were free.
* * *
“So, do you want to wait until we get married? Like Rosemary and Ash?”
Pen was kneeling on Bobby’s down comforter, tugging at his shirt buttons. Her nipples were at attention, poking through the fabric of the oversized tee-shirt. She was the most drop-dead gorgeous female he’d ever seen, and he never wanted to see another one. In anticipation of their bedroom time, Sam had been walked and fed and was now asleep on Bobby’s living room couch.
She replied, “Fuck that noise. Unzip your pants. Like, now.”
Bobby had no more words. She was his queen. Their lips clung warmly together like butter on a hot ear of sweet corn in July. He couldn’t believe he had waited so long. He cupped her face in his hands as he knelt in front of her. “I feel like we need to make up for lost time. What do you say we just kiss for a while?”
She smiled. “I like this idea. But not too long. I have needs, you know.
