Vessel
Chapter 4
She rapped her knuckles quickly against the wooden door and ran her hands over her top a couple of times in an uncertain manner as she waited for him to open the door. She’d been called into his office before when he’d been displeased with her actions, so she knew what was awaiting her. Biting her lip, she shifted on her heel and let out a quiet sigh.
Jace was a manipulative man. He was extremely gorgeous in her eyes and quite fun to be around when he allowed her to see his good side, but even though those moments were rare and rather short-lived, the darker side of his being shone through more often than not and it frightened her. He frightened her. He’d inherited his father’s short temper and lust for power along with the the disgustingly low view of women his father had poisoned the clinic with. Take what you crave and give them what they deserve would have been his motto had he still been alive. Jace had taken over the boss position after his father had passed away. Rumor said one of his old lovers had mixed tranquilizers into the bottle of scotch he’d kept hidden in the old but magnificent cabinet in his pompous office. Said bottle of scotch had of course not been found and so, no one had been charged with murder.
She shifted yet again and let her eyes travel down the quiet corridor, down the direction her newest patient had gone. She stayed there quietly and thought back on the day’s events and the short conversation she’d managed to have with Zak before Virginia had showed up.
Virginia. She hadn’t seen Virginia in over two years. That was two years of regret on Avelina’s side. Two years of constant worry for her former patient. Two years of unanswered questions and feelings of guilt. She hadn’t been able to help the younger woman; hadn’t had the knowledge required to assist the female in her rehabilitation. She’d been so focused on finding a diagnosis that she completely missed the underlaying issue, the reason behind her problems, and finding a way to help Virginia on her way back to a healthy life. She’d been focusing on the wrong things all along and that feeling of failure was something that was still eating at her heart the moments she was alone and in the darkest hours of the night.
The door behind her finally opened and Lisa came scurrying out of Jace’s office in a fit of giggles. Re-adjusting her skirt she slid past the doctor and hurried down the corridor without acknowledging her co-worker. Avelina shook her head and turned to face the ajar door. With a solemn smile plastered on her lips she entered the large room and shut the door quietly behind her back.
_______________________
Zak steered into his driveway and turned his radio off before climbing out of the car. The pebbled driveway crunched underneath his feet as he made his way toward his front door. An outdoor vase containing red flowers laid knocked over to the right of the stony path leading to his doorstep. Sighing irritably he leaned down to set it straight.
“Will you please leave these fucking flowers alone?” he grumbled. “I get you don’t like them, but I do and since this is my house, they get to stay.”
Setting his keys in the lock, he opened the door and was met by a cheerful bark from a large fluff-ball of black and white fur.
“Gracie, baby,” he greeted and leaned down to pet his beloved dog, almost getting knocked over by the sheer force of her happiness. “How’s my baby-girl? Wanna go out and play? I think someone missed her daddy.” he continued in a playful voice and ruffled her soft tresses.
Gracie barked again, her tail swinging from left to right in a frantic manner as she drank in the words and loving petting from her master.
“Let me just fix one thing and we’ll head right out.”
Gracie followed her owner into the large house and ran straight into the living-room to a black basket full of dog-toys. Taking a rubber-chicken in between her jaws, she hurriedly skidded after her owner into the bedroom where she found him plugging the charger into his phone.
“All set.” he smiled and leaned down to pet his dog yet again when a loud crash was heard from a nearby room. “Seriously?!” he growled and hurried out of his bedroom with his dog on his heel.
The living-room looked like it always did: clean and tidy. His black and grey kitchen lay beyond the living-room and after making one fast sweep with his eyes, he concluded even that room seemed to be in order. Zak headed to the bathroom near the hallway, still in search of where the loud noise had come from, and as he neared the front door he noted red flowers spread out on-top of a mixture of dirt, shards of his now broken vase and some pebbles right outside of the entrance.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he growled and poked at the flowers with the toe of his shoe.
Gracie skidded up behind her master, her tail swaying from left to right as she nudged the back of Zak’s knee with the rubber-chicken. Zak’s hand fell back to pet her head and give her a light scratch behind her ear before he took a step forward and started swiping the remnants of the vase off of the patio with his foot. Once satisfied with the result he turned to Gracie, “Let’s go, girl.”
____________________________
“You wanted to see me,” she stated coolly as she stood before him in his office. Her hair hung loosely over her right shoulder; exposing the delicate skin of the left side of her neck. Her eyes were passively set on his face and her lips were pressed tightly together in a firm line.
Jace rose from his seat and sidestepped his desk. He took three long strides across the room and opened one of the cabinet-doors of his father’s pöd cupboard. Bringing out out a nameless bottle which held some alcoholic drink which he poured into a scotch-glass, he then turned toward the doctor with a passive frown set on his face . “I did. You owe me an explanation.”
She turned to face him. “Oh?”
Jace went back to his desk and sat down in the expensive leather chair which used to belong to his father. “This new patient of yours does not need your service,” he stated nonchalantly and took a sip of his drink while eying the woman before him.
“Pardon?”
“I want you to out him.”
The doctor narrowed her eyes, hazel orbs turning cold. “You know I can’t do that. My job is to help people. My job is to help him.”
An arrogant smile clad the man’s lips as he downed another mouthful of his drink. “The one you should be helping is me. I seem to have a growing problem when I’m around you, if you know what I mean.”
“You’re disgusting!” she growled exasperatedly and took a bold step forward. Slamming her fist down onto his desk, she glared mercilessly at her superior. “Mr. Bagans is staying. He needs my help.”
“Why?” Jace asked, his voice as indifferent as ever. Swirling the copper-colored liquid in his glass he went on and studied the woman before him as he awaited her response.
Avelina remained quiet, her eyes full of emotion and set in a deathly stare. She couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t let him in on her biggest darkest secrets. She couldn’t confide in him, couldn’t share her deepest thoughts with the man in front of her. She couldn’t admit her defeat - her failure, and need to make things right this time around. Her need for Bagans was as big as his need for her.
“Why does he have such a strong hold on you?” Jace continued and rose from his seat. His glass, left forgotten on the cool surface of his desk. Slowly rounding his dark desk, he eventually ended up behind the doctor. “Why do you allow him to touch you?” slim fingers slid slowly up over the bare skin of her left arm. “Why do you feel pulled towards him?” he closed the distance between them by pulling her backwards with his right hand. The other kept its ministries up her arm, up to her shoulder. His fingers left a featherlight trace over her bare skin as they slowly slid upward, sliding closer toward her exposed neck. His breathing came out in shallow breaths, ghosting over her sensitive skin and sending waves of shivers down her spine. “Why do you look at him like you used to look at me?” he growled and in an unguarded moment he had her pinned down against his desk.
The cup of alcohol was knocked off of the desk, shattering into tiny pieces once it hit the floor, spilling the liquid over the floorboards. A muffled cry for help escaped the doctor’s lips as she tried to struggle free from her capturer’s grip.
“No one will hear you,” he breathed close to her ear before he lowered his face another two inches to capture the corner of her lips.
The brown-haired woman writhed underneath Jace’s bigger frame. A sudden surge of panic raced through her body and she stretched her arm out in a desperate search for something to fend him off with. Her fingers danced over the cool surface of his desk as he continued to attack her neck, his teeth biting down on her flesh in a claiming manner. His right hand gripped at the bottom of her skirt, slowly inching its way upwards underneath the silky fabric.
“Stop it!” she pleaded, her voice hoarse and thick with fear. “Jace, I mean it!”
Yanking her skirt up over her hips, he ground his crotch against her bottom. “We’re just having a little bit of fun,” he retorted and suddenly grabbed her hips and flipped her over to face him.
Avelina used that moment to reach for the phone resting on his desk and in a swift motion, she slammed the black dial-up phone hard against the side of his skull, causing the receiver to fly off and go crashing against the wall. Using his sudden moment of disorientation she gave an adrenaline-enforced push against his chest and hurried desperately towards the door.
“You bitch!” his voice boomed from behind her and just as she reached for the handle a dark shadow emerged from the corner of the room. Avelina let out a strangled scream as her fingers finally touched the cool material of the doorknob and while flinging the door open in a hurry to get out of the office, she completely missed the horrified expression set on Jace’s face as he stared straight ahead towards the side of the door which slowly started to close on its own.
The clicking of her heels echoed throughout the empty corridor as she ran. She passed her office, passed the staffroom and the waiting room. Fumbling fingers fought with the locked door to the area where the reception was and once she finally reached the other side of the door, the tears that had threatened to spill finally left their hiding-place at the corners of her eyes. She reached for the bathroom door and flung it open. Not bothering to turn on the lights she shut the door quickly and slowly slid down to the floor with her back resting against the locked door. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly as she wept. Warm, salty tears fell from her eyes, trailing down her flushed cheeks before falling onto her bare arms. Leaning her forehead against her knees she sobbed quietly, her voice echoing slightly from the sparsely decorated bathroom.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” she repeated quietly and pressed her knees more tightly together. She had known what Jace was capable of even before she had entered his office. Sure, he had never gone that far with her before and somehow she’d been sure she would be safe around him. She had once again been too naive and too trusting of people; a trait both loved and hated by many.
____________________________
Gracie ran across the open field with her jaws wide open and her tail swaying from side to side as her master threw another stick for her to catch. Her paws dug into the cool grass, leaving small prints of her claws as she sprinted after the stick. Biting down onto the slim piece of wood with a happy growl, she suddenly caught sight of a bigger branch which she decided to bring back to her master instead. One side of the branch scraped across the grass as she made her way back to her owner. The bare twigs leaving a muddy track behind as the greens coating the earth were ripped from their quiet resting-place. Zak bent down to pet his friend, his deep baritone voice praising her whilst his hands slid across her fur in a loving manner.
“Good girl,” he grinned. “Good girl.”
____________________________
Later that evening Zak laid sprawled out across his couch. The TV was on but he paid it no mind. The fluorescent images came and went, casting his living room in different hues of blues and whites while the soft chatting between the shows host and his guest accompanied his otherwise quiet house. He didn’t notice though. His focus was on the fully charged phone in his hands. Flipping through the apps and folders he finally reached his destination and the one thing he’d been curiously dreading since leaving his shrinks office. Pressing play on the recorded file from earlier that day, he brought the phone closer to his ear and listened.
“Can you make another noise?” his voice sounded through the tiny speaker before shuffling from when he’d placed the device onto the table was heard.
“What’s your name?” the creaking of the door reached his ears a second time and then nothing but silence was heard. Almost a minute passed before a quiet snap played through the speakers and a cold shiver ran down his spine while goosebumps erupted over his arms as a vicious sounding whisper escaped the speaker. “…help… me?” the last word spoken as a mocking question -followed by a malicious laugh and his voice asking; “is that you?”
Zak bolted up straight and stared down at his phone. The hairs on his arms were on edge and an uneasy feeling plastered itself in his gut. Sliding his finger over the glossy surface of his phone, he listened to the recording a second time.
“…help… me? Ha-ha-hah-”
“Is that you?” shuffling from when he rose from his seat came through. “Can you please make another noise?”
Gracie, whom had been sleeping soundlessly on the floor by Zak’s feet, suddenly rose from her spot. The thin layer of fur over her nose wrinkled slightly as she stared toward the hallway; a threatening growl escaping her throat while she resentfully bared her teeth. Her ears were drawn back, the thick fur between her shoulder-blades slightly raised in an attempt to look bigger and more dangerous than she actually was.
Zak glanced toward the empty hallway and slowly reached his hand out toward his dog. Sliding his fingers around her collar, he tugged at it slightly and scooted closer to his pet. “What is it?” he asked quietly and stroked a spot on the dog’s neck with his thumb. “What do you see?”
Another throaty growl left Gracie’s parted jaws and as they both stared toward the hallway, neither noticed the volume icon on the TV going up nor the pale image of a woman standing by the foot of the sofa. Her face thin and grey and her eyes dark like the night. Neither noticed her leaning over the stuffed armrest as she inched closer and closer to the paranormal investigator until she was mere inches away from his ear. A menacing smile played on her lips as she parted them and screamed from the top of her lungs.
Gracie darted out of the room. Her tail stuffed between her legs as they carried her fluffy form into the bedroom. Zak turned around quickly, desperately searching for the remote to the TV when he laid eyes on the female before him. Black goo splurged from her wicked grin and her limbs gave away a sickening crack as she quickly lunged for him.
The sun flooded in through the large windows of the living-room the next morning and Gracie carefully made her way out of the bedroom in search of her master. Turning into the living room, she found him sitting quietly on the couch as the noise from the TV roared through its speakers.
Zak tilted his head upwards, a soft crack sounding from his neck as he turned to acknowledge his dog. A wicked grin covered his lips as dark eyes shot to Gracie’s.
“Guess who’s home, bitch.”
Jace was a manipulative man. He was extremely gorgeous in her eyes and quite fun to be around when he allowed her to see his good side, but even though those moments were rare and rather short-lived, the darker side of his being shone through more often than not and it frightened her. He frightened her. He’d inherited his father’s short temper and lust for power along with the the disgustingly low view of women his father had poisoned the clinic with. Take what you crave and give them what they deserve would have been his motto had he still been alive. Jace had taken over the boss position after his father had passed away. Rumor said one of his old lovers had mixed tranquilizers into the bottle of scotch he’d kept hidden in the old but magnificent cabinet in his pompous office. Said bottle of scotch had of course not been found and so, no one had been charged with murder.
She shifted yet again and let her eyes travel down the quiet corridor, down the direction her newest patient had gone. She stayed there quietly and thought back on the day’s events and the short conversation she’d managed to have with Zak before Virginia had showed up.
Virginia. She hadn’t seen Virginia in over two years. That was two years of regret on Avelina’s side. Two years of constant worry for her former patient. Two years of unanswered questions and feelings of guilt. She hadn’t been able to help the younger woman; hadn’t had the knowledge required to assist the female in her rehabilitation. She’d been so focused on finding a diagnosis that she completely missed the underlaying issue, the reason behind her problems, and finding a way to help Virginia on her way back to a healthy life. She’d been focusing on the wrong things all along and that feeling of failure was something that was still eating at her heart the moments she was alone and in the darkest hours of the night.
The door behind her finally opened and Lisa came scurrying out of Jace’s office in a fit of giggles. Re-adjusting her skirt she slid past the doctor and hurried down the corridor without acknowledging her co-worker. Avelina shook her head and turned to face the ajar door. With a solemn smile plastered on her lips she entered the large room and shut the door quietly behind her back.
_______________________
Zak steered into his driveway and turned his radio off before climbing out of the car. The pebbled driveway crunched underneath his feet as he made his way toward his front door. An outdoor vase containing red flowers laid knocked over to the right of the stony path leading to his doorstep. Sighing irritably he leaned down to set it straight.
“Will you please leave these fucking flowers alone?” he grumbled. “I get you don’t like them, but I do and since this is my house, they get to stay.”
Setting his keys in the lock, he opened the door and was met by a cheerful bark from a large fluff-ball of black and white fur.
“Gracie, baby,” he greeted and leaned down to pet his beloved dog, almost getting knocked over by the sheer force of her happiness. “How’s my baby-girl? Wanna go out and play? I think someone missed her daddy.” he continued in a playful voice and ruffled her soft tresses.
Gracie barked again, her tail swinging from left to right in a frantic manner as she drank in the words and loving petting from her master.
“Let me just fix one thing and we’ll head right out.”
Gracie followed her owner into the large house and ran straight into the living-room to a black basket full of dog-toys. Taking a rubber-chicken in between her jaws, she hurriedly skidded after her owner into the bedroom where she found him plugging the charger into his phone.
“All set.” he smiled and leaned down to pet his dog yet again when a loud crash was heard from a nearby room. “Seriously?!” he growled and hurried out of his bedroom with his dog on his heel.
The living-room looked like it always did: clean and tidy. His black and grey kitchen lay beyond the living-room and after making one fast sweep with his eyes, he concluded even that room seemed to be in order. Zak headed to the bathroom near the hallway, still in search of where the loud noise had come from, and as he neared the front door he noted red flowers spread out on-top of a mixture of dirt, shards of his now broken vase and some pebbles right outside of the entrance.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” he growled and poked at the flowers with the toe of his shoe.
Gracie skidded up behind her master, her tail swaying from left to right as she nudged the back of Zak’s knee with the rubber-chicken. Zak’s hand fell back to pet her head and give her a light scratch behind her ear before he took a step forward and started swiping the remnants of the vase off of the patio with his foot. Once satisfied with the result he turned to Gracie, “Let’s go, girl.”
____________________________
“You wanted to see me,” she stated coolly as she stood before him in his office. Her hair hung loosely over her right shoulder; exposing the delicate skin of the left side of her neck. Her eyes were passively set on his face and her lips were pressed tightly together in a firm line.
Jace rose from his seat and sidestepped his desk. He took three long strides across the room and opened one of the cabinet-doors of his father’s pöd cupboard. Bringing out out a nameless bottle which held some alcoholic drink which he poured into a scotch-glass, he then turned toward the doctor with a passive frown set on his face . “I did. You owe me an explanation.”
She turned to face him. “Oh?”
Jace went back to his desk and sat down in the expensive leather chair which used to belong to his father. “This new patient of yours does not need your service,” he stated nonchalantly and took a sip of his drink while eying the woman before him.
“Pardon?”
“I want you to out him.”
The doctor narrowed her eyes, hazel orbs turning cold. “You know I can’t do that. My job is to help people. My job is to help him.”
An arrogant smile clad the man’s lips as he downed another mouthful of his drink. “The one you should be helping is me. I seem to have a growing problem when I’m around you, if you know what I mean.”
“You’re disgusting!” she growled exasperatedly and took a bold step forward. Slamming her fist down onto his desk, she glared mercilessly at her superior. “Mr. Bagans is staying. He needs my help.”
“Why?” Jace asked, his voice as indifferent as ever. Swirling the copper-colored liquid in his glass he went on and studied the woman before him as he awaited her response.
Avelina remained quiet, her eyes full of emotion and set in a deathly stare. She couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t let him in on her biggest darkest secrets. She couldn’t confide in him, couldn’t share her deepest thoughts with the man in front of her. She couldn’t admit her defeat - her failure, and need to make things right this time around. Her need for Bagans was as big as his need for her.
“Why does he have such a strong hold on you?” Jace continued and rose from his seat. His glass, left forgotten on the cool surface of his desk. Slowly rounding his dark desk, he eventually ended up behind the doctor. “Why do you allow him to touch you?” slim fingers slid slowly up over the bare skin of her left arm. “Why do you feel pulled towards him?” he closed the distance between them by pulling her backwards with his right hand. The other kept its ministries up her arm, up to her shoulder. His fingers left a featherlight trace over her bare skin as they slowly slid upward, sliding closer toward her exposed neck. His breathing came out in shallow breaths, ghosting over her sensitive skin and sending waves of shivers down her spine. “Why do you look at him like you used to look at me?” he growled and in an unguarded moment he had her pinned down against his desk.
The cup of alcohol was knocked off of the desk, shattering into tiny pieces once it hit the floor, spilling the liquid over the floorboards. A muffled cry for help escaped the doctor’s lips as she tried to struggle free from her capturer’s grip.
“No one will hear you,” he breathed close to her ear before he lowered his face another two inches to capture the corner of her lips.
The brown-haired woman writhed underneath Jace’s bigger frame. A sudden surge of panic raced through her body and she stretched her arm out in a desperate search for something to fend him off with. Her fingers danced over the cool surface of his desk as he continued to attack her neck, his teeth biting down on her flesh in a claiming manner. His right hand gripped at the bottom of her skirt, slowly inching its way upwards underneath the silky fabric.
“Stop it!” she pleaded, her voice hoarse and thick with fear. “Jace, I mean it!”
Yanking her skirt up over her hips, he ground his crotch against her bottom. “We’re just having a little bit of fun,” he retorted and suddenly grabbed her hips and flipped her over to face him.
Avelina used that moment to reach for the phone resting on his desk and in a swift motion, she slammed the black dial-up phone hard against the side of his skull, causing the receiver to fly off and go crashing against the wall. Using his sudden moment of disorientation she gave an adrenaline-enforced push against his chest and hurried desperately towards the door.
“You bitch!” his voice boomed from behind her and just as she reached for the handle a dark shadow emerged from the corner of the room. Avelina let out a strangled scream as her fingers finally touched the cool material of the doorknob and while flinging the door open in a hurry to get out of the office, she completely missed the horrified expression set on Jace’s face as he stared straight ahead towards the side of the door which slowly started to close on its own.
The clicking of her heels echoed throughout the empty corridor as she ran. She passed her office, passed the staffroom and the waiting room. Fumbling fingers fought with the locked door to the area where the reception was and once she finally reached the other side of the door, the tears that had threatened to spill finally left their hiding-place at the corners of her eyes. She reached for the bathroom door and flung it open. Not bothering to turn on the lights she shut the door quickly and slowly slid down to the floor with her back resting against the locked door. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly as she wept. Warm, salty tears fell from her eyes, trailing down her flushed cheeks before falling onto her bare arms. Leaning her forehead against her knees she sobbed quietly, her voice echoing slightly from the sparsely decorated bathroom.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” she repeated quietly and pressed her knees more tightly together. She had known what Jace was capable of even before she had entered his office. Sure, he had never gone that far with her before and somehow she’d been sure she would be safe around him. She had once again been too naive and too trusting of people; a trait both loved and hated by many.
____________________________
Gracie ran across the open field with her jaws wide open and her tail swaying from side to side as her master threw another stick for her to catch. Her paws dug into the cool grass, leaving small prints of her claws as she sprinted after the stick. Biting down onto the slim piece of wood with a happy growl, she suddenly caught sight of a bigger branch which she decided to bring back to her master instead. One side of the branch scraped across the grass as she made her way back to her owner. The bare twigs leaving a muddy track behind as the greens coating the earth were ripped from their quiet resting-place. Zak bent down to pet his friend, his deep baritone voice praising her whilst his hands slid across her fur in a loving manner.
“Good girl,” he grinned. “Good girl.”
____________________________
Later that evening Zak laid sprawled out across his couch. The TV was on but he paid it no mind. The fluorescent images came and went, casting his living room in different hues of blues and whites while the soft chatting between the shows host and his guest accompanied his otherwise quiet house. He didn’t notice though. His focus was on the fully charged phone in his hands. Flipping through the apps and folders he finally reached his destination and the one thing he’d been curiously dreading since leaving his shrinks office. Pressing play on the recorded file from earlier that day, he brought the phone closer to his ear and listened.
“Can you make another noise?” his voice sounded through the tiny speaker before shuffling from when he’d placed the device onto the table was heard.
“What’s your name?” the creaking of the door reached his ears a second time and then nothing but silence was heard. Almost a minute passed before a quiet snap played through the speakers and a cold shiver ran down his spine while goosebumps erupted over his arms as a vicious sounding whisper escaped the speaker. “…help… me?” the last word spoken as a mocking question -followed by a malicious laugh and his voice asking; “is that you?”
Zak bolted up straight and stared down at his phone. The hairs on his arms were on edge and an uneasy feeling plastered itself in his gut. Sliding his finger over the glossy surface of his phone, he listened to the recording a second time.
“…help… me? Ha-ha-hah-”
“Is that you?” shuffling from when he rose from his seat came through. “Can you please make another noise?”
Gracie, whom had been sleeping soundlessly on the floor by Zak’s feet, suddenly rose from her spot. The thin layer of fur over her nose wrinkled slightly as she stared toward the hallway; a threatening growl escaping her throat while she resentfully bared her teeth. Her ears were drawn back, the thick fur between her shoulder-blades slightly raised in an attempt to look bigger and more dangerous than she actually was.
Zak glanced toward the empty hallway and slowly reached his hand out toward his dog. Sliding his fingers around her collar, he tugged at it slightly and scooted closer to his pet. “What is it?” he asked quietly and stroked a spot on the dog’s neck with his thumb. “What do you see?”
Another throaty growl left Gracie’s parted jaws and as they both stared toward the hallway, neither noticed the volume icon on the TV going up nor the pale image of a woman standing by the foot of the sofa. Her face thin and grey and her eyes dark like the night. Neither noticed her leaning over the stuffed armrest as she inched closer and closer to the paranormal investigator until she was mere inches away from his ear. A menacing smile played on her lips as she parted them and screamed from the top of her lungs.
Gracie darted out of the room. Her tail stuffed between her legs as they carried her fluffy form into the bedroom. Zak turned around quickly, desperately searching for the remote to the TV when he laid eyes on the female before him. Black goo splurged from her wicked grin and her limbs gave away a sickening crack as she quickly lunged for him.
The sun flooded in through the large windows of the living-room the next morning and Gracie carefully made her way out of the bedroom in search of her master. Turning into the living room, she found him sitting quietly on the couch as the noise from the TV roared through its speakers.
Zak tilted his head upwards, a soft crack sounding from his neck as he turned to acknowledge his dog. A wicked grin covered his lips as dark eyes shot to Gracie’s.
“Guess who’s home, bitch.”