Page 99 of Hounded

I wasn’t. Not even when he said he was a hellhound, which should have been a terrifying admission. He could have been a shapeshifter for all I knew, equipped with teeth and claws and ready to rage out at the next full moon. His comings and goings from “work” could have been excuses to go on the prowl, searching for people he could chew up for fun. But those thoughts were more musings than legitimate concerns. From what I’d seen, Loren was more of a fraidy cat than any kind of canine.

Sully cocked her head. “What makes you think he’s lying to you?”

“He admitted it!” I exclaimed, and she kept smiling.

“That’s a big step for him.”

“It’s thefirststep,” I grumbled the worn-out rehab rhetoric.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I felt awkward holding her breakfast, so I offered it back. She took the plate, then waved for me to follow her to an old metal tanker desk in the corner with a pair of wooden chairs positioned across from it.

I sighed as I sank into one of the chairs, and Sully tookher position behind the desk. She set down the wine glass and food while I squirmed to find a comfortable position in the hard wooden seat.

After a few seconds of shuffling, I grumbled, “What’s his problem, anyway?”

Sully maintained a sly smile while she cast her gaze toward the front of the shop. “Lore is… stubborn.” Her brow furrowed. “No, that’s not right. Rigid, maybe?”

She looked at me like I should know, but I only shrugged.

“He likes things the way they are,” she continued. “Or the way they used to be.”

“Is that why he doesn’t like me?” I wondered aloud. “Because I’m not how I used to be?”

Sully clucked her tongue. “Oh, sweetheart.” She leaned forward and laid her arms across the desk top. Her expression was all sugar and softness. “He doesn’tlikeyou. Helovesyou. That man worships the ground you walk on. He thinks you hung the moon. All that sappy shit.”

I tucked my chin into my chest and grumbled again. “He has a weird way of showing it.”

“I think he’s trying not to.”

“Why?”

She lifted her shoulder in a one-sided shrug. “He’s hurt. Grieving.”

“Grieving me?”

Sully nodded slowly. “Many versions of you, I think.”

Snorting, I planted my feet on the floor and pushed back, sending the chair skidding across the carpet. “This is crazy. I feel like I did something wrong, but he messed up, too. He wiped my phone, and he ignored me forweeks. The whole time I was in rehab.”

She had, too, for that matter. Had Loren told her to stay away? And, if she was so beholden to him, was I right in coming here? Was she even on my side?

“Then last night, he walked out on me,” I continued, growing more fervent by the moment. “After the art show, we went back to my trailer, and I thought…”

We’d been so close. Sitting in Loren’s lap, holding him and being held, I felt whole. Like the emptiness of my room in rehab and the loneliness that plagued me every night in the trailer finally had a remedy. It was him.

“I thought we were getting close,” I concluded. “Then he left.”

Sully looked aside again, and her eyes widened with dawning realization. “That’swhy he was upset,” she said softly.

I spun to face her. “You talked to him?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“What did he say?”

“Whatdidn’the say?” She chuckled, then quickly sobered. “Honestly, I don’t think I was being a very good listener.”

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