Author: Alexa Land
Category: LGBT
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/alexa-land/page,9,529414-all_in.html
“There’s no one else I can turn to, Charlie!”
“What about Uncle Al? He has a house with a yard. The dog would be much happier there.”
“Your father’s brother is an asshole,” my mother informed me. It was the first time I’d ever heard her swear. “He’d put Peaches down faster than you could say euthanasia. Please Charlie? Won’t you do this for me?”
I wanted to say no. God I wanted to. But I just couldn’t do that to her. I knew exactly what that dog meant to her, and I couldn’t let him be put down. So after a long few moments, during which I desperately tried and failed to come up with another solution – any other solution – I sighed and said, “Fine.”
Dante’s eyes went wide behind my mother, and he stared at me like I’d completely lost my mind, shaking his head no almost frantically. “I knew I could count on you, Charlie,” she said with a big smile. “Well, I better get downstairs, I don’t want to miss that shuttle.” My mother bustled to the front door, giving me instructions as she went. “Don’t forget to give Peaches his special dog food. There’s a bag of his things here by the door. And make sure you change his water twice a day, he only likes it fresh.”
Peaches followed us to the front door, wagging his stumpy tail happily. Then my mother burst into tears again. But instead of hugging me, she dropped to her knees and hugged the dog. “Goodbye, Peaches. Mama loves you. Your brother Charlie’s gonna take good care of you, baby. Mama’s so sorry.”
This went on for a few minutes, and finally she put the dog down and picked up her old pink suitcase. She said, “I’ll write to you from Dayton, Charlie. You take care of yourself. It was a pleasure meeting you, Dante.” She opened the door and stepped out into the hall, then remembered something and said, “Oh, just so you know, Peaches has a bit of diarrhea. I don’t know why. Should clear up in a day or two, I’d imagine.” And with those parting words, my mother turned and walked away.
I closed the door behind her, and turned to Dante and pointed an accusing finger. “You just had to give Peaches the buns. And now look! Talk about karma!”
The dog was staring at the closed front door dejectedly, his tail and ears drooping. My heart went out to the little guy, who’d just lost his owner and looked so small and pathetic. I went to pet him, console him a bit.
And Peaches whirled on me, his underbite revealed as he bared his teeth and growled.
“No!” I said that so sharply that Peaches was startled enough to actually stop growling. “What are you complaining about?” I asked him. “You got more of a heartfelt goodbye than I did. You should feel lucky.”
His response to that was to raise his hackles and bare his teeth again, a high-pitched growl coming from his throat.
“Fuck my life,” I said, scrubbing my hands over my face.
“That’s it. I’m taking that little fucker to the pound,” Dante told me as he went to grab the dog. It almost took a chunk out of his hand, and Dante swore vividly as he jumped back and exclaimed, “The little bastard tried to bite me!”
“Of course he did. You tried to pick him up.”
Dante pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m calling animal control. And telling them to bring a dart gun.”
I sighed and said, “It’s fine. Let him stay.” I went to the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee, the dog following, growling and snapping at my heels the whole way.
“Are you nuts? You can’t let that hellhound terrorize you in your own home!”
“It’s just temporary, until I figure out what to do with him.”
“I already know what to do with him. It’s called the pound!”
“I’m such a sucker,” I said with a sigh, talking a little loudly over the constant growl of the smelly canine at my feet. “Probably the only reason my mother even came here and made amends was so I’d take Peaches in.” The dog tried to lunge for my leg, but I got my sneaker up in time and pivoted around, shielding myself. “And I know she’s not leaving my father because he kicked me out. She’s leaving him because they have a miserable relationship, and is using this as an excuse to do what she’s probably wanted to do for years.”
Dante knit his brows for a moment, and then pretended to be reasonable as he said, “Let me take him to my house. I have a fenced yard, he can stay there.”
“And are you going to shoot him as soon as you get him home?”
“No.”
“Are you going to shoot him before you get him home?” Dante looked guilty, and I said, “Thought so.” And then I noticed the clock on the stove and sighed. “Damn it. I need to be at work in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll take care of the dog,” Dante told me. “You go ahead and go.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, that you’ll take care of the dog.”
“I’m not going to shoot him. Not if you don’t want me to. I’ll just keep an eye on him for you.”
“You don’t have to stay with the dog,” I told him, loudly, over the constant growling. “We can just lock him up in here until I get home.”
“He’ll destroy the entire apartment if we do that,” Dante said. “I don’t have any pressing business to take care of today anyway, so I can stay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Go to work, Charlie.”
I hesitated for a long moment. I really couldn’t blow off my job, I’d only been working there a few days and didn’t want Jamie to think I was a total flake. And Dante had a point about the dog destroying everything in sight. “Well, ok.” I went and grabbed my wallet and keys, and Dante walked me to the front door and kissed my forehead.
The dog let out a long, moist-sounding fart, and I pressed my eyes shut and said, “That would be the gluten allergy. The diarrhea train’s going to be pulling into the station sometime in the next two minutes. I’d better call in to work.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
“Seriously?”
“Karma’s a bitch,” Dante said with a little grin, and pushed me out the door.
“Don’t kill the dog!” I called over my shoulder as I hurried down the hall.
Chapter Eight
Ok, so that had been pretty mean of me, leaving Dante with the dog from hell while I went off to work. I’d texted him repeatedly during my shift, and he kept assuring me that everything was going fine.
Still, I braced myself as I pushed open the door to my apartment four hours later. Since I wasn’t immediately rushed by a crazed canine, I stepped into the apartment calling, “Aw man! You killed the dog, didn’t you?”
My living room was filled with gorgeous furniture, but I turned my attention to Dante instead. He was coming out of the kitchen dressed in an old practice jersey and sweat pants of mine, both of which were soaking wet. He was barefoot, his dark hair tousled, and he wore huge leather gloves on each hand that extended up to his elbows. “Are those blacksmithing gloves?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face.
“Falconry, actually.” He put his gloved hands on his hips, a grin on his face. “Go ahead. Laugh. I know you’re dying to.”
“Nah. It’s too mean.” I crossed the room to him and kissed him, then stepped back and said, “Oh boy.”
Dante frowned at me. “I smell like wet dog, don’t I?”
“Big time. Don’t tell me you drowned Peaches in the bathtub.”
“I wish. But no, I washed the disgusting little zombie instead. I couldn’t take the smell.”
“The bath didn’t help at all, did it?”
“Not even a little.”
“Told you that smell was his breath. So where is the little shit?”
“He’s in his pen,” Dante said, inclining his head toward the kitchen.
“He has a pen?”
“Yup.”
“What kind of pen?”
“I think it’s meant to hold small livestock,” he told me.
“And you found a livestock pen where?”
“Same place I found the gloves,” Dante said as he
tried to peel one off with some effort. Apparently falconry gloves shrunk up a bit if you got them wet.
I went into the kitchen and surveyed the situation. The whole room reeked of wet dog. Peaches was damp and dejected, behind bars in a little metal corral in the breakfast nook, the kitchen floor beneath him lined with some type of disposable kennel pads. There was a space heater pointed at him from outside the corral, and the window was open to let out some of the smell. I grinned and turned to Dante. “How did you do all of this? Did you leave Peaches unattended after all while you went and ran these errands?”
“I couldn’t, he’d destroy your home. I researched this stuff online, then texted a couple of my men and they picked up the supplies.”
“You have men?”
“Employees.” Dante swore and gave one of the gloves a hard yank, and finally it peeled off.
“Yeah, I get that part,” I said with a grin. “Is the kitchen table in the living room now? I didn’t notice.”
“It is.”
“Along with an awful lot of new furniture.”
“I told you I had stuff on backorder for you.” He tugged hard, cursed vividly, and finally pulled the other glove off. I fought back a laugh.
“And all the backorder stuff got here today?”
“No. I cancelled that order and had my men bring different stuff. I couldn’t wait. I needed a place to collapse after a hard day of zombie lap dog wrestling.”
“You’d better not collapse on my new couch smelling like that!” I told him. And then I gave him a big smile.
“Oh, that’s it,” Dante exclaimed, and grabbed me in a hug. “If I have to smell like wet dog, then so do you.” He planted kisses all over my face.
“Ew, quit it!” I yelled, laughing and struggling to get away as the dampness from his clothes soaked through mine.
We both needed a shower after that, and decided to take one together. Dante kissed me as we stripped and got under the warm spray, and he soaped his hands up and washed my shoulders and belly. When I turned around so he could do my back, he whispered, “Shit.”
I turned around to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Your butt’s really bruised,” he said quietly. “Does it hurt?”
“A little, but I don’t mind.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I loved being spanked. It was incredibly arousing.” I took the soap from him and lathered up my hands, then ran them over his broad chest.
“I was really holding back,” he said after a minute. That surprised me. I hadn’t thought he was holding back at all.
“You didn’t have to. I liked it, Dante. A lot.”
“Maybe that’s just because you’re used to people treating you like crap.”
“What?”
“Your family’s horrible, Charlie. That had to have messed with your self esteem. So…I don’t know. Maybe you think you deserve this, to be beaten, to be treated this way. But you don’t, angel. You really, truly don’t.”
“Dante, you didn’t hurt me. It made both of us feel good, and I liked it. So please stop over-thinking it.”
He was quiet throughout the rest of the shower. And afterwards, he dried me so carefully and took me to my bed and laid down with me, holding me in his arms. After awhile he said, “I can never do that to you again.”
“I don’t know why you’re not hearing me when I tell you I liked it.”
“That’s not the point.”
I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, holding on tight.
Chapter Nine
Dante had been quiet all that night. We’d ordered dinner in and spent the evening Googling dog training videos on his phone. Finally when it was time for bed, he tucked me in and kissed me for a long time, then held me and watched me as I fell asleep.
I hadn’t expected him to stay the night, of course. But I still missed him when I woke up alone the next morning. I got dressed, then donned the second pair of big falconry gloves that Dante had bought for me, and went to get Peaches leashed so I could take him for a walk.
The dog growled and raised his hackles when he saw me, but it was sort of half-hearted. He was obviously depressed and missing my mom. Our mom, I corrected myself with an eye roll. He still tried to bite the crap out of me when I got the leash on him and lifted him out of the pen, though.
Peaches was better when I got him outside, more interested in peeing on absolutely everything than in trying to kill me. We ended up taking a two hour walk through Golden Gate Park, and he was good and tired by the time I got him back home.
I put him back in the pen and got him some fresh water, then went to grab a can of his special gluten-free dog food. When I opened the cabinet where the dog’s supplies were stored, I saw that Dante had purchased several cases of Peaches’ expensive food. God, that man was thoughtful. I’d have to remember to thank him. I served Peaches his breakfast, and the dog only had the energy to sneer at me before tucking into his food.
Finally, I turned to the coffee maker. And that’s when I saw the note that was stuck to the top of it.
Three sentences. Twelve little words.
We can’t do this anymore. I’m so sorry. I’ll never forget you.
Dante had broken up with me.
I sunk down onto the kitchen floor and hugged my knees to my chest. “Oh God,” I whispered.
I’d known him such a short time. But in just a few days, he’d become so incredibly important to me. His presence in my life had held the sadness at bay, made me forget all about the misery that my life had become. He’d made me feel cared for, at a time when I needed that so desperately. He’d been so good to me.
And now he was gone.
I sat there for a long time, trying to accept that this had happened, trying to accept that it was over. But somehow, I just couldn’t.
Eventually, I realized what time it was and pushed up off the floor and went to work in a daze. And clearly my emotions were written all over my face, because as soon as Jamie and Dmitri saw me they shepherded me into the office, matching looks of concern on their very different faces.
“What happened, Charlie?” Jamie asked, sitting beside me on the couch that was against one wall of his office.
“Dante broke up with me.” Gradually, the sadness in me was seeping away, replaced with determination to do something about this, instead of just sitting back and taking it. “And that’s not ok with me.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Not yet. I’ve just spent the last hour being stunned and miserable and brokenhearted.”
“Aw Charlie, I’m sorry,” Dmitri said.
“I need to talk to him. I’m not just going to let him decide this arbitrarily. And I know why he’s doing it. He’s afraid of hurting me.”
“He might have a point there,” Jamie murmured, and I frowned at him.
I looked up at Dmitri and said, “I don’t actually know where Dante lives. But you do, don’t you?”
“Sure. He lives on Nob Hill. I used to live down the street from him,” Dmitri said.
“I need to go talk to him,” I said, standing up. “Could you give me his address?”
Dmitri hesitated, then said, “Maybe you want to call, instead of going over there. Dante’s getting ready to go out of the country on some family business, something came up unexpectedly this morning. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I do know he’s really agitated. He might not be very receptive to talking.”
“How do you know that?” I asked him.
“I happened to call him about an hour ago with a question about one of our suppliers. I only got the sketchiest details, but I could tell something big is going down.”
“I have to go see him, especially if he’s about to leave the country.”
“I wouldn’t,” Dmitri said.
“No, but I would. Can I please have his address, Dmitri?”
He sighed and wrote something on a slip of paper, which he handed to me. But then he added, “I’m tel
ling you Charlie, if he’s right in the middle of some sort of family crisis, you probably really shouldn’t go over there.”
“Ok. I’ve been forewarned. Thanks for the address,” I said, and headed for the door. But then I remembered something, and turned back to Jamie. “Sorry about blowing off work today.”
“It’s ok. Cole’s got it covered.”
“I’m still sorry,” I told him.
“It’s fine,” he said. “You’ve been going through a lot lately.”
“Way too fucking much,” I muttered as I left the office.
Chapter Ten
I totally ignored Dmitri’s warning, and drove straight to Dante’s house. I found a parking spot down the block and walked up to what looked like a huge Italian villa, plunked down in the middle of San Francisco. It gave me pause for a moment. I’d known Dante was wealthy, but this home was jaw-dropping. I shook off my astonishment and climbed the wide steps to the front door, right in sync with someone else that had walked up to the house from the opposite direction.
I turned to look at the cute blonde twink climbing the steps with me, and he smiled sweetly and said, “Hiya.”
“Hi.”
He rang the bell when we reached the door, and as we waited, we both appraised one another. He was probably around nineteen and very thin, with big blue eyes and a mop of too-long blonde curls. He wore several silver necklaces, a sheer, skin-tight black t-shirt that ended just above his navel and showcased a pair of silver nipple rings through the thin fabric, and very low-slung jeans with a wide belt. That was a whole lot of look for early afternoon on a weekday, and I wondered if he’d somehow just come from a club.
When the door opened, the twink said cheerfully, “Hiya, Andre.”
The big guy at the door frowned a little and said, “Austin.” Then he looked at me and muttered to himself, “And there’s time for a three-way?” before stepping back and letting us in. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Andre slunk off without further comment.
Austin started to go ahead of me into the massive foyer, and I asked him, “Hey, do you know where I can find Dante Dombruso?”