Sixteen #2
“Blimey… Do you bloody know who you are?” Poppy’s mouth dropped open. All four of them stared at me in awe.
“Some days, I wonder.” I smiled, trying to ease the focus off me.
“Y-you’re… I was just reading about you!” She held up her mobile.
“She’s here to volunteer, just like you.” Debra’s stern tone told Poppy to curb herself. “The animals are the celebrities here.”
That word was making my brain twist up. Celebrities were movie actors, sports stars, musicians—people who had talent and skills, not some girl who happened to go to the same school as the Prince of Great Victoria.
Most definitely not awkward, shy me.
“Yeah. But…” Poppy wasn’t quite ready to let it go.
“Could you help Spencer get a station set up?”
“I will!” Both Poppy and a guy around my age raised their hands.
“Thank you, Travis.” Debra’s slight to Poppy was not lost on her. She huffed, glaring as Debra left the room.
Travis wasn’t tall or built, but he was a good-looking boy with a mop of brown hair that he kept shaggy like he thought he could be mistaken for a boy band member.
“Spencer, right?”
“Yeah.” I kept it short, wanting to just get to helping the animals.
“Wow, so you are really dating the prince, eh?”
“That’s what the papers are saying.” I grabbed a mobile cart and dragged it to an available sink.
“Ha! Funny.” He snorted, raking his fingers through his thick hair. “So, you’re like close to the royals?”
“Dude, arsehole, she’s boning one of them!” Poppy exclaimed from her station. “You are a total moron.”
“Where do we get the next dog to be washed?” Ignoring Travis, I glanced around to the other two workers.
“The ones still waiting are playing in the room there.” Sarah pointed to a door next to my station.
“Thank you.” I nodded, heading for the room, muffled barking and yipping coming from the other side.
Travis trailed after me as I ventured into the large dog playroom. “What I meant was you are good friends with the Princess, then.”
Ah.
Eloise.
Staying silent, my hands went out for the dogs running up to me, jumping, barking, and nudging my leg for attention. I cooed and pet all I could reach.
“She’s so hot… I was just wondering—”
“No.” Blunt and ruthless, I cut him down, my attention on a dog hiding in the corner, its fuzzy body shaking. His coat was dirty and matted, but you could see with a little TLC he would be the cutest thing in the world. “Not a chance.”
My legs moved across the room to him, pretending I didn’t hear Travis call me a bitch under his breath.
“Hey, little dude.” I went up slowly to the little mixed breed, his huge dark eyes watching me, flinching like I might hit him.
“It’s okay.” I spoke slowly and quietly, coaxing him to come to me first. They were the reason I was here, not helping band-boy Travis get laid.
Plus, if he only knew the real Eloise, he’d piss himself… right before she annihilated him.
Slowly with treats, the little guy slunk out for me to pick him up.
“You are a sweet boy.” He was frozen in my arms, terrified to move or do something that might cause retaliation.
There was no doubt he had been beaten, which made me want to find whoever did it and do even more than that to them. Snuggling him into my arms, I took him back to the sink, speaking to him in a steady, calm voice, petting and reassuring him with love.
The group talked around me, Poppy trying to engage me in chat about the royals or how Theo and I met, but I kept quiet, concentrating fully on the dog.
Bath time for animals could be extremely stressful, and the little guy under my stream was so scared I had to put all my energy on him.
Finishing his bath, I wrapped a towel around him, picking him up.
His sweet little face stared up at me, then he licked my cheek, melting my heart into a pool of goo.
I was in love.
Click. Click. Click.
My head snapped up to the noise, my brain not understanding the familiar sound in these surroundings.
Horror widened my eyes when I took in four or five men with cameras crawling over the fence of the shelter, their long-lens cameras peering through the glass doors, their fingers stabbing at the buttons, filling their memory cards with pictures of me.
The puppy in my arms sensed the change in me, his form going rigid.
“Oh my god!” Sarah pointed, startling the dogs.
The room exploded with panicked barks as the animals reacted, while more and more paparazzi scaled the fence, each wanting their shot of me, like they were catching me doing something seedy.
The room exploded in pandemonium, some dogs leaping out of the sinks, running for the door, growling and barking as others yipped and ran in circles around our feet.
The volunteers tried to round them up, their yells and panic only adding to the chaos.
The scared little guy in my hands wiggled out of my arms, running under the sink and cowering in the corner. All the trust we had built… gone.
Anger and fear bristled up my back.
“Fucking hell!” Kyle yelled, jerking his hand back from trying to get one of the dogs from the window, blood dripping down his hand.
“Get help!” Sarah screamed, waving at Poppy to move as she cradled Kyle’s hand with a towel.
Poppy didn’t even move before the door burst open, a figure filling the doorway, but it wasn’t Debra or any other staff member.
Feck me.
Lennox.
Relief. Guilt. Anger. It flooded me as our eyes connected, his feet slapping the ground as he ran for me.
“You okay?” he growled, the fury in his voice crackling over every syllable. I nodded, and the dogs howled as police sirens wailed and lights flickered from over the fence, the papzz scurrying like cockroaches, leaving a mess behind.
Debra ran in to the room, other staff behind her.
“Oh my god.” She went to Kyle, grabbing for his bloody hand.
“I’m fine.” He hissed in pain.