Chapter XI Bad Dog （Lena） #2
But then I can nab him for assault and maybe breaking and entering. It’s a quiet neighborhood. Someone will call the cops if I scream.
Only, he just falls back, throwing his hands up. “Fine, we’ll have it your way. But listen to me, LeeLee, and listen good.”
I wince.
Out of all his pet names, that one’s the worst. I can’t hide the disgust contorting my face.
“I’ve heard enough,” I throw back. “If you want the clinic, make another bid and let Dr. Ezzie decide. Isn’t that how this works?”
“Fuck no. You might know animals, but you don’t know real estate.” He smirks. “Just hear me out—five years of your salary in exchange for dropping your offer. That’s six figures, easy. You can walk away and go back to Mommy in Port Townsend. You never were a big-city girl at heart.”
Until now, I always thought vibrating with anger was just a phrase. But suddenly I’m living it.
Is this man for real?
“Go to hell,” I bite off, putting every ounce of venom I have into staring back. “Also, it’s a little late for professionalism or whatever. This is personal, Harry, and you made it that way. You’re not taking my career too.”
“Too?” He lifts a brow, and his ugly smirk widens.
He knows exactly what I mean.
“You’re not going to get your way this time,” I say. “You’re not turning Pawsome Hearts into another ugly, overprice commercial turd that sits vacant when MicroDick Incorporated lays off half its Bellevue workforce thanks to AI.”
Any trace of amusement leaves his face as it firms into a vicious scowl.
“Funny you should say that. And funny that you’ve got the funds to buy me out now.
We both know you’re shit with money, LeeLee.
You could never afford lunch without bumming a few bucks off me after you left my place, less mouthy and satisfied.
Say,” he growls, slamming his hand on the doorframe next to my head.
“I wonder who’s fucking you now? Is that the real problem?
Seeing how you’ve got microdick on the brain and all. ”
“Harry, get out. Leave me alone,” I hiss.
I am so entirely ready to scratch his face.
Screw the consequences.
“It reeks. That’s all I’m saying. Or maybe that’s just you after a long day of blood and cat piss.
Whatever you’re doing—and I know you’re doing something—your story fucking sucks.
You wouldn’t live in this shithole house if you had the coin to live somewhere decent.
So where did the windfall come from, huh? ”
Brady flashes in my mind.
The way we teamed up in front of Nancy. The way he turned feral at the end, the delicious scrape of his teeth and his stubble.
Jesus, I can’t let him down.
I can’t let this brute threaten a man who’s the only reason why I have a chance to save Pawsome Hearts at all.
If Harry acts on his threats, we’ll both be so neck deep in crap, we won’t be able to breathe.
I can’t let him find out.
“Your boss might not be able to do her homework, but I will. I’m going to dig real fucking deep, LeeLee. I’m going to find the real story,” he taunts, leering in, drowning me in that wretched cologne until I gag. “What are you hiding, I wonder?”
“Last chance,” I whisper harshly. “If you don’t leave now, I’m calling the cops.”
His smirk widens until it’s too big for his face.
“You won’t. We both know you’d be wasting precious city resources, pulling cops away from real crime. I haven’t done shit. I’m not hurting you. And I’m not dragging you out by the hair and chucking you in a drainage ditch. Shit, LeeLee. We know each other. You had my dick in your mouth.”
I can’t breathe.
The implied threat in his voice chokes off the righteous fury in my throat.
“It’s sad, really. I thought you’d get over it eventually. Looks like you didn’t.” He reaches out, trailing his finger along my jaw. I slap his hand away. “Hell, for a while, I thought we’d be friends again someday.”
The way my stomach churns takes my breath away.
In public, I can lie to myself that he doesn’t scare me.
But not while he’s in my face with no one else around to see what he’s doing. My phone is inside, and I don’t know if I could get the cops to take this seriously, anyway.
Even if I scream and a neighbor hears it, will he just laugh it off?
So many doubts whirl through my head. The worst superpower Harry Jay ever had was shredding my self-confidence.
There’s no proof he’s harassing me. He’s barely touched me.
And the scariest thing of all is that he’s a public figure with money and power. People know him. People like him.
My breath comes quicker, and I’m cracking.
I hate that he sees it. His inhuman smile spreads, wider and wider, until it’s on the verge of devouring his entire face.
Honestly, I’m living a horror movie.
But I’m not about to let him turn me into a helpless deer.
Maybe when I was twenty, when I didn’t know any better, and when I was so desperate to be loved.
Not anymore.
Not by him.
“I said leave me alone!” I snap, lunging at him.
I push against his chest with all my might, and it must be the shock that moves him, because he’s taller and stronger than me.
“I will call the cops. Just try me.” Even if they don’t believe me—even if all they do is escort Harry off my lawn—it’ll be worth it. I can still get a police report.
If I’m lucky, I can make him leave.
Right now, I’ll do anything to get him away from me.
“Big mistake,” Harry whispers as he looks up, brushing himself off. His eyes are slitted and cold. Worst of all, he doesn’t fucking move. “Use your brain, girl. Think really, really carefully about your next move because—”
“Lena!” a rough voice explodes behind him.
I glance over Harry’s shoulder just in time to see Brady charging down on him like a raging bull.
Harry might as well be the matador’s red cape.
Holy shit!
I barely have time to move out of the way before Brady has Harry’s jacket in his hands, whirling him around, slamming him against my house’s old shake siding so fast I barely have a second to breathe.
Never mind scream.
With them next to each other, it’s obvious who’d win in a fight.
Against me, Harry feels huge, a human tower built to destroy.
But Brady—he’s an entire mountain. A dormant volcano like Mount Rainier, and right now, he’s erupting.
Holy. Shit.
His shoulders flex and bulge as he leans in toward Harry’s face, baring his teeth like a wolf.
Harry tries to shove him away, but that only makes Brady hold on tighter, choking him in a headlock until his eyes bulge and Brady’s knuckles whiten.
Harry’s jacket is ripped now. Torn down the middle.
Neither man seems to care.
Harry will when he gets home, though. He’ll hate the fact that Brady ripped his fancy clothes, and he might press charges.
He’s the first to scream to the authorities, even though he’d curse anyone who called them on his disgusting bully ass.
When he was at my doorstep, I knew I’d made an enemy.
Now, with Brady looming over him, I know Harry will stop at nothing to destroy me.
“Stay the fuck away from Lena,” Brady snarls as he lets go, watching Harry stagger a few steps back, gasping for breath.
I’ve never heard a voice like that. Low and destructive, like a mountain lion preparing to launch itself at an intruder.
When Harry stops rasping enough to look up at me, there’s such hate in his eyes it stalls my pulse.
“Get moving. Fuck off home,” Brady bites off.
“If you ever lay hands on me again,” Harry warns, “you’ll regret it. Fucking simp.”
Enough.
Enough. I can’t do this.
My hands shake as I fumble back inside, coming apart at the seams.
I slam the door behind me, not bothering to lock it, knowing I don’t need to when Brady is right outside like a bodyguard. But I need space.
I need a minute or two of distance to breathe.
The violence splatters across my eyelids in glorious color.
The way Brady’s muscles rippled and his lip curled with dark promises.
The two men at war.
And the terrible promise in Harry’s eyes that this has only begun.
A sob rips free from me as I press my hands against my face with a terrible realization.
My buyout was supposed to close one chapter and open a new one.
Now, this isn’t even close to over.
What have I done?