Chapter 7
Zeus
Right after training, Zeus went back home. He decided to check on Hope first, so he could walk her and Tiger at the same time. Tiger might be surprised to be going as slow as Hope needed to, but he could take his dog out for a longer, more energetic walk after Hope had done her business.
Letting himself into Sarah’s house, he immediately glanced to the right, where Hope had been on the couch. He hadn’t seen her peeking through the bushes from the walkway, so he figured she might have moved to the actual couch, but she wasn’t there either.
Frowning, Zeus stood still for a long moment, tilting his head to the side, listening.
Hope had never been a particularly noisy dog, but she did make some noise when she was moving around.
The silence was unusual. He’d never been to Sarah’s house without Hope coming to greet him, especially during times when Sarah had asked him to take Hope for a quick walk or something like that.
Shit.
“Hope? Come here, Hope.”
He listened again. Nothing. Not a single sound.
Double shit.
Had something happened to Hope?
Maybe leaving her alone hadn’t been the best idea. She could have gotten into something. Or she could have just collapsed. Maybe she hadn’t been able to relax here after he’d left either.
But she’d seemed fine, lying on the couch, waiting for Sarah.
And if something happened that hadn’t been caused by all the pacing and unrest, something that would have happened regardless, maybe it was better that it had happened away from Tiger.
Clenching his jaw, Zeus steeled himself for the possible worst as he moved through the house systematically, still calling for Hope.
There was no sound of a dog. No rustling or any other indicators that Hope was alive and well.
Fuck.
He did not want Sarah to have gone to the hospital only to come home and find that Hope… hadn’t made it.
“Come on, Hope,” he muttered, though he was quickly losing the emotion she was named for.
She wasn’t in the den. She wasn’t in the entertainment room. Zeus sighed and made his way up to the second floor. He was losing hope in finding Hope alright.
Five minutes later, he was more confused than anything else.
Because she also wasn’t in either bathroom or bedroom.
Zeus felt very weird about going through Sarah’s things, including checking the floor of her closet, but he thought that was better than her coming home eventually and finding Hope’s body.
The body wasn’t there.
Which left him with the baffling question of where the fuck she was.
Maybe the problem was him?
Maybe he only thought he’d left Hope here? Maybe he somehow didn’t remember that he’d left Hope at home with Tiger rather than bringing her back here. Maybe he’d only thought about leaving her here?
Maybe I’m fucking losing it.
Going down the stairs, Zeus couldn’t stop himself from frowning.
There was no other explanation. Hope must be at his house, even though he remembered leaving her here. Maybe he needed to get his head checked. Not a comforting thought.
A kind of heavy dread was starting to take root in his chest as he went through the possibilities and couldn’t come up with anything good. His jaw was starting to ache from clenching it as he made his way back to his house.
Zeus opened his front door, fully expecting to find two dogs on the other side of it waiting to greet him—because what other possibility was there?—but there was only Tiger. Who was very excited to see him. He knelt down to keep the energetic dog from jumping up.
“Hey, buddy. Hey, good boy.” Zeus rubbed his hands all over the wriggling dog’s body as Tiger enthusiastically aimed his tongue at Zeus’ face. He tilted his head back, so Tiger mostly got chin. “Where’s Hope, buddy?”
Of course, Tiger couldn’t answer. Once Zeus got the dog calmed down somewhat—which took a few minutes—he started looking around his own house for Hope.
And ended that search more confused than ever.
Standing in the middle of his living room, his hands on his hips, he tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
Tiger planted his butt right in front of Zeus, whippy tail going a mile a minute across the carpet, panting happily as he stared up at Zeus.
He was probably wondering what the hell was going on since Zeus usually came home and sat down on the couch to watch television or read or something like that.
He didn’t go walking through the entire house.
Tiger had enjoyed the search, even if he hadn’t known what they were looking for, but Zeus was willing to wager the dog was ready to cuddle up on the couch now, as they normally did. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel like sitting. He was starting to question his entire reality.
He knew—he knew—he’d left Hope next door.
Sure, he’d started to rethink that when he hadn’t been able to find her, but there must be some explanation.
Maybe she’d gone into hiding somewhere there.
He should recheck Sarah’s house. Look under the beds.
Maybe open a few closet doors—he’d only looked in Sarah’s closet because the door had been open.
He hadn’t opened any doors that were closed.
Maybe, somehow, Hope had gone into a closet and managed to close it behind her or something.
The goddamn dog had to be somewhere.
He looked down at Tiger. The dog tilted his head, tongue lolling, tail whipping, waiting to see what Zeus was going to do. Zeus sighed. There was no way he would be able to rest until he figured out what the hell had happened to Hope.
“I’ve gotta go back next door,” he told Tiger. “I’ll be back.”
As he opened his front door, he had the thought that Tiger might actually be helpful in the search. Although he wasn’t trained for it or anything, he knew Hope. Surely, he’d seek her out.
The color blue caught Zeus’ eye before he could turn and open the door wider, so Tiger could go with him.
The blue car he’d spotted earlier in the day—and did not pay much attention to because it had disappeared so quickly—was back in Sarah’s driveway.
The last time he’d seen it, Hope had been with him, but he’d been gone all afternoon.
Maybe the owner had returned while he was away.
They better not have done anything bad to Hope.
Logically, he knew that most people wouldn’t do anything bad to a dog, but his faith in humanity was particularly low.
Just because most people wouldn’t, that meant that some would, and there was no way to tell who was who until something bad happened.
Zeus’ jaw really was getting tired, but he couldn’t help that as he stepped out of his house, closing the door firmly behind him.
He could hear Tiger whine, but he definitely wasn’t taking the dog over when there was a stranger there.
Tiger was a good guard dog in that he was very loud when someone approached Zeus’ house, but if they actually came inside, they were more liable to get licked to death than anything else.
He also didn’t want to have to watch out for his dog, Hope, and whoever was in Sarah’s house all at the same time.
It was better to cut down on the possible complicating factors before he knew who was there.
The awareness of the gun he had tucked in his concealed carry holster tingled in the back of his head.
Most of the time, he forgot about it until he might need it.
Going into Sarah’s house hot wasn’t on his agenda. The blue car had been there earlier today. It was probably just someone from her work or something.
But if it wasn’t, he was prepared.
Stepping onto Sarah’s stoop, he tested the doorknob, but it didn’t open. Getting out the key, he didn’t bother knocking. The sound of the lock turning would alert the person inside that there was someone at the door.
The door swung open, and Zeus stepped inside, blinking as his eyes adjusted.
Even before he fully saw the person inside, his subconscious had gone from high alert to a much lower alert. Not fully offline but not actively engaged.
There was an incredibly beautiful woman standing in Sarah’s house, staring back at him with wide eyes.
Straight black hair flowed around her shoulders in layers and curled at the ends.
Her eyes were almost as dark as her hair.
The dark tan of her skin contrasted with the pale blue shirt she was wearing.
Tall and lithe, she wore a pair of fitted jeans that hugged her hips and thighs in a manner that made him wonder how she looked from behind.
Zeus didn’t make the mistake of thinking that just because she was beautiful, she wasn’t possibly dangerous… but she probably wasn’t.
Though her chin was tilted up, her shoulders squared, he could see the fear in her expression. Fear she was desperately trying to hide. Afraid of him or afraid because she’d been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be?
He wouldn’t be able to fully relax until he knew.
“Hi!” She spoke with an unnaturally cheerful, high-pitched tone. “I’m Yasmine. I’m a friend of Grace’s, who is a really good friend of Sarah’s.”
Well, okay then. Zeus wasn’t entirely sure how that explained her presence, but the threat factor was diminishing. He shifted his stance to try to make himself look friendlier than he’d felt when he came in.
“Hi, Yas,” he replied, shortening her name in an effort to make himself appear more amiable and less threatening. After all, she was a woman alone in a house with a strange man she didn’t know. “I’m Sarah’s next-door neighbor, Zeus.”
“Oh… oh! You live next door?” Something flickered in her expression, as if that statement had just explained something.
“I do. I was just over here looking for Hope to take her for a walk.”
Instead of asking who Hope was, understanding immediately suffused her expression, and her shoulders and chin dropped down as she started laughing. Zeus couldn’t help but smile in reaction to her laugh; it was loud and surprised, and really quite lovely to listen to.
The tension he’d been holding in his own body started to leak out as well.
Threat level was almost non-existent.
Any lingering doubts vanished as Yas went over her day for him, and Zeus interjected what he had been doing. It was the most insane series of coincidences he’d ever heard of. The timing, the close misses… it was like a comedy of errors.
“So, Sarah’s okay?” he asked, feeling more than a little relieved as Yas explained why she was currently in the house.
“As far as I know. Grace is doing her best to keep me updated, but she has to wait to hear from Sarah’s parents, and then I get it from her.” Yas shrugged ruefully. “I do know it’s going to be a few days before Sarah comes home, unfortunately. Do you want me to bring Hope back here?”
Zeus hesitated.
“I don’t mind looking after her if you can’t, but I was worried about how much pacing she was doing at my house.
If she’s actually settled at your house, she might be better staying there, if that’s okay.
I don’t want to mess with her health, and she’s not expecting to see Sarah at your house.
At mine, I don’t know if or when she’ll stop looking for her. ”
“That’s fine with me; I’d already volunteered for it.” Yas shook her head, the curl at the end of her hair bouncing around her shoulders. “Plus, everything but her food is already at my house.”
“That’s also a factor.” Zeus smiled at her, but then became more solemn. “Do you have the vet’s number?”
“I do.” She hesitated for just a moment. “I’m actually… I would love your opinion on this. Sarah isn’t out of surgery yet, so Grace can’t actually ask her, but I want to pay for Hope’s surgery. I just don’t want Sarah to take it badly if I make the offer. Do you think she’d let me?”
“Absolutely. Sarah would do anything for that dog.” Zeus shook his head.
“If I’d known Hope needed surgery, I would have already offered to pay.
I probably would have had to push a little but not very much.
She loves that dog a lot more than she loves her pride.
In fact, I’d like to go halves on the surgery with you, so that you’re not entirely out of pocket. ”
“I can afford it on my own, but I’m also not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Yas smiled at him. “Thank you.” She had a really nice smile. Especially when it was focused on him.
At some point, she’d gone from non-threat to possible flirtation, which was really interesting. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually felt like flirting with someone.
Maybe it was because of the way she’d handled herself around this whole situation. She was taking on a lot of responsibility and effort she really didn’t have to.
Absolutely no one would have blamed her for not feeling comfortable coming to check on Sarah in the first place. The fact that she’d come out here on her own, without someone with her, made his hand itch. If she was his sub, he’d spank the hell out of her for pulling a move like today.
“Would you mind if we exchanged numbers?” he asked, pushing the thoughts of flirtation out of his mind.
That was not why he was asking. He wasn’t in the market for a new relationship, not after being burned so badly on the last one.
“If you could update me on how Sarah’s doing, I would appreciate it, and that way we can coordinate for Hope.
If she needs anything or she becomes too much, you can always text or call me. ”
“Oh, yeah, that would be great.” Yas pulled her phone out of her back pocket without a second of hesitation, which made Zeus feel a little better.
A few minutes later, he’d finished helping her load Hope’s food into her car and gave her a wave as she pulled out of Sarah’s driveway, her phone number tucked safely away in his Contacts.
What a very strange day.