Daisy comes to an abrupt halt, before turning her head towards the sky.
“You hear them, girl?” I reach down and scratch her head, as she wags her tail.
We finished our walk at least an hour ago, but I noticed that Laci’s SUV was still in the parking lot.
We waited around for a little bit, and still didn’t see any sign of her or Beatrice, so I decided to trek back into the trails to see if I can’t find them myself.
I never should have let her hit these trails alone. The paths all wind together at some point, but each one goes on for miles. It would be easy to get lost back here, especially if you aren’t familiar with it.
While she would have never agreed to walk with me, I could have kept a nice distance behind her so that I could have at least helped her out if needed.
And then of course, while I would have been there to help, I would have also had a nice view of her perfect ass in those tiny little shorts.
I’m a gentleman like that, even if I’m also a little bit on the pervy side.
I should have done that, but since I didn’t, I am now more than a little bit worried.
Beatrice can be a lot to handle sometimes, especially if she’s been cooped up for a while.
I know that Jessica meant well when she gave her to Laci, especially since Laci was adamant about taking that particular dog, but in all honesty, she should have said no and given her a milder mannered one.
Beatrice can be an asshole sometimes.
Once, I tried to walk both she and Daisy at the same time. I ended up nearly breaking my neck as she took off after a squirrel when I wasn’t paying attention.
I soon learned that where Daisy is easy to walk, and just happy to trot along, Beatrice likes to sprint, and needs a loud, firm voice to slow her down.
We make our way back into the deeper part of the woods, where the daylight is still just barely peeking through the treetops. I scan in all directions, looking and listening for any signs of them, coming up with nothing.
But then, Daisies ears stand at full attention. She comes to an abrupt halt, before barking once. I stop in my tracks, listening intently as she does the same.
And then, I hear it.
Her scream echoes through the woods, so damn loud that it seems like she should be within my sight. Except she’s not.
I turn my body, trying to place the direction of the sound, but it’s no use. It literally echoes through the woods, and could have come from any direction.
Luckily, Daisy heard it too, and she turns to our left, before running forward.
I follow behind her, jogging to keep up, as the screams get louder. We make our way into the even thicker part of the forest, headed towards the small body of water that sits in the center of these woods.
I hear another scream, and then, I see the source.
Beatrice runs, for her life it seems, towards a family of squirrels that are running towards a large oak tree in the water. Laci is behind her, running, slash being drug, with the leash wrapped around her wrist.
“Fuck!” I drop Daisies leash and book it towards them. “Beatrice!” I shout, in my loudest, most stern voice.
The dog slows down, enough for the leash to unravel slightly from Laci’s wrist, as she glances between the squirrels and me.
The squirrels win her attention, and she breaks back out into a run.
“Let go of the leash!” I shout to Laci, as I run at full speed until I am directly behind her.
“I can’t. Its stuck.” She cries, pulling frantically at the fabric.
“Dammit. Beatrice!” I roar, and the dog pauses. I grab the leash and twist it quickly off Laci’s arm before dropping it.
“Fuck her.” I growl, pulling Laci back into my body as we hit the ground with an oomph, me breaking the fall for her as she lands on my body.
I try to get my footing, but I can’t. We’re already on an incline, and the force of the fall has me rolling backwards.
I throw out an arm, but it’s no use.
I hear Beatrice splash into the water just a split second before Laci screams again, and we hit the water hard.
I’m momentarily disoriented, but the second the water is over my head, my mind kicks back into gear.
Laci managed to escape my embrace once we hit the water, and I kick with all my force towards the surface, panic setting in.
What if she can’t swim? Stupid fucking dog.
I snap towards the surface, my head spinning in all directions in a panic, when I see a blond head bob to the surface.
She coughs, before her panicked eyes meet mine.
I’m at her side in less than a second, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her body towards mine.
“Holy shit. Are you ok?”
One arm wraps around me as we kick towards the side of the lake together.
“Yes.” She squeaks, before glancing over my shoulder towards Beatrice, who swims happily towards us, her tongue lapping water from the side as she goes.
We make it towards the side of the lake, and once our feet touch, I slide my other arm underneath Laci’s legs and swing her up, carrying her the rest of the way out of the water.
“Really, Jake, I’m fine. You can put me down.”
I completely ignore her until I make my way fully out of the water. I carry her over to a small bench that sits at the top of the hill that we just rolled down, all thanks to the asshole dog that now wants to trot along right behind me.
I sit her on the bench, watching her wince as she shifts her weight off her tailbone before crouching down in front of her and inspecting her.
“What hurts?” I reach up, brushing her hair off her face, my blood boiling as I see the angry red scrape across her cheek.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” She mutters, pulling back slightly from me, making me roll my eyes.
She’s anything but fine. Her tank top is ripped in more places that I can even count, one of the straps almost completely shredded. Her shorts are just like her top, but add on stains that even a dip in the lake couldn’t wash off all over the front of them. I’m guessing the back looks even worse. Her arms are laced with cuts and scrapes in various stages, and her left wrist is swollen and in my opinion, obviously deformed.
She swallows hard as her eyes dart away from me, as she tries to push herself off the bench to a standing position before crying out in pain.
“The hell you’re fine.” I growl, before glaring at Beatrice who still, stands right next to us, wagging her tail as if she has no idea how much she just hurt the person nice enough to walk her.
“Stupid mutt.” I mutter, before grabbing her lease and pointing my finger in her face. “Bad dog. Very bad dog.”
She whimpers and hangs her head, as Laci surprises me by bursting out laughing.
“I want to be so mad at her.” She shakes her head. “But how can I get angry at that face?”
“She could have killed you!” I shout, motioning angrily at the dog. “You should have never decided to walk some random dog. You should have listened to me when I told you that she was an asshole. She could have drug you into the water with that leash still wrapped around your hand. Then what?”
She winches again, before glancing between the dog and me. “Yes, but…”
“But nothing. You shouldn’t just pick up some random dog and decide to hike through woods that you don’t even know. That was a stupid fucking idea.”
Why I am so irate right now, I’m not even sure. But hell, I’m right, and judging by the face she makes? She knows it.
But, she doesn’t cower to my words. Instead, she stands tall and glares at me.
“You don’t get to talk to me like that. I don’t know who you think you are, but you are not the boss of me, got it? Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but you don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“I just rolled down a hill and fell into the lake, all trying to save your ass, and you have the nerve to get snotty with me? Jesus.” I mutter, before grabbing both dog’s leashes.
“You are something else.”
“I didn’t ask you to save me.” Her eyes cut at me before she snatches the leash out of my hands.
I grab the leash right back and yank Beatrice towards me as Daisy trots over. I grab her leash in the same hand and take a few steps forward.
“This is the part where you say thank you, in case you aren’t accustomed to civilized manners.”
“Ugh!” She throws her arms down at her side, before crying out, her eyes widening as she grabs her left wrist in her hand.
“Oh my god.” Her teeth fly to her lip as tears fill her eyes. I instantly feel like a major asshole for yelling at her, but damn. She is so freaking impossible sometimes.
“Listen.” I force my voice to remain calm, even though on the inside, my blood is still boiling. “I think you may have broken your wrist.”
Her eyes widen as she stares at her arm, with large red welts starting at her forearm and traveling down, to where her hand is ever so slightly going in the wrong direction. It could just be from swelling, but still. It looks awful.
“We need to get back, and then I’m going to take you to the hospital. Daisy will walk without her leash. I doubt Beatrice will, but at this point, I’m totally ok with leaving her. We can forget this dog, and I can carry you.”
“No.” she shakes her head firmly from side to side. “Walk her on her lease. I can walk.”
“Are you sure?” I watch as she takes a few steps gingerly, before she nods.
“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes at yet another statement from her that she is fine. But I grab the dogs leash anyway, and keep one hand behind her back as we head back up the hill.
Our pace is slow, Laci barely limping along, both of us wet and soggy, and her injured from our fall.
It takes us almost an hour to get back to the shelter, and for the entire hour, not a single peep is uttered from her mouth.
Which is fine by me. It took almost the entire hour just for me to get my anger in check so that I don’t explode.
I’m pissed off at the world right now. At Laci, of course, for being a stubborn ass. I’m pissed off at Jessica for giving Laci Beatrice to walk, knowing full and well that sometimes she can be a total jerk.
And I’m livid at the damn dog, who chooses now to walk along beside us and a nice slow pace.