Chapter 8

Apparently, rock bottom has a basement. Who knew?

-Hannah’s secret thoughts

Hannah

“Mom!” Reggie pulled on my hand. “Look at the dog that Travis has! It looks just like Mogley!”

Mogley used to be my ex-husband’s hunting dog. Right around the time we got divorced, Mogley started to go downhill. With no more use for his hunting dog now that Mogley was too old to hunt, he had no use for the dog.

When I’d heard that he was about to take him to a shelter, I’d taken Mogley with me.

Mogley had lived out the rest of his days in comfort, and he’d passed about ten months ago during the night.

That was the night that I’d called Travis in tears, unsure what I should do with him.

***

347 days ago

I walked out into the hall, discomforted when I’d realized that Mogley hadn’t followed into my room after an hour or so.

And I knew, the moment that I saw the large black lump on the floor, that it was Mogley.

What I hadn’t thought, was that he wouldn’t be breathing.

Sure, he was nearly eleven years old, but the ol’ boy had a lot of heart left in him.

I’d thought I had another few years with him at least.

I didn’t think, not in a million years, that he would die.

“Moge?” I called.

The black form didn’t move, and my brows furrowed.

“Moge, it’s bedtime!” I called to him, clapping my hands. “Come on, let’s go!”

Mogley still didn’t move.

Worried now, I flipped on the light, and my heart dropped.

“Moge?”

Mogley was facing me, his unseeing eyes staring toward my door.

“Moge?” My voice broke.

This time there were tears in my eyes.

“No,” I croaked. “Please no.”

Reggie would break. She’d literally break when she heard the news.

So, in order not to wake her, I let my tears fall silently.

“Oh, baby.” I dropped down to my knees, running my fingers down my baby’s soft fur. “I’m going to miss you like crazy.”

I ran my hand down the length of his body, then back up again. He’d been so big…so full of life. It didn’t feel right that he wasn’t attacking me with his tongue like he normally would have.

He was lying so still.

A tear fell to my bare thigh.

Sniffling, I stood up and walked to my room, slipping on my shorts and tennis shoes.

My intention was to lift him, to bring him outside…to do what, I didn’t know. But I knew I couldn’t leave him there. The moment that Reggie got up, she’d see him.

She’d know instantly.

Which meant I had to do this now, in the middle of the night.

Except I found out really quick that the dead weight of a one-hundred-pound dog was a lot different than one hundred pounds of moving dog.

I got him a whole foot from where he was lying before I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do it myself.

“Shit,” I wiped away more tears. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.”

I scanned through my memory, wondering who I should call. Each time I’d think of someone, I’d quickly dismiss them.

I had neighbors, but not any that I would trust coming in my house.

I also had Wednesday, but since I wasn’t sure she could help me move him anymore than I could, I knew that there was only one person that I could call.

And the moment that he answered, I knew that he’d come.

“Everything okay?”

“I need your help.”

He didn’t even hesitate.

He came, helped me bury my friend, and then held me until Reggie woke up early.

Then, when my daughter found out about Mogley, he held her, too.

It was the single best day, and worst day, of my life.

Four hours later, my brother had my daughter, and I was at the front door to Travis’ place.

I’d buried my canine friend today with a man that I felt had my back just as much as I’d had his.

We’d become friends over the last couple weeks. We’d seen each other on and off, but each time we came into contact, sparks would fly.

I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling them. I knew it. I felt it in my very core.

So that was what had me standing on the porch of a man that’d done nothing more than offer me a shoulder to cry on, and save me from myself, each time we’d spent any length of time together.

I knocked on the door and felt my heart lurch when he opened it.

“Hannah?”

There was no hesitation inside of me at all.

I moved.

Pushing him with my hands on his chest, I went up onto my tippy toes and laid my mouth straight on his.

“I need you,” I said the moment I pulled my lips from his.

It’d been a short, sweet kiss.

But, by the look on Travis’ face, it’d gotten the point across.

Before I could do so much as explain myself, he was on me.

I had my back against his closed front door, and my legs around his hips, gasping as his mouth slammed down onto mine.

He was like a wild beast.

His beard was rasping against the sensitive skin of my neck, and his eyes were boring straight into mine.

At the same time, his hands were slipping under my shirt, and then shoving it up and over my head moments later. The next thing that went was my bra, which he deftly unclipped and let fall to the floor the moment I got my arms out of it.

He stopped at my mouth, only to drop that talented tongue to the tip of my nipple, lathing and sucking it as he practically worshipped me.

“Trav,” I moaned, fisting my hands in his hair.

He growled something unintelligible, and then switched to the other nipple.

My hands trailed down his back, relishing in the play of muscles that rippled over his strong shoulders as he hoisted me up higher on his hips.

And his reason why was answered moments later when I heard the distinct clink-clink of his belt buckle being undone.

I bit my lip and studied him, running my hands down his side.

“I’m a fucking wreck,” he told me. “I have a brother that is one crayon short of fucked up. My ex-wife is a bitch who’s turning my kid into someone that nobody likes, and I’m a workaholic.”

I blinked and stared.

“So?”

He didn’t crack a smile. “Well, I’m so fucking lost that I don’t know where to start to find my way again. If there was any sense of honor inside me at all, I’d tell you this was a bad fucking idea.”

I stared at him for a few long moments. “I have an ex-husband that calls every three weeks to make sure that I got my payment. My daughter waits for him at our door every Wednesday and Friday night hoping that this will be the week that he comes. That dog you buried? He gave it to me because he didn’t want it anymore. His new woman is allergic to dogs. Oh, and let’s not forget that I’ve not had sex in well over five years, three of those I was married. I have a job that I’m not too sure I want to keep, and an overprotective brother who comes down once a week. I’ll raise you ten.”

He grunted in reply.

Then, without another word, he hooked two arms around my ass and carried me to his bedroom.

“Well, as long as we’re agreeing that this is a bad idea,” he dropped me. “Let’s get started.”

***

Present day

“What’s with the dog?” I asked cautiously.

“It’s a bribe,” he told me. “My daughter said she’d only love me again if I bought her a puppy.”

My mouth fell open in shock.

“She did not.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“She did.”

My stomach tightened. “You know, right, that she was just saying that. She knows how allergic you are to them.”

I remembered him picking Mogley up, and immediately breaking out in hives wherever Mogley’s fur touched him.

It’d been horrible.

By the time Travis was done, he’d broken out in hives from wrist all the way up to his neck.

He’d told me that it was only a temporary thing, but I saw the discomfort in his eyes as he’d left that night.

And when I’d visited him a few hours later, he’d still had those hives.

He hadn’t acted like it bothered him at all, but still.

“She knows that I’m allergic.”

My mouth pinched shut. “She wouldn’t have made that request of you. It has to be Allegra trying to be funny.”

Travis shrugged. “You like dogs. Reggie is always asking for more. As long as you take care of him, and do all the loving that he’s going to need, then I don’t think it’ll matter, will it?”

Technically, that was true. Travis could be around the dog, as long as he didn’t touch the dog. The dog would have to stay off the furniture, or at least the furniture that Travis sat on. I’d have to make sure that I washed his clothes and put them away the instant that they were hung up instead of leaving them on the couch for a few days. Because it was inevitable that dog hair would get everywhere if I did.

I licked my lips, knowing that he wouldn’t budge on this.

So, instead, I walked over to where Reggie was cuddling the dog and scratched the cute little puppy’s fluffy head.

“Yeah, Trav. I’ll help.”

My brother glared at Travis, making me breathe out in frustration.

Michael and Travis likely would never get along. Even when Travis did something nice like buy my daughter a puppy that he knew would cause him discomfort.