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But, Dani is different. I have this insatiable need to touch her, to possess her. She is in my every thought and decision now, even if she shouldn’t be. It’s been barely three days since I first had her naked body wrapped around me, but she already has me thinking insane thoughts like selling the ranch and whisking her away to some remote island.
My sister would fucking kill me. Elly does the retail side, negotiating the deals with the processors, getting our beef into grocery stores. Her livelihood is just as wrapped up in the ranch as mine.
A wild part of me doesn’t care. I’m watching Dani help me, by my side working just as hard as me. It’s twisting my insides in a way I hate, because I want more.
I want Alex out of my house. It’s time.
When she entwines her fingers in mine as we walk back to the house, she may as well be threading them through me. Petite little tendrils weaving into my thoughts, wavy ribbons looping through my chest, high tensile cable constricting around my cock. It’s been throbbing the entire time we’ve been in the barn, reminding me that the tack room is so close. My saddle still has a damp mark down its side that I don’t want to buff out.
Being buried in her seems to have at least relieved some of the damned leaking. If that’s the trick to relieving the symptom, kill me with the cure.
We hear Angela’s car before Misty or Thor does. They’re stretched out sleeping against the steps leading to the kitchen. Both furry heads pop up at the sound of the speeding car. Thor jumps up and gives a loud bark, as if I didn’t already know of the incoming vehicle.
Mid-afternoon sun bounces off a fresh dent across the hood of her silver Mercedes as she skids to a stop. A cloud of dust and exhaust struggling to catch up before she flings her door open and launches herself toward us.
It’s hard to miss the addition of a large pistol strapped in a holster across her chest or her craning neck looking in every direction.
“Hi, Angela. Come on in.” I beckon from the door. Dani is tinkering with the coffee maker when Angela bursts in, coat and wild hair flying around, a walking miniature tornado.
“Have you been sick recently?” Angela asks directly, squinting one of her brown eyes as she looks back and forth between us.
“Last weekend.” I gesture between Dani and myself. “We both had it.”
“Good. Well, not good. I’m sorry you were sick, but good you don’t have fur. Or didn’t die.” She pulls one of the chairs from the table and sits down, her shoulders dropping noticeably. “People are dying in the streets. I saw three just dropping on the sidewalk on my drive out here.”
“Oh, my god!” Dani gasps, nearly dropping the coffee decanter as she pours. “Did you call 911?”
She shakes her head. “I tried with the first one. No answer. Here’s the kicker though. I stopped to help. Before I even got to them, the dogs came.” Angela goes pale. “Fuck, I wish I hadn’t stopped smoking. I could really use a cigarette right now.”
“Do you mean, like the dogs I saw on the news? The ones that look bigger than a Great Dane?” I’m seriously contemplating adding a heavy shot of whiskey into my coffee.
Angela nods, taking the offered hot mug from Dani. “It sounds like Alexander was one of the early ones. I talked to his doctor. He said they’re seeing almost a quarter of the people are dying from whatever virus this is. A big chunk get through it okay. But, a bunch change. IntoDOGS.” She emphasizes the last word, slamming her cup down on the table hard enough to send a wave of coffee spilling onto the wood surface.
Dani meets my eyes, her face pale. Her blue eyes are so round that I worry they’re going to pop out and roll across the floor.
“But, what about Alex? Do a lot of people get stuck in the middle like him?” I can’t get the image of his doggie dick out of my head.
Fuck it, I’m getting the whiskey.
“Doesn’t sound like it. Very small percentage according to the doctor.” She gulps down half of her scalding cup before holding it up to my offer of Jameson. “All the way to the top.” She urges me to continue pouring. “You’ll need it too, I promise.”
“Why?” I give myself just a shot, and pour some into Dani’s when she holds her cup out.
It’s going to be one of those days.
“And why did you ask if he’s been here? How is that possible?” Trying to picture Alex up and talking is so foreign to me. I might as well be picturing my lamp walking across the floor.
“Well, he woke up.” Angela takes a long drink from her mug, barely grimacing as she swallows the potent liquor.
“That’s incredible!” exclaims Dani as she sits in the chair opposite of Angela. “That’s the best news I’ve heard today!”
The look of pure disgust that flashes across Angela’s face is hard to miss. “No. No, it’s not.” She throws back the remaining liquid in her cup and holds it out for me to fill again.
Just when the amber whiskey is threatening the lip of the cup does Angela give me a curt nod, stemming the flow.
“He was a judge, wasn’t he?” I’m trying to remember other details about him, but Claire had rarely talked about him or her childhood. When I had asked, she wouldn’t answer, so eventually I had stopped asking.
“Yes, he was a judge. But, that doesn’t make him a good person.” She sits back in her chair, staring into her cup with a sour look. “He’s actually fucking evil incarnate.”