Page 19 of Beware of Dog (Lean Dogs Legacy #6)

Jamie’s rape made the news. There was no helping it, really, but the story went viral thanks to the Blackmons’ efforts with the press.

His parents went on all the local primetime news shows, pleading their son’s case, citing the Duke Lacrosse incident and every other false accusation they could find.

His mother, puffy-faced, over-Botoxed, sat with hands folded, perhaps grave, perhaps bored, her mood impossible to determine from her expression.

His father adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and stared directly into the camera.

“Our Sig is a victim in all of this. It’s terribly unfortunate, but girls have learned that they can get attention, praise, and sympathy if they accuse a boy of assaulting her. ”

Cass turned off the TV with a disgusted, “Ugh.”

Jamie packed a suitcase and went home to Brooklyn. Tears coursing down her face, she said, “My parents found out. They—they’re mad, but they know I’m not lying.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Cass said. Every day, she was more fearful that the stress would become too overwhelming, and Jamie would drop the charges.

Loath as she was to admit it, the quiet of their shared room was welcome once Jamie left. Cass tried to focus on her classwork and ignored the nasty glares of the other girls in the dorms. She heard whispers, but no one was brave enough to address her directly.

She learned why two days after Jamie left.

She was headed for Art History when someone called her name.

She turned to find Melissa standing against a lamppost, hands jammed in the pockets of her wool peacoat, badge flashing gold where it was clipped to her lapel, clear for all to see.

“Campus security asked if I was new here and needed help finding my classroom,” she explained with an eyeroll as Cass joined her. She flicked her badge. “They thought I got this at Party City until I flashed them my ID.”

Cass grinned. “Poor you. So youthful.”

“Uh-huh. Which way are you headed?” When Cass pointed, she fell into step beside her.

When she didn’t say anything at first, Cass said, “If you’re looking for Jamie, she’s taken a few days off to go home and be with her family.”

“I know. We already called her, and Rob’s gone to talk to her and her parents. He’s better at that sort of thing than me.”

“Ah. Which means this is about the club.”

A sideways glance proved Melissa’s face had scrunched up in apology. “Officially, the Blackmons aren’t going to press charges for either of Shep’s assaults on Sig.”

“ Either ? There was more than one?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

Cass took Melissa’s wrist and guided her off the path to stand in a bed of bark chips, a bare-branched tree throwing lace shadows over them. “ No . What did he do? When?”

“I don’t figure it’s gossip since Pongo said he heard it straight from Maverick.

But there was a problem with…” She lowered her voice.

“One of the dealers day before yesterday. Shep showed up as backup, and the buyer causing a big fuss was Sig and some of his friends. They wanted to negotiate price or something, and according to the dealer, Shep got in Sig’s face, said he thought he told him to stay away from you”—said with a meaningful lift of brows—“and then punched him in the face. Bloodied his nose.”

“Oh, shit . Why?” Cass groaned. “Shep, you bloody moron .”

Melissa’s expression said she agreed wholeheartedly.

“Like I said: they don’t know Shep’s name—well, they know Ned called him ‘Shep,’ but they don’t have his full name—and they aren’t pressing charges against him specifically, no doubt thanks to Maverick’s intervention.

Pongo says he’s talked to the parents directly. ”

“Christ.”

“But they know the club is mixed up in this. Sig mentioned you by name.”

Throughout this entire ordeal, Cass hadn’t been fearful for herself. A chill stole over her now. “He did?”

Melissa sighed and rubbed at her forehead, as though a headache was forming there. “It’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination. A guy in a Lean Dogs cut starts threatening Sig, warning him away from you. Those were easy dots to connect.”

Cass’s pulse started to pound; her heart felt heavy in her chest and it seemed to draw all the blood out of her head, leaving bright sparks behind. “Yeah, but…but what does this mean?”

“I spoke with Carson Blackmon myself and advised him that talking about you in the media would only muddy his son’s case and wouldn’t do anything to engender any public support. It would just make Sig look like a jerkoff who’s bullying girls.”

“Oh, so you’re helping them?”

“I’m helping you by allowing those assholes to think I’m helping them. I’m in a tough spot here, Cass,” she said, growing stern. “The Blackmons are accusing my department of working in conjunction with the Lean Dogs to frame their son.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Blackmon’s using words like ‘conspiracy.’ He said, and I quote, ‘It makes sense a bunch of blue-collar cops would be on the side of the hillbilly bikers when there’s a chance to frame a wealthy, privileged boy for an unthinkable crime.’”

“ Oh .”

“ Yeah .” She sighed again, and tucked her hair back when the wind swept it across her face.

“I’m not upset with you,” she said, softening.

“I know none of this was your idea. Shep was…well, Shep was being a good guard dog, but not with any kind of finesse.” Her gaze turned thoughtful as she studied Cass’s face.

“But he wasn’t doing it on anyone’s orders, and if he had been, he definitely wouldn’t have had clearance to go into the Blackmons’ home and lay hands on a little rich boy flying his colors. ”

Cass nodded. She knew that was true. But her pulse was still racing, and she didn’t know if she’d like the rest of what Melissa had to say.

“He did what he did on his own. It was an emotional response.” She tilted her head a fraction, hair blowing out to the side, blue gaze shrewd and too-knowing. “He really cares about you a lot.”

Inwardly, the statement filled Cass’s chest with warmth.

It sent pleasant shivers down her arms and back.

But it frightened her a little, too; cut too close to the bone of all that she’d been thinking and feeling lately.

“If you say so.” She missed the mark on flippant. Her voice trembled at the edges.

Melissa wasn’t deterred. She was locked on, grave-faced, in full-on detective mode. “I don’t know Shep well,” she started.

“No,” Cass said. “You don’t.”

Melissa blinked, but otherwise took that statement in stride.

“I have, though, learned a thing or two about the Lean Dogs in general in the last four years. Presidential orders are well and good, but if one of these guys thinks his woman is in danger, he’s going to do what he’s going to do, and he’ll deal with the fallout with Maverick afterward. ”

“I’m not his woman ,” Cass protested, but damn, it sounded good. Sent a thrill through her.

“Just be careful, is all I’m saying. And explain to Shep that he needs to steer clear of Sig at all costs.” She tucked her hair back again with an impatient gesture. “Getting Jamie all the way to trial’s going to be hard enough as it is.”

Guilt pricked at her. Here she was entertaining wild fantasies of being a Lean Dog’s “woman,” and her friend was teetering on the edge of a breakdown. “How’s the investigation going?”

“You know I can’t tell you about that.” Melissa took a step back. “Remember what I said, please.”

“Yeah.”

“And take care of yourself.” She gave Cass an awkward shoulder squeeze before she turned and started down the sidewalk toward the parking lot.

~*~

Cass spent the rest of her walk to Art History replaying Melissa’s words in her mind like a news chyron. If one of these guys thinks his woman is in danger…

She couldn’t stop playing with that phrase. His woman . Shep’s woman. Cassandra Green, Shepherd’s woman.

The idea was preposterous.

The idea was exciting .

She’d been crushing on Dogs since she was old enough to have crushes, but she’d never spent as much one-on-one time with one as she had with Shepherd. Didn’t have a rapport with a Dog like she did with Shepherd.

She asked herself, as she let herself into the building and was blasted in the face by heat from an overactive furnace, if she was infatuated with the idea of being with a Dog? Or with Shep specifically?

Raven would freak, which meant Toly would freak.

And oh God, Tenny would come all the way to New York to hunt Shep for sport.

It couldn’t happen; no one in her family would let her date a Dog, a fact that made her bow up with defiance and spite.

But she entertained the notion. Let the possibility unspool in her imagination.

He called her sweetheart sometimes. Not in a sultry way; he used the pet name in the same way he used kid , and brat , and little shit .

If they were together, would his voice change?

Would it dip into sweeter, deeper, hungrier territory?

When she sat next to him on the couch, and wormed her way under his arm, would he keep it still and respectable?

Or would he play with the neckline of her shirt?

Thumb her chin and turn her head so he could kiss her?

The bright curl of excitement the thoughts stirred low in her belly was accompanied by a dose of shame, and a dash of embarrassment, because she was completely inexperienced.

In her fantasies, she knew how to angle her head, and she knew what he liked, and they came together in this seamless dance.

But when she started really trying to choreograph things, she turned fumbly and uncertain, her mind throwing up blanks that filled her with dread.

Jesus. She was getting ahead of herself. Giddy, apprehensive…stupid. Yeah, stupid.