Seduced by the Screenwriter

Chapter 14, Nothing Makes Us So Lonely as our Secrets, Part 14

Chapter 14

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets—Paul Tournier

A primal scream shocked Chett out of a dream in which Big Joe had backed Prudence against a tree outside in deep snow, lifted her heavy woolen skirts, and was shoving his dick into warm, wet heaven.

He opened his eyes to find himself blind in the pitch-dark bedroom. The scream faded under the weight of heavy, wall-shaking barking that flattened him to the mattress. His heart slammed into his ribs like a battering ram.

Oh, wait. That was 100 pounds of dog slamming against the flimsy bedroom door. Chett scooted backwards until his head hit the headboard. The only other exit, a window, was located beside the doorway to hell. He was trapped!

"No, not the girls!"

Catrina's anguished cry soared above Titan's frenzied barking, a feat of lung power he attributed to her years of yelling orders at criminals.

"What girls? Where?" Confusion pierced Chett's great fear of becoming the beast's midnight snack.

For an answer, a fist whizzed by his knee and landed a solid punch on the mattress.

In that moment Chett realized Catrina was immersed in a nightmare, lost to the real world, to any conscious awareness of her actions, to him. He turned on the bedside lamp and gasped to the beat of pounding thumps against the door. A panic attack would not serve either of them.

Chett reined in his natural desire to hide in the closet or under the bed, safe from the threat of being eaten alive by a berserk dog. There was method to the dog's madness. Titan wasn't targeting him. He wanted to reach Catrina.

The certainty of that fact did not slow Chett's racing pulse. He vigorously shook Catrina's shoulder. "Wake up, sweetheart. You're here with me. Safe."

All he got for his humanitarian effort was a powerful two-handed shove that sent him flying off the bed to the floor on his hands and knees. Holy Cat, she's strong. Luckily only his ego was bruised. Apparently the normal route wasn't the way to bring her out of the hell she was reliving.

Meanwhile Catrina writhed on the bed. The hands cradling her face were slick with tears. He recalled that, after falling asleep in his arms at Jenna's place, Cat had woken up agitated and insisted on going home to her dog. He didn't understand then, but his poor excuse for a brain finally got the message. Catrina needed her dog more than she needed him.

Titan again slammed his full body weight against the door. Wood splintered. The next charge, and he'd be through. Chett sprang upright and plastered his back to the farthest wall. Terror slipped the bounds of willful control. Survival. That's all that mattered. His muscles geared for flight.

Options. What are my options?

He forced his brain to think, damn it! Cold logic chiseled through overwhelming fear. The canine jaws of steel that clamped on escaping criminals could also nudge a little girl to safety. He'd witnessed it with his own eyes. Catrina was not in danger from Titan. Her demons resided in haunting memories.

Chett gulped and made the only decision any terrified human would do. He unlocked the door and hid behind it. Titan shot through the opening faster than a speeding bullet and skidded to a halt on Cat's side of the bed.

Titan's deafening barks ricocheted off walls, the ceiling, the hardwood floor. Chett clamped his palms to his ears and kept an eye on the dog. Its massive snout nudged Catrina's shoulder. Calming in the presence of his mistress, Titan's barks slowed, lowered in volume, became insistent as if following a well-practiced script.