chapter four

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My mouth and throat were dry when I woke up the next morning. I fell asleep on my stomach with my street clothes on. Fenrir was curled up in the curve of my torso with his head resting on my back. His furry face was still asleep so I went back to laying on my stomach even though it was starting to hurt.

When his eyes are open one is brown and the other is blue. His pointed ears are never down even when he sleeps. His gray coat continues on his face to his nose.

I let out a sigh and he opened his eyes. I closed mine quickly so that he wouldn't move. My plan did not work. Fenrir stretched his strong body till we were nearly nose to nose. I peeked my eyes open and petted his huge, soft head. I smiled because he actually fell back asleep as  I petted him. 

"POPPY!" Josie yelled and ruined the moment. Fenrir jerked his head towards the door and took off running before he even hit the floor of the apartment. "Hey, boy," I heard her say in the voice she used for babies as her and Fenrir's footsteps got closer. 

"What do you want?" I groaned and propped myself up on my elbows as I looked back at her. 

"I want to sleep. It's your turn to go watch and play mommy to the kid. He didn't even talk to me when he woke up." she complained as she and Fenrir climbed up onto my bed. 

"If you can't get the kid to like you then I have no chance with him," I told her as I sunk back into the comfort of my mattress. 

"You saved him. Of course, he'll like you. He was grumpy and antisocial with everyone except for the dog that went to the hospital for the kids." she said and scratched Fenrir's belly.

I thought about that for a moment. I might actually like this kid if I get to know him. "Do you really think that I'm an antisocial dog lover?" I asked and knew the answer as soon as I said it. 

Josie stifled a laugh and stretched out on the bed. "Just go see him. Worst case scenario you don't get along and it makes it a little harder to adopt him." 

I sighed and slipped off the bed. "Fine," I groaned and dragged my feet to the bathroom. 

I hesitantly got undressed while standing in front of the mirror. I wasn't hurting from the fight last night. No, I was hurting from the fight two weeks ago. A former friend of mine decided to sign me up for a street fight. I was doing fine at first until I got too comfortable with how I was doing and let my guard down. I was knocked out with one punch and kicked in the stomach when I was down. A huge black and blue bruise covered my rib cage all around. At least the one on my face had healed fast.  

I turned on the shower at the coldest it could go and stepped in it. The water felt good against the hot bruise. I slowly heated the shower so that I didn't freeze to death. After washing my hair I stepped out of the shower. The cold air hit my warmed skin and the two extremes made me shiver. 

"If you get done in ten minutes I'll drive you to the hospital," Josie called through the door. 

I quickly dabbed down the wet spots on my body and wrapped the towel around my body and tucked in the loose ends.

 "I find your lack of faith disturbing. I only needed five minutes to be decent." I said as I stepped out of the steamy bathroom in casual clothes. 

"For your long lost brother?" Josie mocked.

I glared right through her. "The boy is not my brother!"

"Sure," she said and walked towards me. "Try and get his name out of him. If you can get that much from him then you are definitely siblings."

"Josie!" I yelled. She was always causing trouble for me and putting thoughts into my head that weren't good ideas. She was like a mini-comic devil that sits on the human's shoulder. "My little brother is at home with my parents. He's probably reading a dirty comic while laying under his bed."

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