More of You

Chapter 6

Luke lowered the tailgate of the truck and stood back while Harper climbed into the bed.

"It's only a short drive," he promised as he closed the gate on a very pathetic looking Harper. He wanted to grab her and hold her as she cried, and it was killing him not to be able to do it. He watched as she curled up into a ball on the filthy floor of the truck bed, and he wasted no time as he jumped into the cab and fired up the truck.

Fifteen minutes later they were pulling into his driveway, and he could hear Lucky barking from the enclosed porch above as he opened the garage door.

"Is that Lucky?" she asked with a sniff as she jumped over the side of the truck. She had stopped crying but her nose was still red.

"Yes," he said abruptly. He and Lucky had a live and let live policy. They didn't much care for each other, the only reason he had taken the dog in was because Harper had found her and had looked so heartbroken at the idea of turning her over to animal control. Lucky had lived with him for six months, and when he had taken her in to be spayed he found out she was pregnant, so now, not only did he have Lucky, he had six very questionable looking puppies. "Shut-up Lucky!" he yelled as he led the way to the shower which was under the stairs in the garage that led up to the porch.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Harper said behind him with another sniff.

"Why not, do you hear the way she's talking to me right now?" Lucky let loose with another round of barking. "I'm sure if it was in English my ears would be burning." He looked back over his shoulder to see that Harper, in her rush to get the smell off of her, had already discarded her top shirt and was working on her jeans.

He quickly looked away as he turned on the shower. "I'll run upstairs and get a few things that will help with the smell. Leave your clothes on the ground, and I'll throw them away for you." He moved towards the stairs not daring to turn around again. Knowing that nothing was going to stop her from stripping down.

He picked up his phone and dialed his mother's number. He knew that she would know how to get the skunk smell off of Harper.

"Mom, what gets rid of the smell of skunk?" he asked, not bothering with hello.

"Well, hello to you too my son, I've been fine, thank you for asking," she said dryly. Natalie Grayson was a powerhouse who was never afraid to call things like she saw them. She also adored Harper more than she adored her own son.

"It's for Harper, she got sprayed," he responded.

"Oh, poor girl, where is she?"

"In the shower in the garage, I know regular soap won't take care of it."

His mother quickly went over the ingredients with him and he pulled it out, mixing up a concoction as he talked with her on the phone, telling her the entire story of what had happened. When he was done he assured his mother that he would call her soon and hung up, but before he left the kitchen he grabbed a plastic trash bag then swung by the bathroom and grabbed a towel.

As he opened the door to go back onto the porch Lucky pushed past him and raced down the stairs almost knocking him down in her haste to get to Harper. He let loose with a few chosen oaths as he grabbed the handrail to steady himself.

"Here," he said, handing her the mix of soap and peroxide over the shower stall door, "Mom swears this will work and here's a towel." The stench was overwhelming as he walked over to her discarded clothes. He remembered he had trash grabber on the utility closet and grabbed it before heading back to pick up the disgusting pile.

He looked down at the crumpled heap of clothing and noted some lacy black underwear on top. He picked it up with the grabber and held it towards her, doing his best not to imagine her in them. "Is this your normal get up, or were you warming up for your date with Ronnie?" he asked as he turned to look at her. She was glaring at him, looking adorable as she squirted the soap on her head.