Malice

-8

-Nathan- 

The incessant thudding Rocky's tail was doing against my brand new hardwood floor was enough to drive me fucking crazy. It was drowning out the action movie I had rented from the video store an hour ago after stopping for dinner. I scowled down at the black Pit Bull with his begging, dark eyes as drool dripped from him mouth and onto the floor. He had his sights on the opened box of Supreme pizza that was sitting on the coffee table with a few pieces gone and a couple empty long neck bottle beside it. 

For the most part, he was a good dog; didn't do his business in the house, barked when I had a visitor-which was seldom-and I could take him for a walk without a leash and he wouldn't run off. This fucking begging thing though...I shooed him off, or tried, and the stubborn son of a bitch didn't budge. "Fine...have at it." I told him and set the entire box on the floor. He went at the damn pizza like he hadn't eaten in days, even though his last meal was thirty minutes ago. 

Shaking my head, I polished off the last of my beer and got up. The house I had bought was a fixer-upper and in the three weeks since my purchase, I had managed to redo the floors and fix the plumbing. Next on my list was the kitchen and the bathroom. All I was waiting for were a few supplies to come in and I'd get to work. Sure, when I wasn't investigating a possible arson. In the kitchen, I went to the fridge and grabbed for another beer. I couldn't wait to get down and dirty in this kitchen. The gray laminate counter tops were chipped and scratched, the sink nearly ancient and there were a few holes that needed repairing. Fuckin' rat holes and I was still battling with those damn rodents. 

I stood in front of bar, gulping down the beer and watched the movie from the kitchen. Rocky had finished off the pizza in roughly a minute and was scraping at the bottom of the box as if he had missed something. He hadn't. "Let's go, Rocky. Outside,"  I called for him, tossed the empty bottle into the trash and met him at the back door off of the small dining room.  He took off out the door like a rocket as soon as I opened things up for him and went at the fence. There was a cat on the other side, sitting by the dumpster, just staring at my howling dog. Not even bothered. 

I locked the screen door and didn't bother with the other. Now I could finish my movie in peace. I was back on the couch, about to take my boots off when a knock came at the front door. "Damn it." I cursed under my breath and got up. There were only a few people that could be; a co-worker, my boss or the brunette I had brought home nearly two weeks ago. I prayed it wasn't the latter. It been a waste of my time. She talked to fucking much and had liked to hit. Not my forte. I'd faked the orgasm...and did you know how god damn hard it was to fake an orgasm as a male? She hadn't seemed to notice though and I'd gotten her out pretty quick after that. 

When I unlocked the door and opened things up, the last person on earth I expected to see was Reagan God Damn Lindell. When I'd finally managed to tuck her into the very back of my brain, she was here, standing on my front porch as beautiful as ever. I hadn't returned back to her little office after that stormy night at the motel. I couldn't trust myself around her. I was too dangerous for her where that prick of a husband she had was concerned. 

"Reagan-" Before I could ask if she was okay or just what the fuck she was doing here, she threw herself forward. Had I expected it, I wouldn't have fell back into the coat rack. Her mouth worked desperately on mine and it took me a minute to kiss her back. The woman-the married woman-had come here on a mission. "Slow down and talk to me." I managed against her lips when her fingers unbuttoned my jeans easily. 

"Shut up, Nathan." Reagan moaned against my lips as I was being backed up. Thank God I remembered the coffee table and moved us around it, just in time for her to push me on the couch. No, I didn't let women handle me like this but Reagan Lindell wasn't just any woman. She was the one I couldn't get out of my brain. The one who had met me at a hotel bar and then had come up to the room with me. The one who was begging for help...the one who needed an escape from the nightmare she lived in.