My dark secret

Chapter 4

Well, this is an interesting chapter (in my humble opinion). Here we get to see a bit of Bach's origin story. Also, we get to see a bit of a darker side to our lovely Catherine.

BTW, banphrionsa means 'princess' in Irish and MC stands for Motorcycle Club in case you didn't know (though I'm sure you all did, coz you're smart cookies!).

Let me know what you think in the comments! Is Tom being a dick or is Catherine a bit sensitive to his "charms"?

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Tom

Kyle walks into the vet and immediately pulls her into a hug. "Shh, banphrionsa," he says gently stroking her hair. "He'll be fine."

Normally, I would leave as soon as Kyle turns up to take over but right now, seeing her so panic stricken, I'm in no rush to leave. Besides, I want to make sure Bach's all right. She may have spoilt him to the point that he's a slobbering, giant softy but he's a good boy.

I watch Kyle with Catherine and wonder what's going on between them. I don't think he's fucking her; he's old enough to be her dad. I don't know what it is but it's definitely weird.

"Catherine Hennessy?" a young woman in scrubs asks

Her head snaps up. "Yes?" She walks over to the woman.

"Bach is fine. He's resting now. If you want you can come and check on him." The woman glances at Kyle and me. "Owners only, I'm afraid."

"Not gonna to happen," I say stepping forward. "I'm her bodyguard."

Catherine closes her eyes and shakes her head as if trying to get rid of bad thoughts.

The vet looks at us. "Fine, but just you two."

She shows us to where Bach is. He's drugged with a bandage wrapped around his leg.

Catherine's bottom lip begins to tremble. "Can we take him home?" she asks, tears welling.

The vet looks doubtful. "You can but I don't know how. I've never worked with such a big dog before."

Catherine laughs weakly.

"I'll carry him to the car," I volunteer.

The vet nods. "There's a door at the back so you don't have to go through the waiting room."

I turn to Catherine. "Get Kyle, take the car around back and I'll meet you there."

She nods and hurries away.

Now to lift 180 lb dog high on anesthesia. This will be fun.

Catherine

Bach lopes along easily next to me, his tongue slapping him in the face. His resting period doesn't seem to have affected him in the slightest.

Behind us I can hear Tom's Harley purring and I can almost feel the impatience roll off him in waves. I'm tempted to jog even slower. Stopping would it be easy for him and going faster is what he wants. Slowing down would annoy him the most and after the last few weeks of having to put up with his sullen glares, I feel like pissing him off.

I slow to walk and scratch behind Bach's ears.

"He's a grouchy fuck, isn't he?" I say to Bach.

I slowly make my way home, alternating between walking and jogging. Completely exhausted after having gone too far, I manage to drag myself to my sofa just in time before my legs give out. Bach goes straight to his water bucket and begins to loudly lap up the cool liquid.

"Where did you find Bach?" Tom asks sitting on a chair and spreading out his legs.

I raise my head to get a better look at him. "It's probably best I don't tell you that story."

"Why not?"

"Because what I did was arguably illegal."

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You?" he asks incredulously. "You've done something illegal?"

I nod and flop back, smiling to myself.

"Bullshit. You're the goodest two shoes I've ever met."

I laugh

"So are you going to tell me or not?"

I struggle into a sitting position. It's not easy. Everything hurts and my legs are no longer cooperating.

He can see my reluctance. "Come on, it can't be worse than anything I've done."

"Have you killed someone?" I ask.

"Now, now, we're here to talk about the illegal shit you've done, not me."

After I take a moment to contemplate him, I make up my mind. I don't think anything I could tell him would shock him; and I wouldn't be surprised if he had killed someone.

"I was out running one day when I was on tour doing book signings. Along the road there was a forest and I could hear an animal crying so I went to investigate. There was a man who was beating Bach to a pulp so I came up from behind and hit him over the head. Bach was so thin he couldn't even stand, his fur growing clumps and he was covered in blood so I took him to the nearest vet. When I found him I thought he was a fully grown dog. Turns out he was a 9-month-old wolf dog puppy."

Tom looks at me with a bemused look on his face. "And what happened to the guy?"

I make a face. "Don't know, don't care. He deserved everything he got to come into him."

In that moment, Bach wonders over and climbs up onto the sofa to squish himself up against me. I trail my fingers through his fur absent-mindedly as I look at Tom.

"Have you always wanted to be part of the MC?"

His expression turns steely. "Yes."

"Have you ever thought about doing something else?"

"No."

"Have you ever had to do something you didn't want to do because the president said you had to?"

"Of course."

"Like what?"

"Like babysit you."

I scowl. "There's no need to be a dick."