My brother just sat there for a long moment, his face scrunched up as he took in what I had just said. “Sin got bit by that mutt?”
I nodded.
“Where you with him?”
I nodded again.
“Where the hell was Gray?”
“He had detention. Sin was walking me home.” I scrubbed my tears away only for more to fall. My nose was all snotty now, which made me sniffle loudly. “He’s at the hospital.”
He scooted his chair back and came around the table to crouch beside me. “It’s okay, Kas. I’m sure Sin will be fine. Don’t cry.”
“But…the dog is going to die now.”
“You don’t know that,” he said, trying to console me. “Maybe they will just make him wear a muzzle or take aggression classes or something. It will be fine.”
I shook my head, the tears flowing faster. “No, Jace. He bit Sin hard. There was a lot of blood.”
His face paled. “And you’re sure you didn’t get hurt? The dog didn’t touch you?”
I shook my head. “Sin protected me. He was really brave.”
“I don’t want you to be upset, Kassa, but I think it might be best if the dog does get put down.”
Guilt made my stomach hurt. “But I don’t want it to die. It was because of me it was so mean. It wouldn’t have bit Sin if I wasn’t bad.”
“How were you bad? You never did a thing to that stupid dog. He was aggressive toward you because he’s a mean dog and his owners didn’t try to train him or even discipline him.” He wiped my tears away, a stern look on his face.
Even though he was only thirteen, he sometimes acted like a dad to me. He had always looked after me, kept me safe when we had been living with our parents and they would have parties with our house full of strangers. I didn’t remember most of our time with our real mom and dad, but what I did remember made me glad I’d had Jace there to protect me.
“It’s already been put down,” Gray said in a quiet voice as he walked into the kitchen. His face was tense, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“How do you know?” I whispered, my heart breaking even as relief made me breathe a little easier. I hadn’t wanted the dog to die, was so sorry it was dead, but at the same time, if it was dead, then I was safe. It couldn’
t try to hurt me again.
“I just talked to Alicia,” Gray informed us. His face was white, his eyes kind of glazed, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking right then, my tears making it hard to see clearly. “When they went into the owners’ house, the dog was hiding. But, when the owner and Alicia started arguing, he came out, and before the dog catcher could restrain him, it nearly took a chunk out of her. One of the deputies shot it on reflex.”
“Oh no,” I whispered and buried my face in my hands. Alicia had nearly gotten hurt.
Jace hugged me against his chest, patting me on the back. “How is Sin?”
“I talked to his mom at the hospital after I talked to Alicia. They did some tests. He has a fractured ulna and he had to have forty-six stitches.”
Even as hard as I was crying, I felt how tense my brother suddenly got. “The dog broke his arm?”
“Fractured it. Mrs. Sinclair said there is a difference, but yeah. It fractured it pretty good. He’s going to have to wear a cast and have physical therapy.” Gray let out a long, harsh breath. “And the bite might have bacteria in it, so that means expensive medicine to keep Sin from getting sick.”
“Damn,” Jace muttered. “What about the owners? Are they in trouble?”
“Alicia didn’t say. She just told me to watch Kassa since it might be late before she gets home. We get to order pizza for dinner though. What you want on it?”
I couldn’t listen to them anymore. I pushed back from the table and ran out of the kitchen then upstairs to my room. I couldn’t think about pizza or homework or anything else. I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t care if my teacher got mad at me or not. My adopted mom had almost gotten hurt, and Sin was more hurt than I had thought. The dog deserved to die, but I didn’t want him to. I didn’t want to feel relieved that his life was over. I wanted things to be different. I wanted it to be better.
I fell down on my bed and pulled one of my favorite fuzzy, purple pillows to my chest, holding it against me as I cried until my throat hurt.
Gray