Pulling it open, I moved through the entrance and sighed when the air conditioning hit me. It was hot as balls out—welcome to Texas, have sweaty balls for life.
“Phil has him for the day to do some training with him, and then Alex is collecting him to spend some time with his mom.”
Just as she was about to try a new tactic, something came running down the hallway toward us with its teeth bared. It looked like a rat on steroids.
Jumping in front of Tamsin, I put my arms out so it wouldn’t see her behind me. “Fucking shit! Dad, call an exterminator. What the hell is it?”
I expected a screeching noise to come out of it, but instead, it started doing this high pitched barking that freaked me out even more.
“Is that…” Tamsin whispered from somewhere under my armpit, “a dog?”
Lowering my arm to protect her face, I hissed out of the corner of my mouth, “Don’t make eye contact with it.”
There was a clicking noise behind us as the door shut, and my heart sank into my balls—our way of escape was closed. Then again, if the rat jumped at us, I could block it from landing on Tamsin with my back while opening the front door at the same time. It would take some maneuvering, but we could probably get her out before it could do much damage.
While I was thinking all of this, though, I’d been backing us up into the corner without realizing it until I couldn’t press any further back into Tamsin without smothering her.
“Hello, darling,” Mom called as she came down the hallway toward us. “I see you’ve met our new gorgeous man, Fonzie.”
“Gorgeous?”
The thing, sensing I was talking about it, growled at me.
Christ, its eyes looked like they’d had an argument and were trying to take off in opposite directions. And it’s teeth… they were like the front of a forklift.
Squatting down beside him, Mom reached out and started stroking its prickly hair. “There, there, sweetheart. Your brother doesn’t mean it.”
At the word ‘brother’, Tamsin started choking behind me.
“Ma, what the fuck is it?”
“A dog, Garrett. We adopted him the other day because he was just so handsome.”
This time both of us choked.
“Are you sure it’s a dog? Did you have a vet check him over?”
Sighing, she picked him up off the ground and made weird noises at it. “Of course we did. We made sure our baby was perfectly fine. Speaking of, where’s your new baby? The pictures and videos you keep sending us are just adorable.”
Yeah, I might’ve gotten carried away with Clyde when Tamsin wasn’t looking. Speaking of, when she heard this, she pinched me on the side hard.
“Uh, we dropped him off with the trainer, then he’s off to see his mom at Alex’s house, and Raoul’s bringing his dad over.”
Glaring at me, she cupped a hand over the thing's ear and held his head against her chest so that he couldn’t hear out of the other one. “Garrett Evans, once you adopt them, they’re yours. You don’t talk about their birth parents and siblings, it makes them feel like you’re establishing boundaries with your love.”
Looking from her to the thing, I nodded slowly. “Noted. I’ve got a question, though.” When she raised an eyebrow at me, I continued, “Is it snarling at me, or is that just its face?”
Peering around to see what he was doing, she replied, “That’s his loveable face. Don’t you just want to kiss him?”
Fuck no.
This time when Tamsin choked, it came with a full-body shudder that made me move slightly.
“Speaking of loveable faces, I thought you were bringing one with you today? Where’s Zuri? I mean, I can see her legs, but I was hoping the rest of us would be able to join us as well.”
As she said it, Mom took a step closer to us to try and peer around me, so I was pressed against Tamsin again as the beast got closer to me.
Because of that, her voice was muffled when she called out, “I’m back here!” and raised her hand in the air.
Mom looked from the hand to me and put her free hand on her hip. “I raised you better than to smother your guests.”
“Jesus, Mom. I was protecting her from that,” I pointed at the furry thing. “What the shit is it doing with its eyes?”
I swear, it was like it had the eyes of a chameleon.
“Leave him alone. He’s a handsome little baby, and you’re being a mean big brother.” Tamsin burst out laughing this time and gripped a handful of my t-shirt on either side of my body. “You’re also being a mean host. If you want this girl to like you, you need to let her breathe.”
Taking a reluctant step forward, I kept my focus on Fonzie as I moved to the side so that Mom could see her. I was also reminding myself that I had to introduce her as Zuri. As fantastic and trustworthy as my parents were, no one could know her real name unless they had to.