Chapter 11 11: Chrissy

Tucking a loose hair behind my ear, I sit at the fountain and enjoy my vanilla ice cream. I tilt my head back, enjoying the spring sun and the way my long hair tickles my neck and shoulders. It’s a beautiful day, I have a beautiful dog, and there just isn’t anything in the whole world that could ruin this for me.

Aren’t I hilarious?

I smell them before I hear them. The unmistakable scent of fake masculinity. Axe and Dollar Store hair spray.

I open one eye, spotting them sitting on the fountain near me. 

“Ignore them, Chrissy. They aren’t staring at you,” I whisper to myself. Trying to just enjoy my ice cream, I pretend to ignore them as their comments grow louder.

“Oh, it’s gonna drip on her fat tits. Do you think she’ll lick it off?”

“Bro, you gotta record it!”

“I am, I am!”

I despise the entire human race. Turning my back on them, I try to finish my ice cream quicker. I have no other plans besides waiting for Fluffy this morning, and I do not want to go somewhere else because two pigheaded dumbasses got bored.

One of their phones rings, and their attention is drawn away for a personal conversation that I, like an adult, do not eavesdrop on. I pull my own phone out of my pocket and start idly streaming TikToks. 

I get completely sucked into a poorly acted out werewolf romance for some random pay-by-story app. I’m so into it that by the time I eat the last bite of the ice cream cone, I’m almost shouting at the screen because how can they not know they are fated mates yet? It’s so unbelievable.

I don’t even notice that the Frat boy wanna be’s have started to approach me until their shadows block out the sun. I jerk in surprise and look up so fast I almost fall backwards into the fountain.

“I’ve got something you can lick, baby,” the first asshole says. The other asshole is recording. 

“Oh, snap!” the second asshole says.

“Fuck off,” I snap, jumping to my feet and shoving past them. 

They follow me, and my heart starts to beat out of my chest. I look around frantically, but the park seems to be abandoned. Not even the ice cream man is there. He must have run to use the bathroom…

My teeth nibble and worry at my bottom lip as the two embicilles follow me, cat-calling the whole way.

“Hey, stop! Come on! I’m doing you a favor, really!”

I stop in my tracks and spin around to face them. “Doing me a favor? How do you think following me and shouting at me like a piece of meat is doing me a favor?”

They move in, backing me to a tree. 

“Who else is going to fuck a cow like you?” the first asshole says. I flinch, disgusted and hurt.

The other guy turns my head to him with a jerk, putting his phone close to my face. “Get on your knees and show my buddy how thankful you are!”

“I’d rather bite it off than ever suck your diseased—”

“Shut the fuck up, you little bitch!” The first guy snarls, waving his finger in my face. 

I flinch hard, shrinking back. What have I gotten myself into?

“You will regret this,” I mumble between clenched teeth as guy number two grabs my face. He pulls me closer, his breath foul on my face.

“Not before I get to enjoy it,” he sneers. 

Guy number one grabs me, pulling me towards the shadows of some tall bushes.

“HELP!” I scream, fighting them. “Someone help me!”

Guy number two screams, then goes quiet.

Guy number one stops in his tracks, shoulders up to his ears, and turns slowly.

“Get your fucking hands off her!” Someone yells. I’m still struggling, no time to look, but that voice hits my ears and shoots straight to my spine, igniting every synapse I have.

“Where’s Thomas?” Guy number one asks.

“Taking a nap,” the other voice says. “Let her go before you join him.”

I freeze, turning to face number one. Did this other dude just kill number two? I blow loose hair out of my face and turn to face the other guy.

My heart stops, my breathing falters. 

In front of me is an incredibly ripped man in scrubs so tight I can see every fucking thing in stark detail. All moisture leaves my mouth as I look up… up…

“Are you wearing a fucking collar?” I ask, laughing so suddenly that it scares me, and number one for a minute. I must be hysterical with panic. 

The new guy turns pale grey eyes on me. For a moment, I feel a pang of recognition, but then he smiles and tosses wet black hair over his brow and grabs his leash. He spins the end of it, a cocky half smile on his face.

“Why? Do you like it? This chain is heavier than it looks.”

My jaw drops the same moment that the new guy swings the end of the leash and lassos it around number one’s neck. Instantly, the fucker drops my arm, and I scramble away. I run behind my savior, plastering myself to his back and looking under his arm at my attacker. 

I am totally not doing this so I could get an up close look at his rippling muscles, but when the scent of him hits me, all masculine and thick with a cologne I can't place, all logic leaves my mind, and I start to pet his back. 

“You’re like the statue of a Greek god,” I whisper reverently.

“Are you going to fuck off and leave her alone?” My savior asks. 

I’d almost forgotten about the attack. My mind is like a darkening cloud of confusion and desire. Something about this guy, this man, I can’t place. I take a deep breath through my nose, feeling the warmth of his skin thickening the air around us.

“Yes!” Number one croaks. 

My savior's muscles ripple as he lets the guy go. “Your friend is in the fountain, hurry up before he drowns.”

I hear the asshole running away, but all thoughts rush out of my mind a millisecond after that. My savior turns, his strong arms looping around me automatically. He pulls me to his naked chest, my mouth inches from his bronze skin and dark chocolate nipple. 

I lick my lips, my legs pressing together tightly. 

“Are you alright?”

I look up, dazed, struck by the feeling that I know him from somewhere. Which is impossible, because I never would have forgotten a man as rugged and delicious as this.

His hands rub my back, his fingers digging into my curves as he leans down. Is he going to kiss me? Please, God, make him kiss me…

His shaggy hair falls in front of his eyes, and my heart skips a beat when he licks his lips.

“Luther! Here boy! Time to come home!”

A woman yells from across the street. 

Luther, who this must be, thins his lips over perfect white teeth and growls as he squeezes his eyes shut. 

I glance over at the groomers and, to my stark disbelief, a perfect blonde bombshell is standing there waving at us. She is everything I am not, a full-on goddess supermodel, and she’s summoning my savior like a dog.

“Better get back to you…ehem…owner?” I ask, wrapping my hands around his leash. It must be some kind of fetish play. Lucky fucking bitch…