Page 24 of Old-Fashioned

Weren’t dogs supposed to be big and beefy?

Not this.

You could make out every single bone in his body.

Seeing the dog, I knew, that even though I wished I was a decent human being, I never would have stopped for that dog.

The moment I saw the look on her face something came rushing back in my head.

If she ever had this same look on her face for me, I knew that I would be fucked.

Because I knew. I fucking knew that she would never give up on me.

She would break her back to make me see myself as a better man.

And I couldn’t do that to her.

Not when she had too much to live for.

Therefore, my mind made up, I pulled the dick out and instead of offering to take her and the dog to the vet, I called out, “Come on, let’s get him loaded in the truck, get your Jeep started, and you can take him to the vet.”

I could feel her eyes on my face, but I didn’t let anything else show.

Once we got the dog in the back seat of my truck, we headed to the diner.

You could have cut the tension in the cab with a butter knife.

But I wouldn’t be changing my mind.

We were sort of friends. And I was her boss.

That was all we could ever be.

The moment we reached the diner, I got out, took her keys, popped her hood and mine, then connected them. Within a few minutes, her car was running.

What made me feel like a complete asshole though… that was watching her lug that dog from my truck and to the back of her Jeep without a word or a glance at me.

As I watched her climb back in her car, I looked down at the scarred-up knuckles, the ones that had concaved a man’s head in, and… decided then and there, that I wasn’t good enough for the likes of Birdie Vergano.

And I never fucking would be.

Chapter 5

Birdie

With the poor baby in my back seat, I kept speaking softly to him as I raced to the vet and tried to ignore the cold vibe I got from Abel. That wasn’t important right now, no matter how badly I wished it was.

I quickly found a vet online before I pulled out of my parking spot in front of the diner.

I did that after I watched Abel stalk back to his truck, his jeans molding to his tight ass, perfectly.

But that vision was swept away from me when I watched as he got in his truck, placed a hand on the steering wheel, dropped his head, and sat there for a moment.

And then… without another look at me, I saw him shake his head, and then, and only then, did he back out, and then pull out of the lot.

I wanted to think about it all.

However, the whimpers that came from the poor baby in my backseat caused me not to.