Penny spun to face her, her left eye twitching. “How did you know about Wally?”
Addison just shrugged. But the mere mention of her robust boyfriend seemed to shake Penny. She swallowed hard, the gun dropping to her side.
“Wally and I share a passion. We are connected through our love of dogs, of perfection.” The bat-crap crazy left her eyes, and her expression softened like a schoolgirl in love. “We’re kindred spirits.”
“Does he know what you’ve done?”
“Of course not.” She grimaced at the very idea of it. “He’s too honorable. He wouldn’t understand. And he can’t ever find out.” She gripped her head, the gun still in her hand. Addison silently hoped the gun would go off and blow off her head.
“He’d be furious!” Penny cried. “But it’s not like I’m hurting the dogs. They’re well cared for.” Her eyes filled with pleading, as though she were preparing an explanation for him. Or maybe just convincing herself. “They’re okay. See?”
But the dogs didn’t look okay. They looked skittish, starved for the freedom and attention that they were so used to getting. The normally mild-mannered, calm animals paced anxiously in the overcrowded space, growling at Penny, at other dogs, at nothing in particular.
Addison was surprised no fights had broken out among them yet. But then again, even when they were abducted, they had never barked or put up a fight. There were never any signs of a struggle. They always disappeared so quickly and quietly, and now it made sense. As nuts as she was, Penny was one of the best dog handlers there was. She could get a dog to do anything.
Penny shook her head like a dog after a bath. When she looked back at Addison and Felix, her face was stony again. As unreadable as a Keanu Reeves character.
“No,” she said firmly. “Wally can’t find out. Ever. I can’t risk you telling anyone.”
Penny raised the gun and pointed it at Addison and Felix. She’d had the gun pointed at them off and on for nearly fifteen minutes—although it felt like an eternity to Addison. Before she’d held it nonchalantly, like a martini glass, like she pointed one at people every day. But now, her muscles tightened with intent, her eyes narrowed with focus, like she meant it.
Addison set Princess down on the ground and pushed her away to safety. Princess just came right back, leaning against her leg as if to say they were in it together.
Penny glanced between Felix and Addison as though trying to decide which one to do in first. Addison could feel Felix’s muscles tense beside her. Her senses hummed with awareness of his body, his presence, his held breath.
She wanted to move closer, to wrap her arms around him or simply reach out and grab his hand. To feel connected to someone, to him, to feel his solidarity and dependableness, to absorb his comfort like a sedative into her veins. To get through whatever was about to happen together. But she was frozen to her spot.
In the electric silence that followed, the faint wail of sirens snuck into the wine cellar. Penny must have heard it too because her head whipped to the narrow window near the ceiling.
The pane glowed red and blue. The police had made it. Thank you, Zoe, Addison thought.
But was it in time? Would Penny still shoot before they got there? Time seemed to drag like someone hit the slo-mo button.
The wine bottles behind Addison clinked softly. Already on edge, she spun in time to see Felix bring his arm back. A flash of glass in his hand. A bottle.
While Penny was distracted, he whipped it across the room. It flew through the air, cork over bottom, straight for her. But at the last second, she turned back.
It glanced off her shoulder. She grunted and stumbled back. Bang, the gun went off.
Felix dove for Addison. He knocked her over and she fell to the floor. She heard him grunt behind her as they landed. Pain exploded in her shoulder and hip as she hit the floor hard.
The dogs were going nuts. But their barking should have been louder, Addison thought. They were muted compared to the high-pitched ringing in her ears.
Addison blinked, feeling a little dazed. Maybe she’d hit her head too.
There was one bark that stood out from the rest, like a voice she’d recognize in a crowd. Princess’s deep bark was close by, insistent like a command. Get up! Get up!
Addison struggled to stand, but Penny collected herself first. With a hoarse scream, the dog handler whipped the gun around, advancing on Addison and Felix for a close-range shot. Like a snapshot in time, Addison could see the vein in Penny’s forehead throb, the hairs up her nostrils as her hooked nose flared with fury.
The dogs barked around her ankles, their growls fierce. Maybe from the gunshot. Maybe from the excitement. It seemed something had snapped inside of them, like Penny’s magic over them had worn off.
Princess planted herself protectively in front of Addison, hackles raised beneath her morganite necklace. Lips curling back in a snarl, she tensed like a spring and bared her teeth.
Addison felt the same tension in her own body. The instinct to fight back at odds with the gun pointed at her; it wasn’t exactly a fair fight.
Penny’s finger wrapped around the trigger. Addison braced herself. Suddenly, Princess lunged at Penny.
As her sharp little teeth sank into the handler’s calf, Penny screamed. The gun went off. Addison recoiled, grunting as though expecting an explosion of pain in her chest. But the bullet had gone wide.
Penny tried to kick Princess off, but the doxie clung on. Her little furry body flung back and forth as the handler whipped around wildly in the cramped space, tripping over other dogs. Then Lilly dove for Penny’s leg and she dropped the gun in surprise. Together they tag-teamed the handler, over and over again, each bite drawing blood through her yellow pantsuit.
Soon the other dogs joined in. They converged on Penny like a pack of wild wolves, barking, biting, chewing, ripping until it looked like one writhing, snarling ball of fur. Those that couldn’t find a limb to gnaw on cheered from the sidelines, like Fight! Fight! Fight!
Kingy nipped at her ankles, proving he hadn’t been on her side at all. But once Oliver and Baxter leapt into the fray, Penny was quickly taken down with a guttural shriek.
Scrambling to her feet, Addison ran for the gun. She reached into the mass of fur. When her hand landed on the cold metal, she picked it up and then held it at the ready. But Penny didn’t look like she was going to get up any time soon.
Addison set the gun down; she wasn’t going to need it. Then again, she thought, the bad guy always came back for a second round, so she picked it back up.
Princess had ahold of Penny’s arm now, gnawing on it like it was a chew toy. Her blonde fur was pink with blood. Oliver drew away and found a new purchase on Penny. This time on her neck.
Addison wanted to look away, but found she couldn’t. She watched in horror. The sounds of chewing and licking seemed to fill her ears until she couldn’t hear anything else. Bile rose in her throat. Penny had had enough.
“Hey!” Addison yelled. She stomped her feet on the cement threateningly to scare the dogs off; she didn’t want to come between them in case they mistook Addison as the aggressor.
A few skittered away, but some of the others weren’t ready to give up on their revenge. Raising the gun toward the top corner of the room, she cringed as she pulled the trigger. She jumped as it went off, startling herself as well as the dogs. The gun recoiled, and her wrist shot back with a sharp twist. She hissed at the pain and cursed the movies, which made shooting a gun look so easy.
Most of the dogs seemed to come to their senses and backed off as though in a daze. Baxter, however, she had to pull off by force. She coaxed the beast with soothing words and gentle strokes down his hackled back while steadily tugging him away.
Eventually Penny stopped fighting back altogether. The danger gone, the dogs finally backed off to lick their bloody chops as if nothing had happened.
Penny lay still and pale on the cold floor. The room was so dim, but Addison knew that the dark
liquid seeping through the fabric of her shredded pantsuit was blood. She finally managed to drag her shocked gaze away from the sight of Penny’s body, but from the corner of her eye, she could see her chest rise and fall. She was still alive.
Dropping the gun, Addison searched the room for Felix among the excited dogs. She found him slumped against a wine rack, where he’d pushed her out of the way when the gun had gone off. Beneath his suit coat, deep red stains seeped through his white dress shirt, spreading across his chest.
Felix had been shot.
30
Play Dead
Addison fell to her knees beside Felix. His bloody shirt clung to his skin. He looked a little dazed, blinking as though just coming around, or maybe she was already losing him.
“Oh God,” she said.
Shock kicking in, her limbs seemed to go numb as her body focused its energy on pumping blood to her vital organs, her heart, her brain. Her stupid, stupid brain. The brain that thought it knew better, that had clung to an idea of what “perfect” was supposed to be, to a crazy fantasy she’d invented.
Her brain had ignored her heart’s desires, and now it was her heart that was suffering for it. It ached. God, how it ached, like Baxter was making a snack out of it. Yet somehow it kept pumping, and aching, and pumping, and aching.
“Felix,” she sobbed. “Hold on. The police are almost here. We’ll get you an ambulance.”
There was so much blood everywhere, spreading over his shirt, pooling beneath him. She imagined if her nose wasn’t so full of the caustic scents from the wine and the dogs, she’d even be able to smell it. Where were the damned cops anyway?
Oliver wandered over, sniffing at his master. With a whine, he laid his head down on his lap.
Felix gave him a pat, but didn’t take his focus off Addison. The look on his face was dazed as his half-lidded eyes met hers.
He must be losing consciousness. She had to stop the bleeding somehow. She wished Piper was there. She would know what to do.
“You’re an angel,” Felix said.
Her eyes went wide. “Oh my God. You’re hallucinating.” It didn’t take a doctor to know that was a bad sign.
Gripping his shirt, she tore it open. Buttons flew everywhere. She lifted his undershirt and began to run her hands over his bare chest, searching for the source of the bleeding, but all she found was his six-pack and a firm set of pecks. She wished she had more than flickering light bulbs to see by.
She groped him frantically, dragging his jacket off to have a closer look. That’s when he winced, hissing in pain.
“Where does it hurt?”
He blinked lazily. “If you wanted to get me naked, all you had to do was ask.”
“What? This isn’t the time to joke.” Tears filled her eyes until she could barely see Felix, much less the entry wound. “You’ve been shot. You need to conserve your energy.”
“Addy. It’s okay. I’m okay.” He reached for her hands.
“Your hands feel so cold,” she said, finding it difficult to breath through the oncoming sobs.
The floor he was sitting on stung her own legs with chill. It would be warmer upstairs, she thought, but there was no way she was going to be able to drag him up there. “I need to keep you warm.” She tucked herself beside him to share body heat.
Princess and Oliver snuggled in close, making a human-dog pile, as if they understood what she was trying to do. Or maybe they just wanted to be petted after their traumatic evening. Colin and Sophie soon joined, also seeking potential petters.
There was so much to say to Felix, so much she wanted to tell him, about her feelings, to apologize for the things she’d said to him, but she worried there wasn’t enough time left.
“Addy,” Felix said. “It’s just a flesh wound.”
Her chest shuddered as she bit back another sob. “You don’t have to be brave with me.”
“No. I’m serious.” He took her tear-stained face in his big hands. “The bullet just grazed my arm.”
“What?”
Reaching for his shirtsleeve, he showed her a tear in the material. She could see the bright red blood seeping through the fabric around the hole. She touched the stains covering the rest of his shirt, much darker in color.
“But all the blood,” she said.
“It’s not blood. It’s wine. The first bullet grazed my arm as I pushed you out of the way. When I fell, I hit my head pretty hard.” He rubbed the back of his head and checked his hand as though expecting to see blood. “I think I blacked out for a few seconds, or minutes maybe. The second bullet hit the wine rack above me.” He pointed above their heads.
Frowning, Addison looked up. Wine dripped down from a broken bottle above his head. She hadn’t smelled it over all the other scents saturating the small space. When she looked back at him, he had a stupid smirk on his face.
“Worried much?” he asked.
“Worried” didn’t begin to cover it. Sure he’d moved on to Charlotte. He couldn’t be Addison’s, but she still couldn’t imagine a world without him. His gut laugh, and his messy hair, and his stupid band T-shirts. Or a world in which his daughter had to grow up without a father.
After what had just gone down, she wanted to tell him that, to tell him how she really felt. She had fallen for him. Not because she was desperate for any man at all, like Felix thought. She was just desperate for Felix.
But Felix was going to be okay. He wasn’t dying on her. In fact, he found her confusion funny. His chest shook with chuckles. He was laughing at her!
Speechless, Addison wound up and punched him in his uninjured arm. “Jerk much?”
He winced but gave a weak snicker. Blinking, he seemed to take in his surroundings for the first time since blacking out. His eyes flitted from the bloody dogs mingling, the gun on the floor, Penny’s body.
“Naia,” he said. “I need to find her.”
“The police must be coming through the gates by now,” Addison said.
“I’m not waiting for them.” He held out a hand for her to help him to his feet, his face screwing up from the effort. Flesh wound or not, Addison imagined a bullet hurt regardless.
“This place is huge,” Addison said. “Where do we start? Naia could be anywhere on the grounds.” She glanced over at Penny’s motionless body. “And I don’t think asking Penny is an option right now.”
“We’ll split up.” He headed for the staircase, stumbling slightly as he grabbed his head.
As though sensing an impending prison break, the dogs rushed to follow him. Addison was nearly knocked over as the pack of purebreds brushed up against her legs in their eagerness to be free. Something small and brown skittered over her foot. She shrieked and backpedalled until she realized it wasn’t a rat, but a tiny hairless dog. A Chinese crested.
Once the herd had cleared, Princess was still there by her side. Addison scooped her up and cradled her in her arms. The doxie was shaking, or maybe that was Addison herself. Either way, she held her close, letting Princess kiss her despite the gruesome red stains around her snout. Princess had saved their lives. She was so getting treats when they got home.
“My hero,” she told Princess.
In the wake of the fur tsunami, Addison climbed the stairs after Felix. The moment she walked through the hidden door and into Alistair’s office, she breathed a sigh of relief—and clean air—as glad as the dogs were to be free of the tiny, smelly dungeon.
“Let’s go find Naia,” she told Princess. Her legs froze and she blinked, a plan coming to her. “Felix!”
A second later, Felix burst through the door, glancing around the room, like he’d hoped to find his daughter. “What is it?”
“I have an idea. Do you still have Naia’s bunny on you?”
“Yeah.” He frowned in confusion as he dug into his jacket pocket.
Addison took the bunny and held it in front of Princess’s nose. “What’s this? Whose is this?” she asked in her excited “You wanna play?” voice. “Is th
is Naia’s?”
Princess sniffed it, snorting as the fuzzy tail tickled her nose.
“Where’s Naia, Princess? Where is she?”
Princess’s ears perked up and her tail began to whip back and forth. She could tell by Addison’s voice that this was a game. And oh, she remembered this game from the park. She liked this game.
Addison set Princess down on the hardwood floor. “Where’s Naia? Go find Naia.”
Princess took off, barrel chest quivering as she sniffed rapidly, following the stuffed bunny’s scent out of the office, down the hall where she circled the Persian rug a couple of times, and then off into the dining room.
Addison and Felix followed Princess through the stainless steel and marble kitchen. The dachshund glanced back at Addison, needing encouragement that the game was still on.
“Come on,” she said. “Where’s Naia? Go find her.”
Addison tried to infuse her voice with cheer, but it still shook with anxiety and adrenaline. She hoped her plan worked, that doxies’ noses were as strong as they were famed to be. That it wasn’t as stuffed up as hers was from the pungent smells in the cellar.
Princess limped up the stairs with her one short leg, her nose never relenting, as though she chased an invisible trail through the mansion. She followed it up to the second floor, then up to the third, down a long hallway, right to the base of a door. Princess scratched and whined at it, determined to win the game.
Felix grabbed the door handle and pushed, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked. Stand back.”
Addison snatched Princess away and backed up. She watched as Felix took a few steps back. Using his good arm, he rushed forward and threw his weight against it. Crack!
Felix grunted and held his breath as he grimaced. He took a few moments to work through the pain. But it wasn’t for nothing because Addison noticed a fracture had splintered up the side of the doorframe. He tried once more. This time, he sent it flying open.
Beauty and the Wiener Page 31
