Chapter 6

He sat on the hard kitchen chair, barefoot, as the puppy lapped at the water as if it hadn’t drunk in a week. The bits of food scraps were gone, though there was still a sizeable puddle just inside the door.

His mind went over the spectacle he’d woken up to.

The woman, crouched there, feeding his dog through the old screen door.

What the hell had she been doing there? Ever since things had gone south with the family, well before he’d left years ago, no one had come. It had become a joke. This part of the woods was totally off limits, even with all the do-gooders and nosy parkers around Jack’s Bay.

He rubbed at his forehead, pushed at it. Ow. Something hurt, hurt like hell. Thank God it was quiet, out here. No one to bother him.

Except the animal.

His gaze fell to the dog, and his conscience smote him.

The thing had been without food and water…for how long? He vaguely remembered last night. He’d drank beer after beer, planned his Lisa’s stuff burning ceremony. He shivered at the memory—thank god he’d been too out of it to attempt anything. And he’d been aware of the dog watching him at the time, the hungry eyes following everything he put in his mouth. Only all he’d had been focused on was the booze, so the dog was SOL.

A tremendous tension filled him.

He’d practically damn well starved the dog.

He shuttered his eyes, pushed the damning thoughts away. He couldn’t deal with this. It was eating now. All was well. The dog was fine.

He peeked at it, found it watching him. He dropped his hand, snapped his fingers, hoping for it to wag its tail, come and lick his fingers. “Here, boy.”

The dog shrank from him.

Surprise filtered through him. Was that possible? He rose, took a few steps toward it.

And was stunned as the thing bared its teeth and growled at him.

No. It couldn’t be. He knelt, reached his hand out tentatively, slowly. The dog lunged forward and sank its teeth into his hand.

“Ow!” He yelled, pulled back. Watched as it slunk to the farthest part of the cabin, dropped to the floor, black eyes still on him.

The ludicrousness of the situation hit him, and crazily, he laughed. Loud and sharp, echoing through the cabin.

One word erupted from him. “Hero.” Followed by a vicious snort.

What a bastardization of that word he was, and all it meant.