I nod. “I’ll see she’s brought to you.”
“Really?” Ella’s face lights up. “That’s so nice. I thought for sure you’d say no, or I don’t know… I thought you’d definitely refuse.”
It’s not often that I have a good feeling about making someone happy, but this is quite adorable. Much has been taken from Ella. Much of it was taken by me. Much will still be taken, in fact. But perhaps it is time to show her a little kindness.
CHAPTER 14
Ella
I asked for BP’s dog a few days ago, and I’m starting to lose hope of ever seeing her again. It was a big ask, and it took me a long time to work my way up to it, but if I hadn’t, then the answer would have been a definitive no.
I never got to have a pet of my own, but I remember the day I met Ethel. She was still a relatively young dog, but not a puppy. BP didn’t really like her that much, but I did. He didn’t get her trained, and he never took her for walks, because he said having the run of his many mansions was enough.
So, whenever I was around, I looked after her, and she looked after me. Both of us were too small and too weak to really assert ourselves, but we had each other.
I don’t know if Aiden is really going to bring me the dog. Most men don’t like little dogs like her. They don’t get them. And she was so small and fragile, there’s a very real possibility she got hurt…
My eyes well with tears as I think about that.
So many things have gotten fucked up lately, including me. I think about the things that have been done to me, and the things I’ve done. I worked for BP. I did what he asked. I was in the habit of doing so, but I could have tried to run away, and I didn’t. I could have…
“Ella?”
I hear my name called from downstairs. I wipe my eyes and go down fast. I am accustomed to doing as I’m told, even when the people telling me what to do are kind of sort of totally holding me prisoner.
Aiden walks in the front door holding a basket-style dog carrier that is vibrating with rage. My heart leaps.
“I don’t know if this is what you wanted,” he says. “And I don’t know that I should give it to you, because frankly it seems dangerous, but…” He sets the carrier down and opens the top.
Ethel comes out of the basket like a little tan bat out of hell, heading straight to me with her tail tucked and her ears down. I crouch down to pick her up, going onto my knees to let her wriggle against me in that way dogs do when they’re happy. It’s like she wants to burrow right under my skin.
Once she gets in my lap, everything changes. As Aiden approaches, Ethel stands bolt upright and starts screaming at the top of her lungs, teeth flashing, eyes bulging with fury.
Aiden
“What the hell is going on?”
Leo comes out to investigate the sound. He has to know what a small dog sounded like, so the question is redundant. Underneath it all, he just wants to see the puppy.
Unfortunately, the puppy is gray around the muzzle and is basically threatening to shank us all.
“I love her,” Ella says, grinning ear to ear while the creature continues to unleash that unholy cacophony. “I wish I could do this. Just bite people and scream at them and then demand a bed with a heating pad.”
“Of course you do,” Leo says, rolling his eyes. “Are we really going to live with an animal in the house? It’s probably not even trained.”
“She is trained! Sort of! Little dogs are hard to convince! They enjoy peeing recreationally.”
“Everything can be trained,” I say soothingly.
“I’m going to take her out to potty now,” Ella says. “And then we’re going to go for a walk and I am going to buy her some food and some toys and probably some sweaters.”
I pull a credit card out of my wallet and hand it to her. “Get whatever you like,” I tell her.
Another Rubicon is crossed with that gesture. I am letting her go out. I am giving her a chance at freedom. I am showing trust. After several weeks of sexual domination, treating her like she is an animal under my care, I let her experience her full humanity again.
“Really?” Her eyes widen. “Why are you being so nice?”
“It’s not the dog’s fault it was owned by a bad man,” I say. “Go on.”
