You did save my life, I said as I spat the mouthwash out.
And wasn’t it fun?
Watching him run was fun.
I swallowed when I thought of the blue enamel pocket knife. That fear on the day of my flight had left me reading up on how to leave your partner. It was the most dangerous time for a woman.
Thanks, I said quietly.
It wasn’t just internal words to her. I pushed my appreciation and love towards her. Just for a small beat, she paused before she accepted.
And in that moment, I realised this was our first real connection.
Don’t get all teary on me. I don’t do that shit.
I sighed.
Chapter 19
Conrí
Kael’s ears pricked and we stared at her apartment building door. Running, crying, snot. The door was flung back, rotting wood and filthy glass probably the same one from fifty years ago.
A scruffy-looking man came out, his head snapping from side to side. Both his hands were holding his bloody crotch. The blood had soaked through his jeans entirely. Still coming.
“Someone call an ambulance. Call 999. She bit my dick off,” he began to sob as he dropped to his knees. “Help me.”
People began to gather as he fell to his side. I leaned to one side to get a better look from the car window. And that’s when I saw him curled up in a fetal position. Phones up first. Concern second. London doing what London did.
“Help me,” he whimpered.
My eyes flicked up to her window.
“She’s a fucking dog,” he screamed as people tried to help him up.
I scratched my cheek. How bizarre. You couldn’t go around biting people’s dicks off in broad daylight.
She did. I told you she was unnatural, Kael said quietly.
The ambulance came. My driver followed it to the hospital where I told him to park up and wait. Wearing an expensive suit and looking rather important opened up many doors for you. It was a human weakness.
We could all be in the woods rolling around in mud and we wouldn’t blink.
Humans were impressionable.
??????
I fell into step behind the stretcher at a measured distance. Close enough to hear. Far enough to be unremarkable.
“We need a urologist. This is urgent. He has a ruptured testicle. The other one has a gash. We might be able to save it,” someone said as I followed behind the stretcher they wheeled.
“Dr Sangha has already been paged.”
The man groaned. Low. Prolonged. The sound of a body that had moved beyond the sharp edge of pain into something duller and more total.
“Finley? Stay with us, Finley,” another nurse or paramedic said.
“Mauled by a dog. We need to ensure a report and notification is made to the authorities.”
