Protective Instinct by Tricia Lynne

Author:Tricia Lynne [Lynne, Tricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-05T12:47:35+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Clean up on aisle six.

Lily

Well, shit.

“Hey, you okay?” Rob, the center’s senior trainer, stood in the doorway.

“I’m fine.”

“You guys got pretty loud. You sure?”

“Yes, Brody would never hurt me.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Hey, can I ask you something and you give me an honest answer?”

“Yikes. That sounds like a dangerous proposition.”

I shook my head, hair brushing my shoulders. “I promise it’s not. Am I...do I refuse to let people around here help me?” I knew I refused to depend on anyone, but did I push people away to the point that I didn’t ask for, or accept help at all? “Like, say, if I had a dog I couldn’t handle?”

He considered. “Hmm. You like to do things on your own. Most of the time you can, but on occasion, you get in over your head because you overestimate what you can do alone.”

“Yesterday, I asked you to help me reposition the A-frame.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but you tried to drag it across the ring by yourself first.” He shifted to sit on the desk. “Do you remember Linus?”

I couldn’t look at him, felt the sting of shame. It was the scariest incident of my career. The dog, a Leonberger, had aggression issues. During a private lesson, the giant dog broke away from his owner, attacking me with no warning. He pinned me to the floor in a matter of seconds, stood over me, holding me down.

“Linus was dangerous because of his size alone. He was also highly aggressive, agitated, and his owner had zero control over him. Yet, instead of asking for backup during the lesson, you decided to take it on by yourself. If I hadn’t been keeping an eye on the situation, there’s a distinct possibility you wouldn’t have a throat right now.”

“You wouldn’t have asked for another trainer’s help, either.”

He huffed out a sigh. “Yes, Lily. I would have. I never would have stepped into the room with a dog that size if I didn’t have a couple of extra pairs of hands. You, however, acted like you had something to prove. It was reckless.”

I brought my head up. “I thought I could handle it.”

“And you got yourself in way over your head. ‘I thought I could handle it’? That’s your pride talking. Not your brain. And definitely not your training.” Walking toward the doorway, he put a hand on my shoulder, but stared ahead. “Pride goeth, Lily. We all need help now and then. It doesn’t make us weak. It makes us human.”

I let that sink in. One after another my brain coughed up incidents where I’d shaken off help or didn’t ask when I should have.

I owed Brody an apology.

After running home for a shower, I fed the dogs. Pairing my favorite black skirt with a plum-colored top, I swiped on a deep purple eyeliner, mascara, and a little lip gloss. I missed him. I missed us and the way we were together. While I was driving to his place, my phone vibrated.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.