Rules of the Ruff by Heidi Lang

Author:Heidi Lang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2018-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Jessie knocked hard on Wes’s door and then put her hands on her knees and gasped for breath. After sneaking away from Monique’s house and wandering around for a few heart-stopping moments, she’d recognized Zelda’s house a few blocks down. Thanks to Rule Number Two she knew how to get back to Wes’s from there, but while it hadn’t seemed like such a far distance when she’d ridden in Wes’s car, on her own two feet, it was a whole different story.

Still, she’d made it. She was here.

The door stayed closed. Straightening, Jessie pounded on it again. She thought she could hear voices inside, and then a now-familiar howl. Hazel was here? How often did Wes petsit that little beast?

She pressed her ear to the door. Definitely voices. It sounded like Wes and a woman. Jessie was suddenly intensely curious. She couldn’t picture Wes having someone over for dinner. Well, maybe a couple of dogs. But a person?

Finally, the door opened a crack and Wes’s large nose poked out, followed by the rest of his grumpy face. “You. Of course it’s you.”

“Who else would it be?”

“Who else indeed.” He looked her up and down. “You look like you’ve been running.”

“I have,” Jessie said solemnly. “All the way from Zelda’s house.”

Wes’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a good three miles from here.”

“Felt like ten.”

He sighed. “I’d shut you out, but I have a feeling you’d keep knocking. And since you ran all this way,” he glanced behind him, then stepped outside and pulled the door shut, “go ahead.”

“Who’s inside?”

“Hazel.”

“Besides Hazel?”

Wes grimaced and made a point of starting the timer on his watch. “I’m giving you three minutes to tell me whatever it is. Starting . . . now.”

“Three minutes? But I just ran all the way here and it’s really import—”

“Two minutes fifty seconds.”

Jessie sighed. “Fine,” she grumbled, but she launched into her story. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time, but she still had to mention a few details about the fancy party, ending with Monique’s proclamation and then her own daring escape back here.

“Not sure I needed to hear about the cupcakes or your little teen drama—”

“I’m not a teen,” Jessie reminded him. “And it was disgusting. They were making out right in front of me. And Loralee is so, so . . .” She shuddered. “Right in front of me.”

“That does sound truly terrible.”

“It was so much worse than terrible. It was—”

“Yes, yes.” Wes waved that off. “But the rest of your story was useful.”

“Really?”

Wes nodded. “Oh yes.”

“Does that mean we’re not going to leave it anymore?”

His eyes narrowed. “No. If it’s a dogfight that woman wants, it’s a dogfight she’ll get.” He stared off across the lawn, almost as if he were searching for Monique across the distance, his nostrils flaring. Then, abruptly, he looked back down at Jessie. “And you have this key still? The spare to her car?”

Jessie nodded and showed it to him.

Wes’s smile was a terrifying thing. It was like watching a cobra spread its hood.

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