Jackie, the receptionist, jumped out of her chair with an excited squeal. “Oh! Who do we have here?”
“This is my new service dog. His name is Titan.”
“Can I pet him?”
At my nod, she crouched down in front of him and started talking to him in a voice similar to the one people used when talking to a baby while she lightly scratched behind his ears. Her antics garnered the attention of most of my coworkers, who trickled over one by one to see what was going on. I looked around and sighed. “Everyone, this is Titan, my service dog. He’s well trained and very obedient. He will be accompanying me to work from now on. He’ll be by my side at all times and shouldn’t be a bother to any of you. If you have any issues with him, please come speak to me directly so we can address it.”
“Oh, who could possibly have any issues with him? He’s absolutely adorable!” Jackie squealed again. Adorable? Titan was not adorable. Beautiful? Yes. He reminded me of a black panther, beautiful, yet deadly.
I looked around the office again. “Where’s Hilarie?” I asked, directing my question to Jackie.
“She’s not here yet. She called about an hour ago and said she would be in late this morning. She didn’t give a reason or a specific time when she would arrive, but she assured me that everything was okay,” she told me.
I went on to my office and got started with my scheduled sessions. The day passed by quickly. All of the kids seemed to love Titan. I was beyond impressed with his behavior in my office. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him. He picked a spot as soon as we entered my office and stayed put. He didn’t make any noise throughout the day, and I almost forgot he was there a few times.
At the end of the day, I assumed Hilarie would want to go somewhere for dinner since we didn’t eat lunch together. That was our usual routine. We either ate lunch together or dinner together during the work week. Grabbing my purse, I called Titan to my side and walked out to the front office to find Hilarie.
“Jackie, do you know where Hilarie is?”
“She went home early. Said she wasn’t feeling well.”
Before leaving the office, I tried to call her to make sure she was okay and to see if she wanted me to bring dinner over, but she didn’t answer. After my second unsuccessful attempt to call her, Titan and I climbed into my car, hit a drive-thru for dinner, and went home.
I tried to keep myself busy as I anxiously waited for Chase’s call. By 10:00 pm, he still hadn’t called, so I gave in and called him. I was trying not to be clingy, but I missed him, and one phone call wouldn’t be considered being clingy. The call went straight to voicemail, which typically meant the person had their phone turned off. Maybe he was in Church. I knew Phoenix usually asked them to turn their phones off while they were meeting.
I waited an hour and called him again. Same thing, straight to voicemail. I told myself not to worry. They were probably still in Church. This wasn’t the day they usually met, so a meeting meant something was up, and Church might last longer than usual. Once I had myself convinced of my concocted story, I climbed into bed, turned on the television, and waited for his call.
I groaned when I heard my alarm clock. I had tossed and turned all night long, never really falling asleep. Reaching over and grabbing my phone, I checked the screen for any missed calls or texts, even though I knew there wouldn’t be any. My phone was right beside me all night, and I would have heard it if he called or sent a text.
I tried calling him again on my way to work. Straight to voicemail. Okay, maybe he lost his phone and hadn’t gotten a replacement yet. It had to be something like that. I tried again at lunch with the same results. When I still couldn’t get a hold of him on my way home from work, worry set in.
He wasn’t the kind of man to ignore phone calls or try to avoid someone. If he didn’t want to talk to me, he would answer the phone and tell me just that. But what if something happened to him? No one from the club would think to call me, that is, if they even knew.
Shit. There was only one way to know for sure, but that meant having to answer questions I didn’t want to answer just yet. I mentally debated the pros and cons before I finally decided to call Phoenix and hope he would keep as much of this to himself as possible.
“Phoenix,” he answered sharply.
“Hi, Phoenix, this is Harper. Um...are you free to talk right now?” I asked, trying to stay on top of my nerves.
“Just a minute,” he replied. I heard some rustling and then a door close. “I’m alone in my office now. What’s going on, Harper?”
“Uh, I haven’t been able to get a hold of Carbon since yesterday morning. I wanted to make sure he was okay, and I didn’t know who else to call.”
There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silence before Phoenix spoke again. “He’s not where he can get to a phone, but he’s fine.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I asked.
“Sorry, sweetheart, it’s club business.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” I snapped. “I’ve been worried sick for well over 24 hours and all you can say is ‘club business’?”
“Don’t forget who you’re talking to, Harper,” he scolded. “Now, if you were his Old Lady or a family member, I would gladly fill you in, but you’re not. On that note, why exactly are you calling about Carbon? I wasn’t aware that you two were close.”
The moment he raised his voice, I felt my hands dampen and my breathing pick up. Phoenix would never hurt me. Phoenix would never hurt me. I repeated that over and over in my head. I knew that, but it didn’t change the fact that I was already on edge and Phoenix just reprimanded me in a not so gentle way. Suddenly, I was in another place.
“Don’t you forget again!” he roared.
I screamed when I felt the streak of fire across my back. He was using his belt like a whip, striking my bare back with lash after lash.