Delicate

Chapter 72

William's P.O.V

"Theo!" I yell in a panic as Blaze jumped from my hands and makes a dash for it. "Shit!"

I take off after the fat thing that had no right being as fast as he suddenly was. 

"How-" Theo starts before he breaks off into a wheeze.

Blaze hops through the overgrown grass, heading for the woods in a useless attempt at fleeing his bath. 

Since Damon was so meticulous with his routine grooming of Blaze, he rarely bathed him. But today it was time for Blaze to reacquaintance himself with water, and surprise surprise, the paunchy boy wasn't having it.

Theo laughs after me, his loud, amused chuckles taunting me while he tries uselessly to say something. But with the way he was wheezing, he could barely get a word out without cracking up again.

"Don't let him escape!" He eventually manages but by the time he got it out, I'd already snatched Blaze up before he hit the woods.

Looking down at him, I meet his glare head-on, "you want to escape next time? You know what you need to do." Blaze kicks his legs at me but doesn't manage to land a hit, I'd learned the importance of holding this guy at a distance.

Turning around with Blaze in my hands, I find Theo and Sassy staring at us. 

Sassy's tail was wagging furiously while she stood patiently beside Theo, her wet fur only making her happier than usual since she loved baths. Theo was just as drenched as she was, in his loose long sleeve top and shorts, barely any of him was dry after all of Sassy's impromptu shaking.

With his sleeves rolled up and a wide smile that was clear to me from here, Theo looked like the perfect picture of summer happiness.

"I told you that he was going to make a run for it," I say as I walk back to the little cleaning station we'd set up near the packhouse for the pets.

"And I told you not to let him," Theo replies smartly as he gets Sassy's shampoo and pours it onto her. 

Sassy preens from the massage that follows as Theo happily rubs into her fur, his gentle hands making her melt like butter beside him while I tried not to drop the oversized mammal who was trying his best to end his life.

"It would be a lot easier if you did this," I whine to Theo as I plop myself into my chair before I carefully set Blaze down into his large tub that barely had any water in it. 

I was following all of Damon's carefully laid out rules for bathing Blaze to a tee, and it still didn't matter! No matter what I did, Blaze insisted on giving a bitch fit because it was me doing it and not his beloved Damon.

"If I were to bathe him, how would you two ever become friends?" Theo questions as he glances up at me, his blue eyes swirling with his amusement. "I'm sorry, I was under the impression that that was all you wanted from life."

Picking up the hose, I press my finger to the trigger and smile as the water splashes all over him.

He jumps in surprise and that second of hesitation gives Sassy all the time she needs to shake herself off, effectively coating her cleaner with soap suds and even more water.

"Good girl Sassy!" I praise wanting her to do it again and to my delight, she does.

Theo looks at me after the second round, lips flat and unimpressed. I grin and send him an air kiss.

"I knew I picked the right one," I say to Sassy who barks her approval.

When Theo doesn't seek immediate revenge, I refocus my attention on Blaze who seemed to tire himself out with his third escape attempt and was now barely moving in his tub.