Fractured

Chapter 8

I groaned.  "A little.  But that doesn't change anything.  Like you said, she made her choice and that was to ruin me."

"And we will ruin her," he said, scowling.  Staring deeply into my eyes, I could see how dedicated he was to that now.  For me.  "I promise you, we will take her down no matter how hard it will be."

***

We stopped at Clare's old house, where she grew up, and where the new owners now occupied.  That visit was very brief though.  The house was worn down, old, and not welcoming.  Just like the new owners who gave us dirty annoyed looks.  They wanted to be left alone; that was clear enough.  You figure a man in a police uniform would make people cooperative but not these people.  The only thing we managed to get out of them was that the people that use to live there were very nice.  Ha.  The ability to lie like a professional ran in the family too if they could fool these people that they were good and nice.

By the time we got back home, we noticed we were quite early for what we expected.  It was only 2:00 in the afternoon when we opened the front door and walked in.  We had a few hours until she was home so that was good.  She wouldn't have a clue.  As far as she would be concerned, Luke got out of work early to go home.

Kicking off my boots and taking off my coat, I headed upstairs instantly at hearing Jack barking from my room.  Because Jack wasn't potty trained yet, he wasn't allowed to roam the house freely the whole day while we were gone.  So he was restricted to just my room.  Even though it seemed bad to me, I guess it was better than him being locked in his cage all day.  A dog like Jack wasn't meant to get locked up.  He was a big furry ball of energy.  My room was just enough room for him to roam.  Of course, it could mean he would go to the bathroom up there too, which I hope wouldn't happen. Clare was enough of an animal to handle.  Lord knows how many accidents she had before she was trained.

Smiling when I got to my closed door, I could hear him on the other side, scratching at my door to get out since he heard us get home.  Laughing, I flung open my bedroom door and Jack was a my legs a second later, happy to be free of my room and excited I was home. 

Jumping up against me for attention, I bent over and petted him, rubbing his ears as I said hello to him.  "Well hello to you too," I chuckled as he licked my face repeatedly, wagging his tail as he jumped up to reach me. 

After I had to go downstairs with him, I escorted him outside to do his business.  When he came back in the house, full of snow, he ran past Luke who was sitting on the chair in the living room (resting after driving for so long) and zipped upstairs like a spaz. His little paws were pounding on the steps as he made his way up towards my room.  Laughing, we watched as he sped back down the stairs again a few seconds later and this time, he was carrying one of his toys - a fuzzy orange dog bone. 

Sitting down on the couch, Jack jumped up next to me with his toy and I took it from him, waving it around as he jumped for it and climbed all over me.  Laying back, I sighed as Jack ripped the bone from my hand and whipped it around by shaking his head back and forth.

"What do you want for lunch?" Luke asked after a minute of us just sitting there and me teasing the playful little dog.  "We haven't ate since this morning."

I was starving and planned to eat soon enough anyway.  "I don't care.  As long as it's good."

He smiled slightly and as he got to making lunch, I continued to fool around with Jack.  It was a pretty laid back afternoon.  We just relaxed, ate lunch, played with Jack, watched TV.... It was nice.  And though we just had Christmas for a break, this was what a real break felt like because though Christmas was great, it put a lot of pressure on my shoulders.  Even for a few hours as it was after we got home, it was nice doing just nothing.