Finley sat patiently by the front door.
I was beginning to think that he could understand words. It was nearly time for the twins to come in from school and I told Finley to go wait for them. Imagine my shock when Finley beelined for the front door and sat down. Maybe he was an intelligent breed of dog.
If I had to guess, he looked like a mix of a husky and a golden retriever. He looked like a golden retriever, he just had the hair of a husky. I wondered if he had been the runt of his litter and then someone took pity on him, but it didn't answer how he ended up on the streets. I almost dreaded the possibility of receiving a call from the SPCA, I hoped it never happened.
Finley perked up and then seconds later, the door opened.
Julian hadn't made it more than a few steps into the house before Finley swarmed him with a wagging tail that was out of control. Julian dumped his backpack on the floor and bent down to grasp Finley's face in both hands, "Hi, boy!"
I think my heart just melted.
"Hey, I don't get a hello?" Roman whined, obviously at our newest friend, as he closed the front door.
"Nope, sorry. Finley is all mine," Julian laughed and ruffled the fur on Finley's back.
"Excuse you, no he isn't," I drawled from the kitchen.
Julian stuck his tongue out. Finley went over to greet Roman, too, and I swore I saw that dog grinning. His first official day in the house and he was acting like he had lived here for years. I was a little surprised by how fast Finley adapted. Maybe he could sense that we needed him.
"So, does Ezra know?" Julian kicked off his shoes, not even bothering to put them on the shoe rack properly, and came into the kitchen, "Did he freak out?"
"Well, I don't really think Finley likes Ezra that much," I admitted, "They met in the kitchen and Finley just growled at him, it was kinda weird."
Roman snorted, "That's gold. I wish I could have seen it."
"Maybe he just knows Ezra is rotten," Julian snickered.
"Oh, you know, I read this article about animals being able to sense when someone is bad," Roman tapped three fingers to his chin, thoughtfully gazing at the ceiling for a moment, "Maybe, Finley can just prove what all of us have known all along."
"That's mean," I said.
"No, it's really not," Roman rolled his eyes at me, "I seem to remember Ezra trying to choke the life out of me a few weeks ago, that was mean."
"Okay, new conversation," Julian grumbled.
I leaned onto the counter, "Well, I need to go shopping for Finley and I was wondering if you guys want to go? We can ask Mikeal to take the car."
Julian grinned, "Count me in, Finley is going to be so spoiled, he'll never remember what it was like to live on the streets. Isn't that right, boy?" Julian leaned down and scratched beneath Finley's chin, "You're a good boy, huh?"
I shook my head and pulled out my phone. Roman headed for the refrigerator, as he always did after school, and we hung out in the kitchen for another ten minutes before Mikeal opened the front door. Finley's claws ticked against the floor as he trotted over to greet our oldest brother.
Mikeal glanced down at Finley. If I wasn't mistaken, I saw a smile on Mikeal's lips before he turned and pulled off his suit jacket. Then, he gave Finley a pat on the head and walked into the kitchen. His eyes met all of ours, "What are you guys doing?"
"I need to get a few things for Finley," I announced, "I was hoping you'd let us take your car?"
"It's a family car," Mikeal corrected me, "But, I don't see why not."
"Sweet!" Julian scrambled out of the kitchen to grab his shoes.
Mikeal rose an eyebrow, "Someone's excited."
"You should see them together," I commented. I didn't even have to specify who I was talking about. Mikeal looked at me, and he knew. I grinned at him before he tossed the car keys across the counter, I caught them easily, "Thanks! We'll make it quick."
"Alright, I'll start dinner then?"
"Okay," I nodded, "Is it alright if we leave Finley here with you?"
Mikeal glanced down at Finley, then he sighed, "I suppose."
"Great!" I went to grab a sweatshirt and my shoes, "Be back soon!"
Julian opened the front door and I trailed after him. Roman closed the door behind us and then, without a word, we broke into a sprint across the yard to the car. It was a sibling thing, we always needed the front seat, and we wrestled on our way there to achieve it. Julian stole the passenger seat and I leaped into the driver seat. Roman scowled at us as he crossed the front of the car and opened the door behind me.
"Ha ha, can't slam the door in my face anymore can you?" I laughed, turning in my seat to stick my tongue out at him. When we were little, I was always competing with Ezra and Roman for the front seat, and they often won. Now, since I was driving, I liked to rub it in.
Roman rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever."
ꕥ
I slapped Julian's hand, "No, put it back."
He whined, "Aw, come on! Look at it, Finley would love this!" He held up the chew toy, it was identical to a pizza but so much uglier, and I thought it was ridiculous. "Just in case he gets hungry, you know?"
"You're a dork."
"Oh, look at this!" He picked up the next chew toy from the shelf and held it up. I didn't even know how to explain this one, it almost looked like an octopus... but it wasn't.
"No. Okay, we have enough stuff," I looked down at the items in the cart. We had picked out a bed, to which Roman laughed at because Finley slept on my bed, and then we had a small handful of toys. I had made sure to get things on sale or lower in price, we really couldn't afford a lot. "We need dog food, a collar, and leash."
"I think that's in the next section," Roman said, pushing the nose of the cart around the corner. I almost gawked at the huge selection of dog collars, how would we ever choose? My eyes roamed over a bunch of colorful leashes.
"Hey, look at this!" Julian grabbed the first collar he saw.
"Dude, that's pink," Roman said, "Last time I checked, Finely is a guy."
"Right," Julian put it back, and then he exclaimed again, "Oh, I like this one!"
I was ready to roll my eyes but when I actually looked at what Julian was holding, I slowly smiled. It was a plain leather collar and leash, shiny golden snaps and buckles showed us our reflections, and I could instantly picture it on Finley. "I actually like this one," I said, "How much is it?"
"Fifty-seven dollars," Julian answered.
My heart dropped in my chest. That was a lot.
Roman suddenly reached between us and snatched the collar leash, "I'll pay for it."
"What?" I frowned. He must have read the expression on my face after Julian said the price, and sometimes I hated that I could be an open book, "You don't even have money."
He shrugged, "Yes, I do."
I tried to argue with him but he wouldn't have any of it. We picked out a dog food that seemed the healthiest. I mean, we were all new to dog ownership, and I would have to get Finley's license from the courthouse sometime.
After we paid for everything, and I cringed at the total, we dropped our things off in the car. There was another store, it was more expensive, and we decided it wouldn't hurt to check it out because we already got what we really needed.
I followed after the twins but I noticed a group of four boys who discreetly trailed after us from the parking lot. I usually always noticed the people around me, it was a nervous habit I guess. As Roman and Julian lead the way down different aisles, I couldn't shake the feeling of being followed.
When I glanced over my shoulder, those four boys were still behind us. We had weaved in and out of a few aisles by now but so did the boys. I could feel the burn of their stares.
"I'm gonna go check out the candy," Roman announced and he broke off, leaving Julian and I to browse the expensive selection of pet items. I shifted from foot to foot, the boys pretended to be occupied at the end of the aisle, but I caught them sneaking glances.
I knew something wasn't right.
"Those boys have been following us," I whispered to Julian.
His eyebrows furrowed but he briefly glanced over his shoulder before saying, "They look normal to me."
"Julian," I hissed his name lowly, "They've been staring and it doesn't feel right. I think we should leave."
He looked at me for a long moment. "Alright, let's go find Roman."
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe something in my expression convinced him I wasn't lying. something really did feel off. I had always been paranoid of my surroundings, I always knew when people were looking, and it just never stopped haunting the back of my mind. We found Roman in the candy aisle.
"Hey, ready to head out?"Julian casually greeted his twin.
Roman frowned at us, "What? Why?" He set a giant bag of Hershey kisses back on the shelf.
Before Julian could answer, I said, "They're following us like creeps." I jerked my head over my shoulder and Roman glanced past me. I watched as his expression grew cold in the blink of an eye. His jaw tightened, something darker filling his eyes, and then he had my forearm in his hand. He tugged me along with him.
"Jesus, let go of her," Julian exclaimed by my side, eyes widening. We quickly made our way towards the exit of the store, I didn't even have time to look over my shoulder to see if the group of boys was following. "Roman, seriously, stop!" Julian tried again, this time taking ahold of my arm to pull it from Roman's grip.
He hadn't been hurting me, and I was too stunned to speak, but Julian was on a whole new level of anxiety. His hand slightly trembled by his side, which only happened when he was extremely anxious, and I gently intertwined our fingers. I gave a squeeze and he heaved a breath.
Roman continued to walk ahead of us through the parking lot towards the car. He didn't turn around. I dug the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the car. We quickly got in and only after our doors slammed shut did we exhale. Roman visibly sunk into the passenger seat.
"Do you know them?" I asked.
Roman didn't meet my eyes. "No."
"Then why did you just drag us out of the store?" Julian sat forward between our seats, "That was really suspicious. I don't recognize those kids, they aren't from school. So why are you acting weird, huh?"
"I didn't like how they were looking at Jordyn, okay?" Roman said, eyes glued outside the vehicle as if he was scanning for them as people entered and exited the store, "Can we drop it now?"
I frowned. I knew for a fact that those strange boys were not checking me out, they had a predatory gleam in their eyes, on the hunt for someone for other reasons beyond desire. I knew Roman, though, and his defensive response reminded me of all the times he would come home with bruises. My gut twisted because I would make up my own answers in the lack of his.
"Are you going to drive?" Roman turned his head to look at me. His expression revealed nothing. "I'd rather not sit in a parking lot for the rest of the night." He dug his hands deep into his jean pockets and seemed to deflate further into his seat, as if the weight of the world had just increased by a thousand times upon his shoulders.
I hesitantly reached out and started the car. Julian sat back and clipped his seatbelt but I met his eyes in the rearview mirror, and I knew neither of us believed Roman.
✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
How did you come across this book? I'm curious.
It's almost 2am, I have a final exam at 8am, and I'm obviously not making good decisions. Ah well, this chapter was fun to write, it kickstarts some trouble.
Real fact: When I went Christmas shopping with my brothers, we were picking out wrapping paper, and they literally fought over who got to put the most in my cart.