Page 7 of So Deadly
The looks kept coming.Margaret kept her chin lifted as she passed them.Screw them all.Screw their judgment.They’d probably never been mugged in an alley by two men who had a discussion over whether or not they wanted more than her wallet.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away.She wasnotgoing to give these assholes the satisfaction.
“You’re a disgrace.”
Margaret froze.Had she really heard that?
“I can’t believe that disrespectful people like you get away with bringing youranimalsinto a place like this.”
Margaret turned around.The speaker was a fake blond woman about ten years older than Margaret, standing with her hands on her hips and her lips pursed.A small crowd of people stood behind her, clearly excited to see the bitch with the fake service dog put in her place.
“You know, there are people with real disabilities whoneeddogs like—”
Margaret had enough.A switch clicked almost audibly in her mind.She stepped forward and snarled, “Fuck you, you fat old bitch!Go to hell!”
The woman recoiled as though Margaret had slapped her.She reddened and opened her mouth again, but before she could say anything, Bruno growled.She shrieked and jumped back, hands pumping in front of her like she hadnever.
Well, now you have.
“You know what?”Margaret continued.“Screw you.All of you.This is a public place, and if I want to bring my dog to a public place, I can.You can fucking deal with it.I’m not going to walk around here all by myself where men can ogle me and think dirty thoughts and fucking drag me into an alley and—”
“No one’s dragging you anywhere,” a male voice interrupted.
Margaret snapped her eyes over to the new speaker just as the growing crowd chuckled.A pair of young tarts in their early twenties giggled and whispered to each other, smirking at Margaret like the thought of a man wanting her was hilarious.
But they do, and sometimes they don’t take no for an answer.What do you want me to do, what thehelldo you want—
“Ma’am?”
This latest voice was also male but older and firmer.Margaret pressed her lips together and refused to turn toward the voice.Its owner walked around in front of her, and when Bruno growled at him, the meathead Rottweiler he was walking growled right back.The Rottweiler wore a vest too, but his said POLICE DOG K9 DO NOT APPROACH.
The police officer’s face was void of emotion.“Ma’am, you’re no longer allowed on the property.You need to leave the premises.”
Margaret blinked.“Me?”She intended that to be an indignant cry, but it came out as a hoarse breath instead.
“Yes, ma’am.I need you to leave the premises, please.”
He gestured over her shoulder at the exit.Margaret stared at him, shaking.“You’re kidding me.”
“No, ma’am.I need you to leave now, or I’ll place you under arrest.”
Tears sprang to her eyes again.You don’t understand.I just want to be safe.I just want to besafe.That’s what Bruno’s for.That’s why I have him.
The words didn’t come out.They couldn’t.It wouldn’t change anything, and Margaret wasn’t about to have an argument with this asshole so everyone could see her cry.
So, she blinked the tears away, turned around, and left.The crowd behind her cheered.A fat drunk dipshit with a stained ballcap had an arm around the bitch who had started this whole thing.The man who had earned the respect of the tweeny-boppers with his crack about no one wanting Margaret was now in the middle of a group of them laughing and trading jokes at her expense.
Margaret ignored them all.The officer with his brute dog followed them until she reached her car, then watched until she left the parking lot.
Margaret kept it together until she pulled into her driveway.Then she burst into tears.
It wasn’t fair.It just wasn’t fair.She’d tried to get a service dog, but her insurance didn’t cover it, and service dogs were four times as expensive as regular dogs.Just because some asshole taught it commands like sit, stay, and play dead but do it while looking important.
And Bruno was a good dog.People expected all dogs to be cuddlebug kid magnets, but that’s not what they were for.German Shepherds were working dogs.Guard dogs.Bruno was supposed toprotecther, not make Susie Q’s snot-nosed brats giggle.
Bruno nudged her and whined softly.She turned to him and held him close, sniffling through the last of her tears.He whined again and stayed still until she took a final shuddering breath, then pulled away.
She cupped his face.“You’re a good dog.”
