Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

It’s hers.

CHAPTER11

Audrey

A cold,wet nose woke me up. Groaning, I turned over. Max licked the side of my face before I could shield myself with my arm.

“Max, stop.”

I blinked a few times and looked at the clock. Six-thirty on the dot. I really wished Max understood weekends.

Maybe if I closed my eyes and kept very still, he’d go back to sleep and then I could too.

For a moment or two, I thought it was working. I kept my eyes shut and waited, feeling sleep beginning to overtake me again.

Until the wet nose poked my cheek.

“Okay, okay.”

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of bed. Max hopped down and waited by the door, his tail wagging.

“Why are you so chipper? Haven’t you figured out Saturdays? We can sleep in.”

He just looked at me, his eyes bright and excited.

I rubbed my hands up and down my face a few times, then slipped on a pair of gray joggers. I didn’t bother with a bra—just kept on the tank top I’d slept in. It wasn’t as if anyone else was around. Max certainly didn’t count.

Still fighting to wake up, I used the bathroom, then went to the kitchen to start the coffee maker. Max waited not so patiently, his tail still doing double time.

“You have a bladder of steel, I can get coffee going first.”

Once the coffee was brewing, I shuffled to the front door. He stood next to me, buzzing with energy like a coiled spring. I paused with my hand on the doorknob.

“You really need to go, don’t you?”

He looked up at me, almost frantic.

“Okay.” I turned the knob. “I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go.”

I opened the door and he shot outside. But he didn’t run straight for what had become his pee tree. He stopped a couple of feet from the door to sniff something on the ground.

Wait. What was that?

“Max, no! Leave it!”

I darted out to get hold of his collar before he could grab the dead animal in his mouth. He jumped away, like this was a very fun game, and surged in again to grab it.

“No, that’s not a toy. Gross, leave it!”

He circled around the dead thing but I anticipated his move and headed him off. I grabbed his collar and dragged him away, back toward the front door.

With him safely inside, I shut the door and leaned against it, breathing hard. The last time he’d come upon a dead animal, he’d tried to eat it. I shuddered at the memory.

“Whatever that is out there, it’s not a snack.”

That brought up a good question. What was it and why was it right outside my door?

Max did have a strong bladder but I didn’t want to push him too far and wind up with a dead animalanddog pee to clean up. I got his leash and took him out back. He refused to pee for what felt like an eternity, as if knowing a dead animal was on the other side of the house was far too interesting to bother with anything else—even emptying his bladder. Finally, he chose a spot and peed, and I brought him back inside.