Complications by Emilia Winters

His eyes found hers again. “I had a dog once. But only for a little while. I had begged my mom for one for years and finally on my 14th birthday, she bought me this Golden Retriever puppy.” A light smile touched his lips. “It was a clumsy little thing with huge paws, but I loved him right away. I named him August, because that’s when I got him. My birthday month.”
    She smiled softly, hearing the love in his voice for his pet. But her stomach tightened into knots as he continued.
    “My father wasn’t happy about it, but I think my mom convinced him to let me keep it. But about a week later, we were playing in the backyard and I forgot to close the screen door. The sprinklers were on and it was muddy. We were both completely wet from running through them. And before I knew it, August bolted into the house because he heard my mom coming home from shopping. When I finally got inside, there was mud everywhere. Dirty water on the walls, mud smeared all over the rugs and floor. It was a complete mess.
    “My dad came out of his office because he heard my mom scolding August and he went ballistic. Completely ballistic. I’d never seen him so angry in my life and that’s saying something.” Alex shook his head, swallowing hard. “I remember crying because I was scared at what he might do. I promised I would have it all cleaned up by dinner. He yelled at me to stop crying and that he never wanted to see any son of his crying again. He said it made me look weak. But I couldn’t stop.” He took a breath as Olivia’s heart ached for him, her eyes stinging hotly. “He took August away as punishment. He drove him to the pound that afternoon and I never saw him again. It took me three hours to clean up everything. My father watched me, making sure I got every fucking speck of dirt off. And at dinner, he pretended like nothing had ever happened. We never talked about it again and I never asked for another pet.”
    Oh, Alex.
    Olivia swallowed, her tears finally spilling over. “And your mom?”
    Alex shook his head, not looking at her. “My mom never did anything. I think she was scared of him too. The mood he was in…there was no reasoning with him. I guess I couldn’t really blame her.”
    “But you were still so young,” she whispered, her heart breaking for the little boy he had been. It suddenly made sense why he had gone cold on her in the kitchen. She felt angry at herself for even asking him about childhood pets, but realistically, she knew there wasn’t any way she could have known. And no wonder he hadn’t adopted that freaking cat…or even named it.
    He looked at her then and his brows furrowed when he noticed her crying, a pained expression suddenly crossing his features. “Ah, darling. Shit. I didn’t want you to cry.” He sat up quickly to cradle her face in his hands, the sheet pooling at his waist. He wiped away her tears with his fingers and leaned down quickly to kiss her lips. “Don’t cry,” he mumbled against her lips.
    “I’m sorry,” she said miserably, embarrassed that she was crying in front of him. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. But she wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for. For crying or for his obvious pain or for her anger at his father, a man she had never even met. She decided it was for all three.
    They were quiet as they kissed and Alex eventually calmed her down.
    But she didn’t even know what to say to him. She didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. Another I’m sorry didn’t seem appropriate, wouldn’t even begin to soothe his pain.
    Alex shifted, propping up some pillows against his headboard. He stretched out against them, but he dragged her up to lie against his chest, cradling her in his arms. They lounged in comfortable silence, but Alex was the first to break it a few moments later. “I want to know more about your ex.”
    She felt like she had just been slammed into a wall. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs as nerves overtook her.