A hard tug on his leash almost knocked me over and when I followed where he was staring, I saw two Jarrods watching me.
“Lord have mercy,” I whispered, getting an, “Amen,” back from Tabby who’d also stopped to take in the view.
Then two more joined them, so I blindly reached out and grabbed her hand for strength and support. “Are we still drunk?”
“I don’t think so, and they’re all wearing different t-shirts,” she whispered back, pointing out something I hadn’t noticed.
“I was stuck on their faces, I didn’t even notice they had bodies.” But now that she mentioned it, there was Jarrod facial and body hotness times four. “Sweet Jesus.”
“Amen.”
“Hey, Katy,” three of them called out at once and I swear my knees buckled.
“They know your name,” Tabby mumbled out of the corner of her mouth, her hand tightening its hold on mine. “Say something.”
Instead, I just raised my hand as much as Duke’s leash would allow and gave a pitiful wave to them. When I lowered it, I figured that wrapping it around my wrist instead would stop me from ever doing that again, so I did it, anchoring myself to my horse dog.
One of the Jarrods broke away from the group and picked something up off the ground. Then, reaching back as far as he could, he yelled, “Fetch,” and launched it through the air.
Tabby and I both turned to watch the item sail through the air past Dave, but before we could look back at them or even ask why they were throwing things (so beautifully), my arm was almost wrenched out of its socket and I was running behind my horse who was chasing after whatever it was. I swear my legs had never moved so fast in their lives, not even on a bike, and I had a thought that I was going to die and this would be the last memory of me alive, when my foot went into a hole and I was being dragged across the grass on my front.“Seriously,” Tabby howled, using Dave’s arm to keep her standing upright. “He went off like a rocket and she’s running behind him…” she broke off and squeezed her knees together. “Little legs,” she wheezed.
“Why didn’t you just let the lead go?” Maya asked in disbelief.
Looking down at the red mark on my wrist, I decided to hold it up instead of using words to answer the question.
After I’d been dragged across the ground by my wrist, Duke had managed to catch up with the ball, which meant that the four Kline men and Dave had managed to catch up with me. After being carried into my home by who I assumed was Jarrod, I’d limped into the shower, cleaned myself off, and I was now sitting in a pair of short pajama shorts and a t-shirt, having been unable to put my cut off jean shorts and tank back on seeing as how they were covered in mud and grass.
Taking one look at me, I’d been ordered to sit on my couch while one of the Klines ran next door for a first aid kit, and now the grazes that went from my shins to just above my knees were clean and had gook on them, and my ankle that had twisted when I’d stepped in the hole was strapped up and had a bag of peas on it. Oh, and my horse dog was sitting on the floor with the top half of his body between my legs because he wasn’t allowed to jump on top of me.
All of this while four male members of the Kline family watched at me. Great! Actually, make that three members of the Kline family, because as soon as I held my wrist up to answer the question just now, one had broken away and walked to the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry, babe,” one winced. “I didn’t realize he’d react like that when I threw the ball.”
Shrugging a shoulder and almost groaning when I remembered it almost being yanked out of its socket, I tried to not look like the loser I felt. “It’s cool. He just needs a bit of training, I guess.”
An arm appeared over my head with a bag of frozen carrots in it, then placed it on top of my wrist. “That should help.”
Tabby was only just able to get oxygen properly into her lungs, and the sound of her deep breathing was the only noise in the room while everyone continued to stare at me. Looking desperately at Ren and Cole and begging them with my eyes to do something, I groaned when they both shrugged looking totally bemused by it all.
Then Cole said something that started it all off again. “So, did you do long distance running or something in school?”
Tabby fell to her knees and even Dave choked as he turned around to face the door, with Ren walking up beside him to do the same thing. Chancing a glance at the four Klines, I saw one of them looking at the ceiling, one of them looking at his boots, one of them who I knew was Jarrod because of the eyes was looking at me worriedly, and the last one looked like he felt like shit because he’d thrown a frigging ball.