I'm Not Your Enemy (Enemies 2)

Go fucking figure. Sebastian was always the hero.

I let out a whistle for the boys and patted my leg, and Percy and Oppy came running. Or tumbling. Even the most manicured lawn could function as an obstacle for a dog that didn’t weigh more than three pounds. But they were so fucking cute. I suspected someone had tried to create one of those trendy Yorkiepoo mixes at some point because their fur was just a tiny bit curly in places, and they were darker than most Yorkies. Smaller too. They were, according to David, right on the lower end of what was considered breed standard.

“Did you know that Sebastian’s grandmother was a rather famous artist?” David asked. “Or semifamous, perhaps. But she had a following, nonetheless.”

I quirked a brow. “I knew she painted and opened a youth center.”

David hummed. “Apparently, Sebastian sold some of her paintings to pay for Teddy’s program. Soph was shocked—six paintings went for over twenty grand.”

Hot fucking damn.

“All of it went to Teddy,” David went on. “Sebastian wouldn’t keep any of it, despite that the program cost less than half of what he received.”

What the hell was David doing? I got it; Sebastian was great. He was fantastic. He was the best.

Jealousy ignited within me, and I wondered if Washington could be more than a temporary place to forget the rejection of my parents. What if I moved there? It’d been so good to see Teddy every day when I visited. No offense to David’s brood—he had great kids, but they were programmed to find grown-ups embarrassing as soon as they hit eleven. Teddy turned twelve on Halloween and still greeted me with the biggest grins and tightest hugs.

I wanted what Sebastian had with my nephew.

“Hmm.” David frowned at Rosie. “Mind humoring me with a checkup at the clinic tomorrow?”

What—oh. “You mean the lump on the inside of her leg?” I asked. “We already checked it out. It’s just a lipoma.” A fancy word for a lump of fat.

“No, this is something else,” David murmured. He gathered Rosie between his legs and felt along her ribs, then up to behind her ears. It put me on edge right away. “You’re a beautiful girl, aren’t you?” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Rosie’s nose. “Have you noticed any changes in her behavior? How’s her appetite?”

Fuck no, I wasn’t doing this. “She’s fine,” I insisted. “She’s tired—she’s getting older. That’s normal.” I swallowed hard as a memory struck. Yesterday, before we hit the road, she hadn’t jumped up into the truck. I’d had to lift her. But that was normal too. As I’d said, she was getting older.

“Her appetite, Blake.”

I sighed and quickly grew frustrated. “I don’t know, I guess she eats less these days—but not by a lot, and Mom still gives her food on the sly.” Or she had, up until yesterday.

“Well, it could be nothing.” David cranked up the reassurance in his tone; only, the damage was already done. Now I wasn’t gonna be able to sleep. My stomach tightened with nerves, and anxiousness constricted my chest. “I just want to make sure. Better safe than sorry, right?”

“But something triggered this,” I argued. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know yet,” he responded patiently. “Her lymph nodes are swollen, but there could be a number of reasons.”

“I swear to Christ, you’re the grim reaper, David. This is Grits and Blitz all over again!”

I got my first dog at nineteen, around the same time David was in veterinary school, and he was the one who suspected Grits was sick. After two expensive weeks at the clinic, my pup was put down because of a birth defect in his lungs.

Twelve years later, it was my second dog’s turn. David discovered Blitz’s cancer.

“We shouldn’t have come here,” I said irritably and picked up Oppy. I didn’t want him to go near my brother. “You stay with Daddy now, you hear? David gives you cancer and broken lungs.”

Oppy merely wagged his tail and breathed excitedly, tongue poking out.

We were at David’s clinic first thing next morning, arriving ten minutes before his overzealous assistant Benjamin. Benjamin hit on me every time I visited, but the kid was barking up the wrong tree. We had the same taste in men.

Maybe Sebastian would like him.

Under normal circumstances, David let family members be present during most exams—as long as the owner’s energy contributed to a calm atmosphere. Since mine clearly didn’t, I was banished to stay behind in the waiting room.

I wasn’t equipped to handle shit like this. Relationships, I could run away from. Hell, I’d never really had one. Parents, I could avoid—even more so when they didn’t even want me around. Jobs, I could quit. But my dogs? My dogs were my world. The only creatures I surrendered my heart to willingly and unconditionally. My siblings and nieces and nephews were the exception, though that was different. I didn’t need them for my everyday well-being. I didn’t have to see them every day. Rosie, Percy, and Oppy were my own little family. I depended on them almost as much as they depended on me.