Tyson started howling as soon as he caught sight of his lead. Feeling guilty about neglecting him the last couple of days, I decided to take the big fella for a much deserved walk. Plus, it served as a distraction from continuously thinking about Chelsea while I waited for my mum to come home.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” I mockingly asked Aiden before I slipped out the back door.
“Nah, you go ahead, I wanna watch the end of this game,” he said, turning the volume up on the football game he had just flicked on.
“Yeah, right.” I closed the door behind me. It was a girls’ touch football game on one of the local networks. There was no way he would rather watch a bunch of girls running around in oversized clothing than stare at my ass for the next twenty minutes while I built up a sweat—which I happen to know he finds very sexy—if it wasn’t for the devil dog running beside me.
After wrestling with Tyson to get the halter over his head, we headed out the side gate, where I caught a glimpse of the nosy Mrs. Carson peeking out from behind the curtain on her front window. I waved at her, more to let her know that I caught her snooping than to say hello. She didn’t reciprocate. Instead, she shifted her gaze upwards, as if she was checking for any rain clouds in the clear blue sky, but I wasn't fooled. She was spying on me.
Lately, I had been getting a feeling of what people were thinking about. That morning when Aiden had said I was pretty much spot on with what Ben was thinking convinced me that I was developing my ability to hear people’s thoughts.
“Come on, boy,” I said to Tyson.
Ignoring Mrs. Carson’s blatant attempt at deception, I started jogging down the street. Tyson trotted beside me with his tongue hanging out, panting like he was about to have a heart attack. I probably should have waited until a little later in the evening before taking him out, rather than submitting him to the treacherous, midday heat.
I was about to turn back to head home when the stupid cat that poops in our front yard jumped from behind the bushes and snarled at us. Here we were, a human and a giant Rottweiler who would scare the crap out of anyone in their right mind, and that cat was baring its fangs and getting ready to jump us. “Dumbass cat,” I muttered under my breath.
Tyson was startled for only a second before he decided to show the stupid cat the size of his teeth. He let out a deep growl that sent my blood curdling—and he was my dog.
Before I knew it, the cat took off, and so did Tyson, dragging me behind him. I tried desperately to pull him up, but it was no use; Tyson was set on teaching that cat a lesson. How was it that I was able to punch Chrissy with such force to send her flying into the next table, yet I couldn’t even seem to restrain the dog?
The only choice I had was to let go of the lead, otherwise I would be flat on my face, being dragged by a fifty-kilo killer on a mission. So I let go and watched the cat run for its life, Tyson right on its tail.
Pain seared through the upper right side of my body when I pressed gently on my shoulder. My arm felt like it had been ripped from its socket, which it probably had, considering the speed at which Tyson took off after that cat.
I gently supported my hurt arm with my uninjured one and trudged back home, dog-less.
Aiden was waiting for me on my front porch. “I’m sure you had that devil of yours on a lead when you left,” he said, getting up from the step.
“Aren’t you even the least bit concerned about my arm?” I whined. I was sure that he would have swept me up in his arms and carried me inside to look after me.
“You hurt your arm, not your legs, but if you insist.” He swept me up into his arms and planted a kiss on my lips, making me forget all about the pain that should have been radiating from my arm.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the old prude next door shaking her head at us through the window. I pulled my lips away just enough to mutter, “I think we better take this inside.”
“You didn’t have to stop kissing me to tell me that,” he reminded me telepathically.
I had completely forgotten that we could do that. I had been communicating by talking for the last seventeen years, and it was going to take some time to change that.
“So, how’s the arm?” Aiden sat down on the sofa, still holding me in his arms.
I jerked myself up into a sitting position when I realised that the pain was no longer there. I prodded and probed my shoulder with my left hand. Nothing. I couldn’t believe it. My body was seriously capable of healing itself. I wondered how far that would go. If I jumped off a cliff, would I walk away unharmed?
“Promise me you’re never going to test that one out.” Aiden wore a seriously concerned look on his face.
“Of course I’m not. Do you really think that I would do something like that?”
“No, but…” He paused, his facial expression contorted as if remembering something bad. “People do some crazy things when they think they’re invincible.”
“What is it? What were you just thinking of?” I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know.
He sat there looking at me for a moment, probably considering whether he should tell me or not. “When I was younger, my parents told me about how our bodies are able to heal themselves quickly. Well, I decided to see for myself. Most of the kids in my neighbourhood were going through their superhero stage, where the really daring—and stupid—ones would jump off the roof of their single storey houses. Well, I thought that I could do one better, considering I was invincible and all. So I climbed out of a window of the top floor of our home and jumped off.”
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. Everything obviously ended up okay, considering he was sitting with me, but by the look on his face, I didn’t think it was all that easy for him.
“Let’s just say, I plummeted to the ground. Broke a few bones, my leg was facing the wrong way, and a whole heap of internal bruising.” He winced, remembering the pain.
My heart sank just thinking about the pain he must have suffered. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like, and there I was, wondering if I could do the same thing. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Just promise me you’ll never do anything dangerous, okay?”
“Cross my heart.”