I grinned. “Gunner fed the dog outside three slices, Ma.”
Her smile went soft. “That dog.”
I knew why she was saying “that dog” like that.
My sister, Seely, had a dog that looked a lot like the mutt in the back.
When Seely had died, the dog had died a few weeks later.
My mom liked to say that Seely dying had broken the dog’s heart, and he hadn’t been able to go on without her.
Whatever the reason for his sudden death—it was just another blow after Seely’s passing.
That was partially why I hadn’t really wanted anything to do with any more dogs.
Getting close to them meant I would lose something else, and honestly, I was fuckin’ tired of losing important pieces of my life.
If I were being truthful, that was likely why I’d pushed so hard to stay away from Silver as long as I had. I had a feeling she could break my heart if I let her in.
And now that I knew that I loved her, now that she owned every single piece of my heart, if she ever exited my life, I knew that she’d be taking me with her when she went.
Not that I would go with her purposefully, but I’d be living half a life without her.
I reached in my pocket for the phone that I’d been ignoring until now—not because I wanted to, but because grease was so damn hard to pull off my phone screen and out of the crevices.
I grinned when I saw one from Eedie and one from Silver.
I clicked on Eedie’s first and was glad I did.
It was a photo of Silver in the middle of the ocean, a lei in front of her floating beside her hip. She had a bikini on, and the coral color made her skin appear tan and beautiful.
Fuck, but she was gorgeous.
She was also smiling at the camera with a look so soft that I felt it deep in my heart.
I saved it to my camera roll and immediately saved it as my lock screen.
But when I switched over to Silver’s photo, it wasn’t something beautiful like Eedie had sent me.
It was a picture of Silver again, but this one probably seconds after the first one was taken.
It was a photo of Silver freaking out and her looking down at the water horrified. And in the frame, right next to her crotch, was a jellyfish.
“Oh, fuck.” I had to laugh. “Wonder if that got her.”
“The jellyfish?” Cutter asked, showing me the photo he’d gotten.
My mouth fell open as I saw the angry red lines across Silver’s thighs.
“Oh, no.”
“Look at the one that got Milena.” Cutter swiped to the next photo.
“Oh, man,” I said. “That’s gonna hurt. Do you think they peed on it?”
“I think that’s a myth.” Cakes frowned.
“Let me ask Dr. Google,” Chevy said as he swiped at his phone.