The Runt, Part 2.
#3 of The Runt.
The Runt.
Chapter 2.
By: Wolfie Steel.
After many awkward questions whilst at the hospital, Jake had his injuries assessed and was found to have suffered two slight fractures in his right leg, which with splinting and rest, would heal very nicely, plus a few other superficial injuries, which again given time would heal.
"Well Max, it's all very well knowing that I have to rest to heal, but where, I can't go back to my place, because the guy that did this, the one that you scared off by entering the alleyway, he will surely have my place staked out, and I don't doubt that your place is being watched too. I'm so sorry I got you involved in this, but from here on in, your life will not be the same again. You see the guy that did this, I loaned him money, I went to collect his latest payment, he hadn't got it and things turned nasty. The thing is, by your selfless act of rescuing me, you have now allied yourself to me, and in short you are now a marked Wolf."
I look at Jake and a smirk plays across my muzzle and I point out a few things to the Rott.
"First of all Jake, I am the runt of a litter of Wolves, hell my own pack have shunned me for years, I have no life and as of Monday, no place to stay, I walk down the sidewalk and people cross the street to get away from me, if I lay in the gutter dying, no one would even notice or do anything to help. Secondly, when I entered that alleyway, I did so of my own free will, I knew that there would be consequences for my act of being a Good Samaritan, for all I knew, the whimpers you gave off could have been a trap to lure an unsuspecting fur such as me into the alley and then for you to rob me of what little possessions I have. Being a Good Samaritan does have its risks, but it's who I am, on top of that, I lead a boring existence, so to find a little excitement is a welcome distraction."
Jake ponders my reply, maybe he can see in my eyes, the fact that everything I have just said is true, he looks at me again, and he gains his very own smirk and then speaks.
"So Max, you have no money, no life, no friends and I'm guessing a family that has pretty much disowned you. As for me, I have money, but like you, I have no friends, no family and now no home. I look at you and sure from the outside, you are not much to look at, but I have looked deeper and I see that you have what most would give their high teeth for, a heart of gold. Now I have no idea what you will say to this, hell, I've only just met you, but your act of kindness deserves the truth from me, so here goes, I am a gay money lender, which does come in very handy, if one of my clients can't pay up, then I take it out of their butts, literally. For a long time now, I have been considering getting out of the business, finding a mate and settling down, and you could say that this latest episode has forced me to think even harder about that, so Max now to my question, will you make me a happy rich Rottweiler?, will you become my mate?"
My muzzle hits the floor with some force at the question, sure he was a handsome dog, proportioned as only a Rottweiler can be, and yes I admit to being somewhat turned on by him, but I could not for the life of me work out what he saw in me. I have two options, first, I could turn him down and once he is fit and well again, go back to my old life, sure that would mean constantly looking over my shoulder and would most certainly mean a life lived on the streets. Second, I could accept him as my mate; he is sexy and rich beyond the realms of avarice, but, he also has many enemies, so again, I will be constantly looking over my shoulder. I look at the Rott and make my reply.
"Okay Jake, let's say for argument's sake that I do take you as my mate, if that were to happen, I would insist on changes being made. First, the money lending business is closed down; I will allow you to get your outstanding debts from your most trusted clients, second, once all your affairs are in order, we leave town for good, you will sell your old home and we will live somewhere new, somewhere we are not known, and third just for added piece of mind, we get new identities, if you agree to all of these conditions without question, then I will happily become your mate."
Jake considers what I have just told him and lets out a deep sigh of resignation, and then agrees to my terms. We head back to my old clunker, I gently help him into the passenger seat and we head out from the hospital parking lot, as we do, I look in my rearview mirror and see a suspicious car following us, to make sure that I'm not just being paranoid, I make a few turns down side streets, sure enough, the mysterious car follows, I turn to Jake and realise that his seat belt is not on.
"Jake, you may want to buckle up, because we have company."
Jake adjusts the rear view mirror so that he can see the mysterious car, and then puts his seat belt on, which kind of confirms my fears.
"Max, I don't care what you do, lose him, that is Ricky 'The Butcher' Finch, the guy that did this to me, he is psychotic and if he catches us, he will kill us both."
I push my paw further down on the accelerator and the engine screeches and screams at me as we begin to pick up speed. Ricky's car picks up the pace too as he now knows that we have seen him. I head as fast as my car can go, towards a river bridge; I turn towards Jake and speak.
"Jake, I know that you are injured and can not swim, but I want you to take off your safety belt, I'm going to ditch us into the river, that way, Finch will think that we have perished, I know it will be difficult, but before we hit the water, hold your door open, that way once we hit the water, I can swim to you and get you out, and don't worry, I may be the runt of the litter, but I can swim pretty good."
Jake looks at me with resignation plastered all over his face, he was about to put his life squarely in the paws of a wolf he had only just met. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion, my car hits the curb at speed, which then sends it airborne, suddenly there is a huge splash as the car hits the water. I quickly force my door open the rest of the way and swim out. I duck under the water and swim to the passenger side of the car, thankfully, Jake is still holding the door open, though he now obviously fears for his life, as he struggles to get out from the car.
The car is now sinking fast, and I know that I have but seconds to get the injured dog out. I place my paws on the door handle and summon up all of my energy, slowly the door opens fully and I gently slip in and lift Jake from the seat and free from the car. With Jake in my arms, I know that I will never make it to the other side of the river, my only hope is that I can hide us well enough at the nearest river bank until Finch is satisfied that we are dead.
I find a fallen tree branch at the river's edge and hide us both underneath it whilst holding onto one of the branches lower limbs. I look up from my hiding place and watch as Finch's car turns around and speeds off with tires squealing. I wait for a few more minutes, to be sure that the maniac has left; I then take Jake's paw and clasp it firmly to the branch so that I can get out of the river.
With me now on the river bank, I take hold of Jake's paw again and slowly drag him from the river. By now, my old clunker of a car is no more, but through its sacrifice, Jake and I are still alive. Again I place Jake's arm around my neck and slowly head towards the bridge, as we get to the bridge I need to make a decision, do I turn left and head back the way we came with the possibility of running into Finch again?, or do I turn right, cross the bridge and enter the neighbouring town, where hopefully no one knew either myself or Jake.
We turn right and head for the neighbouring town and the possibility of finding somewhere to dry off, Jake was already very badly injured, and I didn't want him to catch Pneumonia into the bargain. After just over two solid hours of walking, we arrive at a posh hotel and stumble up the steps towards the waiting doorman. The well presented German Shepard placed a strong paw on my shoulder, preventing me from going any further, and then he looked down at Jake and seemed to do a double take and spoke.
"Mr. Black? Mr. Jake Black, is that you sir? What the hell is going on? Ok wolf, you got ten seconds to start explaining why you have one of the richest furs in six counties, draped like a rag doll around your neck? And I warn you, it had better be good."
I look to the Shepard, and I begin my explanation. After five minutes I finish my tale.
"....I ditched the car in the river, managed to get us both out, and headed into town, and well....here we are."
The Shepard now had a more kindly look to his muzzle; he could see that we were both wet from the river, he asked us to wait by the door whilst he went inside to call the manager of the hotel. Five minutes later the Shepard walks back outside, with a tall well dressed Horse right behind him, the Horse introduces himself.
"My name is Michael P. Foxworth, and I'm the manager of this establishment, my dear wolf, if it had just been you standing on these steps, I would have asked Kyle here to make mincemeat out of you, however, the fact that you have Mr. Black wrapped around your neck, tells me that you are both in some sort of trouble, it is for that reason alone, that I will allow you in, I will give you the keys to Mr. Black's usual room, the Penthouse Suite, and I will send up a fresh change of clothes and some dry towels, if you will please follow me."
Still supporting Jake's body, I walked us both through the revolving doors, following in the well turned hoof steps of the manager. Once at the front desk, the manager handed me the key to the Penthouse Suite along with the key to activate the private elevator.
A bellboy joins us and helps support Jake's weight as by now, I'm running on my last reserves of energy, I put the elevator key into the slot and activate it, once the elevator arrives, we step in and head straight to the Penthouse. Once at the Penthouse, we exit the elevator and the bellboy helps me sit Jake on the bed and then leaves.
With the bellboy gone, I begin the task of getting us both out of our soaking wet clothes and walk us both to the hot tub, I ease Jake down onto the side of the tub whilst I start to fill it with water and activate the jets. With the tub now ready, I lift the Rottweiler and slowly we both enter the tub, once in the tub, I gently ease the canine down to the tub seat, and then take a seat next to him. We stay there for ten to fifteen minutes, suddenly I see Jake begin to open his eyes, with his eyes open he slowly looks around the room and then with a hoarse voice, speaks.
"Max, where are we?"
"We are at a hotel by the name of The Hilton Metropole."
For the first time in a while I see the faint signs of a weak smile breaking out across Jake's muzzle.
"Ah, good choice Max, and judging by the fact that we are in the Penthouse, I'm guessing that you have met Mike Foxworth, but one thing I am a little hazy about, if we are in the hot tub and both naked, how did we get naked?"
I blushed heavily at the question, which seemed to give the dog all the answers he needed. He did not push the question further but just rested his head on my shoulder, for me, I knew that this was now or never, so I plucked up the courage and spoke.
"Jake, earlier, you asked if I would be your mate, and I said as long as changes were made, I would now like to reaffirm that, get us a new life, and I will become yours."
I gently placed my paw on Jake's member and gave a few gentle strokes, which elicited a throaty moan from Jake. I was just about to get lost in my pawing of Jake when the elevator bell rang again to announce that someone was in the room. The Horse peeked his head around the bathroom door and noticed Jake's head resting on my shoulder.
Jake looked at the Horse from my shoulder and spoke.
"Hey Mike, thanks for giving my new mate the key to the Penthouse, but I would like to ask you one more favour, one of my clients is out to get me, so, I would appreciate you keeping our being here a secret."
The Horse nodded and spoke.
"Mr. Black, whilst you and your....mate are here, you will both be afforded the utmost discretion, oh and incidentally, I took the liberty of purchasing some new clothes from the hotel clothing boutique for both you and your companion, I have put them on the bed, I have also brought some clean dry towels for you both. As regards your old clothes, I can either have them cleaned and sent back to the room or if you wish, I can have them destroyed."
Jake looks to me and then back to the Horse and replies.
"Mike, just burn them, I will settle the debt for the new clothes in the morning, and right now we are both really tired and would like to get some sleep."
Again, the Horse nodded and left the Penthouse and headed back to the front desk, to make sure that we were not disturbed for the rest of the night.