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Chapter Thirty Eight

Gareth

"What do you want me to do?"

"Good question," Frank replied, scratching his muzzle. "I'm worried that if Anthony is rattled he might get more desperate. How about you sit in the truck whilst I look at Mr Peterson's place, and then we go back to Marcus' and think about it over a cup of tea?"

"Okay," Gareth replied nervously.

"I might go and check on the Mansfield place today too," Frank continued.

"In case not-dad tries burning it?" Gareth asked.

"Yup."

Gareth nodded and glanced out of the window as the countryside flashed by. He was still smarting after Frank had laughed at his question about hitting on him.

First Frank takes my number two crush, drives Ralph away, and then he laughs at me! Wait, Marcus isn't my crush anymore.

Gareth couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Frank asked.

"Oh, nothing," Gareth replied, not wanting to dig himself a deeper hole. "Um, why did Ralph leave?"

"His boyfriend came back," Frank explained.

"Oh?"

"I think they were happier together," Frank shrugged.

Gareth nodded.

"Are you happy with Marcus?" he asked cautiously.

"Am I happy with him?" Frank repeated in a confused tone.

"Yeah, are you two an item now?" Gareth asked. Frank let out a second laugh and Gareth splayed his ears. "But you two sleep together," Gareth added in a defensive voice, only this prompted more laughter from the wolf.

"Well, um, yeah," Frank replied as his laughter collapsed into a nervous chuckle. "But no, we're not an item."

Gareth turned to look out of the window as they drove into the village. The old stone cottages passed them by as Frank drove them through the centre. They turned into a road that led alarmingly close to not-dad's place before turning into another street where they pulled up outside a thatched cottage.

"Shan't be a minute," Frank said before climbing out.

Gareth watched as the wolf pushed his way through the garden gate before pulling his phone out. He rested his head against the window and wished he had brought a book along to read.

His phone showed he had one new message and he opened it, expecting to see Oliver's name displayed.

Instead, he noticed it was from his mother.

Gareth, please come home when you can. I'm not feeling good. Mum x

Gareth frowned and texted back Are you ok?

His phone stayed silent. Gareth thumbed the call button and then pressed it. The tone rang and rang.

"Pick up, pick up," Gareth muttered, but the call went straight to voice mail.

He glanced over at the cottage Frank had walked into but there was no sign of the wolf anywhere. Instead, he wrote off a quick text to Frank; emergency at home, gotta go and climbed out of the truck.

Arseny's place was only a short walk away but Gareth quickened his pace (something he seldom wanted to do) as he reached the open gates.

The house seemed quiet as he neared the front door, but he noticed his mother's Mini Cooper was parked on the driveway.

Cautiously, Gareth pushed the front door open and stepped inside.

"Hello?" he called. "Mum?"

There was no answer, but he thought he could hear raised voices coming from the direction of the study.

Gareth frowned and crept along.

The voices grew louder as he made his way down the hall.

"You know this is private, you should not be snooping around here!"

"I wasn't snooping, I was trying to do some cleaning for you."

Gareth recognised Arseny and his mother talking in raised tones.

"That's Nina's job!" not-dad shouted.

Ah yes Nina, the vixen who is supposed to do the cleaning but you spend all day flirting with or trying to put your paws up her skirt, Gareth thought to himself.

He was tempted to march into the study and tell not-dad off.

"And you're writing about burning something?" mum asked. "What is that all about?"

"That's private!"

"Are you burning something down?"

Not-dad really isn't clever when it comes to hiding anything!

"No, that's nonsense! As I say, you should not be snooping around here."

"I was cleaning!" mum sobbed.

Gareth clenched his fists into balls and was about to advance forward and then Arseny shouted back.

"Well, clean somewhere else! And I noticed your son keeps leaving his bike laying around, I need to sort him out."

Sort him out?

Gareth's bravado turned to fear and he bolted down the hallway.

The front door was still ajar and Gareth slipped outside.

Is he going to murder me, or is he going to murder mum?

The thought raced through his mind as he hurried down the driveway.

He could feel himself panting and his tongue was hanging out as he raced through the centre of the village. An elderly badger was standing on top of a very rickety and precarious looking ladder and trying to put up some colourful bunting, no doubt for the upcoming village festival.

The badger fixed Gareth a funny look as he raced by but Gareth ignored him and kept running.

His pace slowed to a wheezing and staggering walk as he turned into the country lane where Honeysuckle Lodge sat.

God, this is still weird running to Frank for help!

Gareth felt as if he was about to collapse as he stumbled up the garden path to the front door.

He reached for the handle but inside he could hear raised voices from behind the door.

Gareth frowned, crouched down and cocked an ear towards the letterbox.

"I don't fucking want him here!"

_ "He'll behave, I'll make sure of it."_

_ "Ugh, I still don't want him around!"_

Gareth felt his heart lurch unpleasantly.

"Are they talking about me?" he pondered out loud.

Not-dad still wants to kill me, and now I can't stay here.

A robin was sitting on the garden fence, it looked at Gareth before chirping merrily and hopping off.

"At least someone can fly away," Gareth sighed.

The only other place he could think of was Oliver's. He hurried around the corner and up to the Durrence's front door.

He knocked and waited, shifting anxiously on one hind paw to another.

The door opened and he found himself face to face with Oliver's mum.

"Oh hello there Gareth," she said, fixing him a friendly smile.

"Hello, is Oliver in?" Gareth asked.

"Oh no, I'm afraid not."

"Oh"

"He said he was going out to meet a friend from work, I think he said she was a caracal but he didn't say much and left in a hurry," Oliver's mum explained.

"Of course he did," Gareth mumbled.

"Would you like me to tell him you stopped by?"

Gareth was about to answer when his phone began ringing. He slid it out and glanced at the screen. He felt an unpleasant lurch in his chest as he saw Arseny was trying to call him.

"I gotta go!" he said before hurrying down the path.

Where am I even going?

He thought he heard Oliver's mother call after him before she closed the front door. His phone was still ringing in his paw but he swiped to cancel the call.

Oh god not-dad is coming for me!

A hiding place had to be found immediately, which was easier said than done; Marcus and Frank were having a domestic, Oliver was with his Caracal and Arseny could drive through the village looking for him.

"Think Gareth, think," he chuntered.

Oh shit, could not-dad track my phone?

Part of Gareth's mind knew the idea was ridiculous, but the panicky side took over. He slipped his sim card of the phone and tossed it into the Durrence's garden, and then sighed and tossed his whole phone into the flowerbed for good measure.

In his panicked mind, Gareth suddenly realised there was somewhere he could hide out, and no one would think to look there.