Free The Ties That Bind by Andi Marquette

switch and I tightened my grip on my bat. She turned the porch light on and something skittered across the porch floor. I flung the curtains open and scanned outside. "Fucking dog," I muttered, catching a movement across the street that melted into shadow.
    "A dog?" came Sage's voice, low and urgent.
    I let go of the curtain and it fell back into place. "I think that's what it was." Had to be an animal, since it moved way too fast to be human.
    Sage slowly opened the curtains over her window then, and I waited, holding onto my bat like I was choking the life out of it. She gazed outside for a couple of minutes. Satisfied, she let go of the fabric and it settled back into place. She removed the magazine from her gun and stood tapping the cartridge against her bare thigh. "We forgot to turn the porch light on."
    "Clearly," I answered, though how that would deter a stray dog I didn't know.
    "Did you lock the back?"
    "Yeah. I think I turned the light on, too."
    We both turned toward the arched kitchen doorway behind us. I relaxed, recognizing the reflection on the linoleum floor as the glow of the back porch light. "I'll check the door again." I padded past the couches and the table into the kitchen. One door separated us from the mud room, a less-solid wooden door with a window about two-thirds of the way up. I opened it and crossed in three steps to the second wooden door--a match to the one I'd just opened. I tested it. Locked. Swallowing hard, I leaned my bat against a wall and unlocked it and opened it in order to check the metal barred and steel mesh security door beyond. I exhaled with relief. Locked. Out of habit, I glanced to the right, toward Jeff's place. His front porch light was on, as well. But he was pretty good about that. I closed the inner door and locked it again.
    "Okay?" Sage asked from the doorway into the front room as I closed the door that separated the kitchen from the mud room.
    "Yep. Everything was locked." I picked up my bat and followed her into the bedroom. She turned her bedside lamp on and returned her gun and magazine to its place in her dresser. I didn't put my bat under the bed this time. Instead, I leaned it against my bedside table. Sage climbed into bed and waited while I settled in before she turned the light off. She pressed her back against my front and I pulled her hard against me with my right arm, hand on her abdomen. She covered my hand with hers and I imagined a warm current moved back and forth between us.
    "You all right?" I asked.
    "Yeah. Just a little shaken up." She burrowed against me and I tried to get closer but I was already plastered to her back like a second skin. She fit so well here with me, the curves of her body complementing mine, the length of her legs tucked in close. A sense of connection settled over me, the warmth of a high desert morning after a long winter's night.
    "Pretty freaky," I acknowledged.
    "Very."
    We remained like that for a while until I felt Sage's body relax and her hold on my hand slipped.
    "I love you," I whispered as her breathing deepened. She mumbled something sleepily back. And I won't let anything happen to you. I kissed her cheek and arranged myself into a more comfortable position. I was more tired than I expected as I crashed from the earlier adrenaline blast. I sighed and closed my eyes. My last coherent thought was that dogs can't rap on windows.
     
     
    KARA CALLED AT 8:30 the next morning to let me know she was on her way. I hung up with her just as Sage emerged from the bathroom toweling her hair.
    "How's Kara?"
    "Good," I managed, staring at her.
    Sage looked up at me while finger-combing her hair. "And?" She was teasing me.
    "Okay, that's just not fair. I can't think when you walk around the house like that."
    "Like what?" She offered me a certain devilish smile.
    "Like some butt-ass naked wanton hussy." I moved toward her and pulled her against me. She rested her head against my shoulder, her arms around my waist. I inhaled,