Maybe taking Annabelle to the dog shelter was a bad idea...

"OH MY GOSH LOOK AT ALL OF THESE DOGS! THEY ARE SO CUTE I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE ACTUALLY GETTING ONE!" She yelled, quickly getting hushed by our guide. "Oop... sorry."

"You'll have to excuse my friend, sir. She's an animal cooer." I apologize with a laugh to the man. He shrugged and nodded.

"I just wasn't expecting that. Anyways, is there anything specific you're looking for?" The man asked, earning a shake of the head from me.

"Just a puppy or one year old." I answer. I've never really been around animals growing up, living in the city, animals were a rarity, especially in upper class homes like mine. Of course you'd see the ones in handbags but the people I lived around were older and hated animals. My mother wasn't a fan either.

We walked past all types of dogs, pity filling my gut. I would love to get an older dog, but I want someone to hike with and move with, not just be lazy with.

"These are our puppies," the man said, motioning to five cages of puppies. It's no surprise that there were so little, knowing that people love puppies. I began to walk, looking at every cage. There was a chihuahua, a bulldog, a golden retriever, a Rottweiler, and a beagle.

Annabelle was quick to start playing with the puppies, cooing at their squeaky yaps. I smiled at the scene, but none of them truly caught my attention. They'd easily be housed in the proper homes. Chihuahuas are popular in this area, bulldogs are the red necks of the areas favorite, golden retrievers are also a favorite, so are Rottweilers, and beagles are also a small popular dog.

However, in the corner of my eye, I spotted another cage. This one had 2 dogs: one was a puppy Bernese mountain dog, the other an old sarabi mastiff (a rare breed). Walking over to the dogs, I squat and wave to them.

The puppy whined and flopped it's way over to me, making me smile at its goofiness. The older dog took a moment before getting up and limping it's way over to me. They both seemed quite happy to see me.

"Sir? What about these two?"

~

Offender tuned out his brother and his swirled his whiskey in his glass. He couldn't stop thinking about (Y/n)'s pretty little finger swirling her drink when they first met. She's been fun to be around, and he's much rather be with her than listening to Slender discussing numbers.

Trender was surprisingly kind to (Y/n): Offender had expected him to be snippy with her. To his surprise, (Y/n) and Trender got along quite nicely. Of course, Offender couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy when (Y/n) mentioned a three way earlier. Sure, he laughed, but that was before realizing she was serious. He knew she also had that idea with Trender.

Offender knew that he couldn't get upset with her though. This isn't anything more than a friends with benefits, soon he'll find a new victim and she'll be a rotting carcass.

"You're thinking about her." Trender mumbled to Offender, catching him off guard.

"What?"

"You're thinking about her. You blushed and your grip on your drink tightened."

"Shut it." Offender growled before pulling out a cigarette. He lit it and blew smoke in Trender's face.

"Offender. You are not allowed to smoke inside." Slender growled, annoyed, seeing as he already had to break up the fifth fight of today and it was only 1.

"Yeah yeah. I'll be back later." Offender huffed, teleporting outside and smoking his cigarette. He felt his phone buzz and was quick to grab for it.

"Well you're quite excited. Is this girl really so wonderful? I mean she was certainly nice." Trender asked, standing beside his brother with a fist on his hip.

Offender almost dropped the phone in denial. He breathed in deeply trying to stay calm. He knew he couldn't truly lie to any of his brothers, he wasn't very good at lying, and Trender was definitely the one who knows the most about Offender's human relationships. Usually they're dead or traumatized by now though.

"If she's truly a keeper, why not make it serious? She clearly likes you beyond sex and you clearly like her." Offender paused and stared at the ground, a frown on his lips. Trender took a deep breath and sighed, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"It's time to move on. (Y/n) seems like a good new start for you." Trender comforted. Offender didn't move, just continued to stare. Trender sighed and took his phone from him, opening up the message then laughed.

Offender quickly snatched the device from him and looked at the image. In the image was (Y/n) getting kisses from two dogs, her face red and makeup smeared. The text read: "You think you make bad decisions? I just got two dogs instead of one."

He chuckled and felt his cheeks heat up. Why he was acting like a love sick teenager he'd never understand. When the dots came and (Y/n) was typing, Offender awaited her text, staring at the screen with an excited smile.

"Can't wait to introduce you." Offender smiled widely at the message and blushed, responding with a smirking emoji and a thumbs up. Snapping himself out of it though, he shook his head and turned off the device, tucking it back into his pocket.

"There's nothing going on, Trender! She's just another victim!" Offender growled, storming off back inside where he found Splendor begging to have Sally spend the weekend with him. That's when Offender remembered how excited (Y/n) sounded at the idea of meeting his brothers. He growled in jealousy and annoyance and tilted his hat further down.

Trender soon arrived next to him and waited for the meeting to go back to normal. During the rest of the meeting, Offender couldn't stop thinking about his plan to kill (Y/n) before he got way too attached to her.

~

I put the dogs to bed in their new dog beds. They were just in the corner of my room for now, but they seemed quite content as long as they were together. It's been quite the fun pst three hours and (Y/n) was more than ready to go to bed.

First, though, she decided to call her mother. Or at least what used to be her mother's phone number. When she called there was only static after the message: "The number is either shut down, you're blocked, or the user just isn't currently available at this time."

"Hi mom, it's been a while and some things have happened. I hope you're enjoying life with Brynn and I hope dad's doing well. It's been 12 years since I've seen you guys so it's be nice if you actually called me one day, even if you were just down on your luck." I rambled to my phone as I turned on the shower then went to the kitchen for a quick snack.

"I just got two dogs, they're wonderful, I know how much you loved animals. The new house is nice and my life is pretty well put together. You know, despite losing two friends and a boyfriend. Though something amazing did come from that. I met this absolutely amazing guy who's just so funny and helpful, not to mention amazing in bed. We're not dating though which I guess doesn't sound that great, but you'll never hear this anyway."

The kitchen fell into silence as I felt my eyes begin to water. I bit the small circle of cheese and swallowed. Maybe I'll open a bottle of wine later, but for now I just want to wilt in my sorrow.

"Well, I hope you like New York and I hope Brynn is treating you well. I love you, goodbye." I ended the phone call and sighed loudly. The house already felt empty and I now had two dogs. I missed Smexy and Annabelle, but a shower is the only thing that could slightly make up for their warmth.

Long and warm was the best option for me as I just enjoyed my body and the new found cleanliness of my hair. My (h/l) (h/c) locks eventually getting tucked back so I don't burn my eyes and my legs freshly shaven. Loving my body was definitely going to be the theme of tonight.

Once I was out of the shower, I dried off and put on a lingerie set that showed everything off nicely. Then, I poured myself a glass of wine and got a small plate of cheese. I placed my treats on the side of my bed and watched some tv. I ate and drank before slowly drifting off, unaware to the man stalking me in the corner.

Offender walked up to the woman whose existence he had been enjoying for way too long. He examined her body and tried to tell himself that she was nothing, just a human he could torment. She was only someone he'd play with for a while before killing.

Her smile made that thought difficult though and her soft skin was already turning him on. A frown took over his lips as he saw the burnt skin on her stomach. It was something that happened with her ex, at least that's what he had been told, he'd use her as an ashtray when he was drunk and/or high. To think this radiant rose would be with such a horrible man.

Offender began to carefully wrap his tendrils around her neck and brush another against her lips. He almost purred from the delight of feeling her soft lips on his sensitive skin, though he kept it in to avoid her waking up. He began to tighten his grip, but at the first signs of struggle he stopped. Quickly, he made sure she was ok.

"Shit..." he examined her neck, finding it slightly reddened and her smile had turned into a frown. It held despair so his lips copied. In the moment, he was tempted to kiss her, to make it feel better. Unfortunately he knew he'd just feel worse.

Offender sighed and ran his finger gently through her hair. "I'll see you tomorrow, my rose."