Pawsitively Improvised

Four Legged Conspiracies

Chapter 16

She looked about the apartment in complete disarray. It was going to take the rest of the night to clean the entire place up. She would be lucky if the chaos didn’t start again while she was busy. One thing was for sure, she wouldn’t be leaving the three of them unattended anymore that night. She learned her lesson.

“Thanks for getting me back into my apartment, Jude. I appreciate it. I’ll walk you to the door.”

“Oh no, you don’t. I can’t leave you to clean this up alone. Let’s get started and in a couple hours we can order some pizza.”

“You don’t have to do that.” He was already shaking his head before she finished.

“My momma would be disappointed with my manners if I didn’t. She raised me better than that. Besides, it won’t take long between the two of us. What do you say?” She took a moment to gauge if he was serious or not. The Jude that was facing her was the same man who gave her swim lessons. He wasn’t joking around. She would be lying if she told him she didn’t need his help.

“Pizza for dinner sounds good.” He graced her with a broad smile.

“Then let’s get started.”

It didn’t take long before the apartment was looking better. For the most part, the animals behaved while they were cleaning. Choosing to either nap or stare at them as they worked. They were too behaved for her to feel comfortable with it. Like the calm before the next storm. She kept a close watch on them to be safe. Jude kept a steady stream of light conversation going. She was too distracted with her attention divided for anything more than that. Either he noticed and wasn’t pushing for more or he didn’t like silences and was rambling to fill it.

“So, is this your vicious attack dog?” Kira fumbled with the vase in her hands as her gaze shot to where Jude was petting her pooch.

“His name is Renaldo. Everyone else calls him Randy for short, for obvious reasons.” Jude chuckled as he met her stare.

“He’s not much of an attack dog.” She rolled her eyes. Her cheeks warmed from having been caught in her lie.

“I never said he would tear anyone limb from limb. He does attack people. I just never specified how.”

“More of a lover than a fighter, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

Of course, her fur baby, because of the attention he was getting, decided to do what he did best. Lunging for him, she ended up knocking Jude over in the process. She landed on top of him accidently, giving him a hard elbow in the gut. In reaction, Jude’s arms wrap around her, effectively pinning her to him. Renaldo took their prone position as an opportunity to take care of finishing his initial fun.

Before he could get really revved up, however, B.B. drew his attention. The cat wondered up beside them, growling with a piece of clothing in his mouth. From the lace and satin materials, Kira knew exactly what his catch was. B.B. was so proud of himself that he brought it right up to them before dropping it next to Jude’s head.

Renaldo took that moment to jump off them in pursuit of her cousin’s cat. She would have gone after the four-legged pair, but Jude was reaching out to pick up B.B.’s fresh kill. Throwing herself across him, she swiped up the cloth before he could get it. She chose to save herself the embarrassment, then to rescue the apartment. Too bad Gizmo saw it as a game.

Running up, he snatched it from her and raced across the room. Stopping, he faced off with them. His tail wagged with enthusiasm. He was waiting to be approached. Unfortunately, the cloth unfolded, showing off a pair of her powder blue thongs. She only owned two pairs of naughty underwear. It figured that B.B. would grab one of these and in front of Jude too. She could strangle Crystal and Anna. They were the ones who had each gotten her the lingerie sets as housewarming gifts. Instead of her cheeks heating, the warmth traveled from her chin to the roots of her hair.

B.B. ran in front of Gizmo with his tail poofed up. Renaldo was hot on his heels until he noticed the other dog’s new toy. Grabbing hold of the other end, the boys began to play tug of war. Before she could do anything, the doorbell rang.

“Pizzas here.” Her eyes drifted down to Jude’s, noticing his red face. Tears were brimming his eyes as his shoulders began to shake. She did not find the predicament the least bit amusing.

“You get the door, I’ll take…...that away from the dogs.” She couldn’t even say the word, which was apparently the last straw. Jude completely lost any semblance of composure as laughter burst from him. She may have growled at him before accidently on purpose slapping his arm as she got up.

Jude barely composed himself so he could answer the door. Kira, on the other hand, approached the dogs slowly, not wanting them to run with her underwear. She didn’t want the delivery person to see her unmentionables too. She grabbed onto the piece hoping she could get it away without incident. Nothing ever goes her way. The two of them changed positions to pull against her.

“Let go.” She hissed it angrily, trying to be quiet. The boys were not giving up, however, causing her to really start pulling against them. B.B. took that moment to run in behind her, making her stumble to avoid hurting him. The weight of her body ripped the thong. Without the resistance of the cloth, she tripped over her own feet. Her arms pinwheeled at her sides as she tried to regain her balance. It might have worked if she hadn’t tripped over the last of the clutter that was still on the floor. She closed her eyes simply expecting her fate at that point. It proved to be a mistake. When she relaxed into the fall, her grip slackened as well. Her broken undergarment flew from her hand, soaring past Jude’s shoulder to land on top of the pizza box the delivery girl had been handing over the threshold.

She heard it land upon the cardboard and the gasp of the girl once it did. She couldn’t open her eyes and look. She covered her face with her hands hiding away from the humiliation. Things couldn’t get any worse.