Read Online Bearly A Squeak by Ariana McGregor - Free Book Online Page A

The dog continued to sit there, staring at them. It was a labradoodle, off-white in colour. It watched with its head tilted, tongue hanging out.
    Alex twisted a little to look. “It's just a dog.” He shrugged.
    She looked down at him. “It's watching us. The dog is a pervert and I am not doing this with him watching.” With that, she clambered off her mate and sat next to him. It was pure coincidence that her new position left her closer to the box of cheesecake. Honest. Poor cheesecake. She'd almost forgotten about it.
    Alex sighed and sat up, running his hand through his hair. As he turned to reach for a sandwich, she snaffled some cheesecake from the box. By the time he turned round again, she had a mouthful. A beautiful, beautiful mouthful of heaven. Alex merely raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.
    Alex tossed the dog some food. Big softie. They ate their food, chatting between bites. The picnic was fun. Tara discovered that it wasn't just the attraction of mates drawing her to him, she actually liked Alex. She enjoyed talking with him, spending time with him. She simply loved being around him. Meanwhile, the dog sat there, continuing to watch like a furry little stalker. She popped the last of her cheese sandwich into her mouth as Alex polished off the last salmon one.
    “Fancy seeing you here.”
    Her mouthful of sandwich suddenly seemed hard to swallow. She should have known Barry would turn up. She deliberately chewed and swallowed. Alex was here. There was a limit to what Barry would try with Alex present. Still, she refused to let her mate see her being weak. Just being around Alex had helped her to regrow a spine.
    “What do you want, Barry?” she asked. She was so proud that her voice didn't tremble. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes and refusing to look away. To her surprise, Barry looked away first and he did not seem happy about it.
    “I hope I'm not interrupting...” He smirked at her.
    “Yeah, you are,” Alex said, taking a drink from his bottle. He flicked at glance at Barry, clearly dismissing him as a threat.
    “I'm sorry,” he said. He didn't sound sorry in the slightest. “I was just walking and saw you here. I wondered if I might talk to Tara.”
    “You're talking to me now,” she pointed out. “You just haven't said anything interesting yet.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her. She stared him down and his face flushed. He wasn't used to assertive Tara. If they were alone, he'd be doing his best to assert control over her, but he couldn't do that with Alex around. Inside, Tara was quaking and desperate to get away. On the outside, she kept her expression controlled, refusing to give ground to her ex. She wasn't alone any more. It had taken time, but she'd rebuilt her life and regained her confidence. She had friends, she had family, she had Alex. Nothing was going to threaten that.
    Barry cleared his throat. “I meant, can I speak to you in private?”
    “No,” she said. “Anything you have to say to me, can be said in front of my mate.” She may have stressed that last word a little. She shrugged. “Besides, I doubt there's anything you can say that I actually want or need to hear. I know there's nothing I want to say to you.”
    Barry was now turning a rather alarming shade of red. Oh, he was angry. She knew. She'd seen that expression numerous times. It was often followed by several new bruises on her body. She'd rarely allowed him to get that angry before backing down, but it had happened once or twice. By the end, she'd been such a shell of herself that she'd spent all her time trying to please him. She never could, but at least she could avoid most of the major outbursts.
    She glanced at Alex. His shoulders looked a little tense, but otherwise he seemed calm. He gave her a little smile. He stayed out of the exchange, allowing her to handle it. Part of her wanted him to step in, but she knew that he was giving her a priceless gift. He was showing her that he thought