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I winced when I looked atto require stitches

I had nu with these dogs were by far the most knohen it came to me

Gritting s and headed to Zach’s

When I arrived, it was to find a bright pink car pulling up behind me

I didn’t stop to spare the person a glance, irl that I hadn’t heard in quite some time

Two o, Zakelina had been shot by her father He’d shot her in the side of the face, and the bullet had gone through one side of her jaw and had co one surgery to repair the broken jaw and another involving plastic surgery on the entrance and exit wounds

Just last week, she’d been released froet back on track to being a little girl again

And hearing that little girl giggle was enough to make my heart fuckin’ race

I didn’t usually do girls Or pink Or anything that had to do with kids under the age of twelve

But that little girl had a special place in all of our hearts now and hearing her giggle was the highlight of oddamn day

Heading inside, I left the door open for the home health nurse that’d pulled in behind ht, hot pink cars—and headed for the giggling

I found the giggler in the room with a movie on the screen, and Zach on one side of her, with a sleeping Crockett on the other

My eyes took everything in, and I walked to the little girl and lightly tugged on a stray curl that I could see had escaped her ponytail

“Hey, Rotten,” I said “How are you today?”

Zakelina s off her pearly whites

“Hi, Larry,” she said through slightly clenched teeth “How are you?”

I held up my hand “I need to borrow your pillow I have a boo boo”

Zach grunted and got up just as there was a hesitant ‘hello?’ from the door I’d left open

Zach growled, stalking toward the door, and I let hi down over the couch to poke Crockett awake

She blinked at o save the poor hoets another one fired”

Crockett jolted up so fast that she stumbled