The War of Roses Read Online Free Page A

away.
    “How —how did you know where to find me?” she asked, feeling lost.
    “I didn’t.  I’m not the only one out looking for you.  I got lucky and found you— just in time.”
    “I’m the lucky one,” Bonnie said sincerely.
    She buried her face in Damon’s shoulder, feeling her shivering slow down.  The problem came when they reached the side door of her dormitory.
    “Come on,” Bonnie said, unburying herself.  She made clicking noises with her tongue, all the time watching the big white dog.  “Good boy, come on in!”
    “Steady on there.  Bonnie, you can’t bring a—an animal that size inside.  You know that!”
    “But you don’t understand—he helped me—I was so scared, but then he was so scared.  He’s my dog, now.  He’s a good—”
    “Bonnie, you can’t keep a pet in college.  Oh, well, maybe a hamster.  But not an enormous white dog.”
    “ He’s an Alaskan Husky.  I know because my cousin had one.  And I want him.”  Irrationally, Bonnie felt tears come, leaking out of her eyes and tracing their way down her cheeks.  “I’m going to name him and feed him . . . and besides, where’s he going to go if I don’t take care of him?”
    “He can take care of himself.  Does he look as if he’ s ever missed a meal in his life?”
    Bonnie, gazing at the white dog’s furry, healthy body, had to admit that he didn’t look like a stray. 
    “He doesn’t even have a collar—”
    “No, and I doubt he’d be grateful if you put one on him.  Bonnie, you know you can’t keep him, don’t you?”
    More tears spilled .  Bonnie reached out toward the animal and Damon let her down so that she could put her arms around it.
    “I’m sorry, but you have to go away now,” she whispered.  “ He says I can’t keep you.  Maybe someday I’ll see you again.  You’re a good boy.”
    The white dog, heavy and warm and solid in her arms, nosed her curls for a moment and then gave her a giant lick right in the middle of the face.
    “Oh, yu ck!”  It made Bonnie stop crying and giggle.  “Good boy,” she said one last time, and wiped her face on her sleeve.
    She took a deep breath and then allowed Damon to guide her into the dorm in front of him.  The door shut behind them and Bonnie’s heart ached when she thought that the white dog might be staring at it in bewilderment, wondering why he wasn’t allowed to follow them.
    She choked up again and had to keep blinking away tears as Damon escorted her up to the second floor where she and Meredith shared a room near Elena. 
    Time to face the music, she told herself.  At least it distracted her from the pain in her heart.
    Damon didn’t go all the way to her room, though.  He stopped at Elena’s door and knocked three times, paused, and then knocked three more times.
    The door opened to reveal Elena, mobile in hand, breaking off a sentence with an exclamation of: “Bonnie!  Oh, thank God!”    And then, while hugging Bonnie fiercely : “It’s all right, Matt; Damon found her.  She feels freezing cold, but she looks okay.”
    Behind Elena, Meredith was also on her mobile.  “Jim, Damon just brought her inside.  She’s fine.  Oh, Lord ; I’m so sorry to have bothered you, but thank you so much for searching!”
    Caroline was in the armchair, hands clasped o ver her stomach.  “Where were you?” she asked bluntly, eyeing Bonnie’s nightgown.
    By that time Meredith was hugging Bonnie even more fiercely than Elena had. 
    “Bonnie, how could you?  We’ve been going crazy looking for you!”
    “I sleepwalked,” Bonnie said, embarrassed and defensive.  “I woke up at Lerner Hall.”
    “The night after we discover you need constant protection you begin to sleepwalk?” Elena asked, looking from Bonnie to Damon in consternation.
    “Why Lerner Hall?” Meredith asked at almost the same instant.
    “Are you sure you’re not just doing it for attention ?” Caroline said, as coolly as if it were an