Chapter 18: Uncharted Wat (1/1)

The drive to the grocery store wasn’t all that different from the first time I’d let this beautiful creature into my car, except for the fact that I actually knew where we were headed. JB sat to my right, perfectly content with his surroundings. His eyes flickered from window to window as he took in the sites before him as if they were something spectacular. I could almost picture him with ears pointed at attention and his tail wiggling back and forth erratically from his uncontained excitement which became short-lived as we pulled up in front of our friendly neighborhood Publix.Backing up into the empty space, I placed the car in park before reaching over to unbuckle the seat belt. With my phone in hand, I exited the car, waiting patiently for JB to do the same before clicking the car lock button. “Is this where you buy the paw paws?” JB asked, curiosity lacing his voice.“Nope, they aren’t that popular in the states. I usually have to drive a bit further out of town or order them specially.” I replied as I waited for him to join me behind the car.He looked at me, his head cocked to the side in a silent question before finally voicing his thoughts. “Then why did you ask if I had them if they are so hard to find?”I couldn’t help but picture the little fluffy husky again, a soft chuckle escapes me before I can shake off the image. His brows furrowed in confusion at my sudden amusement which only made me laugh even harder. “Trying to be optimistic, for once, should’ve known how that’d turn out.” I responded in between laughs, my words becoming clipped off at the end. “Ready?” I asked more out of concern than I should’ve been. Even though I had basically threatened myself into maintaining a detached relationship with JB, the health care provider in me felt worried about how much he was straining himself and his leg these past few days.Brushing off my question, he walked past me and towards the market entrance. My eyes couldn’t help but follow him as he went. His gait was smooth as he walked beside me with minimal limp almost as if he were in perfect condition. I knew better though. He was hiding his pain behind a seemingly carefree façade. I was just hoping that I wasn’t the cause. My mind raced back to the disgruntled sound he’d made in the kitchen this morning after making breakfast. I was pretty sure that he hadn’t woken up at the crack of dawn to prepare all of those wonderful dishes for him alone. I could tell he’d strained himself a bit too much. Leaning over the stove cooking for such a long time puts a lot of stress on the back as well as the knees. A sharp pain erupted in my chest at the thought of him hurting himself just to please me.“You okay?” I looked up from the ground, unaware of the fact that I had stopped walking, to find JB a hair’s breadth away, looking down at me with concern.“Ecstatic” I replied in a harsh tone before walking off, my defense mechanisms kicking in as I became rudely aware of the outburst of emotions I was suddenly feeling for him.We walked into the grocery store in silence. As I calmed myself down I became acutely aware of the smooth predator beside me. His movements contained the grace of a feline with the demanding and controlling aura of an alpha. Whenever I made eye contact with the opposite sex, he’d find some way to make us seem more intimate than he and I both were with one another, whether that’d b