A record player sat on a table below the shelves, and I squinted my eyes to read the record sitting on it. Bauhaus. I’d never heard of them, but it was probably because the album had come out in 1980.

“Didn’t you get enough of going through our shit last night?”

I whirled around, clutching my hand to my heart before it could leap out of my chest. Manson leaned against the door frame, arms folded as he watched me. Oh God, why did he have to look like that? All broody and irritated, regarding me through narrowed eyes as he tried to figure out what I was up to. He was wearing a shirt this morning, but the black fabric clinging to his frame didn’t make it any easier not to stare.

“I, um…the dog, she…I was trying to get her…” I waved my hand vaguely in the direction of Jojo, who thumped her tail happily as she lay curled up on Manson’s bed.

“Right,” Manson said. “It was Jojo. I guess you two have decided to get along?”

“I’m just glad she didn’t eat me,” I said. I was suddenly far too aware of the fabric of my dress brushing against my well-spanked backside. It made my skin prickle.

“Her bark is way worse than her bite,” he said, jerking his head toward the hall in an indication that I should follow him. “I don’t think Jojo is capable of biting anybody. Haribo is the one you have to watch out for.”

Following him down the stairs, past the kitchen on my right and the living room to my left, we reached the front porch. The day was warm and humid, but it felt like someone dropped a rock into my stomach as Manson hopped off the porch and trudged across the yard toward the garage.

“Um, I need to go get my stuff…” I said as Manson walked inside, his shoes crunching on glass. God, it looked even worse in daylight. The dents, the broken glass, the ruined paint…I must have looked sick because when he turned around to answer me, he looked alarmed for a moment.

“Are you good?” he said, and I nodded, motioning at the destruction around us.

“It’s just…it looks really…shocking. In daylight.”

He grimaced as he nodded. “Yeah. It’s bad. Which is why you don’t need your stuff yet.” He grabbed a push broom from the corner, holding it out toward me. “You’re going to get to work cleaning up all this glass. Then I’ll take you to pick up your car.”