How To Steal A Heart

This summer

Chapter twenty-four: This summer (Jacob's POV)

After dinner, we all cleaned up before I went into Madison's room and grabbed a collar and leash for Charlie. The door was open when Charlie came stumbling up the stairs while I was leaving the room. I called him over before clasping his collar on and hanging the leash on. I picked him up, kissing him before taking him downstairs with me. 

I set him down and he ran around the house while Madison threw her flip flops on. 

"What time are you guys coming back?" Nick asked from his spot on the couch. 

"Half an hour or so, forty-five minutes," Mads shrugged. She grabbed the leash when Charlie stopped by her feet and picked him up. "Bye!" she called out. 

"Have fun," Nick said. 

I nodded before waving him a short bye before closing the door and walking with her. "Where are we going?" I asked while taking her free hand in mine. 

"To the park," she answered. 

"You wanna walk all the way there?" I asked in confusion. It's not that close when you're walking it. 

"I walked there that one night you came looking for me," she shrugged with a smirk. 

"I was ordered to do that by your brother," I lied. 

"Bullshit," she laughed, "Riley told me how Nick said he would come with you but you wanted to go alone so she took the hint and said I probably wouldn't wanna see too many people," she gave me a pointed look. 

"She told you?" I asked, surprised. 

"Of course, she did," she shrugged. 

We were almost at the park when we saw Noah and Julia walking our way. Madison stopped abruptly. "Let's turn back around," she said but Charlie was tugging the leash the other way. 

"Come on, he wants to go to the park," I grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around, walking with my hand locked in hers. 

"I'm holding my breath," she mumbled. 

"You're not holding your breath," I chuckled. 

"I'm holding my breath," she repeated. 

"Mads-" she didn't let me finish. 

"I'm holding my freaking breath, Jacob," she glared. 

I sighed in defeat when Charlie barking broke our silence. We looked ahead to see Noah and Julia staring at us. 

"Hey, you guys," Madison tried to be friendly but they weren't responding. "Or not," she mumbled under her breath. 

"Y-you got a puppy?" Julia scoffed. 

"Oh uh- yeah. Someone dropped him off during my hours so I just brought him home," she shrugged. Julia stepped forward, probably to pet Charlie but he barked before running closer to Mads and me. Madison chuckled while picking him up, "He's not that friendly yet, neither are you," she whispered the last bit, making me laugh. 

"We uh- we should go," I said before leading us out of there. Once we were far away, she set him down and we continued with our walk. 

She sighed in relief while whining, linking her arm with mine and resting her head on my shoulder. "I hated that," she groaned. 

"We did good," I kissed the top of her head as we entered the park. 

"Are we allowed to be in here?" I asked while looking around since the entire park was empty.