I pull into the compound, getting waved in quickly. I’m still not sure if it’s because of who I am or the truck I’m driving. Did I forget to mention that I commandeered Bass’s truck? If he can go off on some shoot-’em-up trip, the least I can do is borrow his vehicle. I might even put gas in it before I give it back.
Maybe.
Danny gets out quickly, looking around as he buttons his jacket. No matter how much I dog my brothers, they keep the suitlook. I know they’re hot.I’mhot, and I’m in shorts. I realized pretty quickly that pants are a bitch to pull over the bandages and restrict my movements more than anything when I’m in physical therapy. Ruby doesn’t go easy on me by any means. I know she doesn’t blame me for what happened to her dad, but sometimes I question it when she pushes harder than I think is necessary. Does it work? Am I walking with less pain? Maybe. But it’s still a bitch to deal with.
Ollie and I wait the few moments it takes for Danny to feel good enough to open Ollie’s door and let him out. Both he and I made the mistake of getting out of the car before Danny was ready a few days ago. Man, he never shut up about all the issues on how that was a bad idea. Both Ollie and I decided it was just easier to wait for him than go through that earful again. What made it twice as bad was that Danny played snitch and told Vinny and Bobby about it, too, so we both got two more rounds of it when we made it back to the house before they let it go.
I look around and see Ruby standing by Maddy, so I make my way over.
“Hey, girl. How you feeling today?” Ruby asks, but it’s Maddy who leans in for a hug.
“Same as yesterday. Is Teddy around?” I know Ollie won’t leave my side till he sees his friend. And then it’s only because Chains and half the damn club are still in overprotective mode till the Ivan situation is closed.
I totally get it. How do you expect everyone just to go back to normal after what happened? The Hounds got lucky, only losing one in the crossfire. Just like me, taking so many and being able to walk away. Someone up there was watchingout for us that day, but as I look over at Ruby, I’ve got to think that she was missed somehow.
“Yeah, he’s somewhere. Think Jumper took him inside to get a drink. He’ll be back in a bit,” Maddy says as she smiles down at Ollie, who just moves closer to me. He’s gotten worse, not that any of us blame him. No one’s offering suggestions, but I know it won’t be long before I get a few brochures on how to handle a kid dealing with trauma. Just not sure if the club or my brothers will break first.
A dog barking pulls my attention. “What’s going on over there?”
“Casper wants to get a few guard dogs. Figured having a few extra hounds wouldn’t hurt.” Ruby huffs at her lame joke.
The dog barks again, but this time to a command. I watch for a bit as a gorgeous blonde walks Casper through a few commands they both give to two German shepherds. I’m not sure if anyone else notices that he seems to watch the woman more than the dogs.
Another bark pulls my attention to an SUV parked a few yards away. The back window is down, and a rottweiler has his head out with his tongue rolling out of his mouth, panting and looking in my direction. The face on the dog just makes me smile, so I look down to point him out to Ollie and see he’s already looking at him. And doing something he hasn’t done much of lately—smiling.
I look back, noticing a girl getting out of the passenger side. I’m not one to judge, but that she has a football helmet on and a purple tutu over orange parachute pants makes me question what side of the spectrum this woman is on.
She goes to the back of the SUV and puts her entire head in the dog’s face. He just licks all over her, even taking thehelmet in his mouth and pulling it off her after a small tug-of-war between them. The antics cause Ollie to laugh, and from the quick way the girl turns to look at us, I know she must have heard him.
Now it’s her turn to look over at us and judge. Or at least that’s what I think she’s doing, as she’s only gazing at us. Actually, looking closer, I see it’s not all of us, just one person, one kid. She turns back to the SUV, and I see her lips moving before the trunk pops open and the dog dashes out.
Maddy lets out a startled scream, and half the damn club seems to run after the dog as he darts right for Ollie. My kid stands frozen, and I go to pull him behind me as Danny steps in front. But the dog goes around both me and my brother quickly, then stops suddenly and sits down at Ollie’s feet.
“Oh gosh, sorry,” Maddy says with a hand to her chest. “I couldn’t sleep last night and got to watching bad TV.Cujowas on, and I obviously have some issues watching it. Remind me to stick to theGolden Girlsafter ten.” She laughs it off, but my heart is still beating out of my damn chest. Never seen a dog run so fast before or go after my kid.
“He likes you.”
I look up quickly to the tutu girl before I look back at the damn dog. I don’t trust it.
“How can you tell?” Ollie hesitantly asks as he peers up at her.
“He came over for a pet, silly. He doesn’t do that with people he doesn’t like.” I look up in time to see her roll hereyes.
“A pet?” Ollie looks at her as if she’s lost her damn mind. I’m not sure if she even had one to begin with.
“Well, go on, pet him. He’s not going to bite.” She sounds agitated, but she just stands there with her hands on her hips.
Tentatively, Ollie hovers his hand above the dog’s head. In seconds, the dog makes the choice for him and bumps his head into Ollie’s hand, moving back and forth to force a pat till my kid gives in and goes for a full-on head scratch.
“He likes it behind the ears,” the girl says as she rocks back on her heels, putting her hands behind her back as she moves.
“Penny!” The woman with Casper runs over to us quickly, Casper and the dogs hot on her heels. She grabs the other girl, Penny, around the arm and checks her over as if she’s afraid she’s the one who almost got mauled by the damn dog. “Geez, girl, I told you to wait in the car. Why didn’t you listen?” Penny at least seems contrite as she looks down and away. “Sorry about that. I hope no one was startled. Penny likes to let the puppies out to play. She didn’t mean anything by it.”
Being this close to her, I’m almost jealous. I love how I look. I adore everything about me. But this girl is fucking beautiful. No wonder Casper’s tongue is hanging out of his mouth as he follows her with his eyes. Her friend is pretty, too, even if she’s not all there.
“Goober wanted some pets,” Penny mutters as she kicks some dirt around.
“Goober? You named the dog Goober?” Ollie flips over the name. I admit that it’s funny and smirk as well.
