Page 56 of Bloody Quarter

“No, I’m serious. You’ll be an adult, and we both want to see the world. Who better to do it with than each other?”

“Hell, yes.” Evie grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the sidewalk. “Come on, let’s go. I have planning to do.”

“Evie, that’s five years away. I think we have time to plan,” I said, rolling my eyes at her but loving that she was so excited by the idea.

“It’s never too early. I’m going to make an entire journal of where we should fly into and all the sites we should see. Oh! And what food to try. Maybe we’ll meet hot guys. Mom would freak if you came home married.”

I’d created a monster, but her enthusiasm for the idea was completely infectious, and the closer we got to the house, the more I wanted it not to be a dream but to make it happen. I smiled at Evie as she kept coming up with ideas of all the places we could go.

“Evie?”

She sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I know calm down.”

“No. I…I was going to say…well.” I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jean shorts.

A cocky little smile tugged at her lips. “I know. I’m awesome, and you love me.” I pursed my lips as I glared at her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it, I know.” She hooked her arm through mine. “Now come on, you’re holding our planning up.”

Greyson

I’d gotten up an hour ago to get the house prepped for Alora’s surprise and continue going over the contract that had been sent over late last night. I couldn’t put this off. The demonstration had been a huge success. Boomer and a couple of the other dogs had sold that day. But more than that, one of the videos of Ken and Whiskey had gone viral, and I was going to be meeting with an independent investor who wanted to expand the therapy dog portion of my operation. The main obstacle was that Rodney physically couldn’t train any more dogs and give everyone the attention they needed. Expanding meant hiring more people, and then I ran the risk of them finding out why I was so obsessive about prepping the dog food. But a ten million initial investment was nothing to sneeze at.

Rodney’s vehicle pulled in, and I stood from the table, glancing up the stairs to make sure Alora wasn’t on her way down before going to the front door. I smirked as he got out and opened up the back of the truck. He picked up the coal black pup, one of our Shepherd/Malinois crosses. I’d had my eye on her since the moment she was born.

“Morning,” Rodney said as he met me at the top of the porch.

“Hey, man. Thanks for doing this,” I said, taking the pup from his arms.

“Don’t mention it. It’ll be nice to have one of the dogs stick around. As much as I love what I do, it’s hard to see them walk out the door,” he said as I rubbed the puppy’s soft head. “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to want to keep one.”

“My hours are crazy. It just didn’t work to have a puppy. But with Alora here now, I don’t like her alone when I can’t be around. This area is too remote if something happens.”

“I get that. So, are you gonna expand?”

“I was just going over the proposal. I don’t know, though. We work because we know the dogs so well, and each one is given everything they need to succeed. A new person will bring their ideas, and I don’t like to mess with a good thing.”

“I might have a solution, but we can talk about it tomorrow.” Rodney gave the pup a little pat. “Go give your girl her gift. I need to hammer out details before I bring the idea to you anyway.”

I held out my hand, and Rodney shook it. “I always value your input. Maybe I should double your salary.”

Rodney laughed as he walked away. “Don’t say that too many times. I’ll hold you to it,” he said, getting into the truck. With a wave, he left, and I held up the new addition. She stared at me with her intelligent eyes, and I smiled. You could already see her personality shining. She was going to make an excellent companion and guard dog.

Heading inside, I put the pup on the floor and gave her the hand signal to sit. She sat down with her large ears standing up straight. They were far too large for her head, and if I turned her upside down, she’d look like a bat. She’d grow into them soon enough. I gave her a small reward before telling her to stay.

Jogging up the stairs, I looked back to see her sitting perfectly still, waiting for her next command. Damn, Rodney was magic. I’d let Alora sleep in. She seemed to need it after three nights of bartending. Even though I knew that spilling the alcohol on herself, pouring it, and serving were difficult for her, she never let it show, and the extra hands behind the bar were a huge asset. Beyond that, there were at least a dozen guys who were going to lose their hands when I got the chance. Fuckers touching her was not something I would ever tolerate.

Alora made a sound in her sleep, and I crawled on the bed to see her brow scrunched, but a tiny smile pulled at her lips. What made the look more confusing was the steady stream of tears rolling down her cheeks.

Leaning over her, I kissed each droplet and flicked my tongue to catch the one about to drip off of her chin. Sweet, just like the rest of her. Alora’s beautiful eyes batted as she slowly opened them.

“Hey there, Doll.”

“Hi,” she said, cupping my cheek.

“What were you dreaming about? You were crying.”

“My sister. It was one of the best days we spent together.” Alora wiped the tears from her face and stared at her hand. “They were happy tears.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She shook her head no and then stretched. The blanket slipped below her tits, and my eyes were drawn to them like they called my name. Fuck. No, we can’t do this right now. “Fuck, you look delicious.”