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“I swear it’s going to snow soon.”
Andy was a lovely woman, who also happened to feel the cold, even in August in the height of summer.
“You’ve been saying that since June.”
“Trust me, one of these days I’m going to be right.”
Aria couldn’t help but laugh.
“Please tell me we have a busy day?” Andy asked, removing her hat, gloves, scarf, and coming toward the desk.
“We certainly do.”
“Good news. Very good news.”
“Where’s Phil?” Aria asked, getting to her feet.
“He had to take a call during the night. One of the ranchers wanted his cow to be attended to. I would have gone with him, but Phil insisted I stay home so I could make it here.”
“Is the cow okay?”
“I’m not sure. He’ll give us an update when he arrives.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Aria asked.
“You’re a precious woman, Aria. Absolutely. I feel I need it.”
Aria smiled and made her way back into the staff room while Andy walked to the back office.
Without Phil in the office, it would get hectic quickly. They were both amazing vets, but where Phil was able to calm people’s fears and stop panicked conversation, Andy was not the same. She would chat for hours, and of course she was an animal lover, so it meant they were going to be here for a long time, until Phil arrived. Aria didn’t mind. The idea of going back to her home, the one once owned by her grandparents, didn’t appeal.
Her grandparents on her father’s side had left her the house in their will, much to her parents’ dismay. They had hoped to either use the property as a rental, bringing in money, or to sell it. They had tried to contest the will, but her grandparents’ lawyers had warned in that event, all other property granted to her parents and Isabella would revert to Aria. That had been an awkward meeting.
Anyway, she moved out of her small apartment the next day and hadn’t looked back since.
****
Grant stared around at the kennels. Once again, he’d been given kennel duty, not for the first time either.
He was starting to recognize these dogs, including their names and their reasons for being at the kennel, and why they had to find this location. Running a hand down his face, he tried to convince himself that he didn’t care. Dogfighting happened.
Nope, he couldn’t do it. Dogfighting was a fucking weak man’s sport. Allowing dogs to kill each other for sport was not a fucking sport in his book. Evil bastards. Not that he’d ever admit it to anyone. If men wanted to bet over fighting, then do it man to man.
Grant refused to think about what had happened in Carnage less than a year ago. How he’d ended up pretending to have been removed from the club in order to go and protect his brother’s woman. Bull, his brother, as well as his prez from the Chaos and Carnage MC, had then forgiven him for all the shit he’d put him through over the years, including but not limited to the potential overthrowing of power.
Not that Grant even wanted to be leader of the fucking club. Far from it. He was just pissed at Bull. Only a guy who had a brother would understand. Older brothers had that chip on their shoulders, that feeling that they knew best, and when it came to Bull, Grant sometimes found it hard to differentiate between brother and prez. He was working on it.
Since then, Bull had given him shitty assignments, most of them about the dogs. Going to the kennels, keeping an eye on the workings for any sign of the Vito Crew or the Cartel. So far, nothing.
He did know, although he’d not been invited along for the meetings, that his brother was talking to William Ranford, who was the crime boss whose brother got killed after getting involved with the dog fighting ring. Again, he was out of the loop, other than what they discussed at church, but on their personal front, nothing was going on, and Bull wasn’t talking.
Grant was the first person at their kennels, and the first thing he did every single morning was go and check the security. The dogs had their own kennels in one of the buildings out back, and they always made sure the heat was on low. In the past few days, it had gotten cold and Maddie had been riding his ass to keep the dogs safe. Like he wouldn’t.
She should be focusing on her baby, not on him. It wouldn’t be long before his niece was too big and running around. She should enjoy this baby stage and all that entailed. She had to stop worrying about him doing a good job. He was more than competent at what he did and didn’t need to have the woman babysitting.
Grant couldn’t believe that in the past two years, he and Maddie had become friends. Maddie was a sweet woman, beautiful as well. He had a nasty history with her, and he didn’t even want to think about it seeing as everything he’d said to her was bullshit. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone.
There was no way he’d admit to being a fucking pussy and falling in with a crowd. He was a grown-ass man, not a coward. Not that he’d been a coward as a kid, but it had gotten some cheap laughs.
