Join the Club (SWAT Generation 2.0 7)

I looked at her with a quirk of my lips.

“He won’t do that.” I chuckled.

Her brows rose. “Bet.”

She held out her hand and waited for me to shake it.

I took her hand and pulled her to me, dropping my mouth down onto hers.

“I’ll protect you from your moron of a father,” I said. “Do you want to…”

The familiar squeal of bus brakes sounded and Delanie sighed. “Asa is almost here.”

I dropped a quick peck to her lips and walked outside.

Delanie joined me a few moments later with Moses.

Moses came to my side and sat, making my brows rise to my hairline.

“What the fuck did you do to my dog?” I asked, genuinely pleased with the results.

I’d been working with him for weeks and weeks and had kind of, sort of, maybe just a little bit given up on him for now. He was just super, duper hyperactive. And I didn’t see that ending any time soon.

“I worked with him on sitting and heeling on the left side,” she said. “He’s such a smart boy. Aren’t you?”

Moses’ tongue lolled out, as if he agreed with her completely. He sat nicely. Prettily.

Beautifully.

Until, that was, Asa got off the bus.

Then all bets were off.

Because if there was one person on this planet that Moses loved, it was Asa Pena.

The moment he stepped off the bus and started our way, Moses lost his training and his cool.

He ran full tilt for Asa, and Asa ran all out for him.

They collided in the middle of the yard in a tangle of limbs.

Asa laughing, and Moses barking his happy puppy yips.

***

Delanie

I grinned and walked up to Bourne’s side.

“I think that he loves you until he sees Asa,” Delanie said. “Then, not so much.”

I snorted and reached for my phone, snapping a quick photo of the two in front of me.

Grinning, I shoved it into my pocket and pulled her into my side.

That was when Priscilla and my sister, Bell, came out of the house across the street and stared.

Bourne’s head went their way when there was loud whispering.

“You’re not going to be able to keep this a secret from your sister for long,” he murmured.

My brows lifted. “Bell’s trustworthy.”

“Yeah,” Bourne agreed. “Sunday is our dinner day. I’ll give you until then, at the longest.”

I looked up at him.

“Friday I’m going with Booth to the doctor,” she said. “I’m going to talk to him then, okay?”

I nodded once. “Friday is perfect.”

Asa finally picked himself up off the ground, his hand scrunched up in Moses’ fur as he walked toward us.

“I’m hungry.” He looked at Bourne. “Can we order pizza?”

Bourne looked down at me. “Yeah, Mom. Can we order pizza?”

“Can we have pizza?” Priscilla asked loudly.

Bourne’s eyebrows raised in question.

I sighed and nodded my head. “Yeah, we can have pizza.”

Priscilla did a funny, jumping fist pump and made her way across the road. Bell came, but at a much more sedate pace.

She stopped when she saw me, her eyes narrowed. “When you and Bourne have children, your babies are going to look exactly like Asa. And it’s going to be super confusing for the Kilgore citizens.”

Bourne snorted. “We just started dating, Bell. How about you give us time to get to know each other first before you have us having babies?”

“But I thought…” She paused. “I heard you talking to David earlier. You told him that you were pregnant and that you were getting married.”

“We did,” I confirmed. “But only because our dad’s a dick. It was a joke.” My eyes went thoughtful. “How, exactly, did you hear that when we were inside?”

Bell scrunched up her nose. “I eavesdropped. Oh, and you might want to tell our mother that then. I think she might be out buying y’all a congratulatory present right now. I’m sorry. I thought for sure you would’ve told her first. I sent her a text telling her I was mad at her for not telling me. I’m always last to know.”

Bourne looked over at me with his brows raised as if to say, ‘see?’

I rolled my eyes.

“We’ll just call her and explain,” I suggested.

Bourne snorted. “Yeah, you just go right ahead and do that. While you’re doing that, I’m going to order pizza.”

But he never got the chance because his phone started to ring just as he was pulling it out of his pocket.

“Shit,” he grumbled as he read the number that was calling. “It’s work. SWAT callout I’m sure.”

“You have a SWAT call?” Bell asked, her eyes showing her displeasure.

He laughed and kissed her nose, then pulled away. “Yeah. But I’m sure that it’ll be fast or a false call. I’ll be back in no time. In the meantime, why don’t you order pizza?”

I wiggled my phone. “I have the app for that.”

“Good.” He pocketed his phone and immediately started heading for his truck.