Just as I went to pull his head back down to kiss him, Garrett opened the door to the bathrooms, sticking his head around it to where I was standing. “Uh, just so you know, everyone out here can hear y’all,” he announced. “There’s also four women needing to use it and one that won’t stop touching me. Are you done?”
Turning away from his brother, Raoul kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll finish this later.”
And just like that, my pissy mood (no pun intended) turned upside down. That was until Garrett shared some news to kill the goodness I was feeling. “By the way, your brother’s looking for you. He asked you to call him and also warned that your parents were in your house.”
“Shit,” I muttered, staring at the buttons on Raoul’s shirt.
“You can say that again,” he agreed. “I left my shorts on the floor of your bedroom.”
Oh, shit it to hell!Chapter FourteenRaoulI’d done a circuit of our area, checking to make sure I didn’t see Chad anywhere, before I turned back and headed home. Garrett was with Rose at her house and from the text messages I’d received, Hogan and Rissa were pissed about what was going on – not that I could blame them, I was, too. He’d also imparted that they’d found the shorts I’d left on her floor, and that Hogan wasn’t pleased. In my defense, I’d fully intended on going back to pick them up before we left, but I’d forgotten after DB had text to ask me to meet him in forty-five minutes. Plus, it’s not like I could put them back on, they were dirty ass underwear. If I’d known her parents were just going to show up, though, I would have shoved them in my pocket the second I put my pants on, but I didn’t have that superpower.
Pulling into my drive, I cut the engine and leaned my head back against the headrest in frustration. I hated that I didn’t know where the guy was. I hated that he obviously had a vendetta against Rose and Tana. I hated right now that we lived in a small town so it wouldn’t be hard for him to find her. I hated that I couldn’t eliminate the risk before she’d found out. And I hated that I’d had to call Tana at her new place and warn her, no doubt taking away the first feelings of peace and security that she’d felt in a long time.
Getting out the car and slamming the door with more force than necessary, I walked up to my door to let Ranger out. Garrett would definitely have done it when he and Rose got home, but he liked time with me and we hadn’t been for our run this morning, so I was going to make up for it. Sure enough, the second I opened the front door he shot out, jumping up like he hadn’t seen me in years.
Crouching down to rub his ears, I waited for the deep groan of happiness he always gave, smiling when he tried to lick my face. Keeping my left hand on his ear, I used the right on to scratch his back, deliberately aiming for the area that made his leg start kicking.
When he’d been a puppy, he’d kept me up all night for three days straight crying. It took a lot of time and a lot of focus, but eventually we’d bonded over tummy rubs and kicky spot tickles and he never cried again. Dogs never failed to amaze me, with the love and loyalty they gave to their owners, and the bond that formed between them. We’d never had one growing up, so the second I felt like my life was stable enough to have one, I’d gone and gotten Ranger and I loved the dog to death.
With one final rub, I stood up and wiped my hands off on my jeans. “Right, bud, go pee.”
The boy shot off like he had a rocket up his ass, rubbing his face on the fake grass, before moving over to one of the plants that Rose had planted and lifting a leg. “I don’t think so,” I called. “You take that shit onto the grass so I can hose it off,” I ordered, and then realized what I’d done.
The guy who hated plants, and who’d gone out of his way to prank his beautiful neighbor with the ones she had, had just stopped his dog from taking a leak on the ones she’d pranked him back with. Well, shit!
Making the most of his time out of the house, Ranger continued running back and forth after he’d relieved himself, giving me time to think out how to explain shit to Hogan and Rissa. I was approaching it like I would with my parents if it was Catalina who was in this predicament, so the key was to reassure them that we were doing everything we could and that we’d catch the guy.