What bothered me about this plan was that words were words, what we needed were actual actions and proof and the asshole behind bars. There was one consolation in all of this – with Chad not complying with the conditions of his bail, a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Breach of bail on top of his other charges meant a longer custodial sentence. That was good, but we had to find him to charge him with it.
Before I’d left today, DB had updated me with what was going on. His dad Alex was moving through this weekend instead of ‘at some point’, and the other two guys, Carter and Alejandro, would be joining us in the next three weeks. After another discussion with the mayor, it had also been agreed that Garrett would join us, too, once he was deemed healed from his injuries.
Because of his background in the Army, the mayor had decided that it wasn’t necessary for him to go through the training and shit that someone with no experience went through, so after some ‘in house training’ he’d be one of us. In house training meant procedures, policies, making sure he knew the legalities – it was a pain in the ass, but I’d even done it when I’d moved to Piersville. You needed to know your shit!
Plus, every area had different laws, with the perfect example being pot. Here, cannabis was illegal for recreational use, and if you were caught carrying up to two ounces of it, it was a class B misdemeanor. You could use it medicinally, but it was low-THC cannabis oil, and you needed to know the allowable percentage, too, because people tried to sneak it past you. Garrett had a lot of studying ahead of him, but he’d dealt with similar shit in the military – although, maybe not cannabis laws – so I wasn’t worried about him being able to do it.
Just then, a voice called out my name, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Raoul, are you staying out here all night?”
It hadn’t been that long since I’d seen her but it felt like it, and I suddenly hated the narrow road that separated our houses. It had been useful before when it was all about the pranks, but now it felt like it stretched a mile instead of roughly fifteen feet as I walked across it to get to her. The whole time I was scanning over her to make sure she still looked the way she had when I’d seen her at the hospital, stopping on the area where only I knew the piercings were.
Closing the distance between us, I felt the worry release the nearer I got to her until I was standing right in front of her. “Hey, baby,” I murmured, leaning down to kiss her quickly. With Hogan inside, I couldn’t kiss her the way I wanted to – at least, not if I wanted to survive – so I kept it brief. “You look beautiful.”
Snorting, she looked down at her scrub top and tugged the bottom of it. “I’m wearing the same thing I was wearing earlier because I haven’t had time to change. And these things are hardly attractive.”
She was wrong, seriously fucking wrong. She looked hot as hell in her scrubs, but she could be wearing a Moo-Moo, and I’d still think she was beautiful. “You’re always beautiful, sweetheart,” I whispered as quietly as I could so her dad wouldn’t hear. Lifting my head, I checked behind her, and when I didn’t see anyone there, I tugged the bottom of her scrub top and added, “And these are seriously fucking hot.”
“Is he coming in, or what?” Hogan yelled from the living room, effectively killing the moment.
Turning her head toward the living room, she yelled back, “In a second, Dad.”
“Hurry up, your mom says we’re not ordering ‘til he’s here. I don’t know why…” he trailed off, muttering something else.
Looking back at me and rolling her eyes, she stood back to let me past. “By the way, you’ve got an animal between your legs.”
At the same time that Hogan roared, “What?” I looked down and saw that Ranger had taken up his normal spot, forehead on my ass with his nose between my legs. I knew it was an innocent comment, she knew it was innocent, but admittedly it didn’t sound good if you were a parent and it was your daughter saying it.
Deciding that showing Hogan was better than just telling him, I leaned back and grabbed his collar. “Is he allowed in?”
Not even looking at me, she patted her thighs. “Want a treat, Ranger?”
It wasn’t until I heard the low growl and hiss coming from the kitchen that I remembered the size of her cat. Fucking awesome!Seventeen minutes later…
Standing with a Great Dane’s nose between your legs while you were talking to the father of your woman wasn’t awkward at all. Not a bit.