May Contain Wine (SWAT Generation 2.0 5)

The man nodded once. “Seems you got a bit of trouble here. That’s all right with me. Ol’ Clock and I don’t care where we go. As long as it’s not somewhere that has high-pitched sounds.”

I thought about that for a second, then shook my head. “I don’t think there are any high-pitched sounds at my place. I think the loudest we get is a kid laughing, but he’s all the way at the opposite end of the block from where I live.”

The man held out his hand. “Laric. Nice to meet you.”

I didn’t bother to tell him that my hands were dirty. He didn’t seem the type to give a shit.

“Louis,” I introduced myself. “Nice to meet you.”

***

An hour later, I was showered, dressed, and we had pizza on the way.

Laric and Calloway had conducted their interview on my couch while the dog, Clock, laid at Laric’s feet the entire time.

I walked in to him answering a question of Calloway’s that I didn’t quite hear.

“These dogs are the worst of the worst,” Laric said. “They’re rough around the edges. They’re the types of dogs that people are scared of. But they fought for this country, and just like we don’t give up on our veterans, we don’t give up on the dogs that helped our vets stay alive over there. Without some of these dogs, things would’ve been a whole lot different over there.”

I could see Calloway’s heart in her eyes as she took the dog at Laric’s side in.

The dog looked rough as fuck, and it was definitely the type of dog that I would not, under any circumstances, go up and pet. Not ever.

The German Shepherd was missing one ear, three-quarters of his tail, and had a gnarly looking scar that went from the corner of his left eye winding down his body all the way down to his hindquarters.

He also watched me like I was a threat.

Which, maybe I was.

I moved slowly so as not to alarm him, taking a seat on the arm of the couch that Calloway was occupying.

I felt my heart speed up a notch in my chest as I tensed in readiness.

Yeah, this dog was the worst of the worst.

I could see why Laric didn’t want him around kids, that was for sure.

“Clock.”

One word from Laric had Clock looking away, no less tense, but at least not looking like he was about to murder me.

“She was crying earlier, and he gets protective of crying women,” Laric explained.

I nodded once, running my hand along the length of Calloway’s back. “I can see that. She makes me all murdery when she cries, too.”

Laric chuckled.

“How many years was Clock in service to our country?” she asked curiously.

I leaned into the back of the couch and lazed against the edge as I listened to her conduct the interview.

It was interesting as hell, learning all of the intricacies of military working dogs.

It was even more interesting to see Calloway work her magic.

By the time that Laric left, Clock had eventually warmed up to me. And I say that loosely. He’d warmed up to me enough not to growl as I stood up or walked past him.

Grinning down at Calloway as Laric pulled away later that night, I raised my brows at her. “When did you get so confident and sexy?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed under her breath at me.

“When did you get so overprotective?” she teased.

I grimaced. “Your dad called while you were finishing up the interview. Whoever did the bird knew about the doorbell. They didn’t catch anything.”

She grimaced. “I was afraid of that.”

“And I didn’t think to put any cameras up since Romeo was still in jail.” I shook my head. “Stupid of me.”

“Not stupid,” she said. “Honestly, who would’ve thought that there was more than one sick fuck putting dead animals on my porch?”

I grimaced.

She was right. Who would’ve known that there was more than one? Especially since the kid was so forthcoming about what he’d done and why.

I sure wouldn’t have.

“You’ll be staying at my place from now on,” I murmured, wrapping my arm around her tight and guiding her back inside.

She looked up at me with a smile. “Oh really?”

Just as the door closed, I did what I’d been dying to do since the moment that I saw her a few hours ago.

Pulling her to a stop before she could get too far away, I wrapped one arm around her waist, the other moving up to cup her face, and my mouth dropped down into a hard kiss right on her lips.

She gasped at the suddenness of the movement, as her hands came up to grip onto my waist.

I kissed her for all that I was worth, pouring every single second of missing her today into the one kiss before pulling away.