Her ‘or worse’ had my entire fucking body freezing momentarily in place.
I closed my eyes, counted to ten to control my breathing—and hopefully my temper—then walked farther into the alley.
I found her there, curled up against the filthy dumpster, her ass to her ankles, and her arms wrapped around her upraised knees, she was speaking quietly to a uniformed officer.
Her breath hitched, and I knew that she’d seen me.
One second she was on the ground, talking in a low, monotone voice. The next she was leaping into my arms, and I was catching her and never letting her go.
A dog growled from somewhere behind me, and before I could so much as question the sound, a demanding male voice said, “Bobo, down.”
I looked up and over to see the dog that the growl had belonged to sit down onto his haunches behind a familiar looking man.
“Laric?” I asked, surprised.
Laric had recently done an interview with one of my childhood friends.
Calloway, who just so happened to be getting married to another buddy on the SWAT team, had started her own magazine up where she interviewed heroes across the United States. Laric had been one of those heroes.
Laric specialized in finding military working dogs permanent homes after they came home from the war, or retired.
“That’s me,” he said as he nodded his head.
But he didn’t come any closer.
Dillan dropped from my arms and pointed at the dog next to Laric.
“That dog, Bobo, saved my life, Booth,” she said huskily. “If it wasn’t for him, I think Kerrie really would’ve killed me.”
She placed her hands on her neck, and it was then that I remembered Delanie’s earlier words.
“Let me see,” I said softly, pulling her toward me.
She ignored me and walked over toward the dog, holding out her hand to him.
The dog nudged her hand with his nose.
But the moment that I started forward, he went up onto all fours again and snapped at me.
I hopped back, pulling Dillan with me.
“He won’t hurt me,” she said softly.
I wasn’t so sure of that.
“I’m not so sure of that, darlin’,” Laric said softly. “I have to walk him in the early morning hours, get him accustomed to the streets, because he hates everyone. He has to be muzzled when he’s anywhere around people. He’s fairly unpredictable, too.” He paused. “I think that he could’ve just as easily attacked you instead of protected you.”
Dillan didn’t like the sound of that.
In fact, she ignored it.
“I’m going to take him home,” she declared.
“You’re not letting that dog get around my kid,” I said. “You take that dog home, and Asa’s never coming over again.”
The dog was aggressive. The dog was vindictive. And he’d already snapped at me once.
There was no way that I was letting my kid get anywhere near that dog.
The bad thing was, I knew that Dillan could see it, too.
She looked like her guts were being torn out.
“He saved my life, Booth,” she whispered.
“Babe,” Laric said. “He’s not good with kids. Trust me on this.”
I knew that the dog had saved her life, but it didn’t change a damn thing.
I knew that my kid was pretty fuckin’ great. And he wouldn’t understand that the dog wasn’t nice.
He’d go up to that dog and treat it like his uncle Bourne’s new dog. He’d wrap his arms around the dog’s neck, give him a hard hug, and then he’d have half his face bitten off.
No.
Just no.
I couldn’t do it.
I worked way too many dog bite cases.
Sure, I knew that some of the dogs didn’t show signs of aggression. That some of them just bit without any warning.
But the dog that Laric, the crazy ass biker, had brought around? This one, I knew in my heart, was fucking bad news.
Hell, even Laric had said that the dog was aggressive, not good with kids.
She sighed. “Can I come visit him?”
Laric nodded his head once. “Of course.”
Dillan’s shoulders slumped, and she looked at me with tear-filled eyes.
“He really did save my life,” she whispered to me.
I caught her back up in my arms, and then gestured toward the back door to her place that was now open wide, spilling yellow light out into the alley.
“Let’s go inside.” I looked at the detective that had likely been there asking questions. “Detective Brown, would you like to accompany us inside?”
“I think the little lady needs checked out,” someone said from behind me.
That was when I saw my father’s good friend, Tai.
“Tai.” I nodded my head. “Do you need her in the ambulance, or can you do that inside, too?”
“Inside is fine, as long as I check her out,” he said. “Lead the way.”
I did, right inside the back of her building, past the kitchen, and to the sectioned off area of the front room that she used as seating for her patrons.
“Looks like all bluster,” Detective Brown said, sounding pissed as hell, but controlling it. “I can’t wait to bring that motherfucker in to the station.”