Joke's on You (SWAT Generation 2.0 6)

I nearly rolled my eyes. “Pena. My name is Booth Pena. Do you think you could show us to her? This is the dog’s new owner, Malachi.”

The woman’s smile went magnificent, and if she wasn’t so fuckin’ young, she might actually be something I would’ve looked at once upon a time.

Now that I had Dillan, though? She was just another attractive girl in a long line of attractive girls.

“Oh, follow me!” she chirped, rounding the desk.

That was when I saw that she was very heavily pregnant.

Like, about to pop, shouldn’t be pregnant at all because she was so young, pregnant.

Then again, I was one to talk.

I’d had Asa when I was quite young, too.

“This is the visitation room,” the woman said as she led us to the door. “Feel free to stay as long as you like. When you’re done, let us know and we’ll get him back to his kennel.”

With that, she walked away, and didn’t look back.

“Do you think she’s married?” Malachi asked curiously.

I shrugged. “I didn’t see a ring. Why? You want to take her out on a date?”

He looked at me with a roll of his eyes. “No, I was just thinking that she looked familiar. And I don’t know why. Thought maybe she was married to someone I know, because there’s no way in hell I would know some nineteen-year-old here any other way.”

I snorted out a laugh and pushed through the door, coming to a stop when I heard Dillan reading a romance novel to the dog.

“…his hands went to her face, and he leaned in close.” Dillan paused when she heard our entrance. “Uhhhhh.”

I flashed her a grin.

“So… whatcha reading?”

She blushed profusely, and Malachi started to chuckle.

“I heard a bit before we came inside. He was putting his hand down her pants,” Malachi teased.

Dillan went even redder.

“I…I was reading to the dog, okay?” She stood up, using the wall for support. “What are y’all doing here?”

She tried to hide the dog using her body, and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t bother hiding him,” I said. “I already heard all about what happened from Laric.” I paused, gesturing at Malachi. “Meet Bobo’s new owner.”

Dillan’s eyes widened, then she did a fist pump with the hand she had her phone in. “Score!”

I grinned and tugged her toward me, pressing my mouth to hers for a quick kiss.

Malachi moved closer to the dog and ran his hand down the dog’s face.

Bobo was a Belgian Malinois. He was all black with tan feet and face and had one ear that flopped forward toward his eye.

Honestly, on the outside he didn’t look all that bad. He looked like a normal, everyday dog.

On the inside, though…

“He doesn’t look like a Bobo, does he?” Malachi asked.

“No, he doesn’t,” I admitted. “Bobo is kind of a weird name,” I ended up saying. “I mean, why not just call him Bobby or Boy? Why Bobo?”

Dillan looked up at me with a grin on her face.

“Don’t you know, Booth? Men are weird,” Dillan teased, then looked over at Malachi. “You could always change his name.”

Malachi shook his head.

“The last dog I had was named Maxie,” Malachi said. “So I’m no stranger to a weird dog name.” He flashed a sad smile. “If you don’t mind, we’ll just keep Bobo. Plus, it might be confusing for him to change his name.”

“Did Maxie die?” Dillan asked, leaning into me.

I pulled her even farther against me and pressed my lips to the top of her head.

There my girl was, showing her heart to another man.

“Um, no.” He scrunched up his nose. “When I was in basic training, my parents were supposed to take care of him. Instead of doing that, they gave him to the Humane Society and left for Florida.”

There was a long silence, and then Dillan’s outraged, “What?!”

Malachi shrugged. “I’ve looked for him for a while now, but the Humane Society won’t share where the dog is or who bought the dog. It just fuckin’ sucks.”

He pressed his palm down on Bobo’s head. “He doesn’t seem too mean right now.”

Bobo’s eyes were open, but he just seemed like he was in that in-between state of sleepy and awake. One where he was just a lazy puppy that didn’t have any cares in the world.

“They said that he has a broken right foot,” Dillan said. “Normally, they said that they would just give him some pain meds and calming medication to make him chill out. But Bobo was given the meds and was defiant. They didn’t think that it was safe for the staff. So they gave him the big guns.”

Malachi grunted. “Can I get Laric’s number? I’d like to get to know him a little more, but I want to know what he went through before I make a plan of action.”

I pulled out my phone and gave him the number.