Join the Club (SWAT Generation 2.0 7)

“Well, it’s not like the dog is anything special. She just said that it was a lab. Labs cost what, five hundred dollars?” she said, waving her hand through the air. “So what are they, like five hundred dollars? I could use a dog to take around with me to places. Service dogs are dogs that can’t be told no to entry, right?”

I gritted my teeth.

“Technically, if you have a service dog, no, you can’t be denied entrance,” I said stiffly.

“Massey cost me five thousand dollars,” Janvier said. “And he was actually a good deal. The ones I was pricing in Missouri were about ten grand more, Jamie.”

Jamie’s mouth fell open in surprise. “That’s… that’s outrageous. Who would pay that much for a dog? He better be able to give me golden shit for that.”

“I spend almost fifty to seventy hours a week working with my current dogs. I have four. And that’s not even including cleaning out their kennels and getting them some exposure. Sometimes during the week I have to take them all out individually and get them accustomed to being around people. Experiencing new places and things. Just last week I spent over an hour and a half at Lowe’s just letting the dog experience the sounds and smells. Since he’s a service dog, he’s not petted like normal dogs. So that entire time we were constantly walking, moving, and dodging,” I said. “Then there are vet bills, grooms, and all kinds of other things that come up.”

Jamie rolled her eyes as if what I did was inconsequential to her.

“I still think it’s not worth what you’re asking.” Jamie shrugged. “I’d never waste my money on a dog that’s priced that high.”

“You think there’s a price I can put on my kid’s life?” Copeland asked softly.

Jamie froze at Copeland’s words.

Sensing that this was a subject that I really, really didn’t want to be a part of, I gathered what was left of my cake and high-tailed it out of there.

I walked directly to Bourne, hoping that he would be ready to go.

But as soon as I got to him, I knew that he wouldn’t be.

His friend, Samuel Adams, was standing next to him.

And beside them? The bride and groom.

They watched me walk up to them, completely different expressions on their faces.

Saint was welcoming and grinning.

Bourne? Not so much.

I could never, ever read Bourne.

It’d been somewhat of a game between my sister and I, trying to see who could guess what he was thinking and feeling.

Ever since he’d started spending more and more time with us over the years since Asa’s birth, I’d always been unable to read him.

The only time I ever saw him smile was when he was with Asa. Not even when he was with his brother did I see that calm, blank façade crack.

“What’s wrong?” Bourne asked almost immediately.

Obviously, I wasn’t a blank mask.

I gestured toward where Copeland was still talking to Jamie.

“That woman made the offhand comment that my dogs weren’t worth what I sold them for. Said that I was asking too much and she would never waste her money on it.” I paused. “And Copeland, the man that I was telling you about and his son? He kind of went all ‘I won’t put a price on my kid’s life’ on her. So I got up and left.”

Bourne winced. “Some people just need to learn to keep their mouths shut.”

“Agreed,” Sammy murmured. “Fuck, I’m tired. I was up all night last night, then we had that SWAT call this morning. I feel like my eyelids are lined with sandpaper.”

“Agreed,” Bourne murmured. “I have to work in the morning, too. But it’s not every day that you see one of the men you never expected to get married do just that.”

The groom shrugged. “When it’s the right one, it’s the right one.”

I offered my hand to them both, introducing myself.

“I’m sorry to crash your wedding. Thank you for extending the invite,” I said softly.

Ellie, the bride, only smiled. “I’d do anything for Copeland.”

With that cryptic comment, she tugged the groom away and directed him toward another crowd of people.

The moment they were gone, I turned to look at Bourne.

“Why did you say that about never expecting them to get married?” I asked the moment that they left.

Bourne’s friend, Jason, who was also a police officer, had apparently been the world’s biggest player ever. Then he’d met Ellie, and he’d changed his ways.

At least, that was what Copeland and Janvier had said. Jamie had laughed and said that it wasn’t going to last. That Jason had always been and always would be a player. There’d been a suspicious gleam in her eye when she said that, making me feel like maybe she had firsthand knowledge of how he would do with marriage.

Whatever the reason, that had been the start of me not liking her.