Another One Bites the Dust (7 page)

Sure enough, the dog was knocked out on my couch.  Good thing I had a sectional, or there would be nowhere to sit.  The dog took up two whole cushions, and then some.  I couldn’t help but laugh at that.  I’d always wanted a dog, but my childhood wasn’t conducive with a dog.

  My dad was career Marine.  Last year, he retired at the age of sixty-five at the rank of Colonel.  Over the course of my childhood, we’d never been in one place more than three years.  Even now, he still actively participated in a civilian capacity.  I didn’t exactly know what he did, then again I never really asked.  He made it a point not to discuss his job with us, and I never asked.  I didn’t want him to lie to me, as I was sure he would have to do.  I was convinced he did some secret military spook stuff.

My mom was originally from Jefferson, TX.  When I turned eighteen, I looked for a school that was near my extended family.  Every weekend for the past five years, I’ve had Sunday dinner with my dad’s parents, Pepaw and Nanny.  It’s so nice to have roots after spending my entire childhood anticipating the next move.  When my father finally retired, they bought acreage across the street from my grandparents.  For the first time in my brother’s life, he didn’t have to worry about moving, which to a teenager means the world. 

“That sounds like it will work, but I have a dinner tomorrow with my grandparents.  Can you come around noon?  I have to be at dinner by three.  That’ll give me a couple of hours to work with you two, and then drive the hour it takes to get to Jefferson from here.”

“Let’s get started.  The first thing I want to tell you is that Alpha will ‘guard’ if you tell him to.  For instance, say you were in a situation where you needed Alpha to protect someone else besides you.  He understands German and English, so for this session we’ll go with English, and then work on the other language.  All you would say is ‘Guard’ and he will do it.”  She explained.

For the next hour and a half we worked on commands, and by the end of it, I was ready to worship at Max’s feet.  Already I was feeling safer, and I was ecstatic.  I couldn’t wait for Alpha to stay with me permanently.  Max was one perceptive man.

ɸ

That night at work, I asked my supervisor, Tammy, about bringing a service dog with me to work. 

“Honestly, Payton, I would have to ask my boss.  I don’t see a problem with it, but it could be a violation of some kind, and I haven’t the slightest idea about those.  Let me run it by the director, and I’ll get back to you.”  Tammy said.

I nodded in understanding, and then went to the board that told me what room patients would be mine tonight.  I was the newest member of the well-baby and postpartum nursing staff.  Can I tell you I absolutely
love
my job?  Who wouldn’t want to hold newborn babies all day long?

“You will never believe the size of the latest baby!  Eleven pounds thirteen ounces.  She did it naturally, too!”  Cheyenne said to me as I walked into the nurse’s station.

“Holy Crap!  That is one awesome woman!  When I’m pregnant, I won’t be having any pain meds either.  I want to see if I can do it naturally.”  I said jokingly.

Cheyenne burst out laughing.  “You’re so full of shit.  You’ll be walking in the door demanding the epidural before anyone even examines you.”

Cheyenne was one of my closest friends.  We’d met during our first year of nursing school two years ago.  Then when we started our jobs a couple of months ago, we got even closer.  We also found we have a lot in common.  The best friendships are built on inappropriateness and sarcasm, and we had that in spades.  Cheyenne had in turn introduced me to her best friend, Ember, and another of their group, Blaine.  It was the type of instant friendship that you knew would last a lifetime.

The night shift went by quickly.  I was able to make the nearly twelve pound baby’s acquaintance, and was flabbergasted to find out that the mother was a young girl, maybe the age of fifteen, who was only an inch or so taller than me.  I would have loved to see how big she was before she gave birth.  Before we knew it, Cheyenne and I were walking out to the employee parking lot.

My scooter was in the designated parking spot for motorcycles, and I laughed when I saw Cheyenne’s ride next to mine.  Hers definitely won seeing as her ride had one hot sexy man sitting astride it.

Sam was a gorgeous specimen of a man.  Tall, broad, and built in all the right places.  His Ray-Bans reflected the morning sun, and I was drawn to the smirk he had at the corner of his mouth.  He was hunched over the front of his bike, elbows resting on the gas tank as he watched us approach.  A black skullcap covered his hair.

“Get any crap about your ‘beanie’ today, Sam?”  I asked with a laugh.

He glared, and I laughed harder.  When I’d first met him, he was wearing a skullcap just like the one he was wearing now.  Max and James were giving him shit about him calling it a ‘beanie.’  Needless to say, Sam didn’t take kindly to being made fun of, and put the boys in their places.  I knew where he got the beanie from though.  It was a Northern thing.  One I’d heard a lot when we were stationed in North Dakota.

Sam has warmed to me some.  When I first met him, I was scared to even talk to him.  When I get nervous, my attitude comes out to play, and unfortunately, that is what Sam got.  It took us a few months before I was able to calm down enough when he was around to be nice to him.  I’m sure he thought I was a really big bitch.

“Bite me.”  He said in a deep voice.

Not as deep as Max’s, but it still gave me a little shivers inside.  I was a whore for a good voice.

“Where at?”  I asked pleasantly.

“How ya doin’, Bubbles?”  Sam asked in a super sweet voice.

Too sweet if you asked me.  I would never live this down.  Now Cheyenne would want to know, and then everyone would know that I wore boy’s underwear.

“I’m great.  Max had a dog delivered to me yesterday.  Know anything about that?”

He smiled, and I knew he was aware of what was going on, probably even more so than me.  “Yeah.  Sure do.  Let’s go sweet cheeks, I’ve got a shit to be and places to do.”

Sam was kind enough to wait for me to get on my scooter and pull out in traffic before he left.  Although it was an alpha-male thing to do, I was grateful none-the-less.  You learn a new respect for parking lots and public places that leave you isolated once you’ve gone through a beating as I had.  I would take anything I could get.

Chapter 4

I’m not gonna count to three, I’m not even gonna count to one.  You will shut the fuck up, or I’ll sing you a lullaby.

-Shawshank Redemption

Max

I ignored the whispers.  The looks.  The pointing.  It’s like fucking high school all over again.  These grown adults didn’t have anything better to do but gossip, and they didn’t even have the slightest idea what the hell they were even talking about, just passed off judgment based off of hearsay.  Hell, it was nothing new, but it still hurt.  I hated this part of my job.  I didn’t enjoy inflicting pain, and especially not on a teenager.  He was eighteen though, and that made him legal in the eyes of the law.  It didn’t matter that he was helping his father, and only doing what he was told to do.  At some point, you have to start thinking for yourself, not letting others do it for you.  Especially when they put your life in danger.

This was some sick shit that this kid was sent here to do.  It’s not something that hasn’t been done before though.  As of right now, the kid was in surgery having the motherfucking bomb he had surgically implanted into his goddamn stomach removed.  There’s no telling how long it’d been in there though.  It had to be infected.  The damn scar was even healed.  They’d learned from their previous mistakes.

From what I learned from the kid before they took him in to surgery, they were waiting for a certain political figure to get here.  The kid had no idea who it was, and I’d worked on him for hours, so I knew it was the truth, that he really had no clue.  All non-essential personnel were evacuated from the building through low profile means so as not to tip off the dumbass’s father.

I needed a damn drink.

My sat phone chose that moment to ring, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw who it was.  “Hey, pretty girl.”

“Hey there, soldier.  Speaking of soldiers, I seem to have a new doggie soldier holding down the home base as we speak.  My boss cleared him for duty at work as well.  I was also diagnosed with PTSD, and now have a right to take him anywhere I want to.  I even have papers!  Do you happen to know who would be able to accomplish all of that in less than a weeks time frame?”  Payton asked sweetly.

From her voice, I could tell she was teasing, and not pissed as I thought she would be.  “So how is Alpha, do you like him?”

“He’s actually very sweet.  Claudia and I took him out to the track today and she showed me what to do if I ever have someone try to mug me again.  She dressed in this massive protective suit, and she had me give the orders to attack.  I swear to God the dog turned from sweet docile Alpha into Terminator Alpha in a split second.  He also stops as soon as he hears my voice say stop, no matter if I shout it or whisper it.”

“Well, that is what he’s trained to do.  Is she having you do this in German or English?”  I asked curiously.

“He responds to both, but she is training me in English.”  Payton explained.

I was glad as fuck that Alpha responded well to her.  A weight seemed to lift off my chest that I hadn’t even known was there.  “How did you sleep last night?  Was Alpha there with you?”

She laughed and told someone to go lay down in the background, which I assumed was Alpha.  “I think he knows we’re talking about him, and yes, he’s stayed the night for the last three days, it’s just the first time I could get a hold of you.”

That wasn’t surprising.  Service was spotty over here anyway it went, but I’d been so fucking busy the past week that I haven’t been able to return any of the phone calls I’d received. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.  Do you sleep better with him there?”  I asked.

“Yes, I do.  You know that though.  You always seem to know what to do to make me feel safe.  Thank you, Max.”  She said huskily.

The way she said Max sent my dick into ‘let’s do it’ mode and she hadn’t said a single dirty thing.  “You’re welcome, pretty girl.”

“Max?”  She asked quietly.

The tone in her voice made me come to a stop outside of Layne’s office.  I turned my back towards the door and surveyed the hallway.  “Yeah, baby?”

“I’m ready for you to come back.”  She whispered.

Before I could answer her, a sugary sweet voice said, “Well isn’t that sweet.  Does she know what you’re doing?”

I heard the door open, but I’d just assumed it was Layne.  Obviously, I shouldn’t assume.  You know what they say and all, ass out of you and me and all that shit.  Payton’s swift inhalation on the other end of the line took my attention away from the sneering woman in front of me, and back to Payton, who I’m sure was fuming right about now.

“Apparently, the bitch slipped her leash.  Perhaps we should buy her a shock collar next time.”  I said mildly.

“You bastard.”  O’Hare said and lunged.

Now my momma told me never to hit a woman.  What I did next wasn’t so much as hitting, as helping her fall.  I raised my hand and wrapped it around her loose hair, guiding it away from me and using her momentum against her so that she sprawled unladylike onto the tiled floor.  She went down, and I stepped into Layne’s office so I would have a witness in case this got any uglier. 

Layne looked up in surprise as I slammed his door open, stepping in quickly to one side as O’Hare made another lunge at me. 

Layne’s sharp “O’Hare.”  Stopped her cold, and she came to attention two feet away from me.  “What the hell is going on?”

“O’Hare doesn’t really like me very much.”  I said jovially.

Her outraged screech filled the room, their eyes connected and finally Layne said, “Well?”

“He called me a bitch!”  O’Hare said.

“Lita, I realize that you don’t like him.  He doesn’t do anything unless he’s provoked first.  I took you on this case unwillingly.  Now, I think it’s time you packed your belongings.  I’ll have a helicopter ready to take you home at twelve hundred hours.  Dismissed.”

O’Hare, or Lita, watched in stunned silence for a few moments before storming out of the room, slamming the door on the way.

“Hello?”  Payton asked.

I’d completely forgotten that I still had the phone pressed up against my ear.  “Oh, shit.  I’m sorry Payton.  I forgot about you while drama queen had a temper tantrum.  Listen, can I call you back?” 

“Of course, but I’ll be at work tonight, so don’t be surprised if I don’t answer.”  She said.

“I love you.”  I said to her and then hung up the phone before she could say, or not say, anything back to my declaration.

I laughed inwardly.  Let her chew on that. 

Layne smiled, and it was a tad disarming since I never saw him smile.  He was a stoic man, who very rarely let you see that carefree side of him.  “So you got yourself a girl, do ya’?”

“Sho’ nuff’.”  I said jokingly.

He rolled his eyes, very much used to my sense of humor, and continued on with business like he didn’t just fire the drama queen only minutes before.  “You’re actually free to go back home now.  You will no longer be on active duty, but I’m going to get some paperwork in motion that will allow you to come in as an independent contractor just in case we ever need you again.  It just takes a while.  As you can tell, we were in need of you in a faster manner than that would have allowed.”

“You don’t need me to stay?  Looks like you just lost one of your team.”  I asked.

“No.  She was never really part of the team, we have plenty of support, and you’ve already done your time.  She was a pain in the ass is what she was.  She’s with the CIA and technically not even with them anymore.  Apparently, she’s hard to work with; nobody wants her, including us.”

I couldn’t argue with that point.  The bitch was nuts.  Good riddance.  “Alright, when can I leave?”