“I have more good ones than bad,” I said, shrugging. “What?” I asked when I caught her sending me a sideways look.
“Um. Well… let’s just see the place first, okay?” she asked, stubbornly keeping her gaze out the windshield so I couldn’t try to read her.
It wasn’t a long ride anyway.
And before I knew it, we were pulling up front.
“Um… what’s going on?” I asked.
“That’s Andres and his crew,” Hope said, nodding.
“Okay. But why are they at my apartment? Does Cary know about this?” I asked, tensing.
“He does. Look, I don’t know how much of this I am supposed to tell you. So the gist of it is that the last time A was at your apartment, he sort of made a mess. He told Cary he would clean it up. And I guess he’s not done yet.”
“But it’s been days,” I insisted as Hope promptly ignored me and jumped out of the car.
Deciding I had no choice but to follow her lead, I climbed out a bit less enthusiastically, not exactly thrilled about my apartment being filled with men that I hadn’t approved of.
“Oh, shit,” Hope said, having reached the top of the stairs before me, and moving inside the apartment.
I didn’t quite know Hope well enough to tell if that was a good “oh, shit” or a bad one.
Taking a steadying breath, not sure how much more surprise my system could handle, I moved in through the doorway.
To a completely different apartment.
“Oh, my God,” I hissed, looking around.
The board and batten that I’d put up with help from the others had been pulled down and replaced with a slightly higher version and painted so perfectly that it had to have been done with a spray gun, not brushes and rollers like I’d done.
The kitchen had been, well, gutted.
And in its place was the dream kitchen I’d pinned images of.
Even the floor looked different. Like it had been sanded and refinished.
I couldn’t be sure, but the windows seemed replaced.
“Hey, lil’ mama. Ruined my surprise showing up like this,” A said, coming out from the bathroom that, I suspected, looked nothing like the one I’d left behind.
“What… why…”
“Biker boy didn’t tell you?” A asked, brows pinching before he promptly shrugged it right off. “Seems it was my fault that ex-hole of yours found you. I handled that situation. But it felt like I owed you. Besides, when that man of yours handles that situation, I’m gonna be doubling my profits,” he said, shrugging. “Figured dropping some fixing this place up would be good for my karma,” he informed me.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” I admitted, shaking my head.
I needed to sit down.
It felt like someone had just grabbed a hold of the world and given it a good shake.
“She’s had a day,” Hope said, giving A a look that he seemed to have no problem interpreting.
“Know what always helps a day?” A asked as I went ahead and sank down on my couch. That, at least, was the same one I’d ordered, but hadn’t arrived before I’d been taken.
My hands roamed over the fabric, and I found the motion grounding despite the world still spinning.
“What is it with you guys?” Hope scoffed.
I didn’t bother turning around, because not ten seconds later, Andres was moving in front of me holding a little black, square-headed pitbull puppy. With one blue eye.
“You can say no,” Hope insisted, moving in at my side. “I don’t know what it is about the men in this town. An animal is a huge commitment. It’s not a gift.”
“She’s just mad I didn’t bring her one, yeah?” A said, smirking at me as he dropped the puppy onto my lap.
I’d never had a dog.
My parents had considered them pointless.
And Raúl didn’t want me to have any soft, happy spot in my entire freaking life.
So, really, I’d never much considered having a pet for myself.
Sure, I liked dogs and cats and everything else as an abstract, but I’d never factored one into my life.
That said, the second the puppy climbed up my chest to plant frantic kisses across my face, I was a goner.
I didn’t even consider consulting Cary about it.
This was my dog, case closed.
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Boy. He has a solid daddy, too. Good guard dog. Listens. Good instincts. If you were mine, I’d want you to have a dog like this,” he added, shrugging.
“A gun is a great protection too. And less slobbery,” Hope insisted.
“Don’t know what you’re doing with your gun, mama, but that thing isn’t gonna keep you warm at night.”
The two of them bickered in a weird, cold, indifferent, snippy way for the next five minutes before Hope demanded A and his guys get going so I could relax after a long day.
I didn’t feel tired, though.
If anything, I felt oddly wired.
“You need to get him food and bowls and stuff,” Hope said. “Andi would have my head if I didn’t remind you of that.”
“Oh, right. Well, maybe when Cary…”
“Babe,” she cut me off. “You’re a free woman now. You don’t need a protection detail. Take some of the cash that has got to be stashed in Cary’s bag, and go spoil your dog.”
“Really?” I asked, finding myself a mix of elated and completely terrified.
I mean, I hadn’t gone anywhere by myself since I was still married. And even then, I’d never really felt free to buy anything I wanted. I always needed to run it by my ex-husband first.
“Yes, really. I mean, I’ll be hanging here, so you don’t need to be worried or anything. But go shop. Get a taste of real freedom.”
I didn’t really need much more encouragement than that.
I grabbed the cash, then the puppy, and made my way down the stairs, and over to the pet store on the same street.
That was where Cary found me what had to be almost two hours later.
What can I say? It was so novel to me. To shop in general, but also to check out all the dog items. I mean there were hundreds of different collar options, rows and rows of treats, special bowls to slow down eating, crates and beds of every shape and size, and, well, I maybe picked up almost every single toy that the puppy showed any sort of interest in.
“I know I should have asked first,” I said, wincing at him when he stopped at the end of the aisle, looking at me.
He’d changed into an all-black outfit that made him look even sexier than usual, and his hair was still wet from the shower.
What he didn’t look, though, was angry in any way.
“Do you want him?”
“I think I might die inside if you said you don’t like dogs,” I admitted, getting a smile out of him as he moved toward us.
His arm went around me automatically, curling me into his side, and pressing a kiss to my temple.
“We can’t have that, can we?” he asked. “I like dogs. I’ve just always lived at a clubhouse, so it wasn’t in the cards for me. He looks like he’s gonna be big,” Cary said, reaching into the cart to touch the puppy’s big paws with their little white spots. Like freckles on his otherwise all black coat.