Chapter Five #2
Harley groaned, earning himself a savage but tiny growl when he tried to stroke Baby’s head.
“Jesus, why doesn’t she like me? I’m a nice guy.”
“She’s like that with the Pres too, man. Maybe you guys just don’t have it. She only likes me.”
V turned and faked gagging again. “Poor thing is delusional.”
“Me or the dog?”
“Both.”
V
Eventually, because you can only belittle a man so long before he starts to take it to heart, and strangely, that wasn’t my aim, I made my offer.
“Why don’t you grab the pup with no name, and I’ll give you a ride to the large pet superstore. You’ll need all sorts of stuff to keep her happy. When did you last feed her?”
Rocket rolled his eyes, checking the time on his phone. “An hour ago, as per your very sassy instructions.”
“And she’s still not taking to food yet? Just wants the milk?”
He frowned. “Is that bad? Is there something wrong with her?”
I shook my head, reaching out to take the pup from Caroline, who pouted as she handed her over, while I relished the warmth of the little sweetheart. Rocket might have been right about her not liking men, because she’d taken to me immediately, and Caroline too, by the sound of it.
“There’s nothing wrong, Rocket. I think she wasn’t fully weaned yet, so she’s probably not quite eight weeks old yet. I can help you get her onto solids. Let’s go to my car.”
“I brought my ride,” he protested, following me as I marched toward the door, nodding at Harley as I passed him.
“And that’s a lovely story, but I’m not getting on that deathtrap with you, and a fucking puppy.” I heard him grumbling behind me, but he followed, and took his ‘baby’ back from me as he got in the car.
“Jesus, this thing feels like a fucking coffin.”
“Thanks, that’s what I was going for,” I snarked as I pulled my perfectly reasonably sized fucking car out onto the main road. It was a four door sedan, not a mini, dammit.
“You’re kinda unpleasant, you know that?”
“And you’re rude.”
“Sorry I didn’t keep texting last night, if that’s why you’re so cranky. She peed on the bed, and by the time I’d stripped it and made it again, it was late.” Oh. I had wondered why he hadn’t replied again, and told myself repeatedly that it didn’t matter.
“I was asleep anyway,” I murmured, doing my best to sound like I didn’t give a crap.
Silence fell for the next few minutes, as I navigated my way through traffic, heading for the large pet superstore on the other side of the town centre. Finally Rocket groaned.
“Okay, so what shit am I looking for? A bed, you said?”
“Bed, more dishes, collar, lead, probably a little coat to keep her warm. Toys. Dogs need toys.”
“Jesus, gonna need a fucking bank loan at this rate,” he grumbled, but then he nuzzled the pup, “lucky you’re so damn cute, Baby.”
I groaned. “You seriously can’t call her that. How are you going to handle the reactions when you’re shouting that out at her on walks, or… or, oh my god, in your clubhouse? Won’t your club brothers give you hell for that?”
“Fuck,” he murmured, slumping in the seat as he settled the pup in his lap, “you’re right. They’d be real assholes about it. I don’t know what to call her though. What the hell do people call dogs, especially girl dogs?”
“It’s not that hard. What girl names come to mind?”
Rocket shrugged. “Only the names of women I know, and I don’t think their men would like that. I’m not exactly that imaginative about this shit.”
I pulled into the car park, and turned off the engine.
“There must be someone important to you, someone whose name might work.”
Rocket grimaced, dragging a hand over his unruly brown hair.
“Fuck’s sake. There’s nobody, okay? I have my club, and that’s it.”
Wow, that sounded sad as fuck. Why did he have no family? Why did he have nobody but the club?
“The club? Just your Phoenix brothers?”
He glared at me. “Yeah, just my fucking… wait… what about Nix? That’s cute, right?”
He’d gone from glaring to grinning widely, so proud of himself, and who could blame him? I really liked that for her name, and he was already nuzzling her again and calling her Nixie.
“Wasn’t so hard, was it?” I pointed out as I got out of the car and waited for him to join me.
“You know, I did a good thing. I saved this little baby, so why am I being punished?”
I side-eyed him as I reached the door and he pushed it open ahead of me, letting me pass.
“Punished?”
“Yeah, every minute with you is like being verbally fucking spanked.”
And why did that have me smiling as I followed him? Not because I liked being mean, but because he seemed to enjoy my new attitude. He gave as good as he got, and that made it easier to just banter with him in our verbally abusive way.
“That’s as close as you’re getting to my hand on your ass,” I added, moving into the aisle of dog beds, to get him started. His eyes grew really wide as he stared at the ridiculously opulent selection and turned helplessly to me.
“Jesus fuck, how do I choose?”
I pointed out a few, soft, not overly fluffy beds, small enough for a dachshund to find comfortable, without being too huge. It was about finding the beds that were suitable, rather than pretty.
“What about when she outgrows it?”
“Rocket, she won’t get bigger than this bed can cope with. She’s a dachshund, or at least some designer crossbreed containing that species.”
“Huh. What about those ones that look like a… well… I don’t wanna say what something with just a hole for access looks like, but you get me.”
He pointed and I giggled. I fucking giggled. Me.
“I mean, you could, but you might find it hard to coax her back out of there. As young as she is, she might get overwhelmed when she comes out of it, because it’s so enclosed and protective.”
“I want her safe though, don’t I?”
Yes. Yes that’s all we want from animal owners, right? Protect the furbabies, and love them like family. That’s what they fucking deserve.
“Up to you, but don’t come crying to me if she bites you when you try to get her out.”
Rocket snorted, grabbing one of those beds and tucking it awkwardly under his arm.
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Besides, I’m thinking when she’s at the shop, this’ll feel safer for her.” Again, his thinking wasn’t flawed, was it?
“You should get a flat version too, for when she’s in your… house? Room? I don’t know where you live exactly, but-”
“Angling for my address now. Why don’t you just admit you want in my bed, woman?”
I picked up a flat puppy bed and thwacked the back of his head with it.
“You wish. Okay, next we should look at dishes and stuff. You can’t keep a dog in that shop all day without a permanent water source.”
“Jesus, it’s like, oh hello,” his tone suddenly changed, and I turned back to see a young woman standing close to him, practically melting all over the pup in his arms. Little Nixie.
His face was relaxed and smiling, nothing like it normally was around me.
Not because I made him unhappy, but because he was often guarded.
Like he was waiting for the next insult.
Was I that awful to him? Probably. For some reason it was bothering me that he was entertaining the gushing brunette, who was now chatting him up instead of stroking Nixie.
Not my business. Not my man, right?
I headed into the aisle with dishes and feeding stations, and grabbed one of the foldable bowl/bottle combo things for on walks.
Next I grabbed two small dishes, one for water and one for food, then rethought it and grabbed another for a spare.
I turned to ask him if he’d need more, but he was still presumably in the other aisle with the flirty woman.
Why the hell was I doing all the work for him while he was making a date?
I grabbed a basket, tossed these bits in, along with a simple collar and lead, and a pack of the puppy food he’d need to start weaning her onto.
At that point, I was done being his lackey.
I found him back in that same aisle, chatting to the same woman, and I dumped the basket by his side.
“Do the rest yourself, once you’ve finished your playdate.”
I heard him yelling my name as I left the store, but for some reason I was really pissed off at him, and I couldn’t let myself consider why that was.
I wasn’t into him. He was a man, ergo definitely not worth my emotions, but maybe I felt a little betrayed, because I’d gone out of my way to help him out, and he’d prioritised flirting with some tart instead of making use of my time and knowledge.
That was it. Wasting my valuable time. Something he clearly didn’t appreciate.
I was in my car, starting the engine, when I realised I couldn’t just ditch him here, because whether I was pissed at him or not, little Nixie didn’t deserve my stupid jealousy, wait, no. Not jealousy. Perfectly reasonable frustration. That was it.
The car door was wrenched open and Rocket placed Nixie on the seat, while he opened the back door and tossed several carrier bags of supplies in there.
He scooped up the pup again as he dropped heavily into the passenger seat, and glared at me.
“What the fuck was that about?”
I waited until he latched his seatbelt and started pulling out of the car park. He was still glaring right at me, his gaze practically burning my cheeks, or maybe that was just embarrassment, or mortification. I was pretty sure I’d overreacted, but there was no going back now.
“Nothing,” I finally muttered, keeping my focus on the road, because I could still feel him staring at me, but I wasn’t sure if it was with anger anymore.
“V, I appreciate you for helping, I really do. I have no clue what I’m doing here, and you’re going out of your way to help me. I get it. Thank you.”
Well, shit. Way to make me feel like the asshole in the car now.
“You’re welcome. Maybe I should have given you more time with your hot date instead of getting bored.”
Bored. Ha. Call it what it was, for god’s sake. It was jealousy. I’d never admit it though.
“Wait. That’s what it was? You were jealous. Aw baby, that’s so cute. She just wanted to get all moist over the pup, I swear.”
I had to stop for a red light, so I finally turned to glare at him, seeing that smug grin on his face.
“First off, fuck you. Secondly, I was NOT jealous, I don’t get jealous of guys I barely know, who couldn’t get me if they fucking begged, and last of all, did you have to say that fucking word?!”
He blinked several times, but that grin remained. No matter how much I denied it, he could see it.
“If you’re offering to fuck me, I’m down, baby. I’d make it worth your valuable time.”
“That’s all you took from that?!”
He chuckled, while I focused on moving again now the light was green, ignoring the bastard behind me who’d leaned on his horn the very instant it changed. Prick.
“I am NOT fucking you!”
Rocket snorted. “And I’m not begging. Trust me, you’ll be the one begging soon enough. I’m already getting you moist…” he chuckled again as I grimaced, “so sexy and moist, baby. I’ll-”
“Finish that sentence, and I’ll kick you out of my car.”
“You wouldn’t do that to Nixie and you know it.”