Chapter 20
TWENTY
CAL
I don’t know how to even start to trust Audrey, but everyone else must have more faith in her than I do because after dropping Ned off where Emma is so he can get some medical attention, along with her husband, we head to the place she directs us to.
It’s a lavish house in a high-income neighborhood, definitely not something a lieutenant should be able to afford.
There are fences around it and likely security we’ll have to figure out how to get through.
“I’m sure there’s security. Won’t we set it off the moment we enter?” I ask.
“I know how to disengage it. I think he believes I’m too dumb to pay attention to things,” Audrey says. “But you have to unbind me.”
I feel reluctant about that, but Felix is prepared to use her and does so while asking, “You’re going to be so good and help us, right? Right?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Felix smiles as Antonio shuts the SUV off and everyone begins piling out. Trav obediently waits when Grayson tells him to stay, but Brigs is enraged when he’s held back and starts pushing so hard that Lane has to be the one to hold him back until we can get the door shut.
“Why’d you bring the pig?” I ask, wishing Felix had a legitimate reason but knowing he doesn’t.
“Because… he’s… cute?” Felix tries out.
Everyone ignores him, leaving him and Lane to fight the stubborn pig. Finally, they get Brigs locked inside as he squeals up a storm, making sure that anyone walking by will immediately know that something is amiss.
“He’ll stop in like fifteen minutes,” Felix says.
I eye him. “In fifteen minutes, I’m hoping to be back in the vehicle.”
“I know. That’s about when he’ll stop. Lane, what do you think about having a guide dog and pig?”
“Absolutely not.”
By the time we reach the gate, Audrey has already input the code while Grayson watches. The gate opens and we head inside, following behind her.
“The only problem we have is that Allen has a guard dog—an evil son of a bitch who would love to take a chunk out of me if given the chance. Just shoot it the second you see it,” Audrey says.
Felix gasps and nearly takes the woman down right that second. “Don’t you dare shoot the dog.”
Her eyebrows rise. “You want him to kill you?”
“He will love me,” Felix declares.
“He hates everyone and everything, but if you want to let him chew on you while we do the rest, you can have at it.”
“You mean love me,” he corrects.
“We don’t need another dog,” Lane says, already reading Felix’s mind.
“Copper is lonely!”
“We don’t need a ravenous dog that wants to eat human flesh, you hear me? Felix? Felix, where are you?” Lane asks as Felix trots up to be next to Audrey so he gets the first opportunity to woo the dog.
“Felix, I don’t want you to get hurt, dammit!” he hisses while he urges Copper after Felix.
Audrey inputs the number for the front door and swings it open. I expected that she would have rigged it for the alarms to go off, which would result in us having Allen’s people rushing here to tear our heads off.
Instead, the door opens with no issue at all. She hesitates, clearly planning on jumping behind Felix if this dog comes barreling out.
“Let’s hope Allen’s not here. If he is… are you going to kill him?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. I really would rather not take a life, and Grayson’s hand on my hip as he gives me a gentle squeeze tells me that he’s here for me, he’s here to take the weight of this if he needs to.
Audrey steps inside before quickly backpedaling and slamming the door shut as the large face of a rottweiler fills up the window in the door while he jumps and barks.
Saliva is flinging off his mouth onto the glass as he rams his large head against the door, blatantly hoping to crush us with those jaws.
Like… what the fuck are we supposed to do about that absolute monster?
“He’s… so… precious,” Felix whispers, pressing his face against the window while the dog tries to eat him through it. “Baby, you’re so pretty!”
“I can’t see the dog, but that really doesn’t sound like ‘precious’ dog noises,” Lane comments.
“What a sweet baby!” Felix says as he stares longingly into the eyes of a dog from hell.
“What’s our plan here?” I ask. “Like… I’d really prefer not to shoot it, but… what do we do with it?”
Felix’s attention snaps to me, looking absolutely disgusted.
“I said I’d prefer not to,” I growl.
“Which means there’s a slight chance of it being an option. ”
“Felix. Do I look like I’d ever shoot a dog?” I ask.
“I didn’t think you looked like you wanted to punch me,” Audrey grumbles.
“Oh, I will punch you just fine,” I snarl.
“I’m just going to open the door a little bit and sweet-talk the little baby into loving me,” Felix says.
“That dog probably weighs more than you. I would not open—and he’s opened the door,” I say as he opens it just a couple of inches.
“Hi there, my sweet baby! You’re not so scary after all! Wow, those big white teethies are so big!” Felix coos before the dog barrels into the door so hard and fast it smashes Felix in the face, throwing him back when the dog comes barreling out, prepared to kick ass and enjoy every minute of it.
Copper is pissed. He doesn’t want some dog possibly harming his people as Felix gets bowled over like he’s weightless… which he practically is.
“Puppers, no! Come here, sweet baby!” he calls as he pats his leg.
“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Audrey yells.
“You’re kind of making me want to punch you too!” Felix says.
“Get inside!” Grayson orders, pushing me toward the door while the dog is distracted by Copper growling at him.
“Who’s a sweet baby, you’re a sweet baby,” Felix says.
“Felix, get in the house before that thing eats you,” Lane pleads.
“He won’t eat me! He loves me already. Look at his hackles of love!”
I look at the dog that is showing not a lick of love in his body as he stalks after Felix.
“He wants to follow me home!” Felix says.
“He’s hunting you!” I cry.
“Just playfully.”
“The way you act makes me think you’ve never met a dog before!” I say.
“Aw, he’s smiling at me!”
“He’s growling at you!” I counter as I pick Felix up and head toward the door.
“No! My puppers! Come with us! I will take you home and make you my newest addition. I will love you and kiss you and put little sweaters on you in the winter!”
Thankfully, I manage to drag Felix through the door and slam it shut before the dog can finish his hunt. Felix longingly stares through the door while the dog jumps on it and barks at us as he considers what it’d be like to snack on the smallest member of our gang.
“I already named him,” Felix declares.
“Don’t name the dog,” Lane says.
“I already decided where he’d sleep in the bed.”
“Our bed is so full of animals that there’s really not room for more.”
“There’s room. Think about the times Cal crawled in with us.”
Grayson glances over at me and raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“I really think we’ll all fit,” Felix says.
I look everywhere but at those looking at me while Audrey makes her way through the expensive home. Everywhere we go, the dog bounds after us on the outside of the house, fogging up the glass and glowering at us as he barks out his threats.
Felix has heart eyes for him, and I’m pretty sure little is going to stop that man from trying to steal a dog that weighs more than him.
“Poor baby is probably thirsty after being such a good boy and barking at the intruders,” Felix says.
“Don’t you dare open the door to get him water,” Lane warns, which really shouldn’t even have to be said, but oh, we’re saying it.
When we reach the kitchen, Audrey looks around. “He usually leaves a laptop in here,” she says. “Although I’m sure he has a computer set up somewhere else. We just have to find it. We should split up.”
“That sounds like what a bad guy would say,” Felix replies. “But I’m game. I’ll go outside and keep watch with Kiwi.”
“Lane… he’s already named the dog,” I say.
“No… I refuse to have heard that.”
“The dog has been named. And once it’s named…”
“It’s going to eat him,” Lane grumbles.
“At least we’ll have a name to put on the gravestone,” Grayson says. “Consumed by Kiwi.”
Felix glowers at us. “Ha. Ha. I swear you all are just jealous. You wish you had as many awesome pets as I do.”
“How do you guys even get anything accomplished?” Audrey asks as she finds the room she’s looking for and hurries into it. She rushes over to the computer and wakes it up before setting to work. “You guys better not get me killed, you understand? You’re keeping watch, right?”
“Yeah… definitely,” I say, leaving the room with Grayson following me.
“Are you sure it’s safe leaving those two in there with her?” Grayson asks as Felix remains next to the door the dog is barking at. He’s whispering sweet words to it in the hope of winning it over.
“Well… maybe?” I answer. “Lane is actually quite skilled, even without his eyesight, and I think Antonio’s smart about this stuff… huge emphasis on the ‘think’ part. I’ll watch this side of the house, you watch the other?”
He hesitates, obviously not wanting to leave me, but kisses the side of my head unexpectedly instead. “Okay.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks while I watch him walk away, leaving me alone to scout out the windows as we wait. Honestly, I’m not going to be surprised if Allen already knows what we’re up to… but if he shows up…
My hand tightens on my gun.
I hate killing people, but I will do whatever it takes to make sure he never hurts anyone again. To make sure Grayson is safe… and to avenge the brothers I lost.
So far, everything seems to be okay. The dog has stopped barking, likely having worn himself out, unless Felix has somehow whispered kindness into his soul.
And even though I’m doing a decent job of watching out for anything suspicious, all I can do is feel the tingling on the side of my head where Grayson kissed me. Like how can I possibly still feel it?
My face heats up while I try to chastise myself for not being focused, and instead, I’m over here seeing hearts everywhere.