Chapter Twenty-Five
That last message has me on edge with Sophia. She’s trying to be brave and act like it’s not bothering her, but I know it is. She’s been distracted and distant. Spacing out in the middle of conversations.
I can’t wait to surprise her.
Sophia comes out to meet me in the driveway. I’ve given Ripp the day off. I’ll be home with her all day today after a forty-eight hour shift. I was only home for naps and couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t need to leave. Ripp took over the guest room while I was gone, and I appreciate him.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” She hops in, and I hand her the coffee I just went out to get.
“I’ll give you a hint… it was your idea.” I wink at her and start the drive. Luckily the breeder isn’t too far, because I’m terrible about surprises.
She stares at me blankly. “I suggest a lot of off-handed shit that you say you can make happen. So I’m not sure what we could possibly be doing.”
“That’s the beauty of being with me, Goddess. Your wish is my command.” Getting on the highway to head north, I rest my hand on her thigh, squeezing her soft skin.
She rolls the window down, letting the warm air roll through the truck.
An hour later, I turn down the bumpy dirt road that boasts a sign for the dog breeder, her rescue, and the police K9 training business.
“Um. Wyatt.”
“Yes, Goddess?” I ask her, unable to contain the grin splitting my cheeks and sending a stab of pain through the sensitive skin that’s still healing.
Totally worth it to see her sitting on the edge of her seat, bouncing up and down.
“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”
“If you mean am I getting you a guard dog that failed out of the police training for being too nice and snuggly, then yes, I’m doing exactly what you think I’m doing.”
“A guard dog… that’s too nice?” She giggles.
“She wouldn’t bite her handler for bite work.
But she will still protect her handler. Chief got her okayed for scent detection, but it’ll take a minute to get her approved.
So in the meantime, we get to bring her home to start on her training.
” I look out my window and try to secretly dab at my cheek to see if it’s bleeding, but she doesn’t miss a thing.
“Are you okay? It's bleeding a little.” Reaching into the glove box, she pulls out a napkin and gingerly takes my chin in her fingers as she blots at the skin.
“Yeah. It’s just a little dry. I think it cracked when I smiled at you.”
I can’t even smile at my fucking woman.
“I’ll put some Vaseline on it tonight when we get home. You’ll be good as new.”
I scoff and don’t answer. I’ll never be good as new.
“You know your lopsided grin is my favorite. Because I see it when you’re about to cause trouble with me. And that means you love me for who I am. Don’t ever knock that smile that’s only for me.” She kisses the sensitive skin, leaning over the center console.
Turning to face her after I put the truck in park, I say, “I love you, Sophia Chiave.”
“I love you, Officer Keaton.”
Pulling her in, the need to kiss her lips takes over my brain. But it doesn’t take long for her to pull away.
“I think someone is waiting for us.” She nods her head in the direction of the house where an older woman stands with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.
“Let’s go get your puppy,” I say before we both hop out of the car.
“I take it she’s happy about the surprise?” the woman asks.
“She is. Carol, this is Sophia.” I gesture toward the beautiful woman next to me.
“It’s so nice to meet you. I can’t wait to meet her. Does she already have a name?” Sophia lets go of my hand to shake Carol’s.
“Athena. What have you been told about her?” The three of us walk around the back of the house.
“Just that she’s too nice to be a K9,” Sophia answers.
“Well. She’s a fifteen month old Belgian Mallinois.
Pure black. And while she is too nice, she’s still a little malligator.
She loves to chomp, bite, and chew. Just not her friends.
” Carol opens a door that leads into a hallway of kennels that look like a bedroom in a house.
“She’s the best girl; she can’t wait to be a guard dog for the right people. ”
As we approach the last kennel, the dog inside figures out we’re coming for her. She begins to jump up and down and spin in circles.
“Now a Belgian is very high energy. So you’ll have to exercise properly on top of her training with Wyatt at the station.
“That’s not a problem,” I say. “We’re training for a marathon, so she’ll have plenty of time and space to run and swim. We own twenty acres on the shore and in the woods.”
“Perfect.” Carol opens the door to Athena’s kennel and slips inside. “Calm. Sit. Stay.”
When she gives the commands, the dog immediately does as she’s told. Opening the door once more, she invites us into Athena’s space. Sophia goes first, crouching down in front of Athena.
“Hello, beautiful girl. Are you coming home with us?” Athena leans forward slowly, sniffing at Sophia’s face before licking her.
“I think she’s mighty pleased with that decision,” Carol jokes. “Do you want to walk with her? Get to know her?”
“Yes!” We both answer at the same time.
Carol gets Athena all set in her harness and leash. Giving us directions and the bag of treats is the last step before our walk.
Heading out the door she directed us to, we choose the path that leads out into the woods, deciding to test her off-leash and recall commands.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I see Chief’s name.
“Hey, Chief. You calling to check on your new asset?” I joke.
“No. We’ve got another problem here. They hacked the library sign.” My skin instantly feels clammy with the information. This is definitely an escalation in time frame.
“What’s it say?”
“Sophia Black is Sophia Chiave. She’s brought danger, and the cops are hiding it. This is a big problem. My phone is blowing up. Folks know the Chiave name because of Jack.”
Running my hand through my hair, I inhale a sharp breath. “I know. I’ll call Kane now and meet him. Ripp is at my house. I’ll send him to the library to meet you.”
“Thanks. We’ll get this sorted, son. Tell Sophia not to worry. We’re behind her.”
A beep sounds on the phone. “Mom is calling me. I’ve gotta take this, or you know she’ll be at the station before we hang up.”
“Talk to you soon.” He hangs up, letting me answer the other line.
“Mom,” I answer, ready to defend ourselves.
“You put my sweet girl on this phone right now,” she demands.
“Mom. You are not—”
“You hush. Put her on the phone.”
Hesitantly, I turn my phone over to Sophia who has no idea what’s going on, but knows something is up.
Athena senses the tension, and I know this is probably the last thing we should be doing with her on our first walk.
Welcome to the fire, girl.
We stop walking and sit on a downed log off the side of the trail. Athena immediately sits between Sophia’s legs, nudging at her hand and resting her head down in her lap.
Good girl.
All I can do is watch Sophia, stressed the fuck out as tears stream down her face and she mumbles out a few yes ma’ams here and there.
I feel helpless right now, and I fucking hate it.
When mom is done with Sophia, she hands the phone back to me. “Hello?”
“You get my girl home, and then you find this fucker, Wyatt.” I can hear the tears in mom’s tone too.
“Yes ma’am,” I agree.
Hanging up with Mom, I slip my phone back into my pocket and pull Sophia to me while petting the top of Athena’s head.
“You’re the best girl, aren’t you, Athena?” I whisper to her.
“Did Mom tell you everything?” I ask Sophia.
She nods her head. “Why can’t they just let me go?”
“I don’t know, Goddess. But I promise I’ll find them and make them stop.” Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, we both stand, going back the way we came. “I’ll have to go to the station when we get back. Ripp will come sit with you.”
“Okay.” She sounds so despondent and distant. I hate every second.
After I get her settled in the car, I head back inside to talk to Carol.
“How’d it go? That was fast.” Concern is written all over her face.
“It went great. She’s perfect. But I did get a call, and I’ve got to get back to the station. Are we all set to take her, or would you rather we come back another day?”
“You can take her. I’ve got her all packed up because I had a hunch it would go well.
She hands over the box of supplies for Athena, along with a crate for the house.
“When you have new people over, you’re going to want to do the same as I did earlier.
Let them come to her slowly and introduce them as a safe person.
That way, she views anyone who comes in without the introduction as an intruder, and she knows to be on alert.
We’ll go over that more in-depth, but after talking to your chief, I assume you’ll want to start that on your own today. ”
“Thank you so much. I’ll be in touch at the beginning of the week.” I turn and practically run out of the kennels back to the truck with Athena on my heels.
Opening the back door, I slide the items from Carol over behind Sophia’s seat and then tap the seat for Athena to hop in. She seems to relax once Sophia is back in her view. Reaching her paw forward, she presses her head into Sophia’s shoulder, licking at the tears.
Kane walks into the station with me after we arrive at the same time. We go straight to Chief’s office and shut the door behind us.
“What have you found? I won’t have this town mistrusting my officers.” Chief gets straight to the point.
“We have James on facial recognition from some traffic cameras. But none that match up with the signs. We also have Hugh in Massachusetts. That’s a parole violation, so we’ve notified his PO.
James was in a stolen vehicle the two times he was caught on the cameras but not the same one.
He’s basically untraceable at the moment. ”
Chief watches both of us. “And how is he not getting caught on these cameras?”