Chapter 24
KNIGHT
Aiden pulled into the driveway earlier than I expected. He was usually gone until seven on his nights at the clinic. I closed the refrigerator, where I’d been perusing leftovers. I wasn’t in the mood for anything we had to eat tonight.
I turned as the front door opened. “Hey, what do you think about getting Zacos?”
A small wiggly dog ran inside and barked at me.
“So, no Zacos?”
Aiden followed, lugging a large bag of dog food. A plastic bag dangled over his shoulder like a purse, the contents clanking noisily.
I met him in the living room and took the heavy bag from his hands. “Did I miss a conversation about adopting a dog?”
He unloaded dog food bowls, a leash, and a few dog toys from the other bag. “Sorry. Long story. He needs a temporary home. It’s for a patient. Shit. I didn’t even ask if you were allergic or hated dogs or anything.”
“It’s fine.” I lugged the dog food into the kitchen, and Aiden followed with the bowls. We filled one with tap water and the other with some kibble. “But what’s going on, Angel? How did you become a dog sitter?”
He went back into the living room and dropped down on the couch, deflating like a punctured balloon.
“I went out to check on a patient and he was in bad shape. He’s at the hospital. I have to get up there.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. I gave him some insulin at the scene, so hopefully he’ll recover. But it’s fucked-up, Will. It’s so fucked-up that this even happened.”
I perched on the edge of the cushion next to him and reached out to rub his neck. “What do you mean?”
“It’s just not right. He lives in a rural area.
It’s a forty-minute drive to Riverton. I think his truck wasn’t running or something, so he missed a couple of appointments.
Those appointments keep him alive because he can’t afford his insulin prescription all the time and the clinic will give him free samples when they can. ”
“Ah, shit. That’s a damn shame.”
“It is shameful,” Aiden said. “I should have checked on him sooner. We shouldn’t have just let him…” He sucked in a breath. “If he’d gone into that coma last night or we’d waited one more day to check on him—”
I squeezed the nape of his neck. “But that didn’t happen.”
He let out a shaky breath. “It could have, and it’s fucked-up that it’s so easy to fall through the cracks.”
“Yeah. No argument here.”
“We need better health care for rural residents, especially because many of them are living in poverty. They don’t have good health insurance or good transportation. We need to do more.”
“So do more.”
He blinked glazed eyes at me. “I’m just a volunteer at the clinic.”
“For now,” I said. “Not forever. If you care about this, you can be part of the solution.”
“Is there a solution?” he said, sounding sad. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe not a perfect one,” I said. “But you said you need to do more. So do that, at least.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “You’re right. This isn’t okay. There’s got to be more outreach.”
“But for right now, you need to stop beating yourself up. Go see your patient. You’ll feel better.”
The dog whined and jumped up with his paws against Aiden’s knees.
“Aw, I know.” Aiden stroked his head. “You’ll see Larry again soon.”
The dog took his soft tone as permission to jump into his lap. Aiden slumped backward, arms full of wiggly dog trying to lick his chin, and laughed. “Whoa! Okay. It’s okay.”
I smiled. Turned out the pooch was better at cheering him up than me. I reached over and tugged on the dog’s ear, and he bounded into my lap, eating up attention from me.
“Are you sure it’s okay I’m leaving him with you? I can’t do anything for Larry. I just want to be there when he wakes up to reassure him.”
“Go, then. I can handle this guy. I’ll take him for a walk and run off some of this nervous energy. I’m sure he’s had a lot of excitement today.”
Aiden nodded. “Yeah. He was pretty worried about his daddy when I got there.”
“I bet he was.” I grabbed his ears and wiggled his head. “Were you worried? But now Doctor Donovan is on the case. Everything will be okay.”
“I hope you’re right.”
I leaned over and kissed his forehead. “No matter what happens, you showed up for this man when nobody else did. You probably saved his life, Aiden.”
“It shouldn’t have needed saving,” he said as he pushed to his feet. “But I’m glad I went. I was supposed to observe a surgery tonight. If I’d been Ian Foley, I would have done that instead, so maybe he’s right about me.”
“Who’s Ian Foley?”
“A good surgeon. Not the best people person, though.”
“Ah.”
Aiden headed for the door. “I don’t know how soon I’ll be home.”
I nodded. “Text me a few updates. Call if you need me. It doesn’t matter how late.”
“Thanks.”
Once Aiden was gone, I hooked the dog up to his leash. He had a metal tag hanging from his collar. Waffles, it read.
“Waffles? Really?”
His ears perked up, and he gave a small bark.
“Well, okay, Waffles. Let’s go for a walk.”
That got him really excited, and he raced for the door, tugging at the leash until I caught up. I grabbed Aiden’s rent check off the breakfast bar where he’d left it last night and followed Waffles outside.
We walked toward the front office, taking a meandering path that allowed Waffles to sniff every shrub and mark his territory on random patches of grass.
We passed a large Doberman who took issue at another dog passing by, ferocious barks ringing out. Waffles had more courage than brains and tried to rush at the fence, barking and growling like he could really take on that brute.
I tugged him away. “Learn your limits, dude. You’re a waffle. He’s a T-bone steak. You feel me?”
Waffles craned his head to look back, lips pulled back in a snarl. Well, some guys never learned.
We eventually made it to the front office. I let us inside.
“No dogs in my office!” Nina called.
“Just dropping off your rent,” I said.
She eyeballed Waffles. “There’s an extra fee for keeping pets in the park.”
“He’s a temporary visitor.”
“Fine.” She sniffed and held out her hand to accept the rent check.
I handed it to her and then dug out my wallet to add my half of the rent in cash.
“The fence over on the east side needs repairs,” Nina said. “You’ll do it.”
“I can’t, sorry. I’ve worked off what I owed you already.”
“So, I’ll give you another rent discount. The park is looking nicer. I want you to keep doing it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t really have the time.” Or the desire. “But, uh, I might be able to find you someone else who would be interested.”
She pursed her lips. “But you did good work. I trust you.”
“Well, I’ll vouch for him. He’s a hard worker.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Who?”
“Well, it depends on if he could move out here. You got any vacancies? Not just lots, but trailers?”
“We’ve got a couple of our smaller campers over on the south end.”
I nodded. “Okay, but you’ll have to discount him double what you did for me. It’s hot, dirty work.”
She huffed and wagged a finger at me. “You’re trying to take advantage.”
“No, I’m trying to ensure he gets a fair deal. I worked at the rate you offered because I was behind on rent, and it seemed fair to accept less. But he’d be coming in with this arrangement.”
Nina liked her money. I might put her off the whole idea by demanding more, but I wasn’t going to recommend Ghost move out here unless it could be a better arrangement than he had now. He might not thank me.
“Okay, fine. You get him to rent one of those trailers, and I’ll discount him double.”
“And it’ll be an ongoing job. Not just temporary?”
She nodded. “If he works as hard as you. I don’t need any slackers.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to him.”
Waffles yapped and jumped at her legs. Nina stumbled back with a gasp. “Get that mangy mutt out of here!”
With a laugh, I backed out of the office.
On the way back to the trailer, I hit the group chat with the other guys and let Ghost know of the opportunity.
If he wasn’t interested, maybe Hollywood would jump on it.
We were all struggling financially, but with Aiden covering half the rent for me, I was in better shape than I’d been in a long time.
“Okay, Waffles. Let’s go home and get you into bed.”
Waffles had slowed down on the walk back, so I was pretty sure he’d run off some of his nervous energy.
As we rounded the bend toward home, I spotted a motorcycle at the curb.
I tensed, and Waffles, sensing my energy, growled low in his throat.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “We don’t like that.”
Gray rode a motorcycle, and occasionally Axel borrowed it, but neither of them had visited me out here. Besides, I recognized the snake painted on the body.
A Serpent had come calling.
I fisted my keys, bracing for another fight. There was only one bike, and as I neared the house, I saw Puck leaning against the fence by himself.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
He smirked. “Nice to see you too, Knight.” He gave me a once-over. “Looks like we didn’t break you too bad, huh? The bruises are gone.”
“You think you can take me one-on-one?” I asked.
He eyed the dog, who was still growling. “And risk this little mutt’s fury? Nah. I’m not here to fight.”
“Then leave.” I opened the gate and led a still-growling Waffles inside.
Puck followed me to the door. “We need to talk.”
I crouched to unhook Waffles’ leash and gave him a push inside before closing the door between us. No way I was giving Puck an invite to my house.
I straightened and turned, towering over Puck. He’d always been a small man at five-eight and a buck sixty. I wasn’t sure what I’d ever seen in him. I was young when we met, vulnerable. He’d taken advantage of that.
“What do you want? You already sold me out to the Serpents.”
“I didn’t. Not like you think.” Puck gnawed on his lip. “One of the other guys mentioned you. Not by name, but he said enough that I didn’t have a choice but to fess up.”
“Oh, well then, I guess it’s okay you jumped me with two other dudes and nearly broke my goddamned ribs.”