Chapter 31
Magnolia
The annoying sound of my phone buzzing from somewhere jostled me from my sleep. In my half-awake state, I saw it was 4:32 a.m., and it was Dr. Lewis calling that pulled me from barely awake to wide awake, wondering why he would be calling at this hour. I felt the familiar zing of anxiety start in my gut and work its way throughout my body.
“Dr. Lewis? Is everything okay?”
“Magnolia, I’m sorry to call you so early, it’s just… Well…they found another site they think was used after we found the last one. This time, it’s just dogs. There’s too much for Ben and me to do on our own, and I was wondering if…”
The second I heard the worry in his voice, I was springing from my bed in a mad dash, pulling on my clothes as quickly as I could. “I’ll be right there.”
Since holding my phone was preventing me from getting ready as quickly as possible, I tossed it onto my bed and darted around my room. Once I was fully dressed, I weighed my options: wake up Lexie and tell her where I’d be, or not.
Against my better judgment, I decided to let her sleep and deal with her wrath later. But also, that’s what cell phones are for, right? Before even leaving the house, I shot her a text message.
Me: Emergency at the clinic. Be home later.
I heard her phone down the hall ping with the sound of my text, and no sound of life from her at all, so I snuck out of the house like a teenager hoping their parents wouldn’t wake up.
Walking out of the house and into Maine’s chilly morning air, I stopped dead in my tracks by a familiar truck idling outside, again.
Sloan’s body slid out from the driver’s side door, and unwilling to close the distance between us, I called out to him, “I think we’ve now hit stalking territory, Sloan. It’s not even five in the morning.”
“I was prepared to wait all day. On the bright side, the coffee is warm.”
He held it out to me, and I saw the steam curl from the top of the lid. I groaned and walked toward him. “Bribery will get you nowhere, Montgomery.” I gave him my best peeved face, but in reality, my heart was doing its own circuit, knowing he was here, again.
“Full disclosure?”
“Please.” I took a sip of my coffee, mmm. I swear its warmth was slowly melting away the frostiness I still felt toward him.
“I got your number from Lexie, but I didn’t feel right using it, so…”
“So, you went for the stalking route instead?” I held the coffee cup to my lips to try to hide the small smile I couldn’t contain. On the other hand, I should have absolutely woken Lexie up this morning…
“So, I went the stalking route.”
“It’s barely five a.m..”
He cocked his head at me. “And yet, here you are.”
“Shit.” The reality of why I was awake and headed to my car slammed into me, and I knew I had to go. “I have to head to the clinic; this will have to wait until later.”
Sloan must have detected something in my voice because, for once , he didn’t put up a fight about me leaving. Getting into my car and quickly reversing had me on my way to the clinic before the sun even thought about rising. The headlights in my rear-view mirror informed me that Sloan was following me.
Not having the time to stop and give him a piece of my mind, I continued to my destination, determined to make up the time I lost by being temporarily distracted by Sloan, even if it was just for a few moments.
Pulling into the clinic, it was hard to ignore that Sloan’s truck pulled up next to me. And even though he pulled in after me, he somehow was opening my door for me and offering his hand.
“A bit early for the clinic today.”
I did my best to suppress my eye roll, but failed, only to be crowded by Sloan’s body once again.
“I know you said just friends, Magnolia, but that’s going to be very hard for me. Why are you here so early?”
Trying to keep the drool firmly in my mouth, I swallowed. “Dr. Lewis called me this morning. It’s an emergency.”
He must have heard my urgency bleed through, so he uncaged me from his body and held out his hand again since I had yet to take it.
“Shall we?”
I bit my lower lip, which caused a groan to slip from Sloan’s mouth, and once again I found myself concealing my grin. I put my hand in his and all but ran to the front door with my keys in hand, not caring that Sloan was following me inside.
“Doc? Ben?” I called out.
“We’re back here,” Ben called from the back treatment area.
Walking into the back, a horrified gasp slipped from me as I took in the scene. While there weren’t nearly as many animals this time, the dogs were in such poor condition. Tears pooled at my eyes as I counted the ribs I could clearly see from a nursing mom who was snapping at Ben, who was trying to get close to her and her puppies.
Before I could protest, I saw Sloan crouch next to him and murmured softly to the dog, “Hey, sweet baby, it’s okay. We just want to help.”
She stopped baring her teeth to listen to the sound of his deep voice, though her ears were still plastered down, showing her unease.
“Can we just get a look at you, sweet girl? I promise we won’t hurt you.” Much to my surprise, the snarling didn’t continue and she tilted her head at the hand Sloan had extended toward her. Ben shot a sideways glance to him in warning, but if Sloan saw it, he ignored it.
He slid forward on his knees to get a little bit closer. “It’s okay. Can I pet you, lovely?” His soft voice had my tense body turning to mush.
I was pretty wrapped up in watching Sloan on his knees— on his knees— trying to get close to a suffering animal to help it, and I found myself caving , ever so slightly.
A bump to my hip alerted me to Louise’s presence next to me with her eyebrows almost in her hairline, giving me one of those “you’ve been caught with your hand in the cookie jar,” looks. I found myself blushing from head to toe, and still unabl e to fully look away from the scene in front of me.
The momma dog had lowered her head and was allowing Sloan closer access. The grin that took over his face caused my heart to stop, and when the dog licked his hand and offered him a small tail wag in return, it started again.
“She’s coming home with me.” He didn’t bother looking at any of us when he made his declaration.
“She’s still nursing the pups….” Ben said in a soothing voice, trying to help convey what an undertaking it would be.
“Okay, let me clarify, she and the puppies are coming home with me.”
He turned to look at us with fire in his eyes, as if daring any of us to interject—and it had me grinning from ear to ear.
“If she lets us look at her, and she and the puppies are healthy enough to go to your home temporarily until we can adopt them out, then that’s fine with me,” Doc said, trying to diffuse any possible tension, but I couldn’t miss the way Sloan’s face had soured at the words temporarily and adopt .
He nodded in agreement, but I could see something behind his eyes.
“Since she’s letting you pet her, Sloan, why don’t you stay here and help Ben while Magnolia and I get started on the others.”
He nodded, not taking his eyes off his task, so I followed Doc to get started on the evaluation and treatment of the other dogs. Every few minutes or so, I found myself seeking out Sloan. Once he and Ben had successfully examined the momma dog and her puppies, they moved on to others.
I shouldn’t have been shocked that Sloan was here helping, but I was. I had heard his phone ring a few times in his back pocket, and after a quick text to whoever, he’d lay it down on the other side. His attention was fully back on doing whatever he could to help, and me. Our eyes kept meeting throughout the day, and each time I found myself blushing, dropping some sort of product, only to be scolded by Louise, or so caught up in the looks he was giving me I was surprised I wasn’t drooling.
“Boo.” His voice sounded from behind me and tickled my ear. I had to actively stop myself from melting into him, and instead turned to face him.
“Thanks for all your help today…” I looked around the clinic. “I don’t think we could have done it without you.”
Well, we could have, it just would have taken us significantly longer.
“Hey, guys, can I get you all over here for a second for a quick update before you all leave for the night?”
Sloan gave me a half shrug as if he was unsure if he should be present for that. I grabbed his hand and led him to where Dr. Lewis was standing, tugging him along behind me, making the decision for us.
“First off, I want to thank you all for coming in today to help out.” He looked over at Sloan and me, clearly signaling to us out. “I was informed by the DNR and sheriff that they think there is some kind of smuggling/animal fighting arena still being held, and they are just moving locations. They told me they have a few suspects in mind, and they should hopefully be making an arrest in the next week or two. However…”
“However, what?” Sloan asked with an edge to his tone.
“ However, they told me we need to proceed with extra caution. A decent number of guns they found, all stolen, were found at this latest house. I don’t want anyone going on a farm call or emergency call alone, and you will always bring your registered weapon with you. There will be timely check-ins required, and if need be, we won’t be making any calls outside the clinic unless law enforcement is present. Do I make myself clear?”
I found it hard to find Doc an intimidating figure, but his words sent a chill through me. This was shaping up to be significantly more dangerous than I had anticipated. But I also knew I would never stop trying to help the animals, so I was more than okay with the rules he was setting up to execute.
I felt Sloan’s body tense behind mine, and since I had yet to let go of his hand, I gave it a squeeze before letting it go and turning to him, clocking the fear and possessiveness he tried to hide from me.
I arched my brow at him. “This is going to make the stalking worse, isn’t it?”
“You have no idea, baby… No idea.”
And I don’t think I mind one bit.