But it doesn’t take the sting out of it.
It doesn’t take the pain out of my chest, knowing I’ve failed once again.
Knowing that somebody else in this world doesn’t want me because I screwed up.
“Let me help you with that,” Parker says, not skipping a beat as he moves over, patting Moose’s damp fur and covering him with a towel before he starts to shake all his wetness all over us both.
“See? I told ya. He’s not the best doggy when it comes to bath time… He wants to make everyone else as wet as he is,” Parker says, his hands brushing over mine as we loosely fight to cover Moose with a huge towel, making us both laugh for a second.
Almost making me forget everything else.
“Why don’t I help you dry him off, then you can show me how to clip his nails, and then we can get out of here?” Parker suggests, resting one of his huge hands over mine as he looks down at me, his lips giving me a comforting smile.
The lips I wish he’d just press up against mine.
Put me out of my misery and either just kiss me, fuck me or tell me I’ve got no hope like my boss just told him.
I surprise myself and readily agree.
We finish Moose’s bath and I fetch a second hose from the reverse vacuum we use to dry dogs, and Moose seems to enjoy being spoiled by the two of us.
He sits pretty well through me showing Parker how I’d clip his nails, which only need a tiny trim.
Moose being on his feet so much.
“He really likes you,” Parker says, pointing out the obvious, but also hinting at an answer to my own hidden question.
“And you?” I hear myself almost gasp, fumbling as I try to lightly brush his hand but damn near scratching him, which makes him laugh nervously.
“Oh, I like you fine too,” he says casually, blushing a little as we both stand perfectly still, our hands barely touching as I wait for him to take the lead.
Maybe even lean in and kiss me? Like in the movies or something.
I even push myself up on the balls of my feet, craning my neck a little so I can reach his mouth sooner once I notice his face moving closer to mine.
Like two magnets, helpless against the power between them.
I finally consider that maybe, just maybe a man like Parker could have feelings for a girl like me.
Feeling my eyes close, I even pucker my lips, waiting for his to meet them midair for what feels like forever before I finally open my eyes, disappointed.
“Let’s get out of here, huh?” Parker suggests suddenly, squeezing my hand gently before Moose puts his own lips between ours and licks both our faces, stamping his newly trimmed feet impatiently before I let him out of the bath.
“Where?” I ask, fighting back the wave of truth that threatens to drown me all over again.
I’ve got nowhere, nobody, and nothing to my name, so I’m not sure where exactly I’d go right now.
But anywhere with Parker is fine by me.
As long as it’s not my apartment or the hospital where Sasha is still breathing fire about me, I guess.
“We can go home. To my place,” Parker suggests, a glint in his eye as he catches his lower lip in his perfect white teeth.
“Or we could…” he starts to say, scanning the interior of the dog salon but I fake hit his huge chest, stopping him before he suggests leaving me here on my own or worse.
“I’d like that,” I confess. Knowing if I can feel so at ease with Parker and Moose in person, I’d love to be in their house, even just long enough for me to have a break so I can figure out what to do next.
“I hoped you would,” Parker admits as Moose picks up his own leash in his teeth, pressing it into my hand and signaling us both it’s time to go.
“We should really walk him around the block a couple of times, dry him out completely,” I suggest and Parker agrees.
“Yeah. Get the last of that wet dog smell off of him,” he agrees, and it’s decided.
Even though Moose looks a little offended that anyone would suggest he even smells just a bit still.
I close up the salon, slipping the key into the mailbox slot outside, and handing Parker Moose’s leash as all three of us set out on a lap around the city block.
The sun peeks out, and as we round the corner even I start to feel like things are gonna work out just fine.
I hear Moose growl first, and then feel Parker tense up as we turn the corner.
I don’t even know what’s happening next, except that it’s the second knife I’ve seen in one day and I don’t like it.
“Give me your wallet, phones!” The rough voice snarls, swiping at the air in front of us.
It’s not my landlord this time, but someone who looks even more desperate.
Someone who smells like they need a bath as well.
I grip Parker’s arm, knowing what he’s capable of doing, Moose too.
“Just give him what he wants, Parker. None of this is worth-”
But it’s too late.
The man’s reflexes are quicker than my words and even quicker than our new friend’s mind.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Parker
Are you fucking kidding me?
It’s the only thought I can have between what this punk says and what my arm does next out of reflex.
Even Moose lets me handle this one on my own, only stepping between the guy with the knife, blocking him from Naomi while I twist his arm into a creaking knot behind his back and pin him to the wall.
The little knife clinks to the sidewalk, as passers-by gasp, and someone reaches for their phone to start filming.
I identify myself as K9 patrol again, flashing my badge with my one free hand before making the
