“He said he stole it out of someone’s backyard because it was left out in the yard when the family left town for vacation,” Andi said, angry for the little thing, as, I think, we all were. “And she doesn’t get along with most of his dogs. He said you can keep her if you treat her right. And, Dezi,” Andi said, eyes serious, “he will be checking. As will I.”
“Listen to these fools,” Dezi said, hiking the dog up on his chest, and the dog immediately started licking at his beard. “Thinking I’d treat my girl as anything other than a princess. She’s not a baby cow,” he said, glancing over at me, “but I think the chicks will dig her too.”
“Especially if you get her a cute puppy cut,” Andi agreed. “You need to bring her in to see me this week, okay?”
“She’s gonna stab things in your butt,” Dezi told the dog. “Won’t even buy you dinner first or nothing.”
“And you need to get her supplies at the pet store. Savea has little pamphlets when you walk in the door. Grab the So, you just got a puppy… one. It lists literally everything you need for a dog. Then get all of it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Dezi agreed. “You hear that? We’ll get you all the treats.”
“Dezi,” Andi snapped, using a teacher voice at him. “She can not eat like you eat. She’s little. Treats are an occasional thing, not an all the time thing.”
“Don’t listen to her and her mean words,” Dezi cooed at the dog as he climbed into the back of the SUV. “I know what you need,” he said as he closed the door.
“You need to keep an eye on that dog,” Andi demanded, looking at Niro. “She won’t be able to walk, she’ll get so tubby.”
I could hear Niro promising to do just that as he led her over toward his bike.
“Ready?” Cary asked, opening the door behind me.
“I feel a little off-kilter,” I admitted. “That just all went so seamlessly.”
“Guess Andi, Niro, Fallon, and Danny were right about A,” Cary said, slamming my door, then getting in his side. “But don’t get it confused, he is absolutely a terrifying guy. And no one fully knows where his loyalties lie in this town. It’s not like with the Mallick or the Grassi Family.”
“Don’t get too friendly with the nice, cartel leader. Got it,” I said, letting out a laugh when Cary playfully tugged a bit of my hair.
It was a couple hours later, after we both supervised Dezi in the pet store because Andi sent Cary a frantic text to make sure he got the right things, not just food, Cary and I both dropped down onto the bed fully clothed, exhausted more mentally and emotionally than physically.
“What do you think about a gray for the living room?” I asked. “Not all the way up. I was thinking maybe like board and batten? The whole wall would make it too dark, I think.”
“Whatever you want, love,” Cary said, slipping an arm under my head.
“But I want… I want you to feel comfortable here too,” I said. Because it was as close to the whole truth as I was willing to get.
That I wanted him around.
That I could see a future with him.
That I wanted him to see himself in the apartment too.
Under me, Cary’s arm curled, pulling me up and onto his chest so he could lean down to press a kiss to the top of my head.
“I like gray,” he said as his arm gave me a tight squeeze.
Unfortunately, the gray would only be up for a few days before it needed to be changed.
On the account of all the blood.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Abigail
The apartment was really coming together.
It had been three days since the meeting with A. Too soon for Cary or his friends to work out a concrete plan, but long enough that things were starting to get in motion.
That was a fact that had this permanent knot in my stomach. Which I tried to ignore by throwing myself into sprucing up our new home.
See, the problem was, spackling and sanding and washing and painting, it was all long, tedious work. Work that didn’t really require a whole lot of brainpower. So my mind wandered as I worked, imagining Cary and Dezi and whoever else they might bring along, going down to Raúl’s neck of the woods, of them possibly trusting the wrong people, or making the wrong move.
What then?
They all died?
Because of me?
And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, then Raúl would know that Henchmen had been a part of the assassination attempt. They would come up to Navesink Bank, then wipe out the whole club.
All those lives lost.
For little old me.
All the wives and children left to mourn.
Because I hadn’t just kept running, because I’d gotten them and their families involved in my mess.