The Devil Has Tattoos

by Destiny Ford

  “Hey, Kate!” Michelle said. “Glad you could make it.”

  “Me too.” There was always a chance that a story would interrupt puppy training. It had already happened once and my mom had taken him instead. It wasn’t a bad thing. We were basically co-parenting the little guy so it was good for him to learn to listen to commands from my mom and dad too, but I knew it was important for Gandalf to see me as his alpha and being at the trainings was a big part of that. “How are you doing, Michelle?”

  “Pretty good. Trying to figure out Halloween costumes is rough.”

  “Kids are hard to please.”

  “So are the dogs,” she said and we both laughed.

  “We’re almost ready to start if you want to go to the back,” she said.

  I walked into the room, prepared to let Gandalf greet his friends, and stopped in my tracks. Gandalf was pulling at his leash, trying to get over to see some of his friends. It seemed we had a new addition to the class. I narrowed my eyes, unfroze myself, and corrected Gandalf for pulling at the leash as I continued to glare at Drake, talking to someone on the far side of the room. Drake finished up his conversation and came over to give Gandalf a pet.

  I eyed him suspiciously. “You do know this is a puppy training class?”

  Drake glanced up at me between rubbing under Gandalf’s chin and then his belly. “I do.”

  “Have you acquired a dog that you haven’t told me about?” I asked.

  “No, but you did and I thought I should get some tips in.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should think that was cute, or stalkery. My eyes managed to narrow even more. I could barely see out of them at this point. “You’re taking time out of your day for puppy training when you don’t even own a dog?”

  He pressed his lips together. “I might have one someday.”

  I gave him a look. “A dog of your own?” Because I was not prepared for the insinuation that he might one day be Gandalf’s puppy dad.

  Drake grinned. “Sure.”

  Good grief. Not only did most of Branson already think we were dating—or more than dating—a mutual puppy training class would make them all certain of it. Someone had probably already snapped a photo. I fought back a sigh. I needed to take control of this situation.

  “You grew up on a farm,” I reasoned. “You know how dogs are trained. I think you’re totally fine.”

  He leaned against the wall, his eyes lighting. “Worried someone’s going to see me here with you?”

  Yes. That’s exactly what I was worried about. “No. But I’m aware that your time is valuable.”

  He gave me his thousand-watt politician’s smile. “Which is why I’m spending it with you.”

  “We could do something another time,” I offered.

  His lips curved. “Okay, do you want to come back over and watch me take my shirt off while I clean more stuff off of my house?”

  Dammit! I thought I’d been so sneaky with my stares! I tried to smooth my expression to something blank and vague. “Has someone been throwing things at your house again?”

  His lips spread into a huge grin as he totally ignored my question. “Despite the fact that you said Spence urgently needed you at the office the other morning, you sat in your car for a good ten minutes doing nothing.”

  “I wasn’t doing ‘nothing’,” I defended. “I was answering some messages.” From my mom. I’d been replying to her pictures of Gandalf. And I’d made it seem like my work situation was more serious than it was because it gave me an excuse to leave when what I’d really wanted was to drag Drake into his eggy house and help him out of his clothes.

  “Next time, get out of the car and come inside. You could see a lot more that way.”

  I slitted my eyes…had he been reading my mind? Add black magic to the list of reasons I probably shouldn’t get involved with Drake—probably.

  He continued, “I’d even make you breakfast.”

  I gave him a look. “There won’t be a next time.”

  He looked at me like I was nuts. “I’m a politician and a lawyer. This isn’t the last time my house will be egged.”

  “Maybe I’ll be the one egging it next.”

  He grinned. “You’d do it on purpose so you could see me without a shirt.”

  He was not wrong.

  My lack of an answer was all the answer he needed and his lips tipped up in a knowing smile.

  Michelle came in and we started the training. We placed a treat on the floor with our hand over it and let the dogs try to get the treat. As soon as they stopped trying to get the treat, they’d get praise and the reward of another treat from our other hand. Once they’d mastered leaving the treat alone with our hand on top of it, we were supposed to remove our hand, leave the treat on the ground, and tell them to leave it. As soon as they looked away or showed disinterest, they got a reward. Then we were supposed to increase the time they had to be patient and keep repeating that process. Gandalf did okay the first time, but after that, he sat there looking like I was keeping the crown jewels from him. He waited all of five seconds before he pounced on the treat.

  “Let me try,” Drake said.

  I gave him the treat and he put it down in front of Gandalf. “Leave it.”

  Gandalf sat there happily, listening to Drake and completely ignoring the food in front of him.

  Drake gave him a pet and a treat. “Good boy! You’re such a smart dog!”

  Drake went through the sequence again making Gandalf wait longer. And again, Gandalf sat there, tongue lolling out of his mouth in a happy little smile, waiting for Drake’s command.

  My jaw went slack.

  Drake kept going and got to a thirty second pause before I grabbed Gandalf’s leash back from him.

  “This is madness! He’s my dog!”

  “He likes me.” Drake’s face was positively beaming and I kind of wanted to punch his perfect nose.

  “Don’t flatter yourself. He likes everyone.”

  “But he listens to me.” Drake bent down and nuzzled Gandalf’s nose like they had a little secret noseshake.

  “Hey!” I said to Gandalf, incensed. “You’re supposed to be helping me smash the patriarchy, buddy! Not contributing to it.”

  “This is a sign,” Drake said. “Your dog loves me. Now we have to be together or it will break Gandalf’s little heart.”

  I rolled my eyes and picked Gandalf up, then went back to trying to get him to listen to me—his actual owner. We practiced “leave it” for another fifteen minutes and brushed up on some tricks we’d learned at previous trainings before the class ended.

  I said goodbye to Michelle and some of the other puppy parents and dogs before I left. Drake followed me out.

  “I have another question for you,” Drake said as I let Gandalf smell every tree, stick, and weed on the way to the car.

  “You charmed my dog and I think you might be a dark wizard or something so I’m pretty sure the answer is already no.”

  “If I were a dark wizard, I would have charmed you by now.”

  “Maybe you’re a bad dark wizard.”

  “But my black magic works selectively on dogs?”

  I pointed at him. “Exactly!”

  He laughed. “I was wondering if you’ll go to the fall carnival with me.”

  My eyebrows shot up way past my forehead and probably straight into the stratosphere. “That’s a very, very, very public event.” All of The Ladies would be there. All of them. Probably my mom and dad too. It was a huge town party.

  His lips tipped up. “I know.”

  “If we go there together, everyone will think we’re dating.”

  “Everyone already thinks that. Most of them think we’re engaged. And some even believe we secretly eloped.”

  My jaw hung open. “Who thinks that?”

  He shrugged. “People. I’ve had some questions about it.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and gave him a look. “Who started that rumor, Drake?”

  H
e lifted his arms in the air. “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Because I heard that people were talking about how you were sleeping over at my house a couple of times and I can totally see you or someone on your political team spinning it like we’re already married so you wouldn’t get in trouble with the morality police.”

  He ran his tongue over his lips and it was almost enough to distract me from my irritation. “That’s a lot of assumptions, Katie. Let’s break them down. Number one, I certainly wouldn’t start a rumor like that, and I wouldn’t let my team do it either. Number two, if we’d had sex, everyone would know about it because they would have heard you screaming my name. Repeatedly.”

  I gave him serious side-eye. “That’s presumptuous.”

  He leaned in, his face inches from mine. “I dare you.”

  Yes! My lady bits screamed. My brain was still there for back up, however, and reminded me Drake was close enough that you couldn’t even fit a scripture page between us, let alone the whole Book of Mormon like the Branson Falls dating rules decreed. I backed up to a suitable distance of about ten feet. My brain only had so much control and I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t climb him otherwise. “You know, if we ever do get to that point, you’re going to have a lot to live up to.”

  He grinned and tugged on his full bottom lip with his teeth. “Oh, we’ll get there. And I fully intend to.”

  And my cheeks were flaming hot again. Someone really needed to do something about climate change because we absolutely weren’t going to survive it.

  “You wouldn’t break the rules and have sex outside of marriage,” I said. It was one of my hesitations about Drake. He talked a lot of game, but I didn’t know if he actually had some. He was Mormon and no sex before marriage was a serious rule.

  “There’s a lot I would consider doing for you.”

  I eyed him with a trunk-full of suspicion. I knew how guilt and manipulation worked and religions were experts at both. I really didn’t think he’d break those rules, and if he did, I had a feeling he’d regret it. I didn’t want to be the cause of that.

  This conversation was getting deeper than I had time for at the moment. I needed to change the subject and fast. “I’m already going to the carnival. I have to cover it for the paper.”

  “Great! What time should I pick you up.”

  I shook my head. “I’m working, Drake. And I’m on call. I need my own car.”

  “Okay, then I’ll see you there.”

  The fact was, I really did want to see him. I’d thought about my talk with Annie regarding the men in my life, and running from the situation wasn’t helping my head or my heart. I needed to get to know Drake and Hawke better, push the relationships forward, and make a decision about what I wanted from there. Doing that meant spending more time with both of them, and having those deeper conversations to see if we actually could make something work. “I’ll see you, and if I have time after I’m done getting photos and notes for stories, maybe we can get a hot chocolate or something.”

  He grinned. “I’ll take whatever you’re willing to offer.”

  I nodded and strapped Gandalf into his car seat. “I’ll see you at the carnival then.”

  Drake leaned into the car and petted Gandalf goodbye, and as he did it, he discreetly slipped his hand over my ass and bit his bottom lip. “I can’t wait.”

  Sparks coursed through me at his touch and my mind immediately went to the other places I wanted his hands.

  He grinned, then turned and walked down the street to his car. I swore I could feel his hand on my ass all the way to mom and dad’s house to drop Gandalf off.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I grabbed a donut from the treat table, went back to my desk, and called Brandy Pope.

  “Hi, Brandy, this is Kate Saxee at the Tribune.”

  “Hi, Kate,” she said, “What can I help you with?”

  “I have a quick question for you. I was looking at your stuffed animal photo and noticed you had the special edition bat in the photo. Do you still have it, or could it have been taken during the robbery as well?”

  “Hmm,” she said, “let me check.”

  I heard her walking and after a couple of minutes she gasped. “Kate, it’s gone. I can’t find it. There are so many of the toys and I rarely take stock of them all so I must have missed it when I was going through the stolen items. I’ll have to let the police know.”

  It wasn’t concrete evidence that the robberies and the items on Not Just Junk were connected, but it was a lead, and one I definitely wanted to follow up on.

  “How did you know about the bat?” she asked.

  “I saw someone selling one and thought it might be connected. I’m still getting the information, but I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”

  “Thank you!” she said.

  I hung up and realized I was probably going to have to ask Hawke for assistance on this one.

  “I found the name!” Ella said as she wandered in from the back entrance. “I emailed it to you.”

  “Name?” Spence asked.

  “I asked her to look something up for me on her Not Just Junk bid site,” I explained.

  “The seller of the stuffed bat isn’t the same as the seller of the VHS tapes.”

  Spence’s eyebrows shot up. “VHS tapes?”

  “A lot happened while you were gone this morning.” I paused, “Speaking of that, where were you?” I’d been in early, and hadn’t seen him all day.

  He looked like a deer in headlights. He paused like he was trying to come up with an activity. “Errands,” he sputtered, and then started rearranging things on his desk in attempt to take my attention away from where he’d been.

  “Errands?” I asked, my tone doubtful.

  “Yes,” he said, this time more confident in his lie.

  My reporter instincts were buzzing off the charts. “You know my job makes me really good at reading people, and I can usually tell when they’re lying, right?” Body language betrayed an incredible amount of information and the ability to read it had helped me on multiple interviews and investigations.

  He pursed his lips, totally aware of the B.S. detecting talents I’d developed over the years.

  “I’m also paid to be observant,” I said, grabbing Ella’s donut box and offering him one. He took it and I leaned in so Ella couldn’t hear me. “You have a button undone.”

  Spence’s cheeks pinked and I laughed. I’d actually made him blush. While I was training Gandalf, Spence had been in bed—and he hadn’t been alone. “I need to meet your friend,” I whispered.

  Spence smiled. “Soon.”

  I pulled up my email from Ella. The bat seller’s username was Milkshake4. That didn’t provide me with an abundance of information either—other than a preference for ice cream. So the bat and VHS sellers weren’t the same—that put a wrench in my theory that the items were stolen from Branson. Then again, there was nothing stopping a person from making multiple seller accounts. The two sellers might still be the same person. I wasn’t ruling anything out at this point. However, finding the real names behind Carzo39 and Milkshake4 would require more searching power than my Tribune background checking tools offered.

  I texted Hawke.

  I need some usernames tracked down to find out who they are in real life. Can you help me with that?

  He texted back.

  I can help you with all kinds of things.

  I had no doubt. I texted him the names Ella had given me and the Not Just Junk website.

  He texted back.

  I’ll get on it.

  My mind immediately thought of all the things I wanted him on. It had been a really long time since I’d had sex—really long. That had to be the explanation for my overactive hormones and it had nothing to do with the fact that Hawke and Drake were two of the hottest men I’d ever seen and it was deeply appealing that they were both interested in me.

  My phone buzzed again.

  Or you could get on m
e.

  Geez! It was like he was reading my mind too! Drake and Hawke were both dark wizards! Though I had a feeling Hawke was significantly darker than Drake. It didn’t seem like there was much Hawke couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do.

  The scanner erupted with noise. It sounded like another robbery. I grabbed my bags and finished typing out a text on the way to my Jeep.

  Tempting, but I have a story to get to.

  I pulled my phone out again and saw the last text from Hawke.

  I’m always available for a ride.

  That was never a question in my mind.

  I put my phone in my purse and tried not to think of the images Hawke’s message conjured up in my head as I climbed the steps to the Nesson house.

  Bobby opened the door as I was about to knock.

  “Hey, Bobby,” I said, pulling my camera out. “What’s the story? Do you know what was taken yet?”

  Bobby shook his head and chuckled. “False alarm.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “So there wasn’t really a robbery?”

  Bobby hooked his thumbs into the loop on his belt buckle. “Nope. Gil Nesson came home from the store and heard strange noises comin’ from down the hall. He grabbed an axe as defense—

  “An axe?” I asked, sure I’d heard wrong.

  “Yeah, he’s been practicin’ axe throwin’ in his backyard.”

  That seemed dangerous. “Is that legal?”

  Bobby snorted. “Sheesh, Kate. We can’t regulate wood choppin’!”

  I guess that was true, but I hadn’t considered random flying axes to be a threat up until this point in my life. I’d be on the lookout now.

  Bobby continued. “He had his axe and went down the hall to investigate. He found his bathroom door closed and somethin’ bangin’ inside. What with all the robberies in the news, he thought he’d maybe captured a thief. The knockin’ and poundin’ noises made it seem like whoever was in there was extra trapped. Gil didn’t want to do a solo battle with the robbers if he didn’t have to. So he grabbed his phone, ran out of the house, and called 9-1-1.”