by Dylann Crush
Her laugh immediately lightened the mood. “We’ll see about that.”
“You ready for that burger?”
“Yeah. Let’s get to it.”
He cupped her cheek with his palm, taking one more look at her before her defensive shield slid back into place. Then he put his foot on the gas pedal and eased back onto the road.
Zina focused her gaze straight ahead. Her phone rang and she scrambled to dig it out of her purse. “It’s Bodie.”
Alex nudged his chin toward the phone. “Aren’t you going to answer?”
She held the phone up to her ear. Alex couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but Zina’s side was filled with mms and ohs until she finally ended the call.
“Everything okay?”
She closed her eyes and took in a long, deep breath.
“What’s wrong?” Alex reached over and took her hand. Keeping one eye on the road and trying to make sure Zina wasn’t having some sort of attack, he squeezed her hand. “Zina?”
Her head lolled to the side and she met his gaze. “Bodie found a puppy mill. The one he thinks is supplying the dog-fighting ring. I’m sorry to cancel dinner plans but can you take me back to my truck? I’ve got to meet up with him right away.”
“Hell no.” He put both hands back on the wheel.
“Excuse me?” She jerked her hand away from his. “I know this messes up your plans for dinner. But I’ve got to get over there.”
“I know. I’m going with you. Just tell me where to go.”
* * *
* * *
Forty-five minutes later they pulled off the main road onto what looked like an ATV trail through the woods. “You sure this is right?” Alex asked.
Zina had been sitting on the edge of her seat since Bodie’s call. “I think so. Bodie said it was tucked way back in the woods. No wonder no one reported it before now.”
“How did he find it?”
“An anonymous tip. Someone called the sheriff’s office and said they were out on a trail ride and heard a bunch of dogs barking.”
Tree limbs swatted at the truck as they forged on. Alex had to slow down to a crawl twice to cross two small streams. “This is crazy. How could someone live back in here?”
Zina’s hand landed on his thigh as they pulled into a clearing. Bodie’s truck sat in front of what could only be considered a compound of shacks. She hopped out of the truck before it even stopped moving. Alex pulled up behind Bodie’s truck and took a good look around. The buildings looked like they might come tumbling down at any moment. He rushed over to where Zina stood, arms crossed over her middle, deep in conversation with Bodie and a woman Alex didn’t recognize.
“What’s going on?” He stopped when he reached them, and put a hand on Zina’s back, trying to offer support.
“So far they’ve got two dozen dogs, six who appear to be pregnant, and two litters of puppies.” Zina’s hands wrung together. “We’ve got to get them out of here.”
“Who owns this place?” Alex asked.
“We’re looking into that now. Appears to be registered to a corporation, so I don’t have a name. Whoever was staying here took off though. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in days.” Bodie glanced toward the sheds. “Right now we’ve got to get these dogs out of here if they have any chance of survival.”
“You think this is related to the guys from the restaurant?” Alex asked.
Zina twisted her head to look at him. “What guys?”
“Alex heard some men talking at the Burger Bonanza and mentioned it to me. I did see some double tire tracks over there, the same type we found over at your place.” He glanced at Zina. “Know anyone who drives a black dually pickup?”
“Yeah, probably half a dozen people around town.” She looked from Alex to Bodie and back again. “Obviously someone’s trying to close down the dog shelter and shut me up in the process.”
“Seems that way.” Bodie jotted something down on his notepad. “The report came back on your roof, too. It was in bad shape to start with but evidence shows traces of some sort of acid. They probably used that to weaken the structure.”
“Right now all I can do is worry about the dogs. Do they have kennels?” Zina asked. Her tone shifted from one of worry to one of take-charge action. “Let’s get as many as we can and if I need to come back with crates for the rest, I can do it later.”
“I’ll come with you.” Alex nodded. So much for having more room for the penguins. But they had to do something. He hadn’t seen a dog yet but even with his inexperienced eye, he could tell the dogs had lived through some sort of hell at this place.
“I ought to have a few more officers here in a bit. We’ll clear the place, then help you get the dogs back to the warehouse.” Bodie nodded.
Alex put an arm over Zina’s shoulders and pulled her close as Bodie walked away. “You okay?”
She took in a jagged breath. “What kind of person does something like this?” Tilting her head up to meet his gaze, her bottom lip trembled. “People can be so cruel.”
Alex nodded. He wasn’t about to admit that he’d seen animals treated much worse on some of his travels around the world. “We’ll get them situated. They’ll be fine.”
“But the warehouse . . .” She shrugged his arm off. “Where am I going to put them?”
“We’ll figure it out. Together. Okay?” His thumb brushed over her knuckles. He pressed a kiss against her temple. “Trust me.”
Nodding, she let her head drop to his shoulder. “Okay.”
Bodie came back and they began to catalog the dogs. Alex’s stomach tossed and turned as he took in the conditions the poor pups had been forced to live in. Some of the older dogs had scars on their muzzles. One was missing a leg. Zina had left her emotions checked at the door when they entered the first shed. She moved around the kennels, calling out markings and conditions like she was doing inventory at the warehouse, not detailing the travesties put upon dozens of dogs.
By the time they were done, the sun had almost set. Alex carried kennel after kennel out to the trucks, loading them as full as possible to eliminate the need to return. The whole place would be better off if someone took a torch to it. Bodie’s other deputies arrived and they filled their truck beds with kennels as well. By the time they got the last pup loaded, Alex was ready for a shower and a whiskey. He wasn’t even hungry anymore. Seeing how these animals had been treated had ruined his appetite for the night.
“Ready?” Zina appeared at his side, a clipboard in her hands.
“What’s the plan, boss?”
“To the warehouse for now. I called one of our volunteers who’s a vet. She’s going to meet us there and check over all of the dogs.”
For a moment Alex wished he’d finished college and pursued his veterinary degree. He’d feel a hell of a lot more useful if he could actually help treat the animals instead of just providing the muscle to move them around. But moving around was what he seemed to do best.
“You coming?” Zina asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Yeah. I’m right behind you.” He might not be able to change the past but he could do something about his future. Maybe he didn’t need to take off when the wedding was over. Maybe he could find a job around town and give Char a hand for real instead of just tossing money and words at the situation.
There would be plenty of time to think about all of that later. Right now he needed to focus his efforts and attention on helping Zina with the dogs. He’d promised to help with the deductible on getting her that new roof and that meant he had to do whatever he could to make sure the Munyon wedding went off without a hitch. Even if he had to work around penguins and pit bulls to pull it off.
twenty-five
Over the next few days Zina found herself relying more and more on Alex. He’d made it clear he wouldn’t be a
round for the long haul, but she needed help and he was there, so it made sense to let him pick up the slack. After the vet had gone over all of the dogs they’d seized from the puppy mill, she and Alex had tried to find other shelters to take in as many as they could. But even after a few volunteers drove some of them as far away as Kansas and Nebraska, she still had too many dogs on her hands.
At least she wasn’t in it alone. Alex had been right by her side the entire time, doing everything he could to help right a very wrong situation. They hadn’t had time to talk much since they’d brought the puppy mill dogs back, but she had let him back into the bedroom so at least when they fell into bed at the end of a nonstop day, they had each other to curl into.
With that thought in mind, she rolled over in bed and set her feet on the floor. Alex groaned and reached for her. “Just a few more minutes?”
She leaned over to brush the hair off his face. He wrapped an arm around her back and tugged her over. “Hey, we’ve got to get down to the warehouse.”
“I know.” He pulled her in for a kiss, and for a moment she was tempted to crawl back under the covers and get reacquainted with the parts of him that she hadn’t had the luxury of enjoying for the past couple of nights.
“Later, okay? We’ll make it an early night. I’ve got some volunteers coming in to do the night routine.”
“Really?” He perked up, lifting his arm from over his head.
She almost laughed at the instant enthusiasm. “Really. We can order in and eat in bed and—”
“I don’t even need food if you’re promising you and me, a night with no interruptions.” He propped himself up and nibbled on her neck.
“Trust me, you’re going to need to eat something. You’ll need your strength for what I’ve got in mind for later.” She waggled her brows.
He flung the covers away and hopped off the bed. “By all means, let’s get to it then.”
Her heart pitter-pattered as he stalked toward the bathroom. She’d love nothing more than to climb back into bed and run her fingers over every sculpted inch of him. But duty didn’t just call, it was yelling and screaming at her. They only had a couple of weeks left before the wedding party came to town, and she needed to do everything she could to get the rest of the dogs relocated before the bride and groom found out their wedding venue was being used as a temporary dog rescue shelter.
She tamped down the hunger pangs for Alex’s touch and pulled on her clothes. As she clambered down the stairs to the kitchen, a new voice rang out. Who the hell was that? She paused outside the kitchen door. Maybe Morty had the television turned up too loud again.
Before she could push open the swinging door to the kitchen, it sprang toward her. Zina barely jumped out of the way before the door opened wide and an explosion of color poured through.
“When did you say Mr. Sanders will be back?” A woman wearing a hot-pink fedora on top of her light pink hair strutted through the formal living room on three-, no, four-inch heels.
Morty followed. “Any minute. Let me give him a call and find out where he’s at.”
Zina cleared her throat, not quite able to speak yet from her close call with the door.
Morty and Pinkie turned toward her. Morty’s face immediately relaxed. His shoulders slumped slightly and a smile of relief drifted over his mouth. “Oh, Zina. Meet Ms. Chyna. She’s here to talk to Alex about the wedding.”
Zina’s gaze bounced back and forth between Morty’s relieved grin and the expectant look on Pinkie’s face. No, not Pinkie. Chyna. This was Chyna of wedding planner fame. Why in the world would she be standing in the front room of the Phillips House? She lived in California. LA, if Zina remembered correctly. That was over a thousand miles away. Yet, for some reason, Zina knew deep down that the petite woman with the shocking-pink hair was none other than the infamous wedding planner.
“Zina?” Chyna reached a hand toward her. “Are you helping Alex with the wedding?”
“Um, yes.” Instinctively, Zina took her hand. “I mean, no.”
“Well, which is it?” Chyna let her hand fall, then reached into the small clutch she’d tucked under her arm and sprayed something on her palm. “No offense, I’ve heard the allergies here are awful so I’m taking every precaution.”
“No offense taken.” Did she seriously feel the need to sanitize her hands after a simple handshake? Zina struggled not to react to Chyna’s sudden appearance. All she could think about was the state of the warehouse. How would Alex handle it? Surely Chyna would want to check in on the penguins. Her mind raced trying to come up with either an explanation for why the penguins were sharing their space or a solution to how to hide the dogs.
Before she could come up with anything, the man in question sauntered down the stairs.
“You know, I think maybe I need an appetizer this afternoon and then we can finish up the main course later on tonight. What do you say about—” He stopped in his tracks as he noticed the three of them watching his approach. “What’s going on?”
“Alex, meet Chyna. The wedding planner from LA you’ve been working with.” Zina sounded like a robot, even to her own ears.
Chyna offered her freshly sanitized hand. “Mr. Sanders, it’s nice to meet you.”
Alex took her hand in his but his gaze searched for Zina. What did he expect her to do? She gave a slight shrug and tilted her head toward the front door, trying to signal that she was going to head to the warehouse.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. What do we owe the pleasure of this visit to?” He put his hands on his hips as Chyna pulled out the sanitizer and repeated the process of covering every square millimeter of her palm with the gel.
“I wanted to make sure we’re on track for this wedding, so I took a red-eye to come check for myself.”
“Well, that explains the early hour.” Alex glanced at his watch. Zina could have told him it was just after seven. Too damn early to be entertaining an unwanted out-of-state visitor. “I wish you’d given us some notice. We would have been better prepared—”
“That’s why I didn’t call ahead.” Chyna waved a hand in the air. The smell of artificial lemons wafted over to irritate Zina’s nose. “I don’t want you to prepare. I need to make sure you’re prepared without having to prepare.”
Alex nodded like that made sense. Clear as mud. Mud that had been stepped in by a herd of Herefords and baked dry by the Texas sun.
“My flight leaves at two so I’d like to cut through the niceties and examine the venue. Can you lead the way?” She moved her gaze from Alex to the front door.
“Certainly.” He glanced to Zina.
She lifted her shoulders, looking for guidance.
Alex pulled the door open and held it open for Chyna. She passed through first, giving them a moment to whisper between them.
“Hell, what do we do about the dogs?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know. If we’d had some warning . . .”
“I know.” Alex’s hand gripped her shoulder. “We’ll figure something out. Why don’t you go do the breakfast routine and see if you can move some of them to the back while I stall her out front?”
Zina nodded. They’d constructed a temporary fence around a patch of grass behind the warehouse since they couldn’t keep taking the dogs out on leashes. She could get most of the dogs outside while Alex took Chyna inside. It was worth a shot. Maybe the only shot they had to avoid her canceling the whole thing.
While Alex led Chyna around the porch, talking about the history of the building and property, Zina made her way to the warehouse.
“Wait up.” Morty ambled after her.
She slowed her pace so he could catch up. “How long has she been here?”
“Not long, thank goodness. She just showed up on the front porch, so I let her in and offered her a cup of coffee.”
Zina smiled. Morty brewed his coffee
strong enough that it would “put hairs on your chest,” his words, not hers. “How did she like that?”
“Took one sip, got the cup covered in that red shit she’s got on her lips, then turned up her nose. I don’t know how Alex is going to be able to handle her. She’s not his kind.”
“Not his kind?” Zina pressed ahead, Morty on her heels.
“Nah. The makeup, the attitude, the snappiness.”
“Yeah, she seems like she’s used to getting what she wants, all right.” Which made it even more imperative that her visit went well. Alex’s job was riding on it and if that fell through, then her chance to get money to fix up the shelter would be gone and she’d have to figure out what to do with the poor dogs. Not coming through for Chyna’s visit wasn’t an option.
“What do you want me to do?” Morty paused, his breath labored, as they reached the door to the warehouse.
“We need to get as many dogs out back as we can. Hold back the troublemakers.” Morty had been helping enough that he knew which dogs wouldn’t get along with the others.
Morty nodded as he disappeared through the door. Zina followed. A chorus of barks broke out as they moved toward the kennels. The dogs kept better time than Alex’s watch. They knew they should have had breakfast fifteen minutes ago. By the time Zina had let all of them out and filled up their dishes, Alex and Chyna were at the front door.
Zina held her breath as the door creaked open and the typical barks sounded. The jig was up. Chyna would realize they’d been using the wedding venue as a dog rescue and would pull the plug. No way was some oil baron’s socialite daughter going to want to get married in a warehouse that smelled like sardines and wet dogs.
She fought the urge to disappear through the back door and hop in her truck. Lacey’s was a relatively short drive. Or she could head over to the Burger Bonanza and drown her worries in an extra-large version of what they tried to pass off as a cappuccino and a breakfast full of enough grease to make sure her worries slid right away.
Instead, she took cautious steps toward the front of the building.
