Cocky Suit: A Hero Club Novel

by Harlow Layne

  “I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop, so good call. Do you really think she’s okay?” I asked, hopeful. I couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for this goat’s death.

  “She’s perfectly fine. Look at her chest. It’s going up and down.” It was indeed rising and falling. Now I felt stupid. “She faints when she’s scared and she scares easily. I doubt she was expecting to feel a little dog going to town on her leg.” I looked to see a woman with long auburn hair and wide green eyes smile down at me.

  “Neither was I the first time I met him.”

  “Did you faint?”

  “No, the goat has that on me. Is this goat yours?”

  “She is.” She knelt next to me and ran a hand down the side of the goat. “I’m Aubrey, by the way, and this is Pixy.”

  “I’m Pria and this little guy is Jimmy Chew.”

  “Cute name.” She smiled and scratched behind Jimmy’s ears. If she wasn’t careful, he’d be humping her leg next.

  “I agree, but I didn’t name him. It’s my boss’s dog. There are two more running around here somewhere.”

  “Wow, you’re brave bringing three dogs. You must be a natural with animals.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m the furthest thing from a natural. I can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to these dogs.”

  “Well, you’re obviously caring and that’s all that matters.” She pointed to Pixy and her eyes fluttered open. One second she was out and the next she hopped up and walked away before running into a tree.

  “Are you sure she’s okay?”

  “Oh yeah, aside from fainting at the drop of a hat, she’s also blind.”

  “Wow, there must never be a dull moment with her around.” Picking up Jimmy, I slowly stood.

  “Pixy and my husband definitely make for an interesting and fun life.”

  “I didn’t know dog parks allowed other animals,” I blurted out. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I’m just surprised.”

  “Don’t be.” She giggled. “I used to be a lawyer, so I threatened to sue if they didn’t allow us in. Their rules don’t state no other animals to be allowed in the park. Plus, we donate a lot of money to the park and the rescue shelter in the area.”

  “Money makes the world go round,” I mumbled.

  “Sadly, it does. Pixy is my baby and I don’t see why just because she’s a goat she should be excluded. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but he puts up with it and often has to do the dirty work. We’re here in town to try and give all animals equal rights.”

  I arched my brow at that. I wasn’t sure how they were going to do that. I understood a goat, but I wouldn’t want some animal that could eat my pet at the same park. “All animals?”

  “Well, not all obviously. We can’t have alligators here, but why not sweet farm animals? Why can’t someone who has a pet pig bring them to an animal park?”

  She did make a point. I’d like to see a cute little piggy wandering around. “Farm animals make sense. Maybe you could start your own park that welcomes all animals or farm animals.”

  Aubrey’s eyes lit up. “You get it! Yes, that’s what we’re trying to do here and the one by our house in California. We recently raised enough money for the one in California and after news spread the shelter that’s here about a block away contacted us about doing a fundraiser to raise awareness and try to get the rules changed here.”

  “Good luck.” I wasn’t sure how well that would work, and I was pretty sure goats were forbidden in New York. Maybe they’d gotten special permission. Come to think of it, there were quite a few animals that were forbidden from being pets in the city.

  “So, you’re watching your boss’s dogs? Is that normal?” The twinkle in her green eyes told me she thought something more was going on between Kingston and me.

  Placing Jimmy back on the ground to probably hump another dog or ten, I told her about how I’d come to work for Kingston Avery, finding my boyfriend cheating on me, why I didn’t want to stay at my dad’s house, and finally the offer to take care of Kingston’s dogs while he was out of town. I didn’t usually open up to people that easily, but there was something about Aubrey that made her easy to talk to.

  “Sounds like a nice guy. Are you sure watching his dogs is all that’s going on between you two?”

  I wanted to laugh in her face, but that would have been rude. Plus, she seemed really nice. “Nothing’s going on. He may be gorgeous, but he’s my boss, and that means nothing can happen between us.”

  Her smile grew. “Just because he’s your boss doesn’t mean nothing can happen. Especially if he’s gorgeous.”

  “It’s against company policy. I should know; I’m the director of HR.”

  Aubrey wiggled her eyebrows but said no more on the subject. “Obviously your boss loves animals since he has three dogs. Do you think if I gave you some information he might donate or be a sponsor for Paws and Claws?”

  I didn’t know the company or Kingston well enough to answer that. “You can send me the information and I’ll make sure he gets it. I can’t promise anything though. I’ve only been with the company for a short time.”

  “That would be great. Would you like to attend the fundraiser? Maybe go with your boss?”

  This time I didn’t hold back my laugh. “I told you there’s nothing there, but I’ll definitely come. Maybe I can meet a handsome and generous man who loves animals while I’m there.”

  “I have a feeling you don’t have to look too far to find the man you’re looking for.” Aubrey’s phone buzzed, stopping her from saying anything more. “Shoot. It looks like I need to go. Give me your information real quick and I’ll send you something in the next few days.” Rattling off my email address, I looked around for the dogs. It was probably time to start heading back to the apartment. I still needed to put their dinner in the crockpot. Hell, their dinners smelled so good I was tempted to eat along with them. No one would know if I did.

  “It was good meeting you, Pria. I hope to see you at the fundraiser.” Aubrey waved as she headed toward Pixy.

  “It was good meeting you too.”

  Everything was going so well. The dogs seemed to have gotten all their energy out at the park. No one was tugging on their leash as we headed back to the apartment. By no one, I meant Sarah. She seemed to be in a good mood, and I was going to treat her for it once we got upstairs.

  I knew I shouldn’t have been counting my lucky stars. One minute everything was great and the next, first one squirrel and then another ran right in front of us. If any animal should have been banned from New York, it should have been squirrels; they were trouble with a capital T. Sarah darted for one and then the other nearly ripping my arm off. The girl was seriously strong.

  Instead of letting her take me down like she did the first day, I let go of the leash. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do until I watched Sarah run like her ass was on fire down the sidewalk after the squirrels. Orvy started barking like he was telling her to come back, but she wasn’t listening to either one of us.

  Scooping Jimmy into my arms, I took off after Sarah. It really was like trying to run after a horse. One second she was there and the next she was gone. Completely out of sight. One block and then another, I tried to catch up to her as I screamed her name over and over again. My voice was becoming hoarse from yelling. In the distance, I could see her smelling a bush. I yelled Sarah’s name again and what did she do? She looked at me, ran toward me only to run right past me. I tried to stomp on her leash as she flew by to no avail.

  A runner I was not, and I was starting to slow down. I was surprised I’d lasted as long as I had. When I saw the building Kingston lived in up ahead, I knew I needed to drop the dogs off and head back out as quickly as possible. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Kingston was going to kill me when he found out I’d lost his dog.

  Tears sprung to my eyes as I opened the door. Spotting the doorman, I rushed over dragging Or
vy with me. He seemed to want to follow after Sarah and wasn’t liking that we’d gone inside. “I don’t mean to bother you, but do you by any chance have a key to get to Mr. Avery’s penthouse?”

  His eyes flicked up and then back down at the paper that was in front of him. “And what would your name be?”

  I understood he was doing his job, but I needed to get back out there and look for Sarah. I gripped Orvy’s leash tighter and hugged Jimmy to me as I tried to rein in what I wanted to say so this man would take them. Unfortunately, in my time here, I hadn’t met this doorman and he didn’t know who I was. I understood he was trying to protect the occupants of the building by not letting random people up, but time was of the essence.

  “My name is Pria Wang. I’m staying in Kingston Avery’s penthouse while he’s out of town. I wanted—”

  “Yes, I have you down here as his guest. What may I help you with?” He eyed me up and down. I was sure I looked a mess and my voice sounded like I’d smoked twenty packs of cigarettes a day, but I didn’t care. I needed his help.

  Holding the leashes out to him, I already had one foot aimed at the door ready to leave as soon as I handed them over. “I need you to take Orville and Jimmy up to Mr. Avery’s apartment.”

  He looked down at the dogs, the leashes I was holding out, and then to me. “Where’s Sarah?”

  Good question.

  “She ran away and I need to go find her. Hence why I’m standing here trying to hand over these two. Can. You. Take. Them. Or. Not?” If I had to, I’d take them with me, but it would be easier if I didn’t have to worry about them. I had to find Sarah, and the longer I was in here trying to get this bozo to take the other two dogs, the faster my chances of finding her diminished.

  His eyes widened and he gasped as if I’d committed a cardinal sin. Or maybe he knew precisely how Kingston would react when he found out the news. Either way, I knew it was bad, but I couldn’t help but drop the leash out of instinct when she went chasing after those damn squirrels. Squirrels needed to be banned from this part of town because every time I saw one, I nearly had a panic attack. I was starting to believe I had PTSD from our first walk. I was likely going to have it now after losing her and having to explain all this to Kingston.

  “Please take them upstairs so I can continue looking. I need to find her,” I begged, thrusting the leashes into his waiting hand before he agreed. “Thanks,” I called over my shoulder as I jogged outside.

  I didn’t get far though. I ran straight into a hard chest. When I looked up, up, and up some more, my gaze was met by the icy green orbs of Kingston Avery.

  I was well and truly fucked now.

  13

  Kingston

  Stepping out of my car, I had only taken two steps before Pria ran straight into me. She looked at me in shock and then tears filled her eyes.

  Did she know tears were my weakness? I had planned to yell at her when I saw her, and she likely knew. They didn’t look fake, especially as one slipped down her cheek and a flood of them followed.

  “You’re going to hate me.” Her lower lip quivered as tears slipped past her perfect pout. “I lost Sarah.” My hands tightened on her arms and her head started shaking as she continued to speak. “We were almost here when a fucking squirrel ran out in front of her. Don’t they know to stay hidden when she’s around?” She didn’t let me answer and even if she had, I wouldn’t have known what to say to her statement. Pria seemed a little unhinged. “She was about to drag me down and I let go of her leash. We’d had such a nice day, and I thought we’d turned a corner. I dropped Jimmy and Orvy off with the doorman to take them upstairs while I went back out to look for her.”

  “Which way did she go?” I asked through gritted teeth. I wasn’t sure how I was going to look at her day after day if anything happened to Sarah. Was Pria’s job in life to piss me off?

  “That way.” She pulled out of my grip and pointed to the left. “She’s so fast.”

  That she was, but if we were lucky she’d stop by one of the vendors close by and beg for some food. If not, I’m not sure how we’d find her. There were so many places for her to go and there was always the chance someone might try to steal her. It was doubtful with how big she was, but she was a beautiful dog. Who knew? My mind was all over the place on all the possibilities.

  “Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and started off in a light jog in the direction Pria had pointed.

  Even over the city noise, I could hear Pria behind me sniffling every few minutes. I couldn’t look back at her or I’d stop and try to console her when I needed to keep my eyes peeled for a large gray dog.

  We stopped by the first street vendor, Pria clutching at my arm. “Have you seen a gray Great Dane go by here in the last…” I turned to look down at Pria and her tears nearly wrecked my already breaking heart.

  “Twenty minutes, maybe.”

  “Twenty fucking minutes,” I growled under my breath. Did she not realize what could happen in that amount of time? Sarah could easily get hit by a car. She wasn’t used to being off her leash unless she was at the dog park. “Maybe she went to the dog park.”

  “That’s where we were coming from. I know she last went this way. I was only in your building for a minute, maybe two and I kept my focus on the windows in case she turned back around.” Her tears had dried. Thank God. Now I could be mad at her again.

  The vendor finally spoke. “A big dog came sniffing around here about five minutes ago. Headed that way.” He pointed to the east. The same way Pria said she was headed.

  “Thanks,” Pria and I said at the same time.

  We took off at a run, looking around every vendor, bush, and between cars. Everywhere. When we reached the Paws and Hearts rescue shelter, I stopped outside and looked in. I didn’t see Sarah, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask if they’d seen her.

  “Stay here. I’m going to ask if they’ve seen Sarah.” Pria’s sad eyes looked at me with dead eyes and I didn’t wait for a reply.

  Two women stood behind the counter chatting but when they saw me, they straightened and smiled. “Have you seen a Great Dane come by here? My dog walker let go of her leash and now we can’t find her.”

  “Oh no, you lost your puppy. What does she look like?” She batted her eyelashes at me. Why were women always batting their damn eyes at me? All it did was piss me off.

  “Big and gray,” I answered back a little gruffer than I needed to. “She’s a Great Dane.”

  Her friend seemed to understand that I was annoyed. Putting her hand on the other woman’s arm, she frowned. “No, I’m sorry. If you want to leave your contact information, we’ll call you if she’s brought in or we see her.”

  “Her name is Sarah. It’s on her tag. If you find here, please call me.” I slid a business card out of my pocket and placed it on the counter.

  Stepping outside, I found Pria huddled underneath the awning. It had started to rain while I was inside. “If you don’t want to get wet you can stay here, but I’m going to continue looking for Sarah.”

  Pria stepped out from under the awning and into the rain. “I’m coming with you.”

  We trudged along the sidewalk looking everywhere for Sarah. With each passing minute, I knew our chances of finding her were becoming nil. The temperature had dropped around twenty degrees once it started to rain and our teeth had started chattering about half an hour ago. We’d most likely be sick tomorrow, but the only people who knew I was back in town were my secretary and Pria.

  “Maybe we should turn around. She could have turned back around, and we wouldn’t even know.” Pria hung her head and every word that came out of her mouth sounded like a lie. She didn’t think Sarah had doubled back, and she didn’t think we’d find her either.

  “You can head back, but I’m going to keep going this way for a little longer. I know there’s another vendor up here and if they say they haven’t seen her then I’ll turn around.”

  “I’ll stay with you unless you want to go back.” He
r lips were turning blue and yet she wanted to stick it out with me.

  “You’re freezing—”

  “So are you and this is my fault.” Her hands went to her chest. Pria looked miserable. Not only was she freezing but devastated by losing Sarah. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself if something happens to Sarah… even if she does hate me. I can’t believe I let go of her leash.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I’m so stupid.”

  I was the stupid one leaving her to take care of my dogs. If I had been thinking I would have known there was no way for her to walk all three. It was her damn tears that had me thinking illogically. “You’re not stupid. Now come on, let’s go see if they’ve spotted her.”

  Wrapping my fingers around her small freezing hand, I wanted to demand Pria go back to my apartment and warm up, but I knew she’d refuse. Instead, I held her hand tighter and trudged along the sidewalk in the direction of the hot dog vendor that I always had to pull Sarah away from.

  To my utter disappointment, Sarah was not sniffing around the hot dog man. “Mr. A,” Sid called me over, his big frame dwarfing his food cart. “Are you looking for Sarah?”

  Hope bloomed as we raced over. “Have you seen her?” Stepping under his tent, my thighs brushed against the warm metal of his cart as my heart started to pound in my chest.

  “I have and I gave her a hot dog.” Sid knew I never fed my dogs his food. They were on a strict diet to keep them happy and healthy. “Don’t give me that look, she was hungry and alone.”

  I guessed I couldn’t hide my unhappiness at his admission. “How long ago did you see her?”

  He see-sawed his head back and forth. “Probably around two minutes ago. I tried to get her to stay with me because I knew you’d be coming to find her. You take such good care of your babies.” They weren’t my babies. They were Murphy’s babies. I had been their foster parent when she got sick and then… now they were mine.

  “He does,” Pria chimed in from beside me. Her small hand grasped my bicep making my body instantly relax. How had she known to do that? Time was wasting and if we didn’t find Sarah soon, she’d either be lost or hit by a car. “Which way did Sarah go?”