Chapter Sixteen
Both of us fully dressed and ready for the day, I grabbed a pop tart out of his pantry and we headed towards the dead animal kitchen. After putting on some thick gloves, I helped Jake and a few of the other workers put together the buckets of meat. After we put together –no joke– like a thousand pounds of meat, I was starting to wonder how the hell they paid for all of this. Donations? Gifts? This rescue was probably a huge money-sucker.
The business woman in me wanted to have a look at everything and figure out the numbers. I was pretty good with numbers, and my business had been successful since I started it at age twenty-three.
“So much meat,” I groaned as I helped put the buckets into the carts that the interns and employees pulled to all of the cages. Another round of people grabbed their buckets for cleaning and grabbing poop. Every person who worked there was wearing a shirt with Wild Rescue on the front, but there were three colors: white, green, and blue. I asked one of the men who was wearing a green shirt, and he said the color indicated what level of employee they were. Green shirts took care of the big animals. Blue the level under that, and so on. Interesting concept, but it looked like it worked.
I also helped gather all of the enrichment toys that I helped make and was excited to follow behind one of the interns to watch one of the creatures play with it.
I laughed as one of the bobcats pounced and played with my little toilet paper roll with treats stuffed inside of it. Jake had small rats in his rolls, but I wasn’t going that far. Sorry, bobcats.
When lunch rolled around, I went to check my phone while Jake made us something yummy, and cursed at my text notifications.
“Shit. Oh shit, shit, shit.”
Rayne had sent me a message, asking if I was still coming over tomorrow to help her get ready for the Gala at the local Aquarium. A gala that I was supposed to attend. Crap, how had I forgotten about that? I had gotten so wrapped up in this whole Jake Wild adventure that I completely blanked on this event. Not that I had to do anything other than show my face around, but it was good for me to rub elbows with other business owners of Sarasota’s elite.
Arson’s gym had been a huge success, so naturally he was invited to go as well, and of course he would be bringing Rayne with him. The Gala was just a special night for the elites to kiss each other’s asses, but in the end it couldn’t hurt to make friends. There weren’t too many pricks that could cause trouble, but if they happened to be a prick to you, having the right people on your team made a big difference.
“Everything okay?” Jake crossed his legs and arms across his chest on the door jam.
“No, I totally forgot I have a Gala I have to go to tomorrow night.” Everything I needed was at home. My dress, which thankfully I had ordered a month ago, was hanging sweetly in my closet, ready to go. All of my makeup. Christ, I needed to get a pedicure and manicure to match it; I was still wearing the red polish from the bet, and my dress was definitely not red.
“The Sarasota Elites Gala?” he questioned.
“Yeah, how did you know?” His answer rather surprised me.
“I was invited, never gave them an answer. You need to go?” He uncrossed his arms but ran a hand through his hair.
“Yeah, it’s always good to go to make or keep connections. Plus, Rayne will be there, and I’d like to see her.”
“We’ll go then.” Hold the phone. I looked at him in confusion.
“We?”
“Yeah, I’m taking you to the Gala. You probably have a lot of shit you need to do for it, so why don’t you do your thing for the rest of the day.” I was still so hung up on thewepart that I mumbled incoherently.
“As long as you are back in my bed tonight, do what you gotta do.” He rapped his knuckles on the door twice then walked back down the stairs. Okay, even I had to admit to myself that Jake was pretty amazing. I laid back on the bed and listened to the sounds of all the animals outside. I could hear a roar from the big boy lion. I could hear a random howl from the wolves.
It was like being inThe Jungle Book. I grabbed my bag and a few of my things, and went down to eat some lunch before I left. Binksie, who had been kind of scarce since our moment in the bedroom, was running around chasing a feathery ball. I watched him for a few minutes and laughed. Even though this cat was no tiny kitty, and neither were the big ones outside, they were a lot like the house cats normal people had in their homes. They moved like them, played like them. Some even purred. It was just amusing to me.
“Thank you. For not caring that I need to get ready for this thing tomorrow. And for going with me. I didn’t really want to go alone.” I did feel a little bad that Jake would be subjecting himself to that world. I looked him over now and was reminded how different our true worlds were. I was here, kind of on vacation, in a way. I would eventually go back home, and he would be here, doing this, every day.
“You don’t have to though, if you don’t want to. It’s a real dressy thing, and the people aren’t always so chill.” I was back-pedaling and I knew it. Trying to keep my distance from the edge. Our worlds just didn’t mesh.
“Cammy.”I watched as he put yummy-looking turkey sandwiches on the table.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“But!” I kept trying.
“Nope, eat your sandwich, then go do your Cammy thing. Just be back in my bed tonight.” I felt like I just got schooled.
“Ok, well, if you get all miserable at the Gala, don’t blame me. I tried,” I grumbled as I sat down to eat.
“Thank you for feeding me.” He was taking care of my every need. At least he was telling the truth in that littleI’m your alphaspeech. Jake was a man of his word. He gave Binksie some cut up turkey in a bowl, and then sat down to eat his sandwich. As I ate, I watched him, and thought of all things Jake.
