“Okay if I go get settled? I’ve got a feeding schedule and stuff.”
Micro grinned, getting up to open the door for me, and following me down the hall and outside.
“I’m gonna head off. If you need stuff for her, send the prospects out.”
I nodded at him, but my focus was purely on the baby curled up in my arms, as I headed to my room, and unlocked it, stepping inside. It wasn’t a great room. At least back at the other chapter we had fucking windows, right? This place got musty and stale really fucking fast, but at least she’d be warm.
“Okay, baby, this is home. It’s not much, but uh…” I glanced around at the neatly made bed, and the stack of clothes on the laundry bin, because I’d been focused on work, and was running behind on laundry and stuff like that. At least the bed was okay, right?
“We’ll make it real nice for you. Okay, lemme see about that note she gave me.”
It seemed pretty simple, right? Feed the milk substitute, and that’s when things got weird.
The puppy was asleep, but there was something wrong. Was it a fit? Was she having a nightmare? I had no fucking clue. I sat beside my bed, on the floor, so my head was level with the mattress and the sleeping pup. That noise didn’t seem normal. It didn’t stop either. It just kept happening.
I needed help.
I grabbed my phone and groaned, knowing there was no other way.
“Dammit, Rocket, you know I’m at dinner with Caroline’s mum!” I kept my eyes on baby, who was still making that odd repetitive sound, her tiny body flinching each time.Jesus.
“I need help. Is V there?”
His dumbfounded silence filled the air for a moment, then he finally remembered how to speak.
“Is V here? Why would you need her? Don’t go sniffing around her, Rocket, she’s not-”
“Jesus. It’s a fucking vet emergency, okay? Can you put her on the fucking phone or not?”
“Vet emergency? That means animals, Rocket, and I know you don’t-”
“Just ask her, for fuck’s sake!”
He must have covered the phone because there was muffled speaking, but I couldn’t pick up words, and then suddenly a new voice.
“I thought I was supposed to take no for an answer, Rocket.”
“Help me. Something’s wrong with baby.”
“Baby? You can’t call her that, but dammit… talk me through it. Is she breathing?”
Was she? I leaned close, but that repetitive sound was all I heard.
“She’s making a weird noise. Can you hear it?” I leaned the phone closer to the puppy, making sure she could hear a few instances of that damn sound, before I moved the phone back to my ear. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it, but that sound from the pup still reached my ears every damn time.
“It’s bad, right? Do I need to bring her in?”
She was laughing softly, which seemed really fucking harsh when I was freaking out over my new family member. A family member she clearly hadn’t mentioned to Harley after all.
“Seriously? What’s wrong with her?”
The humour faded, and V cleared her throat.
“Hiccups, Rocket. The pup hashiccups. I’m betting you fed her a little while ago, right?”
Hiccups? The fuck?
“Hiccups?”
