“Can’t we take two? In case one gets lonely?” I ask my eyes moving from the lady to Drew and back again. I see her smile up at Drew.
“I see you know him well,” She comments then nods. "Yes, your husband here thought you might say that, and we agreed that you would be taking two with you today. Do you have a preference? Boy or girl?" she asks as she climbs into the little pen to point out which is which. My eyes widen a little at her calling Drew my husband. A warm feeling starts to flutter in my stomach at the thought, but I can't focus on that now. I have puppies to rescue.
“Two boys, please, the little brown one and the little sandy one,” I proclaim, probably too loudly, but the excitement overwhelms me. I can hear Drew chuckling behind me as he leans down to watch the little wriggly guys as the lady lifts them out of the pen to hand one to each of us.
"Let me guess, Thor and Loki?" He asks, grinning as wide as I am. They are so small and soft and have I mentioned their squished-up faces?
I'm in love with them already, and watching Drew staring so reverently down at little Loki makes my heart thud out of my chest. I love this man. I'm so fucking in love with him, I want to spend the rest of my life with him, and the idea of going back to Nyx's apartment and spending even one night apart gives me a belly ache.
I'll tell him later that I'm coming home. For now, I have a phone call to make and puppies to rehome because Thor and Loki need the rest of the Avengers nearby. I can't just let anybody adopt these babies.
CHAPTER 18
DREW
Sitting in my office the following day, I scan my phone to find a perfect picture of Ryan and the puppies to send to the Cliffer gang. We spent the rest of yesterday shopping for the puppies, walking around the pet store with Ryan carrying the dogs, one under each arm.
We filled up two carts of stuff for them before bringing it all home and setting up a little area in the living room. I already knew they would end up sleeping in the bedroom with us before Ryan turned his big eyes at me to ask me if they could.
Doesn't he realize I would do anything for him? So Thor and Loki's first night at home was spent with Ryan sleeping on the floor beside their beds to make sure they did not feel scared in a new environment. I think I fell even more in love with him right then and there.
Me: Hey Gang. How’s your day going? PS. Meet your nephews - Thor and Loki.
Val:They’re so sweet, and precious, but seriously, Drew, you wanna practice being a parent? Want yourrealniece for a weekend over?
Kim:OMG! Where can I get one of those? Are you home? I want to visit my nephews!
Pete:Yayyy you got them!!! Fur babies for me to play with.
Val:Seriously is anybody going to come take my feral child for the day?
Kim:Don’t mind her, she clearly doesn’t care about these beautiful babies. But I do. Can I babysit? Like… today? The dogs, not your feral child, Val.
Me:Thanks Kim. If you want one, there were seven of them at the shelter. You might want to call Ry though. He’s been trying to convince the guys at Savage to take them.
Kim:Fuck them, Kimmy needs a puppy.
Me:Gotta get to work, talk to you later.
I should call Val later. I totally want to spend a weekend with my feral little niece Vi. We’ll take her to the carnival, and she will love playing with the puppies.
I put down my phone just in time, because John knocks at my door.
“Hey John come on in, what’s new?”
“I have a case for you.” He says, eyeing me carefully as he sets a stacked manilla folder on my desk.
“What is it? A settlement?”
"It seems one of the employees for the pharmaceutical companies we represent has leaked some concerning test findings to the public. It's going to be a big one." I open the folder and flick through some of the documents inside, and I can feel my whole body tensing up, stress already taking over. This case is twice the size of the last one. It's going to be months of intense research and fuck, I can't exactly just say no, but I can't lose Ryan again. I can't fall back into the same patterns.
The anguish must be evident on my face as John sits down opposite my desk, his hands clasping together over his large, round stomach. "Is there a problem, Drew?"
I look at him, then at the hall visible through the open door. I get up and close it. I don't need anyone getting in my business.
“Can I be honest?” I ask uncertainty.
“I sure damn hope you’ll be honest.”
