Trey stopped, staring down at Magnus’s fingers clutching him. He slowly lifted his gaze until he was staring into the hazel eyes that haunted him whenever he closed his eyes.
“We need to talk.”
“About?”
Magnus’s expression morphed into the one that said,What do you think?
“Ah. Now that you’re back, I’m not needed here anymore? I knew it was comin’. No hard feelin’s. I’ll stick around for another week while you get up to speed.”
Magnus’s grip tightened. “That’s not it, and you know it. I don’t want you to quit.”
Yeah, well. Trey didn’t necessarily want to quit, either. He loved this job, but it had never been his to have. He was merely filling in, and they both knew it was a temporary gig. They had more than enough staff to handle everything without him, and since Magnus could work circles around him, Trey figured it would be best for everyone.
“Another week,” he repeated, slowly disengaging his arm from Magnus’s hand. “Gia’s workin’ on the SAR trainin’. You might need to weigh in on that.”
When he turned away, Trey heard Magnus’s frustrated sigh. It loosened something in his chest because it meant Magnus had given up. At least for the moment. He knew that if Magnus pursued him, if he pressed the issue, Trey wouldn’t be able to resist him.
Magnus Storme was his Achilles’ heel. And right now, Trey couldn’t afford a weakness. Giving in to Magnus was all he wanted, but it wasn’t in his best interest. One of these days, Magnus would act on his affection for Ava, and Trey would be forced to step away because sharing the man he loved with anyone felt wrong on so many levels. It was better to do that now.
Rip the Band-Aid off, as they say.
Chapter Three
Monday, July 18, 2022
Trey was the first to arrive atCamp K-9 on Monday morning, relieving Gia after her overnight shift. He’d had his first weekend off in a long time, and it’d given him time to catch up on some rest. He’d hoped it would bring more perspective, but since he’d forced himself not to think about Magnus—a task that was far more difficult than it sounded—he hadn’t dedicated much time to figuring his shit out.
But here he was, counting down the days until it was time to move on. T minus five.
“Have a good day,” he told Gia with a smile.
“Mm-hmm.”
Oh, yeah. Magnus’s right-hand woman was still pissed.
Ever since Trey had told Camp K-9’s head trainer that he would only be working for another week, she’d been giving him the cold shoulder. She should’ve been happy that things were returning to normal because it meant she would have Magnus back. While Trey had learned quite a bit during his stint here, he knew he was a drag on the daily grind. He couldn’t do things quite as efficiently as the others who’d been here for years, despite his best efforts. He didn’t trust himself on overnight shifts because it meant he’d be alone in the event of an emergency. Trey was a lot of things, but being good in a crisis wasn’t one of them. And because he was lacking, Gia and Billy were forced to alternate shifts more often since Magnus wasn’t on the schedule. At some point, Trey figured he would’ve been on par with them, but that was something he no longer had to worry about.
“Good mornin’, guys,” Trey greeted the dogs in their cages as he flipped on the overhead lights. “Sleep well?”
A few excited barks sounded, and he pretended they were answering him. Of course, those barks were drowned out by the ear-piercing yip from Franklin, the little chihuahua in residence since last Wednesday. Franklin was harmless, but he was annoying as fuck. Not that Trey would tell him that. He wasn’t cruel, after all.
“All right. How about we get some fresh air before we have breakfast?”
He went through the motions of releasing them all from their cushy doggy jails so they could go out into the play yard and do their business. As he was unlatching the last cage, Aurora, Magnus’s five-year-old black lab, came strutting in.
“Hey, girl,” he greeted, twisting his upper body to give her a scratch on the head when she nudged his arm. “Night shift go okay? No mishaps?”
She stared up at him, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
“What’s up? You look happy this mornin’.” The more he talked, the more her tail whipped back and forth. “Have a good weekend now that your dad’s back?”
He could swear she was smiling. Trey remembered a time he would smile when he thought about Magnus, too. These days, thoughts of Magnus merely induced an ache in his chest that was the equivalent of being suffocated.
Thankfully, there were things to do, which meant he could shift his focus for a little while.
For the next half hour, he weaved his way between the dogs as they sniffed and played in the yard. He scooped shit when it was necessary and gave head scratches when they were requested. He even jogged around to get the dogs to follow. A little morning exercise as the sun was coming up, the birds awakening in the dense trees that lined the property. It was going to be a scorcher of a day, but at least the humidity was down.
“We’ve gotta get some chow before the day starts and your friends arrive,” he told them as he herded them back inside.
