“She knows your call, she knows mine. She’s fine.”
“She’s my dog, Sam!”
Yes, that was what I said. And yes, it came out with a lot more heat and volume than befitted our current conversation. And I knew it surprised Sam because he let me go and his chin jerked back.
I decided to go with it. Fuck it. I wasn’t pissed about my dog but I was still pissed and so what? I had a hot guy boyfriend. So he was rich. So he was great in bed. So he was famous. So he was a lot nicer than my husband. That last, frankly, was not hard to do.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t get pissed and act like a bitch even when the situation at hand didn’t warrant it. I was a woman. Women, as far as I could tell from my girlfriends’ conversations, did that all the time.
And anyway, the situation not at hand definitely warranted it.
Therefore I turned and marched to the door to the porch, through that and into the house where I let Memphis down. She yapped then her head tilted to the side. She’d read my tone and was doggie confused.
I didn’t think I could explain it to her in a way she’d understand so I didn’t.
“You got a problem?” I heard Sam ask and I turned to see he’d followed me.
He looked displeased, not exactly angry but definitely not ready to break out into a smile.
I was suddenly uncertain of my commitment to my tantrum. This was because Sam being displeased bothered me. Sam was not moody. Sam was pretty laidback. This wasn’t to say he didn’t have emotions or hesitate to show them but mostly he was mellow.
And tonight, he’d been mellower than I’d ever seen him.
Clearly, for Sam, it was good to be home, down his private, homeowners only drive, behind his gate, in his house with its kickass security system and spending time with his friend. He had been relaxed to the point it could even be completely relaxed, though I couldn’t know that but that was how it seemed.
Now, I’d shattered that.
Shit.
“Kia, I asked you a question,” Sam prompted when I stared at him and didn’t answer.
“She’s my dog, Sam,” I repeated.
“No argument from me on that, sweetheart,” Sam returned.
Great. He was calling me sweetheart.
Yes, displeased.
He went on, “But she’s also smart and she’s a people dog. She’s with you or me constantly when we’re in the house. She didn’t wander all day yesterday when she was out in your front yard during the sale. And she’s smart enough not to wander now, especially not knowin’ the lay of the land.”
“You’re probably right but I’d rather not take any chances. She was a puppy when we got her, except for staying at Dad and Mom’s house she’s never been anywhere else so I don’t know how she’ll behave in a new environment,” I replied.
“All right then why the fuck didn’t you say that instead of biting my head off?” Sam asked.
“Because you stated in your ‘Sam Way’,” I gave the last two words verbal quotation marks, “that she was fine. In other words, she was fine, I should shut up and do as you say.”
Uh-oh.
His brows drew together over narrowed eyes and he asked, “My Sam Way?”
“You can be bossy,” I informed him.
He took in a breath and studied me. Then he crossed his arms on his chest.
Then he invited, “Right, Kia, tell me what’s really up your ass.”
Uh-oh again.
And not uh-oh that Sam was getting more pissed.
Uh-oh because I was.
“What’s up my ass?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Sam answered immediately.
“Were you a Ranger?” I returned and his brows snapped together again, this time in confusion.
“Come again?”
“Were you a Ranger?” I repeated.
He looked to his right at the flag on the wall then back at me and answered, “Uh… yeah.”
“I didn’t know that,” I told him.
“So?”
“You didn’t tell me.”
He studied me again then said, “Sweetheart, you internet stalked me. How could you not know that?”
“Is it common knowledge?” I asked.
“Uh… yeah,” he said again.
Really? How on earth did I miss that?
“It is?” I queried, surprised.
“Yeah, Kia, Jesus. What’s the big fuckin’ deal?”
“It’s not in that book about you,” I stated.
“No, it isn’t. There’s shit in that book that’s true and very few people knew, until that book came out. There’s shit in that book that’s missin’. And there’s shit in that book that’s conjecture and all that isn’t true. Whoever wrote that piece of trash missed me bein’ a Ranger. Don’t know how, it’s one of the few things that isn’t a secret that they didn’t include. I also don’t care. It was a hack job. They knew just enough to get a payday and made up just enough to make that payday big.”
“What parts were missing and what parts were conjecture?” I asked.
“You don’t have the clearance to know the first and I don’t have all night to explain the last. Now, what I’d like to know is why you not knowin’ I was a Ranger made you turn bitch?”
Oh man.