The morning classes were significantly less chaotic than those of the prior day. Rojas was glad they’d moved the obedience training to the weekdays and saved Saturday mornings for more specialized classes. There tended to be a lot fewer single women with newly acquired dogs or borrowed friends’ dogs and more people who genuinely wanted to work with their companions.
Standing in the center of the agility course in his spiffy new shirt, he saw Elisa peeking out the window of the front office and gave her a wave.
Sean Cannon stepped to his side, careful to give him plenty of space and time to see him. Rojas appreciated the courtesy, though the caution wasn’t as needed on kennel property where he felt at ease. Cannon’s pug, on the other hand, rubbed against the side of Alex’s leg in greeting and sat on his shoe.
The other man crossed his arms, following his gaze toward the main building. “Some nice new scenery in your reception area there, Rojas. Sorry about this morning.”
Uh-huh. Cannon needed to tread carefully. Even if he’d been referred to these classes to train his rambunctious pug—Revolution and Hope’s Crossing tended to give referrals to each other when it made sense—Rojas wasn’t inclined to be friendly toward the guy today, or any time soon.
“I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you’re talking about for now.” Because Cannon had been a dick this morning and Elisa wasn’t scenery ever. Rojas’s temper, never too far beneath the surface, simmered. He clamped down on his reaction. Cannon wasn’t a complete ass, just not the most thoughtful person out there. Guy tended to talk without a filter for polite company. Most times, he got along fine with the fighters at Revolution MMA and he was a good dog owner, too. But there was a reason the man didn’t have a steady girlfriend.
“Your new employee. I should go introduce myself to her and apologize for making her drop her coffee.” Cannon jerked his chin up toward the window Elisa had been in a minute earlier. “Very ho—”
“Stop. Don’t finish that. Don’t approach Elisa without me there when you go to apologize. And you will.” Rojas didn’t even bother to try sounding nice. “And if you don’t adjust your thought process, maybe we need to take up this discussion next sparring session at Revolution.”
Cannon turned to look at him and gave him some more space, lifting his hands in a surrender gesture. His pug grunted as his leash grew taut. “Ah, hey, no offense intended.”
The other man visibly struggled with the awkward moment, the tips of his ears turning red in embarrassment. Rojas let him stew a while longer. But the situation had caught him by surprise. Women attending classes at the kennels had no problem expressing their interest in Rojas or any of the other trainers. It was a sort of easygoing thing to fend off those advances. However, having Elisa there was new, and she shouldn’t have to fend off anything untoward. It’d be good to nip this in the bud now, and Cannon wasn’t actually a bad guy. Plus, he’d spread the word if Rojas set the precedent.
“Same rules as Gary and Greg have at Revolution,” Rojas said. “Don’t say anything about anyone you wouldn’t say to their face, and I don’t want to hear you saying anything like that to any of our employees.”
“Yeah. My bad.” Cannon bent to pick up his pug and backed away. “Seriously, man. I’m sorry.”
Rojas waved it off. “Time to focus on your dog and this morning’s agility elements.”
No need to think too deeply about why he was so short-fused when it came to Elisa. After the scare this morning, he was completely justified on her behalf. Maybe later he’d consider whether he’d do the same for anyone else employed at the kennels. Most likely he would. But he was a special flavor of irritated at the moment, and it was better to work that sort of thing off with some exercise.
Rojas put his thumb and middle finger to his mouth and whistled to bring in the rest of the class. About half a dozen men and women approached with their dogs. Mostly herding and sporting class breeds this morning, plus Cannon’s hyper pug. “Everyone warm up with a jog around the outside of the course.”
Cannon gave him a wry smile, knowing the warm-up was mostly to get him running instead of his mouth. It wouldn’t hurt to burn off a little energy for the rest of the class, too. The dogs were all game for it, and their humans could use a few extra minutes of cardio.
After watching them all do a lap, Rojas joined them. He could do with burning off some excess energy, too.
Chapter Nine
An hour later he checked on Boom, then headed to the main building for a glass of water and figured he’d grab a glass for Elisa, too. They kept bottled water in a cooler out by the kennels for convenience, but using glasses was better for the environment, or so Boom told him repeatedly.