“Jackson, she knows Stephano. She can get into places that you can’t. You need her.”
“I don’t need anyone. But whatever, I’ll work with her to keep you happy. You better be paying me more than you pay her. That’s fucking ridiculous to give her that kind of money.”
“It’s just money. Not nearly as important as a human life.”
“What the hell?” I said as both women started to walk back to the car with the Rottweiler walking between them. “Why is he still with you?” I said as I rolled down my window.
“They don’t take Rottweilers and said they could only put him down for us. No shelter in the county takes them because they are too dangerous, the guy said.” Jordan looked at me and then at Chase. “Chase, can we just take him back to Atlanta with us? We have a huge yard and he can just stay until Roxanne and Jackson find Ana?”
I looked at Chase as he thought about Jordan’s proposition. I had to laugh at how the whole situation had been turned around onto Chase. The old Chase I knew would never cave in to having a pet around. They were way too much work for him. But sure enough, one smile from his wife and my little brother rolled over and agreed to a dog.
“Sure, we can bring him to Atlanta. But only until Roxanne and Jackson come back.”
“Oh, Jesus, have you all gone mad? It’s a dog.”
“Jackson, just take us to the hotel so we can gather our things and we will head home and leave you and Roxanne to get some work done,” Chase said with a sly smile.
He knew I was beyond annoyed with the women in our vehicle, but I knew enough not to fight a battle I couldn’t win. And once two women had swung a man over to their side, I had no chance of changing anyone’s minds.
As we pulled up to the hotel, everyone got out of the vehicle and left me there with Bull. Neither the dog nor I were happy about the situation. We both sat quietly to ourselves. I looked at him through the rearview mirror and he looked right back at me.
“Why does Roxanne need to come in?” I asked. “She doesn’t have any things in the hotel.”
“I’m getting her a room next to you so you can keep an eye on her until the job is done. Unless you want to share a room?” Chase asked me.
“For fuck’s sake, just get her a room and let’s go.”
I sat and watched as the three of them made their way into the building. It was abundantly clear that I wasn’t going to win any battles that day, so I shouldn’t even try. It was humorous how quickly two women joined sides when they wanted something.
“Don’t start with me,” I said firmly as I turned around and talked to the dog.
He had started to whine as Roxanne disappeared into the building. I wasn’t about to sit in the car with a whining dog. Luckily, he listened to me and lay down on the seat. His eyes looke
d up at me and I felt compelled to reach back and pet the poor thing. He was actually a really good dog. Unfortunately, I didn’t like dogs all that much and he wasn’t going to win me over, no matter how nice he was.
***
“Wow, he’s behaving himself for you,” Roxanne said as she helped Jordan carry some bags out of the hotel.
“He’s a smart dog. He knows I’m in charge,” I said as I stared down Roxanne.
I hoped she would understand that the same rules applied to her, as well. Even though Chase was paying her a lot of money to help find Ana, I was the one in charge. There was no question about that.
Roxanne laughed at my remark, and for a brief moment, I thought she had a good sense of humor. At least, that was one positive trait she had. I’m sure she had many other positive traits, but my anger over having to work with her was clouding my ability to see them.
I grabbed Jordan’s bags and was about to bring them around to the back of the SUV when I noticed Roxanne climbing into the vehicle. I stopped dead in my tracks as her skirt flipped up and exposed her pink panties to me. My eyes couldn’t look away as I involuntarily smiled at the view.
“Take a picture, it will last longer,” Roxanne commented as she pulled her legs into the vehicle and closed her door.
“Oh, you’d like that. I bet you have a lot of guys taking your picture.”
“Wow. Yeah, great come back, dude.”
“Can you two, at least, pretend to get along until Chase and I get out of here? I need you to work together to find Ana. She is scared and alone and whether you two get along or not is none of my concern. I just want Ana brought back safe and sound. Can you, at least, try that for me?” Jordan said as tears started to roll down her face.
I instantly felt horrible as I looked at her. I didn’t know why Roxanne got under my skin so much. Usually, my clients and even the people I had to work with didn’t bother me at all. But there was just something about Roxanne that drove me nuts.
Possibly it was because of the first night we met. The way her body had moved against mine… I could still feel her curves, every one of them. It also bothered me that she seemed uninterested in me altogether. It wasn’t like I wanted her or anything like that. But I was used to women wanting me. I was comfortable turning them away. I wasn’t comfortable when they didn’t seem interested at all in me.