“Do you get what I’m tryin’ to say? I want you in my life. In my future. Not wastin’ any more time getting to the life I want. I’ve been wild, but you’ve been the one to tame this beast. I want you, this house, our pets, and eventually our kids.”
At that declaration, Annie’s wide eyes filled with tears as she grabbed his face and pulled him down for a kiss. He let her take charge of the kiss for just a moment before he angled his head and took the kiss right where he wanted it to go. Wild, passionate, breathing her in and giving it back.
Slowly pulling away, she glanced over, seeing the realtor peeking through the window. “Shane, we have an observer.”
“Don’t worry about it, sunshine. That kiss just got her a sale!”
Laughing, the two of them went inside where Shane signed on the numerous dotted lines. Shaking hands with the realtor, they were assured that the sale should go through quickly since the previous owners had already moved and were anxious to sell. “You should be owners in about a month,” the realtor announced proudly as she led them back outside.
Corralling Sarge back into the truck, they headed back into the city talking about the future.
Chapter 22
“Dr. Ogden, You have a client in room one,” Leon’s voice called from the back.
Carl looked over at Annie in the lab and laughed. “Does he always yell like that?”
Smiling, she answered, “Well, without a speaker on the phone or a PA system, yelling is the most effective, although not necessarily the most professional.”
“Hey, whatever works. By the way, I overheard Suzanne talking about you moving into a nice new house in the suburbs.”
“It is amazing! I’ve been cramped into that tiny apartment over the clinic for a couple of years now so to be able to move into a real house will be a dream come true.”
“You must have done all right on your student loans to be able to afford a house now.”
“Oh, I still have student loans, but I’ve been able to save a little.” Uncomfortable with discussing finances with a stranger, she didn’t elaborate that Shane was buying the house and that they had finally agreed that she would pay a portion of the mortgage. After a lengthy argument, of course.
“Well, it certainly gives me hope that I can afford a nice house sooner than I thought. You never know when a windfall will just drop in your lap though, do you?”
Annie was already walking back into the surgery room to get prepped for the next dental coming in so Carl had to hustle to get to his exam room client.
* * *
Shane listened in as Matt took a phone call from an informant that they had been cultivating for a long time. Matt hung up with a smile on his face.
“We might just be gettin’ a break. It seems that we’ve been chasin’ down the wrong path, lookin’ for an animal pound bringin’ in the dogs. This guy thinks they may be brought in by a breeder.”
Shane leaned back in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “That doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense. Breeders get top dollar for their dogs. They’re not gonna sell them to drug dealers for nothin’. This guy’s got to be shittin’ you.”
“Not certified breeders, but puppy-mill kind of outfits. You know, those shit-holes where someone just breeds whatever the fuck they can and then tries to sell them. If the dealers have someone who is cheaply breeding dogs for them then they’ve got a ready supply. No records, never even been in a pound, so there is no tracing the dogs at all.”
Shane looked over to the side for a minute, his mind running over the new information.
Matt watched him carefully. Since Shane had talked to the department shrink and was firmly in relationship he seemed much calmer, but Matt could see the clouds pass across Shane’s intense gaze at times and he knew that Shane was remembering the darkness. “You okay, man?”
Shane’s eyes cut back to his partner’s. Sighing deeply, he said, “Yeah. When I was livin’ in the darkness, I swear I would almost start thinkin’ like them. Then I get out and realized how fucked up it all is.”
Shane had been to several appointments with the police psychiatrist and while he resisted at first, he actually found the man to be easy to talk to. He found that being able to talk about what all he had done while he was under, things that he could never have shared with Annie, helped alleviate the nightmares and flashbacks.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he and Matt went back to work trying to find all of the information on the illegal puppy-mills in the area.
* * *
“Doc, you’ve got a consultation in room three,” Suzanne said as she walked back to the lab area.