Love's Taming(83)

She forced herself to make eye contact with the young man even though his very appearance made her fearful. From his shaved head to his tattoos that ran down his neck under his dirty t-shirt, he exuded danger. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at her blatantly, his gaze dropping to her breasts.

“They’re pure-bred German Shepherds, lady. They got papers and everything.”

Pure-bred, my ass. Jesus, these dogs look horrible. “Really? They look a little skinny to me. Do their papers include visits to the veterinarian and their immunizations? I am assuming that they have that included in their papers?”

The smile left the man’s face as his eyes shot back up to hers and he stepped menacingly toward her.

Glancing backing at the young man, she forced herself to smile as she turned to Carl, noticing his uncomfortable stance. “Oh honey,” she said brightly, “Do you want a puppy?”

“No,” he choked out. “Come on, dear.” He took her arm just as one of the puppies began to whimper.

Annie moved over closer and noticed how young the pups were. There is no way they should be weaned by now. “Do you sell many puppies at these markets?” she asked, trying not looking at the men who had closed the circle around them. “I mean, you can’t sell that many pure-bred dogs at a little market, can you?”

“We sell enough. Got people who always come buy our dogs,” he said with a sneer.

“Marco!” barked out one of the other men. “Shut the fuck up!”

Chastised, the man closest to her scowled, but turned away.

“Lady, if you don’t want a dog then move on. We’ve got other business to do,” came a voice from right behind them, causing Carl to grab her arm.

“Come on, dear. These men don’t need you playing with their dogs,” Carl said, pulling her back through the men toward the market.

Without glancing back, they walked to the car and began driving away as quickly as possible. Not a word was spoken between them for a few minutes. Finally, Carl slumped down in his seat rubbing his hand over his face. “Oh, Jesus, Annie. That scared the fuck out of me!”

The adrenaline rush was still causing her hands to shake on the steering wheel, but she was trying to put on a brave face. “I’m sorry, Carl. That was not what I expected.” She was silent for a moment. “I wanted to help the puppies so much.”

Carl looked over at her, seeing tears in her eyes. “I know, doc. I did too, but no joke…I just wanted to get out alive. Promise me you won’t try anything stupid. Shane’s going to have a shit fit as it is.” Turning back to her, he asked, “You are going to tell him aren’t you?”

By this time they were a few miles down the road and she pulled over at a mom-and-pop gas station. Sighing deeply, she said, “Yeah. In fact I really need to call him now so that he can decide if he wants to come check them out himself.”

Carl threw his head back on the seat in frustration. “Oh my god, I am going to get eaten alive by your boyfriend. He is going to kill both of us.”

For once, Annie couldn’t disagree.

* * *

“Okay, thanks,” Shane said, hanging up his phone. Matt looked over, waiting for his very angry partner to speak.

Shane looked up and said, “The county sheriff said that by the time they got to the market the vans were gone. They talked to some of the regulars at the market, but they said that when the vans come, they always stay off to the side. No one had any idea where they come from or when they show up.”

Matt said nothing for a moment, letting Shane get a handle on his anger. “She coming here?”

Shane’s eyes snapped back up. “Oh yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. And so is Carl. I can’t believe that she went out after we discussed her not getting involved and that crazy-ass vet went with her instead of talking her out of it! Jesus, when I think of what could have happened! Well, she’s going to be talking to one of the investigators here and I’ve made sure they know to put the fear of God into her.”

Just then he saw her coming down the hall. As angry as he was, he couldn’t help himself from jumping up and going over to her.

She immediately put her hand up and was going to tell him not to fuss, when he grabbed her in a bear hug. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face in his neck and found herself unable to hold back the tears.

“I know you’re mad. I’m sorry,” she hiccupped out. “I just wanted to see what these dogs might look like.”

Shane held her tightly for a moment, not allowing his thoughts to travel to the what-ifs. He looked behind her, seeing Carl appearing discomfited. Setting Annie back down, he looked into her big green eyes, saying, “Sunshine, we are going to discuss this later. But for now, you’ve gotta talk to Detective Carter again.” Looking up, she saw the detective that had interviewed her earlier. Sighing, she just nodded as she started to walk away with him.