DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except Dylan and Titus. The splendid Janet Evanovich owns the rest, including the amazing Ranger. Heavy sigh
I thought I was going to die. It was hotter than a sauna in my old 1979 Buick LeSabre Estate station wagon, and there was no breeze blowing through the three of the four windows that I was able to roll down. Titus, my three legged, black Great Dane, had half of his body out the passenger window. I could only imagine how much drool was covering the wood paneling on the side of my car. Titus was panting heavily and his tongue seemed to be hanging about two feet out of his mouth. Trenton, New Jersey was definitely a different climate than Kindred, North Dakota.
It felt like we had been sitting at the stop light for hours, when it had in reality just turned red. As we inched up in one lane I could feel the eyes of everyone else at that particular intersection staring at us. Especially now that I was squirting water into my dog's mouth, and holding up traffic since the light had decided to turn green. I quickly capped the bottle and hit the gas to try and make up for the lost second, but maybe gave it a little too much gas and I ran into the back of a red Firebird.
I just barely bumped it, but it seemed to barrel up onto the sidewalk, barely missing an illegally parked car. I pulled up behind the car and quickly got out to see if the driver was alright. As I reached the driver's door I peered in to see a large woman behind the wheel, rubbing her neck and looking a little starteled, which was until she looked out at me. Her surprised expression was soon overtaken with anger and I cowered slightly, waiting to get yelled at as the door swung open.
"What the hell do ya think you were doin'?" She cried. She was a large black woman who you could tell was muscle and not fat. Like a bull, could take you down in an instant and you wouldn't know what had happened.
I stood and stared unable to come up with an answer. I just stared at her, looking like deer caught in the high beams, which to some extent I was if you consider what she was wearing. Neon yellow spandex leggings clung to her legs down to mid calf, and on her feet were a pair of matching stiletto sandals, with bright orange toenails, matching the all too tight tank top she wore. A completely different look from my torn-up jeans, duct taped Adidas flip-flops, and plain green baseball shirt. While my dark blonde hair, which came to the middle of my back, it was up in some knotty, messy, bun thing, off my sweating neck. This woman's hair was in fiery orange curls with beads on the ends.
"Umm my sandals are really heavy and just sort of…" I looked back over to my car as Titus barked; he was stuck in the window. His two front paws were on the sidewalk, but he was hung up in the window. He let another deep bark out as he continued to try and get out of the car.
"Go get the damn dog unstuck." The woman said with slight amusement playing her voice. I quickly walked over to Titus, I saw his one hind leg was wrapped up in the seatbelt and quickly extracted it before he climbed the rest of the way out and walked over to the woman who was still outside of her car.
"Sorry. If you want to exchange insurance numbers or whatever that is fine, or if you want I can just give you my name and numb…well I don't have a phone yet, we just drove into town, or I could go with you to get an estimate and just give you the money."
"What the hell happened to him?" The woman was scratching Titus's head which came up to her cleavage.
"He got hit by a car; I got him from an animal rescue place a while ago. He hates guys, infact I actually had to go to court a couple of months ago because he attacked some guy that tried to ask me out at a park. By the way my name is Dylan." I tucked my hands into my back pockets nervously as she looked over my dog and then back at me.
"Lula. I could use a dog like this with my job. Sure could save me some work, and some running." We were silent for a moment and I was about to start talking about the accident, which actually only caused a dented bumper on her car, until she spoke before me. "Look, follow me to work and we can settle this there. I can't be late incase I have to go get a skip right away. I'm a bounty hunter ya know. I can kick some serious ass."
"I believe that." I nodded and slapped my thigh for Titus to follow, but he didn't seem to want to leave his new friend. "Titus, come on, get in the car."
When he still didn't obey Lula offered for him to ride with her. I think it was more to make sure that I would follow her, rather than to please my dog. So I waited patiently for her to maneuver her car off of the sidewalk and then followed her through Trenton. When she pulled up next to a small building I parked right beside her, Titus looked at me happily through the passenger window.
Lula was out of her car before I had mine turned off. She was looking down at her outfit with a face of disgust; I could see the shiny transparent gel substance that makes up Titus's slobber all over her clothes. And he stood next to her on the sidewalk, more hanging from his floppy lips. She glared over at me as I got out of my car and walked up next to them.
"Umm, he has a drooling problem." I stated simply with a large smile, trying hard not to laugh as Titus looked proud. "So, where do you work? Where is this mighty bounty hunter lair?"
"Smartass kid." Was all I could make out of her mumbling as she turned and I followed her into a small building. It wasn't the greatest building, but I really wasn't expecting a castle of the empire state building. The inside matched the outside in some ways. There was a couch that looked like it had been sat on by elephants, and filing cabinets, along with files that needed to be filed, and a fake tree in the corner.
Lula introduced me to Connie, who sat behind the desk, filing her crimson nails as she looked me over. I took her in as well, the black shirt she wore stretched to its limits across her breasts, which weren't the only huge thing on her. Her hair seemed to be a living thing of its own, it was teased beyond reason, and her eyelashes coated in mascara. Her lipstick matched her nails, and above the blood red lipstick was a faint mustache.
"Hi, I'm Dylan, I ran into Lula's car this morning."
"Hey! What the hell?" Connie jumped up and I saw that Titus had made his way behind her desk and found a box of doughnuts. "Steph just brought those in this morning."
"Steph was here? Damn I've missed her two says in a row. Is she looking any bigger?" Lula reached over and grabbed a doughnut that had not yet been slobbered on by Titus and looked it over before taking a large bite from it.
"Not any bigger than last week." Connie looked at Lula's doughnut longingly and then back at Titus with a glare.
"You know what? I will go get you some new doughnuts, I saw a Dunkin Doughnuts on the way over." I was almost to the door when another door in the cramped office opened. A weasel looking man poked his head out and looked me over. I got a dirty feeling as a smile played across his mouth. Titus began to growl and lunged towards the door of the other office, which the man shut quickly and locked. "I told you he doesn't like men."
Connie and Lula were just looking at Titus, and back and forth between each other. I called Titus to the door and asked if they had any specific kind of doughnuts they wanted me to pick up. I decided to walk so that Lula would know I was coming back, if not with the doughnuts, at least for my car later. It seemed cooler outside now, although I don't know how that could be since it had only been a few minutes.
The walk was nice, allowed me to stretch my car cramped legs. Driving cross country had really taken its toll on me. I was hoping that with these doughnuts I would fill my stomach for the rest of the day and maybe manage to bribe Lula out of making me pay. I really had no money to spare. I had to find a job a quick, I could live out of my car, that didn't bother me, but I had to be able to feed Titus.
With two boxes of doughnuts, one for Connie and Lula, and one for Titus and me I pulled the door open with renewed strength. Maybe it was the four extra doughnuts I had bought and eaten with my dog on the way back, or just the fresh air, but I was feeling pretty good. The office was quiet when I walked in, and I looked around suspiciously and found Connie and Lula with their ears pressed up against the same door Titus and attempted to lunge through and attack the greasy man.
"Hey, what is going on?" I whispered as I set the doughnuts on a filing cabinet, just barely out of Titus's reach. They turned and saw the doughnuts and decided that whatever they were listening to wasn't of interest any longer. Titus jumped up onto his hind leg and began to go after the doughnuts, but Lula stole them away triumphantly first. She waved them above his head a while before he drooled on her shoe and then she shoved them at me. I handed one box to Connie and then sat down on the floor with Titus.
I spread my legs out and set the box on the floor in between them, opening the box and peering in, pondering my selection. Titus crawled onto his belly and placed his head on his front paws anxiously. He looked at me annoyed as I sat contemplating which one I wanted. At a small whine from him I tossed him a raspberry bismark, which I hate, and he seemed to swallow it in one bite. I selected one for me and then gave him two that had nuts on them. As I took another bite of my glazed doughnut, I heard the door open and felt Connie and Lula each draw in a deep breath and quit chewing.
Titus let out a low growl and I looked up, expecting to see the slime ball from earlier, but was greeted by the sexiest man I had ever seen. His dark skin hinted to Hispanic descent and he had deep brown eyes that seemed to bore into me. His black hair was cut off short and mused on its own accord; I imagined he would look just as delicious with a ponytail. I looked over his body and now realized why the other two women were unable to breathe. His body was amazing; the Mona Lisa of all male bodies, if that is possible. A black tee shirt seemed to be painted to his muscled body, and a pair of fresh black cargo pants seemed to hug him in all of the right places, although everything seemed to be the right place with him. His black army issue combat boots were scuffed with use.
I tossed Titus another doughnut so he would stop growling, and he quickly ingested it and returned to the man, who was looking down at me with a blank face. I just looked back up and then back down at Titus; I gave him yet another doughnut and then took a bite of my own. The man still hadn't moved from beside me and I looked up impatiently, he could at least say something.
"I'm Dylan, I ran into Lula's car this morning, and then my dog ate Connie's doughnuts that a friend had brought in for her." This caught his attention and he looked over at Connie.
"Steph?" He questioned and she nodded solemnly. There was some history there and I didn't feel like knowing it. He looked back at me and then an impatient look over took his face I didn't want to anger him for he looked like he was the type of man that killed people for fun. A really sexy man that killed people for fun granted.
"What do you want man of no words?" I didn't know if it was the doughnuts or the smell of him, but my brain had left me. I couldn't believe I had just mouthed off to a man I didn't know, let alone this one, the one who looked as if he were ready to kill at any moment. I heard Lula choke on her doughnut and stared aggressively up into his cold eyes. He stared back and then glanced to the door and I realized I was blocking his way. Well technically I wasn't, he could step over my legs. I couldn't believe myself when I didn't move an inch. I just took another bite of my doughnut and then opened the box and tossed another to Titus.
Finally he sighed heavily and stepped over my legs, purposely kicking the doughnut box over with his scuffed boots. He glanced over his shoulder and I thought I was amusement dance in his eyes as Titus lunged into my crotch for the doughnuts. I felt my face heat up and finally felt embarrassed, the feeling I should have felt when I first realized I was in his way. For some odd reason I reacted with attitude though, which was most definitely not like me. I attempted to push Titus from between my legs but couldn't and struggled to get up off the floor. I glared up evilly at a now empty doorframe, I swore that if I ever saw that man again I would make sure that Titus went after him, and brutally ripped off one of his legs.
I picked up the empty doughnut box and threw it in a small garbage can and looked down to see my wonder of a dog now eating the floor where the sugary breakfast treats had been spilled. I called him up but he didn't budge so I grabbed him by his blue collar and heaved him up with all of my might. I quickly wrote down a phone number and my license plate number for Lula who was still looking at me in shock. I was annoyed with the uneasy silence and finally asked what was wrong.
"No one talks to Batman like that, no one except Steph, and that's because he was mad about her, still is if you ask me." I watched as some filling fell onto Lula's leg unnoticed by her. Although she soon knew about it as Titus licked it off and left a saliva mark the size of Nepal on her spandex. "Jesus Christ keep that thing back."
"Sorry, I guess you can call or something so we can get this car thing figured out, I have to find a place to live or a job or something. Well a job for sure, we can live in my RV if we have to." I looked over a Connie who raised her eyebrows at me in surprise. "Well okay, my car, but it is practically a RV for how big it is, plus that is what we have been doing, just stay the night in a park or a store parking lot. No big deal."
The girls just shook their heads as I made my way to the door. As I pushed it open Connie called out to me and Titus squirmed around my leg and out onto the hot sidewalk. "Stop back in a few days if you can't find any work. I could always use someone to file, and you seem to be able to take shit from anyone. If you can talk to Ranger like that, you can handle Vinnie."
"Filing! That is my job. Well I guess I could just go full time bounty huntering since I am so good at it." Lula just smiled over at me as if it would show just how good she was.
"Yea, later." I pushed the door open once more and saw Titus sniffing around the sidewalk. We both got into the car and I pulled away from the curb, questioning where we were going to be sleeping tonight. I glanced in the rearview mirror a few times on the way out and saw a few different cars, but nothing special. I had gotten good at checking my surrounding ever since my second year of college. I pulled into a small park and decided I could tire Titus out the rest of the day so he wouldn't get up in the middle of the night and attempt to wake me to go outside and play. I really did feel bad that I had been making him sleep in the car for a week, he was a big dog.
Let me know what you think, I know I can never be as great as the all powerful JE. Later
