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“He would,” Hayes confirmed. “He’s a little bitch, after all.”
Ford flipped Hayes off, then turned back to me.
“I’m done in about an hour,” he said. “Can you stay here until then?”
I could, which I told him so in the next moment.
“I can,” I said. “I just have to leave to take my car to the dealership to get them to change my oil. Why?”
He gestured to me and said, “We’ll take it when we’re done. Pick it up in the morning.”
I shrugged, uncaring of how it got done as long as it did.
“Fine with me,” I agreed. “As long as you feed me afterward.”
Ford winked at me, then went on to flipping the tires right along with a few of the other guys.
It wasn’t until I was looking in Hayes’ direction that I realized he was staring at me in surprise.
“What?”
“You have a little bit of drool” —he wiped my chin with his thumb— “right there.”
I laughed and pushed his hand away.
“I like you, Hayes,” I said softly.
He winked as if me liking him made him happy.
And over the next hour, just before Hayes had to leave for his hike, I got the feeling that not many people did. At least, that was how he felt, anyway.Chapter 14
My people skills are fine. It’s my tolerance that needs work.
-T-shirt
Ford
Ashe cursed when she read the text message from the shelter’s owner that she volunteered at.
“What?”
She placed her phone in between her thighs and rubbed her face with her hands.
“We have to run by the shelter,” she said tiredly. “One of the ladies that I work with said that some woman left a box of kittens outside of our door. She saw it on the camera feed when it alerted her of movement.”
“Why can’t she go get it?” I groaned.
God, I was literally exhausted.
If I could fall asleep right now, I would.
“She’s in Wichita Falls,” she answered. “Her daughter is getting married this weekend. She’ll be gone for the next week.”
I groaned and turned around, heading the opposite way.
We arrived at the shelter within minutes, and the moment that Ashe stood up out of the truck, she clutched at her stomach.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“I’m starving, and I think my belly is digesting itself,” she joked.
I snorted and walked toward the front door where I could see a box leaning against the glass.
“Can you get the box while I get the door?” she asked.
I wanted to lean over and pick that box up about as much as I wanted to go back to that call tonight.
“Fuckkk,” I groaned as I bent and picked up the box.
I didn’t know what I was expecting when I picked it up, but it being heavy definitely wasn’t it.
“Jesus,” I said as the kittens in the box moved. “What in the hells bells is going on here?”
My arms were practically falling off by the time that I picked them up and moved them.
It was at this point that the cats started to go a little bit nuts with the movement.
“You’re a big wiener today.” Ashe laughed as she started to turn lights on to illuminate the dark hallway.
I ignored the office cat that was lying on the counter in the main room and made my way into the bowels of cat country.
“There’s got to be a shit ton of kittens in here for this to weigh so much,” I admitted as I placed the box onto the table in the middle of the little room where they kept the kittens.
I tried not to look at the excited eyes of the many kittens already filling up the wire cages along the wall and instead paid attention to the box in front of me.
There was a written message on the box with the cats that simply said, “I can’t let him treat these cats like this anymore.”
I scowled at the note and showed it to Ashe.
She frowned and pulled out her phone, taking a photo of the box.
I watched as she poured litter into tiny litter boxes and filled up food and water dishes.
Only then did she start to untape the box.
While Ashe did her thing with the cats, I returned my mother’s call that I’d missed while I’d been working out earlier.
The phone rang three times before my mom answered.
“Hello?” she answered, sounding happy and excited that I’d called her back.
Which immediately made me feel bad, seeing as I hadn’t talked to her in a week except by text messages.
“Hey,” I said. “What did you need earlier? I was training and not paying attention to my phone.”
I listened to my mother drone on and on about her day, about my dad, and then about something that had happened at work.
It was as she was getting to the part about what tomorrow would be bringing when Ashe moved suddenly.
I blinked and watched as she headed for the trashcan, bent over it, and started to heave.
