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“Thanks, dude,” I replied. “You sure you’re okay with taking care of…of Odin?”
“It’s my next stop,” Jonathan said. “He’s getting the biggest fucking stone in the pet graveyard, so if you ever come back, it’ll be easy enough to find.”
We looked at each other for a long moment, but there wasn’t anything else to be said. As strange as it was, given how many bodies I had disposed of during my tenure with Rinaldo’s organization, I couldn’t bring myself to take care of Odin’s. The very thought of it brought me to the point of vomiting. It could have been left over from the concussion, but I didn’t think so. When Jonathan had volunteered, I knew my dog would get the best final services he could. Thanks wouldn’t have been anywhere near enough, and Jonathan already knew how I felt about it anyway.
“Don’t put up with any shit from this guy!” Jonathan said to Lia as he gave her a quick hug and opened the car door for her.
She laughed.
“He wouldn’t dare,” she said with a wink to me.
I rolled my eyes, waved goodbye to Luisa, and got behind the wheel. Lia settled in beside me, and I pulled around the circular driveway and off into the street.
“We need to make one last stop,” I said.
“Where?” Lia asked.
“The old apartment over on Kingsbury. I’ve got to grab a couple things from there.”
“What?”
“Cash,” I replied.
Lia came with me as we headed up the elevator and then to the unit we had inhabited. She stood near the door and looked around as I grabbed a couple of suitcases from the back of the closet. When I came out, she was staring at a spot on the floor in the living room.
Odin’s spare rubber bone was lying there.
“Get it,” I said quietly.
She glanced at me, and there were tears threatening to spill from her lashes. She didn’t say anything, just quickly walked over and grabbed the bone. She shoved it into her purse, and we headed back downstairs.
I tossed the suitcases into the trunk and was about to slam it shut when a voice shouted out from behind me.
“You there!”
I startled and went for my gun. Lucky for her, the crotchety old woman with the bitch Odin had knocked up didn’t end up with a bullet in her head.
“You owe me eight thousand dollars!” she snapped. “I have four mongrel pups I can’t sell for anything!”
For a moment, I could only see red. I was dangerously close to strangling the old hag, but before I did, I glanced behind her and saw her dog on the lawn with four playful, white pups rolling around in the grass.
One of them perked her head up and looked over to us. Her tail began to wag furiously as she tried to bound over in our direction but tripped on her own feet instead. Distracted by whatever scent filled her nose upon impact, she attacked a blade of grass and forgot about us.
“You’re a nut,” I informed the woman. “Fuck you and the dogs.”
I turned around and started to walk away, but Lia stopped me.
“Evan?” Lia said as her hand rested against my elbow. “Evan, can we…can we take one of them?”
My chest tightened. At first, I wanted to say no. I wasn’t replacing Odin—there was no way. But these pups…they were part of him, too.
He took a bullet for her.
I went back to the car, looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching, and then opened one of the suitcases full of cash. I quickly counted out eight grand and brought it over to the woman.
“Here,” I said. “Don’t ask for another fucking thing from me, and don’t give me any shit about it—we’re taking one of the puppies.”
She opened her mouth like she was going to argue with me anyway but thought better of it as she stared at the cash in her hand. I took Lia’s arm and led her over to the fluffy white, wriggling balls of fur. The same puppy that fell over her own feet earlier bounced over and licked Lia’s hand.
