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Chapter Ten
Maceo
“Holy shit! What the fuck is that thing?” Triple yelps when Josephine and I walk in the door with a snarling Hades. Ebony, who’s sitting on his lap, takes off into the kitchen screaming something about a Chupacabra. Hades starts pulling against his harness and growling through his muzzle, trying to heave his way toward Triple.
“Hades, NO!” Josephine shouts and yanks him back. He comes back to her obediently, but continues to growl, staring down Triple like a giant rawhide.
“Play it cool. Talk to him like a human and you’ll all be good,” I say confidently.
“You want me to act cool when that thing wants to go for my jugular? Fuck that!” Triple shouts. This sends Hades into another snarling fit right as Punk and Gauge enter the living room, making them jump back when they see Josephine’s beast.
I get down on all fours in front of him. “Hades, you’re scaring my men. You’ve gotta cool it, buddy. We need to stay here tonight and will be back home tomorrow. I know you’re scared of these guys, but trust me when I tell you they’re more scared of you,” I say, in as calm a voice as I can. It’s kind of hard when I’m shout-talking over his growls. He settles some, but positions himself in front of Josephine, not trusting anyone to come near her.Good boy.
“I’m going to take off your muzzle now if you promise to stay a good boy,” I tell him. He stops growling and sits back on his haunches, waiting.
“Dude, Atlas, don’t do it. The dog is looking at me like I’m dinner,” Triple pleads.
“Agreed. It’s not a good idea,” Gauge says, holding onto Punk like a human shield.
Josephine rolls her eyes. “You guys are such babies.”
“Are not!” Punk defends. “Only concerned citizens.”
Again, my woman rolls her eyes. “Hades was an abused animal used for dog fighting before I rescued him. I’m sorry if he doesn’t like any of you, but it probably has more to do with the fact that you’re men. You need to earn his respect and trust.”
I go to take off his muzzle and all three of my men protest in panic. “You guys,” I shout over them. “This is happening. The dog doesn’t deserve to be muzzled in the house. Grow a pair, why don’t you.”
This time, I remove the muzzle and all my men suck in air. With the muzzle gone, Hades immediately starts to lick my face. “I know. I don’t like you wearing it either,” I say, petting him.
Chase walks in through the front door, back from setting up the team over at the condo, and notices Hades. He gives a low whistle which catches Hades’s attention. “Now he’s a big dog,” he says in an appreciative voice before getting down low. Chase lets Hades sniff his hand before running it down his dark coat. “You sure are a handsome fella.”
Hades woofs in approval and tries to crawl into Chase’s lap, knocking him flat on his back. Chase laughs as Hades lies across him, lapping at his face.
“You see,” I say, waving my hand at Hades to my men. “You be good to him and he’ll be good to you. Now, hand over your tough-guy cards to Josephine.”
Josephine and Chase laugh while the other three grumble. Peeved, Gauge backhands me in the chest. Hades lifts his head and growls at him, making Gauge put his hands up in surrender. “Good boy,” I say to my new favorite dog.
Josephine yawns. “Well, this has been fun boys, but Hades and I need our beauty sleep.” I escort her to the bedroom and point out my lower bunk.
“I’m going to go over everything with the guys first. I’ll be in with you after.” I lean in to kiss her soft lips. She kisses me back but not as enthusiastically as I would like. She’s still salty with me for calling all the shots right now. I know it’s hard for someone as independent as her, but my top priority right now is keeping her safe.
I’ll hold her tonight, and I’ll whisper all the sweet nothings in her ear while she drifts off to sleep—‘till she forgives me.
Chase has gathered everyone in the garage, aside from Ziggy and Butch who are at the condo doing surveillance. “How is it going over at Josephine’s?” I ask.
“Good. Floodlights are being installed along with the security system, and they will be activated by doors and windows. I got a guy coming out tomorrow to fix both doors and the cameras are already up on the outside. It should be good to go by noon tomorrow.”
“Roger that. But one more thing, I need to know if you were able to delete the image of Josephine from that asswipe’s phone and cloud.” I don’t think I’ll be able to rest until her picture is erased from his life.
Chase gives me a thumbs-up. “All gone. I went a step further and deletedallthe pictures of her. The fucknut won’t be able to look at her digital image again.”
My hand drops on his shoulder in appreciation and I nod before gathering everyone’s attention. “Ravens, listen up!”
“HOOYAH!” they shout as a squad. The SEAL way dies hard with this group.
Having their undivided attention, I give them the rundown of what happened tonight, what action is being done on the local authority’s part as well as on our end, and what the plan is going forward. As I suspected, my men are enraged. An attack on their president’s woman is an attack on the club itself.
Reaper throws his fist down on one of the tables. “Let’s go find this ex of Jo’s now! We know where he’s staying. Let’s go pay the fuckhead a visit and put the fear of God in him.”
