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He smirked. “Wives and children, no. Only about eight of us are here fulltime. But there’s extra rooms for when we have out of town guests or someone’s on the outs with his old lady.”
She laughed. “Well, I guess it’s good to have somewhere to go during those times. But you don’t have that—”
She bit her lip to stop what she almost said. She couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to her to ask his status before, and now that horse had seriously left the barn. Maybe hedidhave that problem.
When Dog’s face turned serious, she couldn’t hold his gaze.
“Go ahead. Ask what you want to know.”
She shook her head. “There’s no need.”
“Ask, baby. I don’t want anything between us.”
She lifted her gaze with a sigh. “Do you have someone who’s angry right now at being ignored the last couple of days?”
He laughed. “Don’t know that I can answer that one. Women get pissed about all kinds of shit, even when I don’t know about it. But the only woman who matters is right in front of me.”
“That was kind of vague, like what a man would say if he was stepping out on someone.”
He pulled her close. “No. I don’t have anyone else. Just you.”
A tan, heavily muscled dog rounded the corner of the clubhouse and barked a greeting as it trotted an uneven gait to Dog. It had an ear missing from its boxy head and scars marked its short coat. It looked vicious, and Charley took a step back.
He squatted and gave it a generous amount of loving. “Well, then there’s this one. She’s my girl, Ellie May. She lives here too.”
Charley giggled. “Ellie May? As in the Clampetts?”
Charley had watchedThe Beverly Hillbillieswith Daddy when she was small. He’d loved the story—how Jed always knew what was best for everyone. She thought he’d hoped to fill the same roll in their household.
Dog smiled. “Yep. I named her that because she really moved up when she came here. We don’t have a cement pond, but she doesn’t seem to mind.”
Taming her fear, Charley knelt beside Dog and Ellie May. She had an almost white face and soulful brown eyes that looked like they’d experienced a lot. If she didn’t know better, Charley would say she was smiling. “She looks happy to see you.”
“She is. She knows she’s gonna get a treat when I go inside. Trained me good over the last fifteen years.”
Laughing, Charley petted her head. “What kind is she?”
Dog’s voice sounded sad when he answered. “Pitbull. Took her from a dogfighting ring not far from here. Let’s just say the ring wasn’t in good with the club. Anyway, when we busted it up, they’d been using her mom to breed bait dogs. Said she didn’t have pups vicious enough for fighting, so the assholes were using her for training the ones who were. She was covered in bite marks. Pissed me off.”
The scarred dog flopped on the ground and rolled to her back. Dog seemed to know his cue and stroked her belly. “They’d use pups to stir up the bloodlust. Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. Not much left of a young’un after a mature dog gets through with them. Then they’d send in the mother for a—” Dog used air quotes, “‘workout’.”
Dog’s voice was laced with disgust now. “Ellie May was in the ring, already mauled and missing an ear. I dragged the other mutt off her, and my brothers handled the rest of it. I was only a prospect, but I made sure I brought her and her mom home to give them a better life.”
Charley marveled at the heart of this man, so tender, so generous, but then the ugly similarity of this situation and his own with his mother and father almost choked her. He couldn’t save his mom or himself, but he’d saved Ellie May and her mom.
“Ellie May didn’t even look like a pup, her face was so swollen. Took two weeks in intensive care at the vet. I visited every day. She’d wag her tail, just a little in the beginning, but it was enough to get me back there. Then, toward the end of the two weeks, she smiled at me. Shit, I was a goner.” His head gave a little shake. “It’s how I got my road name.”
“But you told me you got your name from a fight.”
“The ‘Mad’ part got added then. But ‘Dog’ came from this pretty girl here. By the time of the fight, ‘Dog’ had already stuck, so most people just call me that.”
Okay, now, calling Ellie Mayprettywas taking it a bit far, but the affection in his voice was precious.
“Is the mom still here?”
“Lizzie passed away a few years ago. Ellie May’s gettin’ old, too. She walks funny because she threw her back out chasin’ a squirrel or something. Thought I was gonna lose her then, but she rallied.”
The door to the clubhouse opened, and Cutter stuck his head out. “You ever comin’ in, man? We need to talk.” His gaze turned to me. “Oh, hey, pretty lady. Didn’t know you were here.” He frowned. “Probably good thing though.”
