Page 6 of Tuning His Engine

Chapter 5

Creed

I turned at the sound of my son’s voice to find Amber standing there holding him in her arms. She was pissed and disgusted by the look on her face. Not that I gave a fuck.

I cleared my throat and pushed away from Kassandra, intentionally blocking her from Amber’s view. “I didn’t know you were bringing Simon here.”

“Clearly,” she scoffed. “You left the door open for anyone to walk in and see you about to go at it in the grease.”

I ignored her jab and lifted Simon from her arms. God, he’d gotten so big, so fast. He was barely walking when she brought him back to Georgia with her. Now he only had one speed, running.

“Hey buddy,” I kissed his hair and gave him a hug. “You ready to stay with daddy for the weekend?”

“Swim?” he smiled excitedly.

“Yeah, buddy. We can go swimming.”

“Is that dog safe for Simon to be around?” Amber said snidely, looking back toward the office.

“She’s very friendly and loves kids,” Kas broke into the conversation quickly, defending Hemi.

“I’ll have to take your word for it. She growled and barked at me when I walked in the door. If you both were paying attention instead of trying to get into each other’s pants, you would have heard her going crazy out there. Luckily, she went out the door and I was able to shut it before she could get back in.”

Kassandra took off running, and I followed after her, holding onto Simon. Kas had raised Hemi since she was a puppy. The dog meant a lot to her, and my experience with the pitty was all pleasant. She was sweet, loving, and spent most of her time acting like a princess laid out on her pillow.

“Creed!” Amber called after me, but I ignored her and kept running after Kas.

Hemi wasn’t outside the shop. Kas had already started walking one way looking for her dog, so I carried Simon and walked the other way, calling for her and keeping an eye out for her. If anything happened to that dog, I’d never forgive myself or Amber. My relationship with her had changed everything back in California and it could completely wreck what life I was trying to build here.

“HEMI STOP!” I heard Kas yell and turned in time to see Hemi try to dart across the street to get to Kas. It happened in slow fucking motion, and all I could do was watch as the car slammed on its brakes, catching Hemi in the hind leg.

Kas’s heartbroken scream was something I wasn’t going to forget anytime soon.

I took off running, “Kas, take Simon. Let me get her.” She had tears running down her cheeks as she reached for my son.

“Daddy.”

“Hey buddy. Go with Miss Kas so I can help the puppy.” As soon as Simon was safe in her arms, I gently lifted Hemi into my arms. She was a beast, and mostly muscle. Hopefully that would help her survive this.

“Let’s get her in my truck and get her to the vet. Who’s her vet?”

“Drew Foster, he’s over on Crest Street.” she reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone, quickly dialing the number and giving the rundown of what happened. “He’s on his way back up to the office. We just have to get her there.”

I put Hemi in the back seat of my truck while Kas buckled Simon into his seat, then climbed into the back between them both.

“Does Tony or Ace have a key to the garage?”

“No, but Ariel does.”

I nodded and dialed Ariel’s number, “Hey, can you go lock up the garage? Hemi got hit by a car and we are rushing her to the vet.”

“Oh my God. How did that happen?” Ariel’s worry came through loud and clear. She loved Hemi as much as all the staff did.

“My ex.” I left it at that and hung up the phone. Kas gave me directions to the clinic that was about five blocks away. When we got there, the doctor was already and waiting outside ready to go.

***

“Daddy, I hungry.” Simon had been sitting on a fluffy pillow with a kitten, petting her gently while I was lost in my thoughts and Kas was back with Hemi and the vet.

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