The Pet Stylist and the Playboy

by Rebecca James

  Doolittle showed up with a cloth, and I couldn’t help feeling smug he was too late to help. Until Isaac took it from him with a grateful smile and pressed it to Caleb’s face, returning some of the color to the skin.

  “Animals sick?” I asked the vet.

  He grinned. “Nope. Just visiting.”

  I wanted to punch the smile right off his face.

  Ax cleared his throat. “Maybe we should leave.”

  “No!” Caleb said, more forcefully than I’d ever heard the kid say anything. Ax paused at the door.

  “I mean, I don’t want you to leave just because I...have issues.” Caleb backed toward the living room and would have tripped on the throw rug if I hadn’t caught his arm. He sucked in a breath and jerked away from me, then immediately stammered out an apology.

  Isaac walked with Caleb into the living room, and the rest of us followed, although Ax remained in the archway, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice.

  “We came to see how you were doing,” Ax said.

  “You don’t have to explain. You’re welcome any time.”

  “I’m sorry,” Caleb repeated, looking miserable. “Your friends shouldn’t have to worry about coming over here.

  “You’re welcome here, too, Caleb,” Isaac said. “I told you before—I like having you here. Is there anything we can do to help you feel more comfortable? Especially around Ax—Axel.”

  Caleb darted a glance Ax’s way. “If you’d sit down, that would help,” he told Ax, and the big man walked slowly into the room and took a seat in the large chair.

  “I don’t think you realize how menacing you look when you’re standing,” Caleb surprised us all by adding.

  Ax nodded his head once. “Do I remind you of someone? Or is it just because I’m a big guy?”

  Caleb began fidgeting, pulling almost violently at his fingers in his lap.

  “Hey, it’s okay. Sorry I asked,” Ax said hurriedly.

  “It’s because you’re big,” Caleb whispered. “And the tattoos. And you’re bald. You remind me of...” he grew pale again and started shaking. “...of him.”

  Isaac wrapped an arm around the kid’s shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell us anything.”

  Caleb seemed to shrink in Isaac’s embrace.

  “Maybe we oughta go, Dante,” Ax said, but Caleb protested.

  “No, don’t. I want to get over this.”

  “It might be something you need help to get over,” the vet said kindly.

  “Doolittle’s right,” I said, earning a venomous glance from Isaac. “Sorry, I mean Hugh’s right.”

  Doolittle—Hugh looked amused. “I loved those books when I was a kid.”

  Great, I hadn’t even insulted him.

  “Did you know the guy who wrote them’s name was Hugh?” Isaac asked. “Hugh Lofting.”

  The vet nodded. “Yeah, funny coincidence, huh?”

  “And Hugh isn’t even that well-known of a name.”

  I resisted rolling my eyes.

  “I’m just going to go upstairs and lie down,” Caleb said.

  “Want me to help you?” Isaac asked, watching the kid unsteadily get to his feet.

  “No, I’ll be all right.” He gave us all a quick glance. “Nice to see you, everybody.” He paused briefly by Ax’s chair. “Axel.” He nodded and hurried out of the room.

  When his footsteps on the stairs faded away, we all exchanged looks.

  “As traumatic as that was, I believe it was a step forward,” Hugh said. I wanted to ask him if he had a psychology degree on top of the one in veterinary medicine but held my tongue.

  I looked around the room. Several boxes were stacked by the wall. Isaac noticed where I was looking.

  “Caleb and I are moving up to the main house. Hugh’s helping us.”

  “That’s great,” I said.

  “Dante and I can help, too,” Ax offered, and I nodded.

  “There’s isn’t that much to move,” Isaac said.

  Hugh offered refreshments, which ticked me off because it put him in the role of host in Isaac’s house and made me feel like an outsider. I accepted, though, because I didn’t want to leave just yet. But after a couple cups of coffee and some banana bread, I didn’t have any more excuses, and Ax and I headed out.

  ***

  A week later, I went to see Isaac again, this time taking Blaze with me. He’d recently started dating some chick named Zoe. She was all right, but I didn’t think she and Blaze were a great match. I got the feeling she was with him solely for his looks and his bike, but who was I to give relationship advice? Because she had spent the night, she wound up going with us to visit Isaac.

  I couldn’t fucking believe it when I saw the Kia parked by the main house.

  “Hugh must be here,” Blaze said.

  “Who’s Hugh?” Zoe asked, fixing her hair in the fold-down mirror of the passenger seat. I got out of the car, so I didn’t hear Blaze’s reply.

  Music came from the house, loud enough to be heard outside. Some janky popular shit from the radio.

  Blaze stepped onto the porch, and Zoe and I followed. He knocked on the door, then pounded, because evidently nobody could hear over the racket inside. The door swung open, and the sight of Isaac’s laughing face knocked my heartbeat off track. When he saw us, he smiled even wider, and I was glad he didn’t look angry at me until I realized maybe he was over me entirely.

  We walked in to find all the furniture pushed back in the living room and Caleb and Hugh in the middle of a game of Twister.

  “Oh, my God, I haven’t seen that game in years,” Zoe said, bending to pet the three dogs gathered at her feet.

  “Join in!” Hugh called from under Caleb’s right leg. The kid was posed precariously on one hand and one foot. Zoe slipped off her shoes and spun the spinner.

  “Guys, this is my girlfriend, Zoe,” Blaze said as she planted her right foot on a red dot.

  The room filled with greetings. I was glad Isaac had stopped playing the game to answer the door, or I might have to see him tangled with Hugh on the polka-dotted mat.

  “Doing okay?” I asked him. He’d made a few changes to the living room, but it was mostly the same. A photograph of Isaac and Gus that I remembered taking with Isaac’s phone had been added to the mantel in a silver frame.

  “Doing great,” Isaac said. “Come help me get some drinks.”

  Blaze had joined in the game and was currently stretched out, his left hand on a yellow dot and his stockinged-feet planted far apart on blue circles.

  I followed Isaac into the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

  “I’m making a roast. You guys should stay and eat.”

  My stomach growled on cue, and Isaac laughed. I liked the sound.

  “I’ve missed your cooking,” I said sheepishly.

  Isaac grinned and crossed to the refrigerator.

  “You look happy,” I said.

  He glanced at me. “I am. I miss Gus, of course, but I’m really happy. I can’t believe I have this life, you know?”

  I nodded.

  Isaac pulled out a pitcher of iced tea and began filling glasses. “How are you doing?”

  I leaned against the counter. “Okay. I’ve been putting in applications for jobs in the city. I have an interview at a law office next week.”

  Isaac turned to look at me. “Really? Doing what?”

  “Just a runner. I kind of want to see what it’s like. Who knows? Maybe I’ll go into law.”

  “Wow. I didn’t know you were interested in law.”

  “Neither did I. It’s something recent.” I’d been talking to Sonny’s brother, who was a defense lawyer, and I’d been fascinated by the cases he’d told me about.

  “Of course, I’d have to take out a lot of loans if I decide to do it.”

  “Nothing wrong with that. Everyone has to take out loans for school these days. Or you can get a Pell grant if your incomes’ low enough.”

  “It’s pretty low,
” I said. I did have the money I’d put away in special account for Isaac’s schooling, but I was already having to draw from that just to live. I’d found being poor was more difficult when I didn’t know I had plenty of money waiting if I really needed it. If I hadn’t had the club to lean on, I’d be out in the cold like Isaac had been years ago. I don’t know how he’d done it, and I certainly didn’t blame him for living with that Clint guy when he had the chance.

  “What are you thinking about?” Isaac interrupted my thoughts.

  “Just how brave you were when you were homeless.”

  Isaac huffed a laugh. “I wasn’t brave. Plenty of times, I cried myself to sleep.”

  My eyes roamed over his face. “I wish I’d found you earlier.”

  “Yeah, well. I guess the whole experience helped make me who I am today, and all that.” He handed me the tray of glasses, and we went back in the livingroom.

  I wound up playing Twister with the others, and every time Isaac’s leg or arm brushed me, a sweet pain pierced my heart. I’d never wanted to touch someone so bad in my life, and the funny thing was I wasn’t even thinking about sex. I wanted to wrap Isaac in my arms, fully clothed, and just breathe him in.

  When we left, Isaac squeezed my hand, and I got the feeling he was letting me know we were okay. The fact I wanted to be more than okay was an empty ache deep inside me I didn’t know if I would ever be able to fill.

  ***

  I knew I was dreaming. At least, I thought I was, because one minute I was standing in the living room at Isaac’s, and the next it was the living room at Gus’s. But even knowing it was a dream didn’t change the fact I was watching Isaac and Hugh having sex. Hugh’s naked body covered Isaac’s, and they were both glowing with a sheen of sweat, their hips undulating, and Isaac with the most blissed out expression on his face.

  I came awake with a jerk and sat up in bed. It had been a dream, but I knew it could be happening for real. That vet wouldn’t leave Isaac alone, and while I was trying to give him some space, Doolittle was over there making overtures.

  I’d waited longer than I’d meant to visit Isaac because life had intervened. I’d gotten the job as a runner at Banks and Woodrow, and my life had suddenly gotten a hell of a lot busier. Because I hadn’t been able to pay Blaze rent, I was working weekends helping him out behind the camera in the studios. At first, filming naked people having sex kept me in a near constant state of hardness, but then I became inured to it and my dick settled down.

  Watching people fucking had probably been the reason for the dream—that and my constant fear Hugh was moving in on Isaac. I had to clear some free time to go over there.

  Although I’d had plenty of chances, I hadn’t hooked up with anyone. I couldn’t get past feeling that if I did, I’d be giving up on Isaac. Plus, I couldn’t seem to gather that much interest. I flirted, but I remained celibate. It was the longest period I’d ever gone without sex since I’d lost my virginity at fifteen.

  One evening I came home from work and was surprised to find Isaac sitting with Skitz, Tony, and Hung in the living room.

  “Hey,” I said, throwing my leather jacket into the closet.

  “You do realize we have hangers, right?” Tony asked. He was slouched low in the chair, a beer resting on his knee, his blond curls grown long and hanging in his eyes.

  I kicked his booted foot out of my way and leaned in to get a beer from the cooler.

  “How’s the job?” Isaac asked.

  I plopped down in between him and Skitz, forcing Skitz to have to move over.

  “Make yourself comfortable, loser,” Skitz muttered, getting up. “I’m going out for a smoke.” He grabbed his cigarettes off the table and went outside.

  “Since when do you guys smoke on the porch?” Isaac asked.

  “Morgan’s been needling us about it for a while,” Hung answered, “and then Blaze quit and laid down the law.

  “Zoe make him quit?” Isaac leaned over me, so he could see Hung, and just that brief touch set my skin to tingling.

  “Naw, she smokes like a stack. I give ‘em another month, tops.”

  “You don’t know that. She could be the one for him,” Isaac said.

  I shook my head along with Hung and Tony.

  “No way. She’s like all the others. He doesn’t have feelings for her.”

  Isaac frowned. “I don’t get him. Why does he date them if he doesn’t have feelings for them?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question,” Tony said before lifting his beer bottle to his mouth and taking a long drink.

  “Surprised to see you here,” I said to Isaac. “But glad.”

  “I missed you guys,” Isaac said.

  “Everything going okay?”

  He nodded and took a sip of beer. He wasn’t meeting my eyes, and I wondered if something was up.

  Tony turned on a basketball game, and our attention went to that for a while. After thirty minutes or so, I excused myself to take a shower, telling Isaac not to disappear.

  Sitting so close to him had me pulling on my hard dick as soon as I was naked and under the spray. I came in a rush of pleasure that made me momentarily dizzy. I washed and rinsed and put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt before rejoining the others. I half expected Isaac to have left and smiled when I saw him still sitting on the couch. Skitz had disappeared somewhere, and Tony was snoring.

  “You sure you’re okay?” I asked Isaac.

  He let out a breath. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  I immediately got nervous. Was he going to tell me he was with Hugh now? The thought had me making fists at my sides.

  “Yeah?”

  The front door opened, and Blaze and Zoe walked in. Zoe was pressed against Blaze like a cat in heat.

  “Hey,” Blaze said to me and Isaac. “Swish, good to see you. You remember Zoe.”

  Zoe wiggled her fingers at Isaac.

  “Yeah, hey.”

  Zoe tugged on Blaze’s shirt, and he excused them, heading for his bedroom. Isaac and I exchanged glances that said we knew what was coming. Not three minutes later, the sound of the bed rhythmically hitting the wall drifted from down the hall.

  Isaac shook his head. “I’d forgotten how thin the walls are here.”

  “Yeah, gets a little old.” I met his gaze, knowing we were both thinking about the people I used to bring home.

  “How’s the new job?” Isaac asked. “Skitz told me you got it.”

  “I like it. I mean, it’s a lot of running around, delivering papers and stuff, but I like the office and the people in it. Tim, one of the lawyers, has let me sit in on some of what he does. It’s pretty cool.”

  “That’s great. I’m glad you’ve found something you enjoy, although I know you prefer to work outdoors.”

  “I’m going to do all the yard work here when warm weather comes. I’d be glad to do yours, too.” I expected him to turn me down, but he nodded.

  “That’d be great.”

  After a few quiet moments that weren’t uncomfortable, Isaac asked, “Have you talked to your parents?”

  I shook my head. “No, and I don’t intend to. I heard they’ve told people I left the country.” I chuckled, because it was all so stupid.

  Isaac looked upset. “That’s terrible.”

  “I really don’t mind. The club’s my family. I was never close to my parents; I just wanted to please them. I’m over it.” I shifted in the chair. “That what you wanted to talk to me about? My new job?”

  Isaac peeled at the label of his empty beer bottle. “I guess I just wanted to make sure we were okay,” he said.

  “Of course we are,” I said, surprised.

  “I was pretty nasty to you a while back.”

  “I deserved it.”

  Isaac sighed. “No, you didn’t. When I had time to go over it in my mind, I realized you were trying to say something and I wasn’t listening. At least, I think you were.” He raised his eyes to mine, irises like dark chocolate. “Were you?”


  My heart did an odd little dance in my chest. “I definitely was.”

  “And what was it you were trying to say?”

  A wail of pleasure announced Blaze and Zoe were finished with what they were doing at the same time the sound of a motorcycle outside announced another arrival.

  “Why don’t we go to your place where we can talk?”

  “Caleb’s there,” Isaac said. “But we could go to the shelter.”

  “Sounds good.” I got my leather jacket out of the closet, and, spotting Isaac’s coat on a hanger, grabbed it, too.

  Isaac had driven his car, and I followed him on my bike, going over what I would say to him in my head. I didn’t want to scare him off, but I knew it was important to be honest with him. I only hoped I could say it right.

  The moon was high in the sky when we arrived at the shelter. The dogs went crazy at our entrance, barking until I thought my head would explode. I had to wait until Isaac got them settled before we could talk, and then we had to break the ice all over again. Isaac told me he was still working at Lux, and then that Hugh had started dating somebody.

  “Does that bother you?” I asked.

  Isaac looked up from where he’d been playing with the fringe of the sofa pillow. “What? No. I told you, Hugh and I are just friends.”

  I relaxed a little, only to tense again when he said, “I’ll admit, I tried to like him that way. Gus had thought so much of him, you know? But I just couldn’t force it. Uh, have you been seeing anybody?”

  “Except for kissing Felicity a few times back when we were together, I haven’t touched anyone since being with you,” I said.

  Isaac studied me. “How come you haven’t been hooking up?”

  I scooted to the edge of the chair and looked at him earnestly. This was it. I needed to make him understand. “That’s what I was trying to tell you before.” I took a deep breath. “Isaac, I’m in love with you.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Swish

  I stared, certain I hadn’t heard right.

  “What did you say?”

  Dante’s blue eyes were clear and serious. “I said, I’m in love with you.”

  “But...I don’t understand.” Feeling like a moron, I rubbed my face with both hands. “God, Dante. You don’t fall in love.”