Forever Lo (Devil's Knights Book 9)

by Winter Travers

   “I knew it,” Rigid whispered. “I knew you were going to fucking say that.”

   “Well, I can tell you right the fuck now that I didn’t expect you to say that. I figured you were going to say you caught him beating a kid or coping a feel on a teacher, not fucking you.” Gravel shook his head. “Fucking world is going to hell in a handbasket.”

   “Handbasket, Grandpa?” Demon laughed.

   Now it was Demon’s turn to get slapped upside the head by Gravel. “You’re all a bunch of fucking halfwits, you know that?”

   “So why didn’t you just haul back and punch the fucker’s lights out?” Gambler asked.

   “Because that wouldn’t have taught him anything. The asshole probably would have denied any shit I had to say to him and would have been able to keep grabbing whoever the hell he wants to.”

   Rigid raised his hand. “So the new principal is obviously bi who has a wife and five kids who cheats on his wife with any random person who suits his fancy when he walks by?”

   “In a nutshell.” I laid my palm on the table.

   “So we give him a little Devil’s Knights justice so he starts acting right?” Gambler suggested.

   I nodded my head. “I figured out where he lives. I want Demon and Gambler taking turns watching him for a couple of nights. Figure out his patterns. What time he leaves in the morning, when he gets home, anywhere he goes, I want to know.”

   “What happens after we figure out all of that?” Gravel asked.

   “Then we give principal Seth a house call and show him some Devil’s Knights justice.”

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Meg

   “I can’t believe you bought ass flavored air freshener.”

   “What?” Lo paused the TV. “I’m pretty sure the bottle said lilac, not ass.”

   “Lilac is ass.” I held up the offending bottle of assy scent. “This is ass scented.” I squirted it into the air and fell into a fit of coughing and gagging.

   “Well, it’s meant for the air, not to be a body spray for you.”

   I waved my hand in the air and dropped the can into the bathroom garbage. “You’re not allowed to buy anything that has a scent to it. You’ve failed me. It was a good marriage while it lasted.”

   Lo turned to Jonas who was sitting next to him on the couch. “She’s leaving me over a lilac air freshener.”

   “I know,” Jonas mumbled. “She was yelling about it before you got home.” His eyes were glued to the TV, and he shoveled a handful of cheese popcorn into his mouth.

   “Why didn’t you throw it away earlier?” I asked.

   “Because I had to keep it as evidence until you got home. You’re home, so now it goes in the garbage where it belonged all along.” I slammed the bathroom door shut and let. “It’s like you don’t know me at all, Lo.”

   “It’s just an air freshener,” I heard Lo mumble through the door.

   I pulled open the door and pointed a finger at Lo. “An air freshener you know I hate.”

   Lo scooted to the edge of the couch. “Babe.”

   “Don’t you babe me, Logan.”

   He stood up stood in the doorway to the bathroom. “You know what this is, right?”

   I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “Don’t you say it, Logan Birch.”

   “You know I’m right, babe.”

   I stabbed my finger into his chest. “Do not go there.”

   Lo stepped closer and placed one hand on my waist. “I don’t know why you let it happen.”

   I growled low.

   “It happens every time. It’s like you think it’s going to end differently, but it never does.”

   “Papa Lo, you made Mama Meg growl!” Jonas let out a peel of laughter that penetrated my pissed mood.

   A smile cracked my down-turned lips. “I’m smiling at Jonas, not you,” I clarified.

   Lo hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “He is pretty damn cute. I should have sent him here.”

   “You are not allowed to use the kid in our arguments. That is a rule.” Totally not fair.

   Lo placed his other hand on my waist and pulled me into his arms. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this hangry before.”

   “I hate that you know me so well.”

   Lo shrugged. “Been with you for over ten years, babe. I should know you.”

   The doorbell rang and my stomach let out a loud growl. “Thank freaking god.” I let out a relieved sigh and headed to the front door with Jonas hot on my heels.

   I yanked open the door and came face to face with Larry.

   Oh no. This was not the time to deal with Larry when I was in the middle of a hangry bout.

   Not. Good. At. All.

   “Papa Lo!” Jonas called.

   See, even Jonas knew that this was not going to end well.

   “Oh fuck,” Lo muttered

   “Papa Lo!” Jonas hollered again. “You can’t say that.”

   “Yup, sorry about that, buddy.” Lo came up behind me and gently moved off to the side of the door.

   “Logan. Nice to see you.”

   I rolled my eyes at Larry’s words and grabbed Jonas’s hand. I tugged him toward the couch to wait for the pizza with me and listen to whatever Larry had to say.

   “I’ve found more poop on my lawn.”

   Lo didn’t even have a chance to say hello before Larry started in on the poop on his lawn. If I stayed hangry there was a good chance I would go take a huge deuce in the middle of his lawn if he kept it up.

   Lord, I was really hangry.

   “I told you, Larry, we don’t have a dog anymore. Blue passed away a few months ago.”

   “I miss Blue,” Jonas announced.

   I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him close. “Me too, Buddy. He was the best puppy.” Now I am going to poop on Larry’s lawn for coming over to bring up Blue again and making Jonas and I sad.

   “I know, I know,” Larry repeated. “But I think I know what it is that is pooping on my lawn.” Larry pulled out a digital camera and held it up to Lo’s face.

   “It’s a dog, Larry.”

   Jonas giggled and even I had to laugh at Lo’s deadpan tone.

   “But it’s not anyone’s dog, Lo. He’s a stray,” Larry stressed.

   “Then call the humane society or something. I don’t know what to tell you, Larry.”

   “Wait.” I jumped up from the couch and pushed Lo to the side to see the camera Larry was still holding up. “He’s just a puppy,” I gushed. He was mostly black with a white chest and brown by his eyes and ears.

   “I know. I tried to catch him but he was too quick for me.” Larry sighed. “I don’t know why the little crapper thinks he needs to poop on my lawn.”

   Maybe because Larry referred to him as a crapper. Seem like good karma working to me.

   “What are you going to do when you catch him?” I asked.

   Larry shrugged. “Probably take him to the pound.”

   Probably? Yeah, I didn’t like the sound of that. “We’ll catch him.”

   “We will?” Jonas and Lo said in unison. Except Jonas sounded excited and Lo did not sound thrilled at all.

   I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the puppy on the camera. “Yup. We sure will. Don’t worry about the dog, Larry. We’ve got it under control.” I closed the door in his face and turned the lock.

   “What the hell just happened?” Lo asked.

   I smiled widely. “We just figure out the one thing that can cure me being hangry if I don’t have food.”

   “A stray dog?” Lo asked.

   “More like catching a puppy.”

  Life was hectic having Jonas with us now, but what would it hurt to add an adorable puppy to the mix?

  *

  Lo

   “Babe.”

&nbs
p;  “Shh, Lo. You’re going to scare him away.”

   I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure you crunching on those chips like a man starving is what is going to scare him away.”

   She popped another chip in her mouth and held the binoculars up to her eyes. “We should have gotten those where we could see in the dark.”

   “I was not going to spend that much money on a pair of binoculars that we were going to use one time.” After Larry had come over to let us know about the stray puppy, Meg was a man on a mission bound and determined to rescue the puppy and make it hers. When the pizza finally got delivered Meg grabbed the two boxes, me and Jonas, and loaded us all in the truck to go shopping for puppy rescue supplies.

   I didn’t know exactly what puppy rescue supplies were until we were checking out at the pet store with a cart full of treats, toys, a pet bed, and a pair of binoculars meant for bird watching. Meg was crazy as hell, but she had a heart bigger than anyone I had ever met

   She knew absolutely nothing about this puppy other than a blurry picture Larry had taken, but she was going to catch him and make him our new family pet.

   “But how am I supposed to see Brutus when he walks onto Larry’s yard to take a poop?” she whined.

   “Larry took the picture around two AM yesterday. We got another hour until he might show up.”

   Meg snuggled under her blanket and put her feet up in my lap. “Is it supposed to get cold tonight?”

   I rubbed her feet and relaxed back in my chair. “If I say yes does that mean we can sleep in our bed tonight and not the lawn chairs on the deck?”

   Meg shook her head. “No. I just need to know if I should go in to get another blanket and the hand warmers.”

   “Babe, you really think you’re ready for a new dog?” Meg had Blue for seventeen years and she was destroyed when she woke up to see he had passed away in his sleep.

   She shrugged and tossed her arm over her head. “I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”

   “You didn’t answer the question,” I chuckled.

   “Lo,” she mumbled. “I’ll know if I want this puppy. Right now I know I need to help him so he isn’t living on the street and pooping on Larry’s yard. God knows what Larry would do to him if he caught him.”

   “So what if you don’t want him but Jonas does?”

   Meg waved her hand at me. “You’re worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet. For all we know the puppy won’t come around and you’re sitting her worrying about nothing.” She sighed softly. “Will tell you one thing though.”

   “What’s that, babe?”

   “If I jive with this puppy, and he wants to live with us, you can bet your ass he’s going to poop on Larry’s yard every morning.”

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Meg

   “Lo, stop.” I batted away Lo’s hand and tried to roll over.

   Big mistake.

   I instantly remembered I was sleeping in a lawn chair and froze. My arms wrapped around what I thought was Lo’s arm, but it wiggled against me.

   “Oh, my god!” I whispered.

   Lo and I had passed out sometime after two and I had been hopeless that the puppy was going to show up.

   I was wrong.

   The black little fellow was curled up in my arms with his nose buried in my blanket.

   “Lo,” I whisper shouted. “Wake up.”

   Lo stirred but didn’t wake up.

   “Oh my gosh,” I gasped when the little puppy opened his eyes and looked up at me.

   I knew right then and there.

   This was going to be my puppy.

   He was pretty dirty, but he seemed to be eating well and he obviously wasn’t afraid of people.

   “Lo,” I called again.

   This time he cracked open one eye and looked at me. “You got a dog,” he stated obviously.

   “Thank god you woke up to tell me that,” I scoffed. I scratched the top of the little puppy’s head and he closed his eyes blissfully. “He climbed into my arms when I was sleeping, Lo. He felt safe with me.”

   “I know that look,” he grumbled. “You already decided that ball of fur is yours, didn’t you?”

   I adjust the little guy in my arms and looked him in the eye. “I’m pretty sure he chose me, Lo. I can’t turn him away.”

   Lo dropped his feet to ground and scooted to the edge of the chair. He reached over to pet the puppy and scratched him behind the ear. “You know what he is?”

   “A dog, Lo.”

   Lo rolled his eyes. “I mean, is he really a boy or a girl?”

   “Oh, sorry. My sarcasm is apparently strong today.”

   “That’s every day,” Lo grumbled.

   I lifted the puppy up to see if he was packing equipment or not. “Frank and beans,” I laughed. The little guy whined and tried to burrow back into my lap.

   “What breed do you think he is?” Lo asked.

   I really didn’t know much about dogs other than I thought they were all adorable. “The breed that I’m going to keep.”

   Lo stood up and held his hand out to me. “Well, let’s get inside. Our mission is accomplished.”

   “What time is it?” I asked. It was still dark out and it didn’t seem like the sun was going to rise anytime soon.

   “Three-thirty. We can get a couple hours of sleep before Jonas wakes up if we’re lucky.”

   I slowly rose from the chair and cradled the puppy in my arms. “You ever get the feeling that everything is right? Like this is exactly where you should be?”

   Lo opened the front door and held it for me. “Every morning when I wake up next to you, babe.”

   “Aw,” I sighed. I nestled the puppy’s nose to mine. “You have the sweetest daddy ever now. He may seem all rough and tough, but he’s actually pretty damn sweet.”

   “Don’t tell him all of my secrets.” Lo closed the door behind us and slid the lock into place. “Do I even have to ask where he is sleeping?”

   I grabbed the puppy bed off the floor and headed into the bedroom. “He needs a bath, but I’m going to put his bed on our bed and have him sleep in there.”

   Of course. I wasn’t surprised at all that Meg was going to put a stray dog in our bed after having him for about five minutes. “You think he’s actually going to sleep?”

   She shrugged and placed the dog bed in the middle of our big bed. “Guess it’s a good thing you broke that big ass bed all of those years ago.”

   Meg wrinkled her nose at me and placed the puppy in the bed. “He can also be a butt, puppy. You just gotta remember he has that sweet in there.”

   “We gonna give him a name or just keep calling him puppy?” I flipped off the bedroom light and pulled back the covers on my side.

   “I think we should let Jonas decide the puppy’s name. I bet he would get a kick out of that.”

   “Speaking of Jonas.” I headed out of the bedroom and into his room. He was again just sprawled out all over the bed with his mouth hanging open. The kid really relaxed when he slept.

   “He’s okay?” Meg asked when I walked back into the room.

   I nodded my head and slipped off the lights. “Totally passed out. Sawing a few logs too.” I climbed into bed and laid on my side to look at the puppy. He was curled up on the dog bed and already back asleep. “He seems pretty young, doesn’t he?”

   Meg nodded her head. “Yeah, he really is. We’ll have to get him to the vet right away on Monday. Today we’ll just give him a bath and look him over.”

   I scratched the top of his and he gave a little whine. “He’s a cutie.”

   Meg smothered a yawn with the back of her hand. “He sure is. In the morning we’ll try to get a better look at him to figure out what he is.” Meg laid her head down on her pillow but kept her hand on the puppy.

   “That’s how you’re going to sleep,
isn’t it?”

   She nodded her head and closed her eyes. “Yup. If he moves to go potty or try to jump down, I’ll wake up. I did the same thing with Blue when he was a baby.”

   “Is he your new Blue, babe?”

   Meg shook her head. “No. I’ll never have another Blue, but maybe I’ll have another amazing puppy.”

   I sure hoped so. As soon as Jonas woke up and saw him, there was going to be no turning back on keeping the little guy.

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Meg

   “Red.”

   “Really?” I asked.

   Jonas nodded his head.

   “But he doesn’t have any red on him.” I cuddled the puppy to my chest. “What about Rover or Bud?”

   Jonas shook his head. “Nope. His name is Red. You had Blue, so now you need a Red.”

   The door to the exam room opened, and the vet walked in. “Meg,” he called. “It’s so good to see you.” He held his hand out to me. “I’m so sorry to hear about Blue. He was one of a kind.”

   I mustered up a smile and shook his hand. “Thank you. He lived a good and long life.”

   “And now it’s time for the next generation, right?” Dr. Thoms smiled at the puppy in my arms. “I don’t have a name on my chart though. Are you still undecided?”

   I glanced at Jonas and he smiled brightly. “Tell him, buddy.”

   “His name is Red. Mama Meg had Blue, so he needs to be Red.”

   “Well,” Dr. Thoms laughed. “I really can’t argue with that logic.” He reached for Red and held him in his arms. “He sure is a cutie. Tell me what you can about him.”

   Dr. Thoms set him on the exam table and raised it up till Red was at chest height. A nurse came in and held Red in place while the Dr. looked him over.

   “Uh, well, we’ve had him for about a day. Our neighbor had mentioned that there was a puppy wandering around, and it just felt right to rescue the little guy.”

   Dr. Thoms nodded his head. “Well, I can’t help but like that story.” He looked at his teeth and the puppy tried to lick him like he was a piece of steak. “From his size and teeth, I would say he is about ten weeks and a cross between a border collie and a Pitbull. He should be one smart puppy when he grows up.”