Page 110 of Junkyard Dog

Padding alongside her, he scanned the area, his ears twitching with the multitudes of voices.

He trotted up to the truck with her, sidling up to Max’s side and rising up on his hind legs, barking once and dropping down to all fours when Max jumped, cursing a blue streak behind the muffled protection of the closed windows. Pleased with the reaction, he nudged her for a quick ear scratch before he took off back over across the desert, head down on the trail of a rabbit.

It was the one thing she was still trying to get over.

“I hate that dog,” Max growled, throwing handfuls of fries from the floor into the empty takeout container. “And it hates me. You can see it. One of these days, it’s going to rip my throat out.”

She rolled her eyes and flipped on her turn signal. “He is not.” She grinned at him. “Unless you piss me off.”

*

Alex glanced atthe time, pausing his beer count to start the coffee. “Hey, Dan. Did we have an influx of old guys in here this week?”

“Golf tournament,” Daniel called out, loading his tray and heading onto the floor.

“Right,” he muttered, adding another case of the lager to his order. He turned his attention to the hard liquor, eying the remnants of the open bottles until Charlotte arrived, Max’s voice announcing their presence.

Penning in the last of the order, he turned to her, grinning as he took in her sullen face. “I take it I was right about how many pairs of shoes you could tuck into that cupboard?”

“Just give me a coffee and keep your rightness to yourself,” she grumbled, slipping him a little tongue when he leaned over the counter to kiss her. “And I’m paying for whatever dumbass over here orders.”

Max waved cheerfully. “She’s all yours, man. Be warned, she’s discovered the space limitations of RV bathrooms.”

He passed Max a beer and slid the liquor order under the till for morning. “We’ve still got a week left in the month,” he said, walking around the bar to stand beside Charlotte. “We could always flip everything to your apartment.”

“There are two cabinet doors,” she stated, resting her head against his arm. “Why have two when one is just plumbing? It’s dishonest and deceitful.”

“Both of those, eh?” he teased. “I’m serious. We can change our minds.”

She took a sip of her coffee and shook her head. “No way. That new development on the edge of town will be listing soon and I don’t want to be locked into another lease on that apartment. It would dip into our travel fund.” She trailed her fingers up the inside of his arm, sending a shiver through him. “Oh, and I rearranged some of your stuff that didn’t fit. Seph said you wouldn’t mind.”

Thinking through the short list of items he owned, he frowned. “Do I still live there?”

“Barely.” She smiled. “When are you off?”

Looking around the room, he did a quick rundown of what was left to do for the night. “An hour or so. Are you waiting for me or heading home?”

When she bounced in her seat with a rare giddiness, it took him a moment to realize why.

Home.

He grinned. “You’re waiting.”

*

Alex followed Charlotteinto their trailer, scanning the place slowly as she talked a mile a minute about what she’d moved where to accommodate the influx of stuff in the small space. “All I need to know is where’s my phone charger, where’s the coffee, and where are my boots?”

She hopped over to him, opening a cupboard to reveal the coffee and a plethora of small appliances he didn’t recognize and was certain she didn’t know how to use. “Charger’s by the bed,” she replied, pointedly ignoring his last questions in favor of showing him a photo of a rolling storage unit she swore would tuck under the kitchen table.

“My boots?”

She stepped up tight to him and ran her hands through his hair, a move he was becoming very accustomed to. “Well, my boots aren’t as sturdy as yours, so mine are down there in the shoe cabinet. Yours are in the belly box outside.”

He cocked a brow. “All right. Show me the rest.”

Making her way through every possible hiding place, she revealed crammed cabinets and cupboards he hadn’t even known he had. Marbles lay sprawled out on the sofa, opening one eye as he passed her and averting her gaze when he growled softly.

He was, after all, still the alpha. Even if his boots were relegated to the exterior of the trailer and the damn cat had a litter box in the cabinet where his stereo once sat.

---