Page 80 of Falling for Brody

"Unfamiliar?" The kid lifted a hand and brushed his hair back from his face. "Wow, they weren't joking when they said small towns were no joke."

Gabriel only lifted a brow at the kid's words. "What are you doing here in town?"

The kid shrugged. "I got paid to deliver an envelope."

"There's this thing called the post office. Have you heard of that?"

"Hey, it ain't my envelope, man. I'm just the messenger."

"Why don't you let me have it. I can deliver it for you."

The kid showed some backbone, shaking his head. "Sorry, no. I need to put it in her hands to prove that she's been served."

Gabriel was half a second from balling his fists in frustration when the solution presented itself.

"Oh, dude! That dog is so cute."

Gabriel looked down and saw that Roland was sitting beside him, ears perked up and head tilting as he regarded the young man in front of him.

"Hey, can I pet him?"

Gabriel smiled and unhooked the leash from Roland's collar. "Roland?Such."

Roland got up on all fours, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he trotted over to the kid.

The kid's hands reached down as Roland sat down beside his right leg and dropped down to the ground, scritching Roland between his ears.

Gabriel reached for his belt and freed his handcuffs.

The kid looked up when Gabriel's shadow fell over him. "Hey, what... What's going on?"

"Roland is a police dog. A K-9."

"Well, duh." The kid chuckled and continued to scratch Roland down his back. Roland was enjoying it immensely. "So?"

"He's been trained in all kinds of policing activities."

"Well that's good," the kid continued the laugh. "He's got a good job. Don't you, boy?"

Roland tipped his head back, tongue lolling, and looked up at Gabriel.

Damn, he loved this dog.

"He's also been trained to sniff out drugs."

Gabriel saw the kid go stock still.

"What?"

Gabriel nodded and reached out to snag the kid's wrist. "You're under arrest for possession of illegal drugs."

"What?"

It didn't take long to put the kid in cuffs. He didn't fight, but he also wasn't all that cooperative. He spent precious time trying to argue that carrying pot on him was legal in Virginia. And he had a medical marijuana card in his wallet.

When Gabriel searched him before putting him in the cruiser, he found the pot the kid was talking about. "You have to have it in a marked dispensary container, kid." Then, when he cleared that pocket, Gabriel went around to check the other pockets and came up with a bit of a recreational medicine cabinet. "And these," he told the kid, "are just plain illegal."

As he took hold of the kid's shoulder to steer him to the backseat of his cruiser, he sighed. "Welcome to Fallport, kid. You might be here for a while."

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