Page 38 of Keeping Guard
“Yeah, I like her, too, but that’s my problem.” He really had to stop kissing her, because every time he did, he wanted more. “Bad timing. You know what I mean?” And now he was talking to a dog that he’d wanted nothing to do with.
How had his life gone south so fast? He took the pair of dice from his pocket and stared at them. Justin Alba had always sworn they were his lucky dice and wasn’t that a joke since the man had to be the worst gambler in the world. He was always broke, but Noah couldn’t count how many times his father swore the next big win was just around the corner.
What was actually around the corner were the people his father owed money to because of his gambling. Another thing Noah had lost count of was how many times they’d moved in the middle of the night, each new place worse than the last.
He’d once told his mother that he wished she’d never married his father. “Then I wouldn’t have you,” she’d answered, and he knew she meant it. Knowing now that she’d died at the hands of his father, he would gladly give up his existence for her to live again. And to have never met Justin Alba.
All this reminiscing reminded him that he hadn’t returned his brother’s call from five days ago. He needed to do that before Clint decided to pay a surprise visit. He wouldn’t put it past his rich half brother to do that.
Until four years ago, he hadn’t known he had a brother, one the same age as him. When Clint had tracked him down, Noah had been so enraged that another woman had been pregnant with his father’s son at the same time his mother was that he’d told his brother to get the hell out of his life.
Clint was a stubborn bastard, though, and despite the initial verbal abuse Noah had rained down on him, he kept coming back until Noah surrendered, tired of fighting him. The first year of their relationship had been uncomfortable...for him, anyway. Nothing seemed to bother Clint. The brother he hadn’t wanted had wormed his way into Noah’s life, and now he couldn’t imagine not having him there.
Still, when his life had fallen apart, he’d ignored Clint’s calls, not able to face being a disappointment to his brother. But it was time to man up. He’d call him soon. Jack walked out of the building alone, and Noah slipped the dice back into his pocket.
“She’s going to play with the puppies for a while,” Jack said, stopping in front of Noah. “You ready to do some work with your dog?”
“Not my dog, but since I don’t seem to have a choice, let’s do this.”
“There are always choices, Noah. If you don’t want to be here, leave.”
“Don’t fancy ending up in the brig.” Although it was damn tempting to walk away, just disappear to wherever.
“Then drop the frown and attitude, brother. I know you don’t believe me now, but give me a week with an open mind, and I promise you, you’ll start feeling better about yourself.”
Doubtful. How was he supposed to feel better about himself after what he’d done? But unless he was willing to go AWOL, he was stuck here until Jack and his commander decided he had his act together. “Fine. You got your week.”
“Good.” Jack squeezed Noah’s shoulder. “And try smiling once in a while.”
“Anything else, like shooting rainbows out my ass?”
Jack laughed. “That happens the second week you’re here.”
“Oh, joy,” Noah muttered.
“Before we start, I want to go over a few things.” He took a seat next to Noah on the bench. “Some things to remember. Your tone of voice, eye contact, touch, and facial expressions are all important in training a dog.”
“Okay.” He wasn’t the team’s dog handler, but he’d sometimes watched Striker work with his dog, and before him, Jack.
“Old-school training was to punish a dog to correct unwanted behavior. Don’t ever do that. We’ll reward them for good behavior, for doing what we want, for accomplishing a task. Always remember that Lucky will pick up on your emotions, the good and the bad ones. If you’re anxious or upset, he will be, too. As you work with him, you’ll learn his signs, the ones that will tell you if he’s paying attention, if he’s tense or confused about what you want from him. He’ll tell you those things by the position of his ears, the tilt of his head, what his tail is doing. He wants to please you. If you’re centered, he’ll be centered.”
“Centered? I don’t even know what that means anymore.” Much less how to achieve it.
“You were always one of the most centered on the team, so it’s there.” He tapped Noah’s chest. “You just have to find it again, and you will.” He stood. “Ready for your lesson with your dog?”
Not his dog. “Sure.”
“Today was fun,” Peyton said as they walked Lucky before leaving for dinner at Jack’s house. They’d come home to shower and change clothes. When Noah had clipped the leash on Lucky’s collar to take him out, she’d tagged along without asking. If she had, she knew he would have refused her company.
“Good.”
“The puppies are so cute. Jack said he’d teach me some things he does in their early training. Isn’t that cool? Did you know he plays all kinds of music over the speakers in their room? It gets them used to different kinds of noises. I would have never thought of doing that. Eventually, he’ll get them used to really loud things like firecrackers and guns. He does that so if someone’s out with their therapy dog and say a car backfires, the dog won’t panic and try to run away.”
She paused, waiting for a response or even better, a kiss, but all she got was a grunt. He’d been in silent mode since leaving the therapy dog place. If it was Dalton acting like this, she’d be wondering what she’d done or said wrong. Whatever was going on with Noah, though, had nothing to do with her. It was weird that she knew that, considering she barely knew the man.
“Was Jack in the navy with you? How does he know so much about dogs?” Maybe if she asked questions, she could get him to talk.
“Yes, and he was the team’s dog handler, trained by the navy.”
