Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,16
he was a kid. No one had ever told him animals were for winners.
Fuck, not now, Henri.
He turned toward the kitchen but Foreman spoke up before he got a step off.
“I can take care of this. Why don’t you hop in the shower?”
Leave the dog alone? Sure, he’d been willing to do so a moment ago when he thought he had to pillage for food, but in all truth, he never wanted to let this puppy out of his sight.
“I have a dog of my own,” Cal assured him, evidently reading into Reid’s hesitation because he was one of those intuitive types who understood shit and wowed women and dogs with their sensitivity. “He’ll be safe for a few minutes.”
Reid ran a hand over the mutt’s head. All those scars. All that pain. “I will be back soon.”
In the shower he let the water chase away the chill in his bones and thought about what Kennedy had said about taking the dog to a shelter. She was right. Reid couldn’t take care of him, not with his travel and practice schedule. He could kennel him, but that would mean taking him in and out, with no semblance of stability. A dog like this, one who had been battered, bruised, and abandoned, needed an owner who was all in.
Something pinged in his brain, something Foreman had said. A dog of my own …
Out in the living room, he found the man from Boston on his sofa and the puppy on the rug, next to a bowl surrounded by corn kernels. He had eaten and Reid’s heart checked. He would have liked to have seen that; now he felt as though he’d missed out on an important first in the relationship between man and beast. The dog had probably bonded to fucking Foreman now.
“How is he?” Reid sat on the rug beside the dog and rubbed his head. The abject creature raised it slightly, as if craving Reid’s touch. It must have been a while since anyone showed him kindness.
“Tuckered out after a snack and the afternoon’s festivities.”
Reid turned his attention to Foreman, eager to get this, whatever this was, over with. “Are you here to apologize?”
“Yep.”
“Not necessary.”
“I happen to think it is. Sure you were a dick. You are a dick. An apology from me doesn’t change that, but I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”
Reid assessed him. “Sometimes it’s good to let it out.”
“That’s what the game is for.”
“Pity you don’t get enough shifts, then.”
Foreman laughed, so good-natured about it all. Just like Reid’s brother. “We’re having a moment here. Why you wanna be an asshole about it?”
“Someone’s got to be in my family.”
Foreman studied him, looked like he was about to ask something else, but took a left turn instead of right. “How did your friend end up in the lake?”
“There are no limits to people’s cruelty.” Reid would happily beat the tar out of whoever had hurt this creature. He peered up at Foreman. “Looks like you’ve sorted things out with Petrov.”
“For the most part.”
“And La Petrova?”
“Not sure that’s fixable.”
“Now who’s the dick?” Mia clearly wanted Foreman. Foreman clearly wanted Mia, as evidenced by their back-and-forth in front of the well-heeled fundraiser crowd last night. So tiresome. “That performance last night at the auction? She bid on you to make a point.”
“Yeah, the point being that she can buy and sell me a million times over and then pass me off to my ex.” Reid didn’t know all the details, but that sounded overly complicated and not remotely true.
“You’re even dumber than you look.”
Foreman merely shrugged. “Mind if I make a sandwich?”
“Yes.” He would prefer Foreman left. He had proven useful but now Reid wanted to be alone. His undesired guest refused to take the hint, just walked into the kitchen and removed sandwich fixings from the fridge.
Reid looked down at his new friend—the dog—and ran a hand over his frail body. He needed to get him food, shots, and a roof over his head. Foreman emerged from the kitchen with two plates and put them down on the coffee table.
That was it, the tickle of a thought. “You said you have a dog.”
Foreman picked up a sandwich and bit into it. The fucker actually waited until he’d swallowed before he answered. “Yep.”
“Who looks after it when you’re playing and traveling?”
“I co-own him with my ex. She’s in Boston so I only see him when I play there or make a visit.”
That didn’t solve anything. “That works? The co-owning