Hennessey's Handler (Protect and Serve #4) - Pandora Pine Page 0,53

are you out?”

My father sat staring at me as if I were a complete and total stranger. It was impossible to deny how much like him I’d turned out to be. I’d waited my whole life for this reaction from him and it was worth every second.

Drummond sat, unmoving, just staring at me. Seconds turned into minutes. I watched them tick past on the face of the grandfather clock behind him. After fifteen minutes passed, I got up. Obviously, he wasn’t going to give in to my counteroffer.

“Catch you later, Dad. I hope you can find a handler for Westminster.” I was disappointed that he hadn’t agreed, but I felt better about myself than I had in a long time. When it came to getting a puppy for Lola, there were other shepherd breeders in the area.

I had one hand on the front doorknob when my father called my name. Game. Set. Match.

The little spitfire was getting a dog, and I was going back to the show world.

19

Hennessey

Half an hour after it happened, I was still trying to figure out Morrison’s cryptic phone call. I was working in the kitchen, helping to get dinner service prepped. Morrison called and said he needed to see me right away, but not at Bait, at Firehouse Three.

I handed prep over to Seth and left for the firehouse. Morrison hadn’t sounded alarmed or angry. In fact, he’d sounded like he had something up his sleeve, but I had no idea why he wanted my brothers involved.

When I got to the station, I parked my truck in the back parking lot and headed inside. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Ozzy’s office door on the ground level of the firehouse was open, as it often was when he was in the house. From the kitchen upstairs, I could hear laughter and people having a good time. “Oz?” I shouted. “Dallas?”

My redheaded brother’s head popped over the rail. “Hen! Come on up. Gunnar’s making dinner, so be ready with your phone to call for pizza if what he’s cooking is inedible.”

I heard Gunnar shout something back, but whatever it was got drowned out by the laughter of the rest of the guys. I climbed the stairs and found Chasten and Maxine zoned out in front of an episode of Supernatural. Some of the others were sitting at the two long dinner tables while Ozzy stood, arms folded over his chest, behind the kitchen island watching Gunnar like a hawk. “Hey, guys.”

“You believe this bullshit?” Ozzy asked without taking his eyes off Gunnar. “Kicked out of my own fucking kitchen by this pipsqueak. You better be ready to run, Kennedy.” Oz shot our brother a dirty look.

“What the hell is going on here?” I set my mystery aside to solve Ozzy’s.

“Gunnar and I have been taking cooking classes,” Kennedy began, looking proud rather than sheepish.

“Cooking classes. You believe that bullshit?” Ozzy grimaced. I had no idea what he was objecting to. Was it that Kennedy and Gunnar were taking classes together or that there were actual classes to teach people how to cook? Then it hit me. “You’re angry because they didn’t come to you for help and took some dumbass class instead.”

“Hey!” Kennedy pointed at me. “This isn’t your problem. I suggest you shut your piehole before I make it your problem.”

I snorted. “You and what fucking army?”

The firehouse got quiet. Maxine hit the pause button on Supernatural, freezing Sam and Dean with derpy looks on their faces.

“You did not just say that!” Kennedy looked like he was about to take a run at me.

I threw my hands in the air. “Before we start kicking the shit out of each other, is Morrison here?” I should have been at the restaurant doing my job, but now I’d been dropped into some kind of bizarro-world.

“Morrison? Why the hell would he be here?” Ozzy shot Kennedy a confused look, which my brother returned.

“What the hell is going on?” I sunk into the seat Ozzy usually saved for himself.

“Here’s some lemonade, Hen.” Gunnar set a sweating glass in front of me. He squeezed my shoulder before heading back to the stove.

“Why do you think Morrison is here?” Kennedy asked. His earlier anger was gone when he sat next to me.

“I got a call from him fifteen minutes ago asking me to meet him here. He didn’t say anything more than that, so here I am. When I heard you all shouting at each other like this was the Hatfields