Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) - Sidney Halston Page 0,6

best, Mrs. Weatherby, but please don’t do anything rash,” Chrissy pleaded.

“I don’t want a litter of pups running around my house. It’ll take who knows how long to find them a home. And breeding with your mutt, Drogo…good Lord, those are gonna be some mean pups.” At the mention of his name, Drogo turned his snarl from Slade to Mrs. Weatherby.

“I’ll take them. All of them. I’ll find them homes, but please don’t, you know…”

“What’d I miss? I’m confused.” Slade ran his hand through his hair, the tousled strands just short of shoulder-length.

“Drogo seems to have…” Chrissy’s gaze ping-ponged back and forth between Slade and Drogo, avoiding Mrs. Weatherby’s death stare. “He…uh…he impregnated Mrs. Weatherby’s dog, Daisy. Mrs. Weatherby came by to tell me that her dog’s expecting, and…” After a pause, Chrissy’s next words came out fast and in one long sobbing jumble. “She wants to have an abortion. Well, not Mrs. Weatherby, but she wants Daisy to get one. I know Daisy wouldn’t want to do that, and I already promised her I’d keep all the puppies. I mean Mrs. Weatherby, not Daisy. But she’s going to have a doggy abortion either way. The same woman who just scolded you for cussing.” Chrissy bent down and picked up Drogo.

Slade tilted his head and looked at the tiny, growling devil dog of a Chihuahua Chrissy held in her arms, and then down at the humongous, beautiful Dalmatian calmly lying on the grass with its tongue hanging out. It almost seemed as if Daisy was smiling. “How in the hell did those two dogs fu—”

“Slade!” the two women cut him off.

At the same moment, Jack came out wearing just gym shorts and looking more asleep than awake. Yawning, he said, “Baby? What’s going on? You’re still not completely healed from your car accident. You shouldn’t be outside exerting yourself.” Jack tipped his chin up; Slade echoed the gesture.

“Look what you did, Mrs. Weatherby!” Chrissy cried. “You woke Jack. He worked all night catching bad guys to keep this town safe, and you’re standing here complaining about poor Drogo, who wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Slade glanced at Drogo, who was still snarling at the elderly neighbor, ready to attack her with his tiny sharp teeth.

“Babe?” Jack said, befuddled.

“She wants to kill all the puppies, Jack.” She finally released her viselike grip on Daisy’s leash and turned to face her fiancé. “All. The. Puppies!” She used her free hand to swipe her fingers across her neck. “Dead!”

“What puppies?”

“Drogo’s children.”

Slade was standing beside Jack, legs shoulder width apart, arms crossed over his chest, looking amused at the ridiculous situation, while Jack looked completely confused, shoulders slightly dropped, an eyebrow up, a hand rubbing his unshaven face. Chrissy continued to sob while the old lady mumbled all sorts of things about “the youth nowadays.”

Jack scratched his head. “I don’t understand what the hell is happening right now.”

“Brother, the bitch is pregnant,” Slade said matter-of-factly.

Jack’s eyes flew open. “Mrs. Weatherby’s pregnant?” he gasped.

Everyone, including the two dogs, stopped cold.

Slade doubled over and began to laugh hysterically. Chrissy pressed her lips firmly together, trying to suppress a giggle, but failed, and the sound came out as a snort.

“Not me! Daisy,” Mrs. Weatherby clarified, pointing down. “My Daisy’s pregnant by that little…menace.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Mrs. Weatherby,” Jack apologized.

“Language,” Mrs. Weatherby reprimanded him, and Jack gave her an apologetic glance.

Jack then turned to Chrissy. “And you’re crying because…?”

“I don’t want her to have a doggy abortion. I promised Mrs. Weatherby we would keep all the pups and find them homes.”

“Uh…” Jack looked dumbfounded.

Slade stood with a grin on his face, watching the train wreck unfolding in front of him. Chrissy was his sister, but Jack had been his best friend almost his entire life. And if there was one thing he knew, it was that Jack was not going to keep a litter of pups. Slade couldn’t even understand why he’d taken in Drogo. Jack was not an animal person. He might be in love with Chrissy, but he wasn’t a pussy-whipped pushover. Hell, the man was a cop by day and a professional cage fighter by night. Surely he could handle the two crazy-ass women silently regarding him. There was no chance that Jack would go for this ludicrous idea.

No way.

No way in hell.

And then Chrissy sniffled.

Slade watched as Jack’s demeanor instantly thawed. He turned to his neighbor and said in a stern, official-sounding voice, “Mrs. Weatherby, you are not allowed to abort those pups. It’s against