fresh start

The temptation to take himself off for the afternoon had been strong. A family thing, a break in some story, a doctor’s appointment (ye know, to finally get some of those pills that might turn him into less of an arsehole). An allergy to dogs might’ve worked, Destiny had told them they could work from home if they had one or found themselves uncomfortable around dogs. Some weak excuse that Destiny would probably see right through. She’d give him one of those looks filled with disappointment, big blue eyes condemning him to feeling like a right shit. It was charitable, and he oughta have at least enough heart for that.

He’d tried parking himself out of the way in the office, putting his head down first thing in the morning as Destiny’s arrival started off the buzz in the office. The dogs were coming! They’d probably set alarms on their phones to count down to it, but he’d tried to keep his gaze off of the clock. JJ felt it coming though, the excitement building like ozone in the air before a storm would strike. Crackling over his skin, trying to find its way beneath the surface to infect him with the same joy.

Midday was close when a handful of staff slipped out of the office with Destiny to bring the dogs up from downstairs. He supposed he could’ve volunteered and earned himself some brownie points. ’JJ, give us a hand. Have you seen them? They’re adorable!’ Looking up at the plea, he’d found himself hooked into moving some of the desks out of the way – all the better for the dogs to run riot through the space. At least they were putting pee pads down and setting up baby gates to keep the chaos to contained somewhat.

His wasn’t meant to be the sort of heart that melted over the dogs, but the second a mutt with the stumpy legs that suggested there was plenty of something like a corgi or bassett hound in his mix came waddling over, JJ realised that Lucille’s probably would’ve been. Snickering lightly, he crouched down, rubbing his hands over the floppy, velvety ears. ”What d’you reckon she’d say if I brought you over on Christmas morning?” he muttered to the dog. ”I reckon she’d have both of our balls for it, mate.” Not that this one probably had any. There’d been a handful of stories on the shelter here in town since he’d arrived, most of them mentioning something about places like that trying to guarantee that there wasn’t an epidemic of animals being born on the streets. Get them clipped, find them loving homes, make sure they were safe.

As a kid he would’ve loved a dog like this, but his old man never would’ve allowed it. He caused enough trouble on his own without adding a dog with equally bad manners to the mix. And what would they have done with it when they had to move on to the next assignment? Lucky likely would’ve griped about having another mouth to feed, and someone else to take care of, but maybe he’d be able to talk her around to it some time before Lucille went off to college, he’d just have to whisper it in Lucille’s ear first. She, like the women from the office, would likely end up with hearts dancing in their eyes – he’d just have to hope she didn’t pick something like the chihuahua he’d seen toddling off under one of the desks to lift a leg (at least he hoped it was only doing that, or someone was gonna get a real surprise later).

People from the office drifted through, sometimes with people from the rest of the building in tow. The women fawned over the little dogs for the most part – the sort you could probably pick up and stick in your purse if you were willing to lose a few fingers in the first place. One had brushed her hand over his hair, letting out a long awwww as the short king he’d been stroking was replaced by something fluffier with an underbite. ”You need a dentist,” JJ snickered lightly, scritching under the dog’s jaw. Someone pressed treats into his hand at some point and he offered a couple up, watching them disappear into the snaggle-toothed mouth.

At the sound of his name, both him and Animal, far more fitting the Bailey listed on its collar, looked up at Destiny. She’d stopped a couple of feet short of them, a deep grey dog at her side. Duke, far more fitting for a dog in his mind, sat all quiet. Both the dogs that had found him were all over the place, determined to give him a wash down before he left. A red head close by – the one he thought had come with the dogs, bent and made encouraging little noises until Bailey got up and abandoned him.

JJ stood, dusting his hands off against his jeans as he followed the boss’ orders and approached. ”Hiya, mate,” he said lightly. His lips curled in response to Destiny’s. ”Who gave out the names?” he asked, purposefully keeping his chuckle light. Her hand was on his collar, almost like she expected him to bolt. JJ hesitated lightly before extending his hand as she suggested. ”How’s he with the smell of other dogs on new people?” If the answer was bad there was a chance he was about to lose a few fingers.

Duke proved him wrong, sniffing politely at his hand, with his blue eyes going wide. JJ lowered to a crouch, then folded lower, his bum hitting the carpet lightly. ”People and their narrow minds, eh?” he muttered. ”Can’t see past the first impressions. You’re nothing to be scared of, are ya?” Far more slowly than he had done with the other dogs, he ran a palm over the dog’s head, his thumb stroking down the dip in the top of his head. ”You trying to make sure someone takes him home today?” Well, it wasn’t gonna be him, his old man hadn’t been wrong about them moving on. What would he do if he actually had to? Pack the dog up in a crate and force him into the hold of whatever shitty puddle jumper he was flying into the middle of nowhere in? Wasn’t fair on the dog and this one looked like he’d had a life time of not fair so far.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1080