JAWS (Complete)

Chapter 11

*Unexpected Past/Heated Kiss*

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Sarge is waiting on his nest when Reiner gets back to the apartment, and a delivery box with a very distinctive smile logo is leaning against the door. Reiner uses a pair of scissors to get the box open, and it’s a plush new dog bed.

“Look what I’ve got for you, buddy!”

Sarge wags his tail.

Once the dog is deposited on his new bed and snoozing in the sunshine, Reiner takes a long, steaming shower, letting the hot water beat away all the aches and pains in him. He finds some longish, red-gold hair on his shampoo bottle, and that makes him smile; Galliard won’t be smelling like cheap, industrial soap today. Once he’s clean, he changes into some comfortable clothes and then strips the bed, frowning at the giant stain on it from last night, and gets a load of laundry going before he remakes it.

With all his chores done, Reiner sits down at the kitchen table with his work laptop to begin another long, boring day of reading chemical formulas and trying to find places where they differ. This isn’t why he went to law school, or minored in Chemistry, not by a long shot. But it pays the bills and keeps him in this apartment, so he can’t complain too much. He has a good lifestyle! Everyone at work says his apartment looks really nice, and that he dresses well and plays the part of an up and coming young lawyer to the hilt. The firm doesn’t even mind that he’s gay, as long as he’s not too flamboyant about it; he’d had a long and uncomfortable talk with the partners when a picture of him in his peacock Pride outfit had surfaced on the Internet. Things could be worse. Things could be a hell of a lot worse, and Reiner knows when to keep his head down and keep a good thing going. He’s not going to be foolish enough to make waves and attract unwanted attention.

His self-pep talk done, Reiner turns his attention to his work, bending low over the formulas and getting ready for a long, boring morning.

True to Galliard’s prediction, Sarge sleeps most of the morning. It turns out that he snores, and farts, in his sleep, and Reiner has to get up to open the balcony door at one point, or risk getting run out of the apartment by the stench. It turns out to be a beautiful, sunny spring day outside, with just a hint of summer’s heat in the air, and Reiner ends up standing out there for a few minutes, looking thoughtfully at his grill, currently swaddled with its protective winter tarp.

The dog wakes up and starts getting restless around eleven thirty, and Reiner gladly pushes his computer aside to take him for a walk. It’s just as pretty outside as he thought it would be, and even Sarge has a little bounce in his step as they make their way around the neighborhood. Reiner lets the dog follow his nose, and Sarge leads him to a tiny butcher shop, tucked away in an alley, that Reiner would have never found on his own. They stay on the sidewalk, but the butcher is happy to come out and talk to them, and Reiner is glad he brought his wallet; they leave with two huge steaks and one smaller one, and a soup bone for Sarge to chew on.

Reiner leaves the door unlocked when he gets home, so Galliard can get back in, and Sarge doesn’t immediately retreat to his bed. Instead, he pads after Reiner, nosing hopefully at his leg as he puts the steaks on the counter.

“Sorry, pal, these aren’t for you.” The little one is, but Reiner wants to cook it first. Sarge gives him the saddest, most mournful eyes, and Reiner pulls the soup bone out of the bag. “But this is!”