Page 12 of Reaper Razed
See, this is Ray's thing. She always wants a sweet treat at the end, so if you want to get her to do something, you need to do the thing she originally wanted; then when she asks for the treat, hit her with the condition.
“Sure, Squirt, but if we’re gonna be out all that time, you need to keep your sling on the whole time so you can get better, okay?”
She looks up at me, over at Steel, and back at me. “Fine!”
Steel throws his arms in the air in exasperation. “I’ll take the dog out before you go… Hades, outside.” He huffs as he walks back down the stairs.
A mammoth of a Rottie comes from round the corner of the counter and saunters past, licking Ray as he goes.
“What the fuck’s that? That’s a fucking horse, not a dog!”
Ray just grins up at me. “Missed you, Pa.”
“Missed you too, Squirt. Go get what you need, and let’s go. I’ll need to borrow Steel’s truck.”
Heading into the pet store, I’m told to grab a trolley. Fuck, this is gonna be one spoiled street dog. After getting the story of how they ended up together, this is gonna be one pampered pooch. They have a section where they put the pet names on the bowls. She picks up eight, fucking eight, bowls with “Hades” on them.
Then, she lets him pick a bed. I have to get every one down so he can try it, then put it back when he doesn’t like it. He likes a grey corduroy soft pillow bed with slightly raised sides, which is fucking massive. I reckon I could fit in it, but that’s what he wants, apparently, so that's what he gets. Then, a collar, leather with silver glitter inlay. Also, as we are going to dinner, apparently, he will need a dickie bow that clips to his collar in silver too.
Fuck my life. Then we spend forty minutes going through all the toy aisles so the fucking thing can test every pissing toy. He ends up with five annoying purple squeaky spiders, all slightly different, with different colour spots. They are about the size of a baseball each, a frisbee, a set of ten rubber balls, all different colours, a cuddly frog and a fluffy pink unicorn.
“Are we done?”
“Nope, he needs a tag, a lead, some treats, some food. We also need shampoo and towels, and then we’re done.”
When we get to the counter to pay, the lad says we can put the dog’s name on the towels too, so he tannoys for someone to come get them and sort them while we check out. When we order the tag, the young lad asks again for the dog’s name and then Ray’s to put on it. When she tells him to put “Hades” on the front and then “The Reapers MC, Ravenswood” on the back, I think he will hyperventilate. She ends up getting a forty per cent discount, and then she leaves him that as a tip for his excellent service, even fills one of those cards out, saying how she will shop here again and he should be an employee of the month. I swear, shopping with Ray is always like a fucking pantomime!
Pulling up outside the diner, Demi comes out running at us like a deranged groupie, flinging her arms around Ray and then me, then stepping back. “What do I call you?” she asks.
“What do you mean? I’m Cade. I know there’s a lot of us.” Ray digs me in the ribs with her good arm. “You’ll get used to it.”
She starts fidgeting with her apron, and Ray rolls her eyes. “She means, dickhead, what should she call you? Yes, your name’s Cade, but I call you Pa.” she says, enforcing the “Pa”.
“Oh…! It’s up to you, sweetheart. I guess I don’t know what to call you, either. Princess is taken, that's Scar, and well, Squirt here’s Squirt, so why don’t we just try a few things out and see what fits? Yeah, sweetheart’s a no from me! Who’s hungry?”
“You’re such a dick!” Ray shakes her head at me.
So I fling my arm around Demi and drag her inside. “We’ll figure it out, don't worry.” The dog pushes in beside us.
Ray shouts over the counter, “George, is it okay if my dog comes in? I’ve told him he’s got to be a good boy, or I will have his nuts chopped off!”
There’s a massive laugh from the kitchen, and a head pops through the hatch, “Anything for my favourite customer!” He winks and pops his head back in.
Demi takes our orders, and Ray sits and reads the whole menu to the fucking dog. He has a cheeseburger, fries, onion rings, a chocolate shake in a bowl and ketchup on the side in case he doesn’t like it.
Fuck’s sake, and the twat sits there with his fucking dickie bow on like the lord of the manor. Even Demi and George join us. Ray cuts his food up into bite-sized pieces, then feeds him the whole lot while we all sit there and chat like this isn’t some kind of fucked up tea party.
When we get back, Viking is just heading up to the apartment, so he gives us a hand with all the bags. Hades just wanders around the back of the garage to do his business before heading to the apartment himself.
“Eight bowls?” Viking raises a brow.
I just shake my head. “Easier not to ask.”
Viking’s taking Carmen out for dinner, and Roach has taken Catalina and Skye to the cinema, so I set up Hades’ stuff for Ray and sit on the sofa. She snuggles up to me like she used to when she was a kid, and while we are talking, she falls asleep. I pull the blanket up around her shoulders and lean back to watch the TV.
Steel walks in about thirty minutes later. “Hey, Cade, are you okay with staying with her a bit longer? I just need to get her pain meds filled with Doc.”
“Yeah, sure, son, she’s only been asleep for about thirty mins. You look like you could use some sleep.”