Chapter Six

My fingers nails dig into his back as he pounds into me. My thighs shake, and every sensation in my body is on high alert. I go to kiss him and he vanishes replaced with the devil himself. Opening my eyes is the only way to escape this and Blade is not there to hold me close to his blazing-hot body.

I charged my phone, just in time for work that was the first thing I did when I walked in, now because of my nap there is no time to text Thema or I will be late. I shower quickly and put on my scrubs.

 We get sick animals of all sorts at the Phoenix Rescue Animal Clinic. We collect animals and adopt them when pounds try to put them down because no one wants them. We find them the best homes and it makes me tear up to see how happy they end up. 

The girls today want salads and I think most of them want to juice and that is from the place next door. The restaurant is called Emerald City. It has a Wizard of Oz theme, the floors are painted like the yellow brick road and the waitresses dress like Dorothy and the good witch. There are a lot of cool things on their menu, my favorite is the 'There's no place like a home' salad with the 'ruby slippers' dressing, which is a raspberry vinaigrette.

I drove there to pick up eleven orders. All the girls that are in, texted me what they wanted. I carry everything out in one trip. Stick it in the back of the car and buckle it in. My car now reeks of vinaigrette. 

"I'm on my way," I tell Jules, my boss, she is a wonderful woman. She is probably around fifty, married, and has three kids. I know basic suburban life exists. She also has the best work ethic and environment I have ever been in. Our clinic thrives because of her. We have a very special team here.

I decided to become a receptionist at the clinic so I could help stop the putting down of perfectly fine animals. 

I get it that the streets would be full, but we try to save what we can. Our team of girls works our hardest to find them all amazing homes. Which is all they can ask for.

My ex who we don't speak about had my dog of eight years, Toby, put down when we broke up. It was a day I was at work and then came home to our apartment and there was no dog, and weeks later Ashes were at my doorstep. Well, I put up signs, and then they came to my door to deliver him. I full-on broke down and couldn't go to classes for weeks. 

I grab my keys and hurry to the other place, I just called to schedule pick-up drinks. It's a lovely friend-owned business. They have options for all the girls at the clinic. I buy the half-gallon jugs from the cafe so I don't make a mess carrying eleven drinks and putting them in my car.  

We have a total of twenty-seven dogs, thirteen cats, and countless other animals that we are working on getting adopted. I will probably have to schedule an event to boost the chances of them getting adopted soon. 

Like, Adopt a Dog, Get a Chance to win a cruise. There are at least thirteen girls I know of who could do it with us. I know Thema knows a bunch of men that could join us. She is very persuasive when it comes to getting what she wants from them. I can rent out a place to hold it and maybe make it a formal event and invite all the rich people. If they can't adopt they can donate. Tickets could be five to ten dollars. A puppy area, dog-shaped appetizers on trays. All to benefit the babies that haven't been taken home yet.

With all these thoughts swarming my head, I pull up to the clinic and park my car in my spot. 

"Jessica, I got your club salad with extra eggs and French dressing." Jessica is out potty training our newest recruit. His name is Spencer and he is a one-year-old, German Shepherd Husky mix. If all goes well, I am hoping to adopt him. I need a new friend and he is just my type. Before he was here he was abandoned and when we got him, he was mostly bone and we didn't think he would make it through the night. But this handsome baby boy is a fighter. Quite literally, he picks fights all the time with other dogs. Which is a habit we are trying to fix.

I enter the building and there is no one at the moment in the waiting area. Which means we are getting everyone through in time. I bring the lunches to the break room. I eat my smoothie bowl and duck out of the area. I head to the area where we keep all the sick dogs, cats, and more after surgery or while they are recovering from something. I check all their water bowls. I make sure they all have had their meds. I then check on Bruce Willis the cat's paw, he just got amputated. I change the bandage and notice it is healing up nicely. I go to my desk upfront and spend the next six hours at the desk, only getting up once to use the bathroom and a few times to print things.

I spent time giving them their meds today since I brought lunch. I get puppy duty. Which is all of our favorite things to do here. We get a lot of puppy love. Which is worth the cost of lunch. Especially, when it is on the company card. We all chip in and over the years the girls have racked up seven thousand dollars to spend on just lunches. That money is also used to benefit our coffee area and snacks. Keurig is love, Keurig is life, that is our motto, the account has been open since this place opened when our boss's parents owned it. Everyone chips in and instead of birthday presents and other gifts we just put more money in the account. We only order out on very busy scheduled days, so we don't have to pack lunches and we can sleep in longer.

"Does anyone want a cup of coffee?" I shout out to my friends because we are open until nine PM on weekdays and we close at four PM on the weekends. Eleven-hour shift on a Monday. My best work friend is Camilla, she works right next to me and she deals with company email, supplies and paperwork. While I smile and schedule people most of the day. I also get them signed in and charge late fees. If they are late, it's a twenty-dollar fee.  If you are going to waste our time, then we take some compensation.

"Yeah, Alicia I would adore a cup of coffee." Camilla is in her late thirties, I am the youngest here at the office. She has bright red hair that is always in a bun. She has gorgeous green eyes and freckles scattered all across her face. My grandma used to call them sun kisses. She has a curvy figure and I wish I had at least one size up when it comes to my bra size.

"Stevia? What creamer and syrup tonight?" I ask, standing up and stretching. Cracking a few bones in the process.

"Marshmallow, and I want the chocolate pebbles creamer. I have some graham crackers in my desk drawer. It will taste like smores. " She opens up her desk which should be full of supplies, but instead it is full of snacks, so she doesn't have to get up as much.

I go into the break room and make two cups. While I am there making coffee, my boss walks in.

"I saw Thema's post, you two looked so cute last night, who was tall, dark, and handsome?" She interrupts me as I hit the different settings and grabs the k-cups.

"Just a guy I met at the bar. No big deal." My shoulders come up and I shove it off because it was no big deal. I can't believe Thema would post a random picture of me with a stranger. I take my hair down and move it over to one side. Then I use my elbows to turn on the sink she is standing next to. Walking back over to the coffee machine to press the foam button on the first cup.

"Something is different. Spill," she says as I almost spill the coffee and not the information I have for her. 

"I sorta am seeing someone. Well, I saw someone last night." I explain grabbing the packets of Stevia.

"Who?" she asks, shouting in a hushed tone.

"A man named Blade." She rolls her eyes and then looks up at the ceiling. She begins tapping her foot like she is impatiently waiting for me to tell her it all. I have worked here for a year now, I don't know her that well to tell her all my truths. She is super nosey and that is the only flaw she has that I have noticed. Her life is pretty boring so she hopes other people's lives can spice up her own. She lives vicariously through us at times.

"What is up with people being named cool things? Like back when I was dating I got Stevens and Marks. " I laugh when she says this.

"Well, we spent some time together at the bar dancing," I confess while blushing, I can feel my cheeks heat up. I squirm a bit thinking about it.

"Did you bam in the ham?" she asks, making weird hand gestures, I ignore them as I put my k-cup in the machine and turn it on.

"What?" I laugh as the creamer gets poured into one of the cups.

"You know the two-person push-ups?" she asks as I grab two lids and push them shut.

"Oh fine, I will say something your generation probably knows. Did he put his wand in the chamber of secrets?" I burst out laughing at this comment she says. If only I had the invisibility cloak to avoid this conversation.

"You could have just said sex," I say, grabbing a protein bar out of a drawer.

"Nah, I like what I say better. I had more." This has me wanting to know more.

"Do tell," I say, opening up the granola bar and taking a huge bite hoping this is a good enough distraction from the actual conversation she wants to have.

"There is bringing an al dente noodle to the spaghetti house. Doing squat thrusts in the cucumber patch, my husband calls it ''Bedroom rodeo." Both of us laugh and I almost choke on my snack.

"I like the sound of a bedroom rodeo," I say, grabbing the cups of coffee I just made and dodging the question.

"Did you guys get it on?" I walk around her and leave the room without an explanation.

I give the cup of coffee to Camilla, she thanks me. My boss walks out of the break room and gives you are going to tell me later look. I don't like talking about super personal things, it's not her place to insist on these topics of discussion. Ding. An email pops up and surely works begins again as I start furiously typing away at the keyboard. 

I finish my cup of coffee and start packing up my things to go. I have to go home and make dinner. Then I have to tell my best friend about the good old fun time I had last night and this morning.

My phone vibrates and it's a text from Blade, How was your day?

I responded with one simple word, Busy.

Then I grab my phone again and type out. I hope your day was great, I am great. I am about to go play with some puppies.

I go into the room at our office with all the puppies. I give them all formulas since they are rescues because a lot of people bought animals during the pandemic and then those animals got pregnant and they just left them places. We get a box of newborn animals every week. No mother to be found. I then play with the older puppies.

My phone goes off again and I go to check it. Send a picture of them, please. He pleads in the text.

I snapped a quick photo with the golden retriever I am holding. Her name is Tulip. She came from a litter of three girls. There is Lily, Rose, and the most energized runt Tulip. The puppies are the easiest to adopt.

I send the photo, he sends back a message that says, Cute with a heart emoji. I give all the puppies some love and then I go see the absolute oldest dog we have here. His name is Spike and he is ten years old. He is a boxer and pitbull mix and he is the sweetest boy I have ever met. My dream is to one day not work enough to where I can take the two dogs I want home.

Would you like to adopt a dog? I sent the text out to him and I got an immediate response.

Lucifer is jealous bloat of a cat, I don't think he could handle a sibling. He is also getting really old, he is half my age. 

How old are you?  I hit send and the little blue checkmark pops up.

Twenty-nine almost thirty, he replies. Another older guy was added to my list. 

I am twenty-four, lol. I reply to him fairly quickly.

Have a nice rest of your night. Sleep well, he texts with a bunch of sleep-related emojis.

I don't know what to say back so I just respond with a goodnight. I wash up my hands and grab my things so I can take a long way home with the car windows down.

The drive is peaceful and the more I drive the calmer my body feels after the long day today. My back aches a bit from my office chair. I am going to have to buy a new one soon. Pulling up to the gate and typed in my password wrong the first time. The second time I get it correct and the gate opens up. Turning two right corners and then pulling into my driveway. Turning the key and pulling back the emergency break to shut off my car and get out.

Getting out of my car and rushing up my steps and there is something on my porch. I walk up to it, exhausted and now having a sudden feeling that I need to pee.

A note and a bouquet of sunflowers are sitting on my doorstep. It says,

"Sunflowers, for the solar power girl."

I look over at his house and his car is not in the driveway. So I don't go over there since he is not there even though he texted me goodnight.

I send him a quick thank you, but he doesn't respond. I then text my best friend that I have tea to spill.

Girl, Blade was just as good as we thought he was at kissing and other things. (wink face emoji). 

I hit send and turned off my phone. Walking into my house and rushing to the bathroom. I pulled down my pants just in time and thankfully I didn't pee myself. In the kitchen, I prepare some veggie noodles and then put some tomato sauce on them. It's a simple meal, then I have a glass of wine.

I hear a knock at my door, knowing not to go and get it I continue eating.

I know who it is, I have a feeling they are just going to barge into my house and the room in T-minus three seconds.

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