Page 22 of Guy (House of Frazier #4)

Ivan looked at the little dog and then at the three bite marks on his hand. Why he wasn’t cooperating was beyond him, but the little shit didn’t want to be examined, and that was making him fight with him. The little shit was driving him crazy.

“He bites me all the time.” He wanted to ask Debbie why she kept the shit if he was forever biting her.

“Mom said since I wanted him, I have to deal with all that comes with him. I just want to toss him in front of a car and be done with him, Doc Ivan. I won’t do that, but some days it’s hard not to. ”

“I understand, honey. But I can’t examine him if he’s like this. I’m going to have to sedate him again.” The last time he’d done that, he’d found out the shit had worms. Maybe he liked having them full in his belly. “Mom give you permission for me to do that again?”

“She said he’s my responsibility. Will he calm down enough for you to see if he needs any more medicine?

” He wanted to tell her they could ship him away if she wanted, but didn’t think that was going to go over too well with the mom.

Debbie might be all right with it, but he doubted that he’d get any repeat business for disappearing dogs.

“I don’t care what you do to him so long as he stops biting me.

Last week I had to have three stitches to fix my ankle, and he tore up my shoes too.

On top of that, my mom grounded me because he ate one of her shoes too. I hate this dog.”

It took him ten minutes to sedate the shit.

Even then, he seemed to be snapping and biting at something in his dreams. After giving him a thorough examination, he decided that enough was enough.

He was going to have to say something to the mother.

The dog wasn’t fit for apartment dwelling.

He needed to be on a large farm where hopefully something bigger than him would eat him.

At the very least, teach it some manners.

Mom wasn’t thrilled about his advice that the dog was too anxious for an apartment, that he might need to go to some open spaces, a farm perhaps.

She told him that she, too, hated the dog, and all he would do was wonder why they were keeping him.

While he didn’t condone swapping out dogs for something better, this case was a danger to everyone in the household, including him.

He said he’d ask around to see what he could find.

“Good. I didn’t think that Debbie was old enough to have a dog anyway.

Maybe this will teach her a lesson in that mother knows best.” He did wonder if the mother had picked out this dog to be with her daughter to ‘teach her a lesson’.

But he wasn’t sure. That seemed to be the norm for this woman.

“You let me know if you find someone. I’m not going to take the dog there; they’ll have to come and get him.

Just getting him in the car was bad enough to come here.

I had to allow Debbie to get bitten again. ”

Mother of the year, he thought, but didn’t so much as look at her. As he was putting the dog into his cage, he mentally reached out to one of his brothers that were working at the slaughterhouse today. Maybe there was enough land for the stupid dog to get out where he should have been all along.

“Bring him out. I don’t have time to go and pick him up.

Is this the little dog that bit Debbie Lane the other day?

Her mom brought her into the hospital while I was there getting information on the deaths of Shawn and Margaret.

” Ivan told Guy that it was the one. “Figures.

The mother was bitching to the little girl about making the dog bite her.

There are just some dogs that can not be trained.

That one is one of them. Bring him out, and he can roam around here with the other dogs.

Maybe he might learn something from them, who knows?

“Since he’s already in the cage, perhaps she won’t mind dropping him off.

I’ll see and let you know. But I’d not take him out unless he’s sedated.

He’s a mean little shit. I was bitten by him three times just today.

” Guy asked if it was the child. “I don’t think she’s doing anything to him.

I know she was excited to train him, but she told me today that she hates him.

I think a lot of that has to do with the mom.

She seems bent on blaming the little girl for everything about the dog. ”

Mrs. Lane wasn’t happy about taking the dog to the farm, but in the end, he told her that he’d have to have another appointment to sedate him to get him out of the cage if she didn’t take him today.

Debbie seemed so relieved to be getting the dog out of her life that he was worried she’d never have a pet again.

That would be a shame. Pets and children go together. So long as there is support at home.

The rest of the afternoon and into the evening were just appointments.

He did see a cat today, who didn’t care for a wolf taking care of her, but she settled down in the end.

The dogs usually never had any trouble with him taking care of them, and he did wonder about the Lane dog.

He hoped he would do well at the farm and knew that he could check on the little shit while he was out there, too.

It was snowing again when he left work, and he made his way over to see Guy.

He wanted him to look at something at the house, and he was more than willing to stop by.

They would invite him to dinner, and he loved eating at the big house.

It was the nicest one of all his brothers’ with wives homes.

Their cook usually served up the best meals, too.

Better than he could make himself at his home.

Ivan loved his new home. It was large enough that he could get lost in it if he wanted.

Just yesterday, he was in the upstairs bedrooms measuring and had missed a salesman coming to his door.

It was perfectly large enough for that. Plus, he was sleeping better than he had when they’d all been living on the farm.

It was nice too to know that it was all his.

“Come on in. I have a couple of things going on in the kitchen. Want to join me?” He told Amber that he would love to join her in his favorite part of the house. “Guy says that the kitchen is his favorite part, too. He calls it the heart of the home. We’re working on making this a home.”

“What have you got going on? Maybe I can help you before Guy gets here.” She told him that she’d gotten a table and chairs at the market the other day and thought now that it was too big for the space she wanted to put it in. “You want to eat in the kitchen?”

“It’s easier on the staff if we don’t mess up the dining room.

Besides, it’s so big we have to have something that we can talk to each other in while we’re dining in it.

I love the room, don’t get me wrong. When it’s only the two of us, it’s just too much work.

” She showed him the table and the space she had.

“I hope we can get it to work. I love this old table, and the chairs are very comfortable.”

Not only did they get it to work by taking out one of the leaves, but they were able to put the four chairs around it. Ivan said he’d not mind eating in the kitchen when asked and told Amber he was hoping for an invite to dinner.

“Yes, please stay and have a meal with us. Since Belinda has moved on, the house is kind of quiet. Not that I could speak to her or anything, but she and Guy had a lot of conversations. Did he tell you that he’s almost finished with the book?

I think that’s why he wanted you to come over.

He’s having trouble with the cover samples that he’d been sent.

I don’t care for either of them, but then I’m not writing the book. ”

“I’ve helped him before. I don’t have any trouble telling him that I don’t care for the cover or not.

Once he decided to use a cover that I vetoed, he had to change it out because there were complaints about it.

I think it was the font that was too difficult to read or something like that.

” Guy wasn’t due for another half hour, so they had some veggies on a platter with dip to hold them off.

“I didn’t get a lunch today, and it’s beginning to show on my wolf. He hates when I skip meals.”

“I’m trying to get into the habit of eating all three meals here.

When Guy isn’t home or busy, I forget to get me something for the noonday meal.

It’s not that big of a deal, I can usually get something light for snacking before dinner, but I get the worst kind of headaches when I skip lunch.

” She laughed, and Ivan loved to hear it.

“What will you do when your mate comes along, Ivan? Have you got your house in order?”

“Not even close. I’ve been buying things to fill it out, but the trouble is I don’t have any furniture in most of the rooms. I have a couple of air mattresses in some of the rooms, but nothing more than that.

I’ve been waiting on spring so that I can hit up a couple of auctions.

” She said that was what Guy was excited to do.

“I didn’t know you guys didn’t have your house done. ”

“We do for the most part, but like you, we don’t have much in the way of furniture for the bedrooms. Ours, of course, is done, but there are still six more that need to have something in them.

I’m looking for a bunkbed set to set up in one of the rooms in the event some of the nieces want to stay over.

They just love Guy to pieces.” He said they’d make it a day when the weather got better.

“Yes, I heard the weather is going to turn nasty again tomorrow. I hope not. I have a couple of places that I have to be in the afternoon.”