Page 103 of Pretty Poison
Fiona had developed a routine. She noshed on food, got a drink, and chose a toy from her basket before flopping down onto her bed. Rocky wondered how he’d ever worked without her occasional toy squeaks and soft snores.
Around noon, Peter, Shelly, and baby Skylar Rose paid them a visit. Fiona had gone on high alert when his door opened unexpectedly, but she calmed at Rocky’s command.
“Is this our newest staff member I’ve heard so much about?” Peter asked. He started to extend his hand to Fiona, then checked himself. “May I?”
Fiona’s harness identified her as a service animal followed by the words “do not pet” in multiple places. To best utilize her training, Rocky needed to uphold the boundaries her trainers taught her, but there were exceptions for friends and family.
“Of course,” he told his partner.
Peter extended his hand to Fiona, who wagged her tail and soaked up the attention.
“She’s beautiful,” Shelly said. Skylar was strapped to her chest, so she sat down so Fiona could investigate the sleeping baby. “What a good girl you are,” Shelly said as she stroked Fiona’s soft fur.
“We heard about the radio interview,” Peter said once introductions were over.
Rocky cringed. “I should’ve called you right away.”
“No,” Peter said, taking a seat next to Shelly. “That insult shouldn’t have happened.”
“I don’t want my personal trauma to reflect badly on the agency. You’re building something special here.”
“We’rebuilding something special here,” Peter corrected. “Stop downplaying your value to the business.”
“I appreciate your support, Peter, but I’ll step away if we start to lose clients. I won’t hold any grudges.”
“I will,” Shelly said, looking at Peter. “We don’t turn our backs on family.”
Peter nodded. “She’s right. We just came by to make sure you’re okay.”
“Do you need Peter to come back to the office?” Shelly hadn’t bothered to dim her eagerness.
Peter snorted and shook his head. “You just want to hog the baby.”
Rocky laughed. “Is he hovering?”
“Just a little.” Then Shelly mouthed, “A whole lot.”
“I think I have everything under control here, but you could always work from home if you need to feel productive,” Rocky suggested.
“There’s an idea,” Shelly said. “Now, let’s close the office and all go to lunch.”
Rocky looked down at Fiona. He didn’t want to leave her here, but restaurants didn’t welcome furry beasts, even though he knew Fifi was cleaner than many human patrons they let in. “Maybe someplace with an outdoor café,” he suggested.
“Great idea,” Shelly said. “I know just the place.” She stood up slowly so she didn’t jar Skylar Rose. “I’ll go tell Trudy.”
Once they were alone, Peter studied him quietly.
“I’m okay, Peter. I promise.” It felt good to mean it.
Rocky’s mettle was put to the test over the next week. Duggins’s hits kept coming in the form of petty attacks on social media via fake accounts. Rocky wasn’t just guessing where to lay the blame because Avery tracked each of the posts to an IP address in Vegas registered to Timothy Reginald Duggins III. He was either too stupid or lazy to hide his petty acts or wanted Rocky to know it was him. Either way, the podcasters documented and deleted the smears when they could and ignored the rest. Rocky hoped it pushed Duggins toward a confrontation, even though waiting was brutal.
The radio interview and the subsequent media hit job had both a positive and negative effect. Sinister and Savannah saw a record week of downloads on the various sites where their podcast was available, but it coaxed all the conspiracy theorists and whack jobs out of the woodwork.
The agency received an influx of calls also, which Trudy deftly screened. Rocky had a few weird encounters outside the office, which Fiona quickly thwarted. Some clients expressed concerns about continuing their association with the agency, but only one of them actually pulled their account. It had upset Rocky, but Peter remained nonplussed.
“Fuck them. We’re family,” Peter had said.
Rocky worked through the highs and lows in the healthiest ways possible. He’d finally delved into the traumatic event with Karen during his most recent therapy session. He couldn’t say he felt miraculously healed, but her unbiased thoughts on the night and the fallout helped him put things in perspective. He was starting to view himself as a victim and that was a big step. His anxiety attacks didn’t entirely disappear, but they were less frequent and not as severe. Karen emphasized avoiding triggers and being kind to himself when he had a setback, both lessons that would come in handy.