Yolo (Carter Brothers #7)

Chapter 11

Giving away free samples of my attitude today.

— Bindi to Garrett

BINDI

It broke my heart the day they moved out.

The first time I walked out onto my balcony and Boss wasn’t there for me to feed, I cried.

The second day when I got my mail and the sexy-voiced Garrett wasn’t there getting his mail, I felt a piece of my heart break off.

The third day, I was a damn mess.

The irrational thing was, I shouldn’t have been so upset.

I mean, he’d straight told me that he was going to move out.

Sure , I didn’t expect that to happen quite so soon, but he’d been bluntly honest with me. He’d also never given me any indication that he was willing to explore more with me.

Which had me controlling my shit by the fourth week. I realized that being a sad sac wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

That was when I decided to stop acting like my life had ended the day that rock had hit me in the head and completely stolen my vision.

My mom and I —her unaware of how heartbroken I was when Garrett had left—had searched for jobs in my field in the Dallas Metroplex that was also accessible by bus.

We’d found four such jobs, and though I’d worked at all of them for a little bit, none of them had been a great fit.

The first one was pretty cool—a startup tech company that might or might not have a lot of non-native English speakers also working there—but the pay wasn’t very good.

And although I liked the concept and felt like they might go somewhere someday, that wasn’t really in my wheelhouse.

Money , unfortunately, made the world go round.

The second and third had competitive pay, but getting to the job itself was a nightmare, and they were sort of unwilling to work with me on getting there besides sending a cab that I’d then have to pay for.

The fourth one was the best of them all. Competitive pay, honestly perfect working environment. However , the woman I was covering for was out on maternity leave and had been set to come back in three weeks’ time.

That job had ended for me as of yesterday evening.

Which led me to now.

I was stepping down the steps of the bus.

“ Thanks again, Cool !” I called out.

“ You’re welcome, Bindi girl. Be safe. I’ll see you in a couple of hours when my route brings me back ’round,” Cool called out.

Cool’s actual name was Coolio , but he didn’t go by it.

He said he hated getting compared to the actual Coolio .

I may be black and attractive, but if I get one more “ Coolio , do you want to get high with me?” I might kill someone.

I’d learned his name after about two weeks of taking the bus.

He was sweet and sounded like he was quite a bit older than me, thanks to his speech patterns, but I wasn’t rude enough to ask.

“ There’s a curb right in front of you!” he called out.

Thanks to his warning and Rooster’s insistence to take it slow, I was able to make it up on the curb just fine. “ Have a good day, Cool !”

After hearing a reply of “yeah, right,” the bus took off, and I was left heading toward the police station.

According to the bus stop information, I was exactly two blocks, one light, and a slightly busy intersection away from the police station.

“ All right, Roo ,” I said to him. “ Let’s get going.”

Rooster led the way and did perfectly up until something stopped him near a car in the parking lot.

“ No , boy. We gotta go, I have a meeting in ten minutes,” I urged him.

The car was running, anyway, so I didn’t particularly want to stay where I was and cause whoever might be in the car to think I was weird for just standing there, trying to figure out what had Rooster freaked.

I steeled my shoulders, then started walking to where I could hear people talking.

Someone would have to tell me where to go.

I’d made it to this point, though, so that was good.

When I got to the voices, I said, “ Excuse me.”

The talking stopped—something about speed traps and court dates—and one woman said, “ Yeah ?”

“ Could you possibly point me in the direction of the front door of the police station?” I asked.

I’d learned about five months into this blind thing that you didn’t have a choice but to ask for help. If you didn’t ask, you’d never know where you were.

Luckily , almost everyone was nice about me asking for help.

I’d only run into one rude person, and they were chastised by quite a few people willing to help me.

“ Oh , sure, honey,” a woman with a deep southern accent said. “ Want me to take you to the door?”

“ Oh , that would be great.” I smiled. “ But if you’re busy, just point us into a direction. My dog can help me get it from there.”

“ I’ll go. I have to go pay for my son’s ticket, anyway.” She sighed. “ I swear, being a mom is so hard. It’s like, I want to protect my kid from everything, but who the hell is going to protect him from himself?”

I smiled. “ Kids are God’s gift, aren’t they? I was the perfect child, however, so I have no advice for you.”

The woman caught my sarcasm and chuckled. “ I’m sure you were, dear. I’m sure you were.”

She led me into the station and said, “ You’re going to go right. There’s a reception desk about twenty feet away with a woman manning it.”

“ Thank you so much,” I grinned. “ I hope your children woes get better.”

“ You and me both, child. You and me both.”

I waited until after I heard her flip-flops flipping away before making my way to the glass partition she’d spoken about.

When I got close, Rooster stopped me, and I waited until I was addressed.

My belly was a riot of butterflies as I waited for her to get off the phone.

Rooster sat and leaned against me, panting lightly.

“ Can I help you?”

I stepped forward until the counter was under the palm of my hand.

Rooster stopped me with a brush of his side against mine. “ Sure can.” I smiled. “ Any way you can show me to a Mrs . Carter’s office? I have a meeting with her at two.”

There was some shuffling and then a woman’s voice as she said, “ Hey , Officer Carter . This is Lindy from the front desk. I have a lady here that says she has a meeting with you?”

There was a pause and then, “ Ma’am , is your name Bindi Howe ?”

I nodded. “ It is.”

“ Yes , ma’am. It’s her,” the receptionist said. “ Oh , okay. Sure , I can walk her back.”

There was the sound of a phone being hung up, then a door opening somewhere to my left.

“ I’m about two paces in front of you,” the receptionist said, sounding less walled in when she wasn’t behind the glass.

“ Thanks ,” I said as Rooster started us forward.

The receptionist chattered and said hi to quite a few people as we passed, and I stayed silent and kept pace beside her, even though she was walking a tad fast for my comfort.

Luckily , Rooster kept me solid, and I arrived at an office that I would never be able to find my way back to, or out of, even if I wanted to.

“ Mrs . Carter ,” the receptionist said. “ Your appointment.”

“ Thanks , dear,” a sweet woman’s voice, with a hint of steel underneath of it, said. “ You’re dismissed.”

I shivered at the tone.

No nonsense.

“ Come on in, Ms . Howe ,” Mrs . Carter said. “ I have a couple of chairs directly in front of you.” She paused. “ Do you think your dog would like something to drink?”

I relaxed completely then. “ Actually , yes. It’s hot, and the poor boy’s had to do a lot of work to get me here today.”

“ Oh .” She paused. “ Was it very hard to get to from your apartment?”

I hesitated to answer before saying, “ Yeah , kind of.”

“ Let’s just say, if you get the job, I’ll be sending you a ride every morning,” she said. “ We have officers that live in your area that are more than willing to grab you up, then take you home, if you’re okay with that.”

“ That would be fantastic,” I shared.

She poured Rooster a drink into what sounded like a bowl she’d already had handy.

“ My son’s dog comes in here a lot to…” She paused. “ It’s like I talked about him, and there he is. He’s a sweet boy, aren’t you, big boy?”

An excited nose poked at my hand and I reached out, feeling pointy ears and long hair.

“ Hello , mister,” I cooed as I petted away.

“ My son’s dog is a K -9 officer for DPD ,” she said. “ He gets to roam around a lot in the back offices when he’s visiting either me, his brothers, or his father.”

“ Oh ,” I said. “ That’s pretty cool.”

“ We already have a potty area set up for our other K -9s, so getting your dog…” She trailed off, and I said, “ Rooster .”

“ Getting Rooster a potty break will be no problem,” she finished. “ Now , if you’re comfortable, we’ll just shut this door and discuss the needs of the department and see how you’d fit.”

I kept my stroking of the ears up and used my feet to rub Rooster’s side at the same time.

The next thirty minutes were spent explaining my credentials, my past work experience, and what I was wanting out of a job.

She didn’t ask me about how I’d gone blind, though, which I almost came to expect.

All the other places had asked, and I’d given them a very shortened version of the truth.

Mrs . Carter didn’t ask, and since she didn’t, I kept the information to myself.

“ What kind of salary are you interested in?” she asked.

I scrunched up my nose then gave the generic answer of, “ That’s something I’d like to discuss. What’s your budget for this position?”

I’d listened to a few YouTube videos when I was searching for interview questions, and that particular question had come up. Then the man had gone over how to turn the question around on them for my own benefit.

She laughed. “ I like that answer.” She hesitated. “ Let’s discuss…”

It was about twenty minutes later when the expectations of the job were given to me that the interview came to an end.

“ Any other questions?” she asked.

I shook my head. “ No .”

“ Then you’re hired, as long as you still want the job,” Mrs . Carter said with a smile in her voice. “ When do you want to start?”

I thought about it for all of a second before saying, “ Whenever you’ll have me.”

I was bored at home.

I’d enjoyed spending the last few months working. Sitting at home all day with nothing to do/watch was exhausting.

“ Then now.” She clapped. “ We have a private office for you and everything. It’s in the same wing as all the higher brass, including the office we took you to today, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming for you. And it’s safe.”

That made me feel instantly better.

Not many people thought about how dangerous it was to be a blind woman in a violent world.

“ Come on, I’ll show you around…” she paused. “ Is there anything that’ll make it easier for you? I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

I appreciated her words.

“ Nope ,” I said. “ And showing me around is good. It’ll give Rooster and me the lay of the land.”

She “showed” me the entire bull pen, management wing, as well as a few other places.

“ This way is to the jail cells,” she said. “ Likely , you’ll never get this direction. But if you do find yourself here, just ask for Ross . He’s our main officer in charge here.”

I nodded, even though I tended to agree with her. I’d likely never find myself here on my own.

She walked me to HR , and I filled out my new hire paperwork. Once I was done with that, she said, “ I’d like to take you out tomorrow at lunch to introduce you to the main people you’ll be working with. A few of them are my sons.”

I smiled. “ That would be lovely.”

She walked with me and we discussed her children, where they worked, and what they did.

A weird niggling feeling started to roll through me when she started talking about her sets of twins.

But before I could ask her if she happened to be related to a certain set of twins that I knew, she got a call.

“ Oh , shoot,” she said. “ Yeah , I can get him off the bus. Love you, Atlas .”

“ That’s my son, Atlas ,” she explained. “ His son, Forest , gets dropped off here from daycare.”

I nodded. “ I really appreciate your help,” I said. “ Thank you so much. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“ I’ll be sending a ride for you,” she said. “ He’ll be there around eight. I’ll have him buzz up to your apartment, however, so you won’t have to worry about spotting him.”

After saying our goodbyes, I started walking back toward the sidewalk.

I had a spring in my step as I went, and likely a goofy smile on my face.

I felt really, really good about this job.

Like , it was the perfect one and I could spend the rest of my life here.

“ Listen ,” I heard someone say in Spanish . “ I don’t care if you’re Jesus or Mother Mary . You don’t get to speed, get pulled over, and run from the cops. You’ll find that it’s easier to just pull over next time . If there even is a next time . Dumbass .”

I kept walking, keeping my head down, despite the grin curving up my lips.

It was a good five-minute walk, almost at the same spot that Rooster had stopped earlier, that I heard the whispers start up.

“ Think there’s a dog inside. Look ,” I heard someone say.

“ I’d say something, but then they’d tell me to freakin’ leave, and I just got here,” a man replied. “ I may be homeless, but I ain’t…”

I missed whatever else he was going to say when someone stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“ Miss ?”

I swallowed hard, trying to bury my nerves behind a pleasant smile. “ Yes ?”

I almost took a step back due to the smell of body odor that assaulted my nose.

“ There’s a dog in this car right here,” the man said. “ Look .”

I winced, hating the feeling of having my belly drop out at the reminder of how impaired I was. “ I can’t. I’m blind.”

“ Oh ,” he sounded defeated.

Rooster started to whine and sat down, refusing to get off of my feet when I urged him to move forward.

That’s when I realized that there was actually something wrong.

Trance had told me that if he felt something was unsafe, or that I needed to know about something, Rooster would let me know. And I knew that firsthand to be true because he’d stopped me in a very similar way twice.

Once when I’d been about to step out in front of a car that was speeding, and another time when there was a missing board that would’ve likely broken my leg if I’d stepped on it.

Meaning , there truly was something wrong.

“ Can you explain what’s going on?” I asked, my belly now filled with butterflies.

“ Sure ,” the man who was apparently homeless, said. “ Dog’s in the back. If you’re quiet, you can hear him whimpering. Feel the car, put your hand right here.”

I did.

“ Hot ,” I said quietly. “ How far away are we from the police station?”

“ A good half a mile,” he said. “ This is where all the officers park. Overflow .”

“ Oh ,” I said, patting my pocket for my phone, and realizing… I didn’t have it.

Shit !

“ You got a phone?” I asked hopefully.

I’d have to go back to get my phone.

I remembered vaguely putting it on the corner of Mrs . Carter’s desk when she’d asked me if she could input a few numbers in case I ever needed any help.

“ Yeah , I can’t even afford a sandwich, let alone a phone,” the closest man said. “ And no one’s around.”

“ I think he’s gonna die,” the other man said. “ He just started to throw up, and it looks like he’s kinda foaming at the mouth.”

Fuck .

Fuck , fuck, fuck.

“ You got a rock handy?” I asked.

I mean, what else could I do?

This dog needed some air.

If inside the car was anything like outside the car, it had to be excruciating.

“ Here ,” the man said as he handed me what felt like a brick.

Close enough.

I reached forward and pressed my hand to the window.

“ Is he in the front or the back?” I asked.

“ Back ,” he said. “ You’re standing in front of the front window.”

I nodded. “ Any places nearby that you can go to call the police?”

“ Yeah ,” he said.

I nodded. “ Then go.”

That’s when I broke the window.