Read Junkyard Dog for Free Online Page A

“Can I pet your tiny horse?”
    Candy kneels down and strokes Nightmare, who
remains wary. The dog doesn’t know what he’s missing.
    “How much have you gotten done?” I ask.
    “Three boxes and dusting. Are you checking up on
me?”
    “Yes.”
    Smiling, Candy stops petting the dog and glances at
her nervous sister. Despite sharing long, blonde hair and big, dark eyes, the sisters
are polar opposites personality-wise. In fact, when Nightmare shoves his nose
in Candy’s crotch, she looks unfazed while pushing him away.
    “Tell your dog he needs to buy me dinner before he
sniffs there.”
    Grinning, I force my gaze away from her and check out
my meeting room full of kids. The smaller blond ones are watching cartoons on a
tablet. Candy’s two sit in a corner playing something on their mom’s phone.
    “Don’t let them stink up the place,” I mutter.
    “Yeah, we don’t want to distract from the cigar smell.”
    “Funny,” I grunt before snapping for Nightmare to
follow me.
    For a few hours, I pretend to work, but I’m mostly
interested in seeing Candy. I often check on the women. Honey cleans while
Candy goes through each box and sings along with songs. I suspect she knows her
singing voice is terrible, making her confidence more appealing.
    Eventually, Candy tells the kids to clean up and
get ready to go. Before she leaves, she appears at my office door.
    “Do you need anything?”
    “No.”
    Candy grins, but I don’t know why. She’s in a good
mood, and smiles come easily when she’s happy. I’ve seen her in a bad mood too,
and she does very little to hide negative emotions.
    “I’ll work on the mess during the week and see
about coming back next weekend.”
    “Fine.”
    “It’s the kids, isn’t it?” she asks, leaning
against the door frame. “You love children so much and seeing them makes your
ovaries quiver.”
    “Goodbye,” I say, despite my smirk.
    “See you Monday.”
    I only nod and watch her disappear from my doorway.
The kids make a racket on their way out of the office and then the place falls
silent. I look at Nightmare, who doesn’t care either way. I’m the only person
who has ever interested him, and he’s too old to give a shit now.
    “What now?” I ask the dog.
    Nightmare walks into the main office and sniffs
everything anyone new touched. He’s pissed about the new stink. Watching him, I
realize the feeling I’m nursing isn’t fucking boredom. For the first time in
years, I’m lonely and all because of a mouthy blonde with a horrible singing voice.

TEN - CANDY
    B etween moving into the house and cleaning the
office, I’m exhausted from organizing crap. At least at the house, I’m working
with a blank slate. The office is a frigging mess. I have to check every slip
of paper in every box. I’ve counted at least thirty boxes, but I know more are
hidden behind the main stack. Half of what’s in the boxes is trash, and the
half are business papers dating back a decade. I can’t believe Hayes is so
successful with such a train wreck system.
    “How do you function?” I ask Hayes when he appears
from his office.
    I notice he comes out every hour or so to check on
me. I don’t mind since it saves me from checking on him. We’ve been playing
this peeking game since the weekend.
    “I have a company that deals with payroll and the
financial crap. These are my personal copies.”
    “Why is it such a mess?”
    Hayes crosses his arms and leans against a desk
hiding under boxes. “Years ago, I had a real assistant. Tammie was a good
woman, but her back went out, and she got behind on shit. Then she started
calling in sick a lot, and the temps didn’t know what the fuck they were doing.
Once she went on disability, I was stuck with morons. This is the result.”
    “Is Tammie still alive?”
    “She moved to Florida to be closer to her
grandchildren.”
    “Do you miss her?”
    “No.”
    Suspecting he’s lying, I smile at his bravado.
“Will you miss me when I move