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If someone told me when I was a wide-eyed 8-year-old with a dinosaur book in my hand that I’d actually get to see one in real life 20 years later I would think they were full of it. But low and behold, there I was, 28-years-old, petting a baby Triceratops on an island full of them. My inner 8-year-old was bursting with excitement, but my 28-year-old adult was keeping myself in check.“Does somebody need a tissue?” my brother asked, giving me a pouty look.“No. What are you talking about Lowery? It’s just really dusty out here,” I said quickly wiping the rim of my eye. In my defense, seeing a dinosaur in real life was something I only dreamed about when I was a kid, something I thought would never be attainable. I looked at him, rolling my eyes at the smirk on his face. “Oh, shut up.” I said, standing upright from my previous kneeling position. Lowery laughed, “I’m just kidding. It’s pretty amazing, though, isn’t it?” he asked as we started walking, dodging the little children that were running around the petting part of the park. When I dragged Lowery in here I didn’t care that this part of the park was for kids, I was petting a damn dinosaur.“Incredible,” I agreed, looking around and taking in my surroundings. “So, I have to admit, there’s a reason why I asked you to visit me...” he said, catching my attention. Lowery invited me to come down out of the blue a couple of months ago and of course, I didn’t pass up the offer, especially since I didn’t have work to hold me back. “I heard there’s a job opening for Veterinary Assistant and I looked into it - you fit all of the qualifications and I know you’d love it here. Obviously, I can’t personally give you the job, but I know they’re looking and they’d be stupid not to pick you for it.”“Wow, Lowery…” I trailed off. I needed a minute to wrap my head around this. Visiting an island full of dinosaurs was one thing, but working on an island full of dinosaurs? It was a dream and also sounded dangerous - especially because my job would require me to be up close and personal with these dinosaurs and they’re not your regular old zoo animals, they were completely different than that. Plus, I couldn’t help but think about what my mom would say. She had a fit when Lowery first started working here. Luckily my step-dad Carl was really supportive and helped her come around.“I already handed in your resume, I hope you don’t mind.” he gave me an apologetic look, but I knew it wasn’t genuine. I opened my mouth to protest. “I sent it in a couple of days ago, right after I found out. I know you’re looking for a job and these positions fill up quickly. You don’t have to make a decision now, but the head Veterinarian said he would like to meet with you tomorrow.”“I’ll meet with him.” I smiled, Lowery’s eyes lit up.“Great. Let’s go grab some food, I’m starving,”I laughed, “When are you not hungry, Lowery?” I shook my head, following him to get some food.
~~~
Meeting with the head Veterinarian, Dr. Collier, was nothing like I expected it to be. I expected to have a quick conversation with him about where I went to school and what experience I had as well as a few other interview questions. He did ask me those questions, but then he also spent a good 45 minutes telling me about the orientation and the extensive training program for aspiring paleo-veterinarians on the park.He also gave me a brief history on the history of paleo-veterinary medicine and how it differs from anything I’ve learned so far about animals. I learned that the basic anatomy of a dinosaur is unlike any animal I’ve seen in the past. I knew working with dinosaurs would be a whole different ballgame and nothing like the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado that I worked at previously. I also asked him “why me?” Why not get someone with years and years of experience? I only have 3 years under my belt and there are loads of people more qualified than I am. He told me they were looking for young and ambitious assistants, he wants them to get equal opportunities and doesn’t want to discriminate against those who don’t have as much experience because the only way to get that experience is to be allowed that experience.When we were done, he shook my hand and told me he thinks I’d make a great addition to the team and by that point he had completely persuaded me. I was sold.“When do I start?”
~~~
I went back home the next day and just three weeks later I was on a plane to Costa Rica for my first day of orientation at Isla Nublar.I had the option of staying on or off the island. If I stayed off the island, I would have to find an apartment and there would be a boat every morning for the park personnel at 6:30 am and I would probably have to get the 8 pm boat back because that’s what fit with my schedule and the boating schedule.The only downside to living on the island was that there was very limited space in the apartment complex built for the staff members. Luckily for me, someone was just moving out right when I was going to move in. I decided staying on the island was my best option. I’d get an extra hour of sleep in the morning and I wouldn’t be back to my apartment so late at night.My training would start at 8:30 am and go until 4 pm, 5 days a week for 2 months. That left two days a week and nights free, so after a week I decided to get a job working as a bartender at the Three Horns bar on the park. I worked as a bartender all through college and I needed to pay back my million dollars worth of student loan debt and the training hours just weren’t cutting it. It was 12 am on a Sunday and I was cleaning glasses behind the bar, putting them in their rightful place. It was like a ghost town here, surprisingly so. I would have expected the place to be crowded until close at 1 am, but the bars close down at 11:30 pm to the public, the next hour is allotted just for park employees. They probably figure this is a family park, not that many people are going to be out partying until 1 am unless if they have a nanny or a babysitter taking care of their kids, which was unlikely.I didn’t mind the quiet hour, it gave me time to take a second and relax and actually hear myself think. The second my shift started at 6 pm up until a little bit ago, the music had been blaring and there were a bunch of people packed in here, screaming orders at me and shorting me in tips, if I got one at all. I got used to all of that pretty quickly, as that’s how it used to be in college. I was the only bartender on to close, Sasha left an hour ago and Colin left thirty minutes after that. “How’d you make out tonight?” my coworker, Lucy, asked as she walked over to bring me another tray of glasses. “Pretty good. There was this one girl who threw a drink in a guys face, but that was pretty entertaining.” I laughed.“Geez, wonder what he did to get that.” she scoffed.“Me too. How’d you make out?”“I’ve been standing since 4 and I got a 30-minute break to scarf down a hamburger, but other than that it’s been pretty good. Went by fast.” she said.“You poor thing. Why don’t you take a seat?” I asked, taking the tray from her.“No, it’s fine. Gotta finish cleaning the dining room. I only have to make it through another 30 minutes and I’m free. You staying ‘til close?”“Yeah, just another hour and I’ll be free.” I laughed, shining up some glasses as we spoke.“Whoa,” Lucy said, I looked up, giving her a curious look. I followed her eyes to where she was looking and saw a man walking into the bar. He was wearing dark jeans and a cream colored t-shirt, along with a gray colored vest. He scanned the bar as if he were looking for someone, but when he saw there was no one here, he looked almost relieved. “That’s Owen Grady… the raptor trainer,” Lucy explained, her voice just above a whisper. “He just never really comes out much, especially when tourists are around. So it’s a little surprising he’s here...”
Maybe he just doesn’t like people, I thought. Tourists can be a pain in the ass.
“Oh, he’s coming over here,” she said, shaking her head as if she were flustered and nervous all of a sudden. “I’m gonna go… finish working. See you later!” and just like that, she was off with a brisk walk, keeping her head down as she passed by Owen, who gave her a curt nod. He walked over and stopped in front of the bar. He looked tired, stressed. His beard just a little more than stubble framed his face nicely and his shining green eyes were hard to miss. He was an attractive man, the type of man that woman would swoon over. Maybe Lucy had a crush on him and that’s why she left so quickly, or maybe she was scared of him? He is a raptor trainer after all. You’ve gotta be a certain type of man to train a raptor… or I would think so anyway.“Hi, may I help you?” I asked with a friendly smile.“Shot of tequila,” he said firmly, placing his hand on the bar with a thud, before sitting. “Actually make it two.” he then let out a groan as he relaxed in his seat.“Rough day?” I asked, smiling as I put two shot glasses in front of him and poured in the alcohol.“You can say that.” he scoffed, a faint twang behind his voice. “Well, nothing a couple of shots can’t fix, right?” I laughed as he drank them, one after the other as he let out a satisfied ‘ah’. “Anything else I can get ya?”“A bottle of moonshine,” he said. He looked tense and sounded like he was barking out orders. I think he realized this because he let out a sigh, relaxing and added a softer “Please,” “Comin’ right up!” I smiled, getting the bottle for him and placing it in front of him. He didn’t hesitate to take a sip. I smiled, getting back to the glasses as I figured he didn’t need anything else.“Are you new around here?” he asked. I looked up at him, wondering how he would pick that up if he rarely comes out, as reported by Lucy anyway. “You just don’t seem like you’ve been here for too long. You’re very… cheerful, like the daily grind of working here hasn’t seemed to of caught up to you yet.” “Well, maybe that’s just the type of person I am. Do you come here often enough to know that I’m new?”“No, it’s not really my scene.”“A bar isn’t your scene?” I asked. By the way he just came in here and got two shots of tequila, I’d think the opposite.“Too many people. People like to talk.” he said, taking another sip of his beer. My face fell slightly, “Not much of a talker, then? I’ll leave you be…” I was about to take my tray of glasses to the other side of the bar, but he stopped me.“Sometimes it’s nice,” he said, catching my attention. “Especially when the person you’re talking to doesn’t expect anything out of you,” he took another sip of beer. I figured he was making a reference to something that happened earlier that day. “And it’s nice to talk to someone who’s easy to talk to and easy on the eyes.” I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks burn and I hoped it wasn’t noticeable. “Alise, we have to be out of here in 10.” the manager on duty, Kristin said as she walked by from the kitchen. I nodded. “You count the register out?”“I was just about to...” I said, glancing back at Owen and then to her. I didn’t count the register out yet because Owen was still here, which is what I wanted to say, but it wasn’t my place. “Well get on that.” was all she said before she walked away. I sighed as Owen pulled out his wallet and put twenty-five dollars on the table.“Don’t want to keep you.” he quickly drank the rest of the beer and put it on the counter. “I’m Owen, by the way,” I smiled and before I got a chance to respond, he continued, “Have a good night, Alise.” “You too.” I smiled as I watched him leave the bar.
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BEEP BEEP BEEP
My alarm blared in my ears, jolting me out of my slumber. I groaned, wishing I could use telekinesis to shut the alarm off, even though that would mean I would probably fall right back to sleep. Annoyed by the noise, and slightly annoyed that my telekinetic abilities weren’t advanced enough to turn it off, I sat up and turned off the phone alarm. I glared at the time: 7:05am. I had finally fallen asleep around 2 am, so after only getting 5 hours of sleep I needed a cup of coffee, stat. I walked into the kitchen like a zombie, staring at the Keurig until my coffee was finally finished because I was way too out of it to do anything else. The first sip of coffee brought life to me. It brought warmth to my entire body, the smell made my eyes open wider. Now I could function like a normal person. The sun was already out and the weather was beautiful, so I walked outside onto my small deck and sat down, breathing in the fresh air with a happy sigh.“Hey,” I heard a friendly but unfamiliar voice say to my right, making me jump in my seat when I looked over and saw a man sitting on the deck next to me. The first thing I noticed about him was the fact that he was shirtless, his six-pack on full display and that he was talking with his mouth full. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.” he laughed, taking another bite of his cereal. I smiled, laughing a little bit at myself for getting frightened. “It’s fine, really, just on my toes. It’s hard not to be when you live on an island full of dinosaurs.” I laughed.“Ah, so, you’re new?” he asked. I nodded.“Relatively. I’ve been here a few weeks. I haven’t seen you around either are you-” “Nah, been here for 8 months. I just moved into this apartment the other day. I was sharing an apartment with my buddy, but his girlfriend moved in and that just got awkward.” he explained. I nodded, understanding that completely. “I couldn’t listen to their weird role-play sexscapades anymore. They roar like dinosaurs and I heard her call him ‘Rexy’ once and his name is Trent, so that was enough for me.” I nearly spit out my coffee upon hearing that story. “That is terrible,” I said, he nodded with me in agreement. “Well, I bet you’re happy on your own now…”“Totally. It’s so freeing. Not having to worry about a roommate is awesome!” He said enthusiastically before he took another bite of his cereal as I took a sip of coffee. Then I heard a phone go off and sounded like it was coming from his apartment. “Excuse me.” he said, getting up and going inside. My eyes widened as I nearly spit out my coffee again. I just realized that boy was not even wearing pants. The only thing he was wearing were boxer briefs. Not boxers, briefs. How was he having such a normal conversation with me while wearing virtually nothing? And there’s not much left to the imagination when someone is wearing briefs.“Sorry about that,” he said, walking back out. I raised my brows, trying to focus on his face as much as I could. I couldn’t let my gaze drop down past his chin, I wouldn’t let it. But it was kind of difficult if I were being honest. “Duty calls,” he shrugged. “It was nice to talk to you. I’m Lachlan.” he said, reaching over our railings to shake my hand, which I returned. “Alise,” I smiled, shielding my eyes from the sun. He smiled. “Have fun at work!” I said.“Don’t I always,” he actually sounded excited, I raised my brows at him, now I wanted to know what he did that made him so excited. “ACU is by far the best gig on the island.” ACU is Asset Containment Unit.“I’ll take your word for it.” I laughed.“You enjoy your day. Just try not to get scared, whatever you're doing.” he chuckled.“Will do.” I smiled as he turned around and left. My eyes fell from his face and to his ass. He had a pretty nice ass, the one you’d wanna squeeze. “Well, there’s a wake-up call.” I mumbled to myself before I stood up and went inside to make breakfast.
~~~
The day started off how it normally did, I got to the lab at 8:30, I did some private studies before Dr. Collier asked me to come in the field with him. It was the first time I was going in the field, so I was beyond excited.When we arrived there, park staff informed us two Pachycephalosaurus’ shorted out their implants by butting heads and one of them wandered to the North Plains, outside of its zone. It snuck up on a Sinoceratops, who hit it with its horns, leaving the Pachy with a gash on its stomach that needed stitches. I was surprised to see Lachlan there with another man from ACU, giving the pachycephalosaurus a hit of carfentanil to help sedate it. He smiled and nodded at me as I walked over with Dr. Collier and the park staff. I just smiled at him, not wanting to distract from the situation. “This looks bad,” Dr. Collier stated, kneeling down and moving the Pachy’s arm out of the way so we could get a better look at the wound. “What do you say we do, Alise?” “Clean out the wound as much as we can right now then bring her to the infirmary where we’ll do a deep clean and flush it with antibiotics to see if she needs stitches or any other procedure and go from there.” I said confidently, knowing that was the right answer. It was the same for any animal.“Right. Good, now, I’ll hold up her arm and you can start.” he said, giving me the reins. I smiled, excited and a little nervous to prove what I’ve learned so far. Also, I had an audience as Lachlan and the other park staff watched curiously. I didn’t get too nervous, though. I knew what I was doing and this is exactly what I’ve been training for.
~~~
“That’s pretty awesome. I’ve held baby dinosaurs before and of course pet the young ones, but I’ve never actually been that close to them in the field outside of the gyrosphere. I don’t think I’d want to, though.” Lowery said as he took a bite of his sandwich. We met up for lunch in the staff cafe later that day.“You like the safety of your control room cause you’re a wimp.” I laughed, taking a sip of my chicken noodle soup.“Well you’re the one that does all the crazy stuff for the both of us, I’ll leave that to you,” He said, I laughed. “It’s always been like that. You go out there, do the crazy things while I just watch in awe, like ‘that’s my big sister, she can do anything’. Balls of steel.”“And yours are deflated.” I laughed, drinking more soup.“Well you slurp when you eat soup and it’s annoying,” he said, obviously having no other comeback for that. This time when I took a sip, I slurped even louder, just to get under is skin. “Jerk.” he mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich.I laughed, shaking my head and drank my soup regularly without the obnoxious slurping. Then I thought about Owen and I’m not sure why. Then I thought that maybe I could get some information about him through Lowery, he knows everything about everyone.“So, you know Owen Grady?” I asked.“Yeah. He’s the velociraptor trainer, he’s a pretty cool guy…" then his demeanor changed. "Wait, why?” he asked suspiciously.I shrugged, “Just wondering. I met him at the bar the other night and he just seems…” I thought of a word. “Interesting.” Like there was so much more to him. Like he put up a front that I could see through. He wasn’t all big and bad like he made himself out to be.“No, you don’t want to talk to him.” Lowery shook his head. I was confused by his sudden demeanor change. All of a sudden the compliments he paid Owen were out the door, all because I seemed interested in him? Not that I was “interested” in Owen in that way anyway. I was just curious about him.“Why not?” I asked curiously. “What’s wrong with him?”I figured there wasn’t anything wrong with him, it was just Lowery acting absurd, like an overprotective younger brother.“He’s ex-Navy and he has the tendency to date around.”I pulled a face, “What do those two things even have to do with each other?”“They have a lot to do with each other. He’s ex-Navy, so he can kill you with his bare hands, so you don’t want to get him annoyed and he has a temper. And since he dates around, he’s probably not the type to wait until the second date to…” he paused. “You know.”I raised my brows, leaning closer to him, my voice just above a whisper. “Have sex?”Lowery groaned, throwing his hand in the air. “You know what I meant, you didn’t have to say it out loud.” Any sex talk between me and Lowery makes his skin crawl, it was quite amusing really.I smirked, “I wouldn’t annoy him and I don’t wait until the second date either, so it’s a match made in heaven.” I joked, leaning back in my chair and bringing the cup of soup to my lips, finishing it off.“Please tell me you’re joking?! I cannot believe you just told me that!” He exclaimed. I laughed.“I am joking, you need to chill.”“You’re telling me to chill? Isn’t it usually the other way around?” Lowery’s brow raised and I thought about it.“Yeah, what is this. This is weird. Let’s talk about something else.”“Good idea.” he said as we changed the subject. We started talking about our mom and how she’s still mad at him for “stealing me away” as she would say. We were only able to talk for another 5 minutes, as lunch for both of us was up, but I enjoyed our lunches a few times a week. I missed Lowery before I came to the island, it was nice to be able to see him every day if I wanted to. Sure, he had his annoying little brother moments, but we were always pretty close.
~~~
The next day I spent most of my day in the office doing busy work and paperwork. I thought after being in the field yesterday and doing a pretty good job that Dr. Collier would let me do more work in the field, but I guess I was wrong. Desk work is so annoying, wasn’t there anyone else who could do it? Oh right, I’m the assistant. I’m the one that does this.The day after that was the same. The only thing that was different was that I went through inventory to see what items and medications we needed to order and that was the most exciting part of my day. At the end of the day, Dr. Collier said I was doing a great job and that he needed someone to do all this work to keep things running smoothly and he thanked me. He probably sensed my restlessness. He said when I come back I’d be back in the field. That wasn’t for another 2 days. At least I had the bar to fill up my time and keep myself occupied. Normally, I’d be exhausted and want to spend the next 2 days in bed with Netflix and popcorn, but all this desk work was making me antsy. The last place I wanted to be was inside. I went for a jog after work then went home to change for my shift at the bar.
~~~
“You good with closing the bar tonight?” Colin asked as he took the towel off his shoulder and threw it on the counter.“Yeah sure, go ahead.” I smiled, it was his anniversary and he wanted to do something special for his girlfriend before it got too late… even though it was already midnight. I didn’t ask too many questions.“Thanks, I owe ya one.” he said, going on his way. I smiled as Lucy and Lachlan both walked over to the bar, Lachlan’s arm over Lucy’s shoulders. I had no idea they knew each other, or that they were even together.“Oh, nice to see you two.” I smirked.“Don’t get any ideas,” Lucy said, taking Lachlan’s arm off from around her shoulders and leading him to the bar. Lachlan laughed, stumbling a little as he sat at the bar. “We were at the bonfire and he’s pretty wasted and I know you two live next to each other, so I brought him here.” “So he’s my problem now?” I laughed, joking as I filled a glass of water and put it in front of him. “That and I don’t know when the next shuttle is, so here was my best bet. Plus there’s water and food here.”“Good point. Let me go grab something.” I walked to the kitchen to find something, everything was off and the staff were cleaning, getting ready to close in 45 minutes. I found a basket of bread and snatched it, hoping no one would notice. “Eat up.” “Have I told you how awesome you both are?” Lachlan slurred as he shoved the bread into his mouth, chewing obnoxiously with his mouth full. “My two favorite ladies.” he grinned.I would have pointed out that we just met 3 days ago, but I got distracted by a familiar face entering the bar. That familiar face was Owen Grady. I couldn’t help the smile that appeared on my face, but then when I noticed I was smiling, I pushed my lips together and tried to play it off.“I was wondering if he’d show up tonight,” Lucy said. I gave her a confused look. ”He’s been in here every night since he talked to you… when you’re not here, he’ll just get a beer to go. I’m surprised he wasn’t here when you were working last night, to be honest.”“Huh,” I said, leaning my elbows on the bar. “He’s usually picking up chicks left and right when he’s here. Hasn’t done that in a few weeks. Wonder what happened.” Lachlan said, his mouth still full. “Here, let’s go over here…” Lucy said, picking up the glass of water and grabbing Lachlan’s arm. He let her pull him along, being sure to grab the bread basket on the way.“Hey Owen!” Lachlan said as they passed. Lucy hushed him and Owen just gave a small nod and returned the “hey” as continued walking towards the bar. I laughed, shaking my head as I wiped away the breadcrumbs. I put the towel on my shoulder as I looked up at Owen.“What can I get for you? The usual?”“I have a usual now?” he asked, sitting down across from me.“2 shots of tequila and a moonshine, if I remember correctly?” I asked. I didn't remember a lot of people's orders, but Owen's was one I couldn't forget.Owen nodded, “I’ll just take the beer this time.” “Your day go well?” I asked, opening the bottle for him and putting it in front of him.“Eh, it went like it usually does. Same old grind.” he shrugged, taking a sip.“I’d expect training Velociraptors to keep you on your toes, though. I wouldn’t expect it to be the same thing every day.” I mentioned.“How do you know I train the raptors?” he asked, raising a brow. I realized Lucy had been the one who told me that, not Owen. That had to of sounded odd that I knew that.“You’re talked about quite a lot around here. Everyone knows Owen Grady the Velociraptor trainer, kids come in here talking about how exciting that is all the time.”“Kids come into the bar?” He asked skeptically.“Well, not in the actual bar,” I scoffed. “I’m a bartender, Owen. I know and hear everything.”“You know everything, huh?” he scoffed, I could hear the amusement in his voice. “What’s so funny about that?” I raised a brow.“Nothing,” he shrugged it off. “So, you do anything aside from work at a bar?” he took another sip of his beer.“I work as a Paleo-vet assistant - well, I’m a trainee for now anyway.” I said as I wiped down the counter, getting ready for when we close in 30 minutes.“So you work in the field on injured dinosaurs? Take care of them when they’re sick? Stuff like that?”“Sometimes,” I said honestly, scrunching my nose at the idea of the work I’ve been doing the past couple of days. “Depends on the day. I’m still in training. All I've been doing is filing papers and doing inventory the past two days, so no dinos for me.” “So grunt work. That sucks.”“Yeah, but I try not to dwell on it. How’s working with the raptors?” I asked curiously. I’d always wondered about Velociraptors. It wasn't an exhibit that was open to the public, but there were videos of him training them. I’d also have yet to work with them yet.“Has its fair-share of grunt work. Paperwork is the worst, but the raptors make it worth it.”“How long have you been working with them?”“About a year. I imprinted on them when they were born.”“So that makes you their Alpha? That’s so sweet. You must really love them.” I smiled.“Yeah, they’re my girls.” he let out a small smile, which caused me to smile even more. He was always so serious and to see that he smiled while talking about “his girls” shows how much he cares for them. We continued talking for another ten minutes before Kristin caught my attention and told me to start wrapping up because she wanted to be out of there as soon as possible. “Sorry for distractin’ you.” he said, pulling out a ten dollar bill.“It’s nice to have a little distraction, it helps the daily grind.” I smiled. A small smile crossed his lips as I got lost in his emerald green eyes for a second. I snapped out of it quickly and cleared my throat and looked down at the bill he held between us.“Change?”“No, you’re good,” he said. My eyes widened, that was an 8 dollar tip on a 2 dollar beer. “See ya around.” he said and somehow I didn’t doubt that I would.
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It’s been 2 months since I’ve been on the island and training went really well. My last day training was yesterday, so I am officially the head paleo-veterinary assistant. No more ‘trainee’ attached to it. This meant being on the field as much as possible, with the occasional “grunt work” (as Owen would put it) here and there, but that comes along with every job for the most part.Speaking of Owen, I’ve seen him in the bar a total of 7 times since I’ve been at the island. We talked every time, for no more than 20 minutes because he’d always come right before closing. Each time we talked, the more relaxed he got. I barely remember the rigid, uptight man that walked into the bar 6 weeks ago. We talked about loads of things, random things for the most part. Nothing too personal. We talked about all the grunt work and the daily grind. Lachlan said a few weeks ago that Owen was definitely going to ask me out. Lucy even agreed with him (they’ve also been getting closer as well, but that’s another story). I thought they were crazy at first. Owen and I were just having casual conversations. Then I started to think about it. Sure, I like him. He’s attractive, but he needs to let loose a little bit, but that’s something that can be worked on.So after that I’d been waiting for it. We talked 3 times after that and I’d been waiting for it. He didn’t though and I even tried to initiate it like “oh, I’m not going to be working tomorrow night, what are you up to?” And he’d say “nothin’ much” and change the subject. I gave up after that. Maybe he didn’t feel the same way, maybe he didn’t want to go out. He was just looking for a conversation and a friend. He came to the right place because I’m all ears and not just because I’m a bartender. I just care about people, sometimes a little too much.Anyway, I pushed all of that aside and tried not to think about it. I was starting in the field and needed no distractions. My head needed to be in the game.It was 8 am when I got called into work early. I met Dr. Collier at the dinosaur infirmary and saw a young Apatosaurus on the table. She was crying out and moving her long neck around and I noticed the large gash on the side of it. She was being held down by 2 assistants and Dr. Collier.“What happened?” I asked, scrubbing in. “Her neck got caught in a metal sign and some kids tried to get it off, causing further injury.” He then told me the sign grazed her artery and what we had to do. That meant cleaning it out and stitching it up. I saw that they were sedating her and soon she stopped kicking and crying. I was prepping the tools while the other assistants, Olivia and Mark, cleaned out the wound. I was about to start helping Dr. Collier with the stitches when another assistant came into the room.“Dr. Collier, there was an incident at the Velociraptor enclosure. Two of them got into a fight and one of them needs medical attention immediately.” My thoughts immediately went to Owen - those were his girls.“Can Dr. Sanchez handle it?”“He’s off the island today.”“Okay, uhm…” Dr. Collier paused, giving himself a second to clear his thoughts. “Okay, Dr. Cruthers, you go to the enclosure and assess the patient. Mark will go with you to assist. Do not examine her until she is fully sedated, we’ll send a member of ACU with you for safety. If it can be treated on-site, do that. If she needs stitches or anything further, we’ll have transport bring her here. Got it?” He asked. I was a little surprised to hear him say my name, but then again, I was the head assistant and I was also a doctor. It was also my first case alone, so I was a little nervous. “Yes, I got it.” I nodded, Mark and I scrubbed out and went to the raptor enclosure.
~~~
We got there 15 minutes later and first saw that Lachlan’s friend, Trent, who I met once before, was the guy ACU sent. He was at the top of the enclosure with a gun pointed down into the enclosure, I assume he was trying to sedate the raptor.“What are you doing up there like that?!” I heard Owen’s familiar voice as he walked up the stairs and towards Trent. A dark-skinned man tried to hold Owen back. “You’re scaring her, she’s not going to come out with a gun pointed at her!” Owen sounded upset and annoyed. Angry even.“Maybe you could help me out a little bit then, bro?” Trent asked, looking over at Owen. Trent was from California and the accent was really standing out right now. He sounded super relaxed and not bothered at all by Owen’s outburst.Owen pulled something out of his pocket and pressed it 3 times, it was a clicker. He then whistled and called out the name “Charlie!” I was wondering how they’d get just one raptor out without the other ones getting involved, but I noticed the other three were being held in individual areas.Then I saw her through the bars, limping out of the bushes. She let out a noise towards Owen - a noise that sounded like a cry. Trent pulled the trigger and Charlie made a screeching noise as the dart penetrated her skin, then fell to the ground with a thud.“Dr. Cruthers, I presume?” The dark-skinned man asked from beside me, I didn’t even notice he walked over to us, so I did jump slightly. Then I nodded, pretending like I didn't just jump out of my skin. “Yes, and this is my assistant, Mark.” I said, nodding my head towards him.“Nice to meet you, I’m Barry.” He nodded his head, his accent thick. I couldn’t make out what type of accent it was though.“So, what happened?” I asked, following him to the gates. I felt nervous all of a sudden, I’ve never worked with a raptor before. I’ve never worked with a carnivore before either. One wrong move and you could be the one that needed stitches. I reasoned with myself, she was fully sedated. I had nothing to worry about.“Charlie and Delta were rough-housing and one thing led to another, Charlie got cut open pretty bad.”“Do they fight often?” I asked.“They have their tiffs here and there, nothing serious though.” Barry answered.“They’re sisters,” I heard Owen’s voice from the top of the stairs. “They fight like siblings. It’s not a behavioral issue.” He said seriously and he still sounded angry as he walked over to me. I tried not to take it personally, figuring that he’s going through a lot today.“I’m sorry, Owen, I wasn’t trying to say it was behavioral. I just need to know.” I said, Owen just looked at me.“Where’s Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez? Shouldn’t they be handling this?” Okay, I took that personally. “Dr. Collier gave me the go-ahead, so I will be taking care of her medical needs.” I said, unsure of why he was so hostile with me. “Do you even know what you’re doing?” He asked as if he were squaring up to me. Now that hurt. “Owen,” Barry warned, grabbing onto Owen’s arm and pulling him back.“No,” Owen pulled his arm away. “Aren’t you a trainee?”“Not anymore, I’m not. Dr. Collier entrusted me to take care of Charlie, so that’s what I’m going to do. Unless if you’d prefer to wait until he gets out of surgery in an hour while Charlie lays there in pain and possibly bleeds out, then I suggest you trust me too.” I don’t know where it came from, but it just came out. I was pretty satisfied with myself too.Owen just looked at me for a moment. I could see Mark and Barry both looking at Owen with a look of worry, but Owen stood down. He took a step back and nodded his head towards the gate. Barry didn’t hesitate to let me in and Mark followed along. I glanced at Owen as I walked in, he was just watching us suspiciously with his arms crossed over his chest. Like he wasn’t happy about the situation.I couldn’t believe that he really just spoke to me that way, after all the talks we’ve had. He talked to me like I didn’t matter, like he didn’t care about me. Like he didn’t know me. This certainly changed how I felt about him. I pushed that in the back of my mind and focused on Charlie.
~~~
Charlie wasn’t in too bad of condition. She had claw marks that were deep on her left leg, but not deep enough that she’d need stitches. I cleaned out the wound and flushed it with antibiotics and wrapped it up pretty tight. Secure enough so that a raptor scratching or biting at it wouldn’t tear it open. It’ll be either me or one of the doctors that have to come back once a day for the next 2 weeks to keep the wound clean and wrapped up to prevent further infection or damage.That’s exactly what I told Barry, who was in the cage with Mark and I the whole time. Owen decided to watch from outside, which I didn’t mind. I’m sure he would have had something to say about every little thing I was doing.“So, she’s all set. Maybe try to keep them separated for the rest of the day to prevent further injury.” I said to Barry, taking off my gloves and throwing them out.“You did pretty good,” Owen said, standing in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. I gave him a half smile, ready to be like ‘I wasn’t looking for your approval’, but I bit my tongue. I walked past him and to the car, where Mark was loading all the supplies in. “How about I buy you a drink?”I stopped in my tracks and raised my brow as I pivoted on my foot to face him. Did he really just ask me that?“After the way you just spoke to me?”He smirked, “Come on, I’ll make it up to ya.” He had a sly smile placed on his lips, like he knew he did something wrong, he just wasn’t going to admit it.I raised my brows, “How?” He’d have to have a pretty good case to get me out after all of that.“Just let me buy you a beer and I’ll show ya.” He said. I gave him a hesitant look and he just looked at me expectantly. “Three Horns at 8 o’clock?”I couldn’t say no to that face… maybe he has a good reason. “Fine.”
~~~
Later that day, I met up with Lucy and Lachlan in the dining area at Three Horns at 6:30 pm, leaving me enough time to meet Owen at 8 pm. We finished eating and Lachlan got distracted by a few of his ACU buddies by the bar. Lucy and I were talking, but then my best friend Aspen from back in Colorado texted me to check in. She’s been worried about me working with dinosaurs and needed her check-ins every day to make sure I “didn’t get eaten or something” - which is exactly what she texted me today. I laughed to myself and looked up at Lucy.She was watching Lachlan over at the bar. If hearts could beat out of her eyes, they would have.“You should tell him…” I smiled.“Tell who what?” Lucy asked, shaking her head and looking at me, confused.“Lachlan that you like him.” I said, a little lower because I knew she wouldn’t want that to be public information. I couldn’t help but smirk at the end of it.Her cheeks turned a noticeable shade of red, “I don’t…” she tried to play it off, but I saw right through her.I shrugged. “Alright, well, he’s too oblivious to realize you like him, so if you ever want anything to happen you’ll have to tell him. I’m pretty sure he likes you too.”“How do you know?” Lucy sat up, interested.“Just a feeling.” I smiled, taking a bite of a french fry.“What are you two talking about?” Lachlan said, he was now standing in front of us with a bottle of beer in his hand.“Just that Alise has a date with Owen later-” Lucy began.“Lucy!” I snapped at her, for multiple reasons. One, it was not a date. Two, I specifically told her not to say anything to Lachlan because he would think it’s a date.“You gonna ride that D-” Lachlan said, grinding his hips. And he would say something like that.“God, no. Far from it. He is a dick.” I said.“Oh shit, trouble in paradise.” Lachlan sat down.“What did he do?” Lucy asked. I didn’t get a chance to tell her about it yet.“It’s a long story,” I said, taking a breath to start, but I saw Owen walking into the bar. I groaned, looking at the time. 8:07. He couldn’t even show up on time. “And it’s a story for another day. Gotta go.” I said, excusing myself to walk over to Owen.“Good luck gettin’ that D!” Lachlan called out in a deep voice, cupping his hand around his mouth to amplify his voice.“Lachlan!” Lucy quickly grabbed his arm and tried to hush him. Everything goes over that damn boy's head.Luckily, Owen didn’t hear a thing. He was standing at the bar, talking to Colin, the bartender on duty.“Hey Owen…” I said, giving him a small, half smile. “You made it. Didn’t think you’d come.” he said honestly.“I thought about not, but I’m not a liar, so…” I trailed off. I have to admit, I was being a little childish, but he better have a damn good excuse for talking to me the way he did earlier. I might be easy to forgive, but I never forget.Colin brought over two beers and greeted me with a nod before making a drink for someone else. It was pretty busy tonight, as it usually was around 8 pm. Owen handed me one of the beers, “Before you get even angrier, I just want you to know nothing that happened today was personal. I had just woken up when Barry texted me about Charlie and when I got there, my boss Hoskins was up my ass about damn paperwork and then I saw that ACU guy with the gun pointed at Charlie and I lost it. He clearly didn’t know how to tame her or what he was doing. He was just scaring the shit out of her. Also, Dr. Collier and Dr. Sanchez are the only two people who’ve worked on my raptors before and I still thought you were a trainee.”“Okay, so I understand. I’m glad you feel better now, but that didn’t even sound halfway like an apology.” I said bluntly.“That was my apology.” Owen said. I raised my brows. There was no way that was an apology, nor was I accepting it.“That was an explanation, not an apology.” I said, looking at him, showing him that I wasn’t going to back off until he either apologized or just left, whichever came first.“Alright. I’m sorry.” He finally said, giving in. Even though it was forced, it still sounded genuine.I smirked, “Now, was that so hard?” Owen rolled his eyes and drank his beer in response. I scanned the bar, hearing a group of cheers coming over from the pool tables. There was a group of people surrounding one and a group had just left the other one, so it was now free. “You any good at pool?” I asked. Owen raised his brows.“I play from time to time.”“Come on!” I said, getting him off his feet. He was reluctant, but I pulled him along with me anyway. “So, I win you have to wear a blow-up dinosaur costume to work one day…”“Where are you gonna get one of those?” he asked curiously.“Lachlan has one.” I laughed, he nodded hesitantly.“Alright. Fine. What do I get if I win?” “Well, do you have any ideas?” I asked, leaning on the pool stick. “I get to take you out again.” he proposed. I thought about it for a second and smiled.“Sounds good to me, you’re goin’ down Owen!” “We’ll see about that,” he chuckled.I won the first game, so of course he said it was just a warm-up game and that it “didn’t count”. I gave it to him and we played another game.So there I was, one ball left away from winning the game. We were having so much fun, part of me actually wanted to lose so I’d be able to see him again… but my competitive side kicked in. I got the ball in and won the game.“I guess you really don’t play pool that much, huh?” I smirked.“You just got lucky!” Owen laughed. There it was, that laugh. I didn’t get it very often, but when I did, it was hard to miss it.I laughed and looked at the clock on the wall - it was almost 11. “Jeez, is it really that late? I’m going to be on call starting at 3 in the morning, so I have to turn in. We’ll do this again sometime?” “Yeah, we’ll see,” Owen said, taking a sip of his beer. “Have a good night.”Even though he said “we’ll see”, I didn’t take it personally. He was probably trying to act all cool since he lost twice and his ego was burned a little.“Don’t think you’re off the hook about the dino costume, I’ll give it to you tomorrow when I see you!” I called on my way out, leaving Owen shaking his head, trying to hide the small smile on his lips, but he wasn’t fooling me.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day I went to the raptor enclosure to see how Charlie was doing and to change her bandage. I came in right when they separated the girls into their separate holding areas (I hated to call them ‘cells’ or ‘cages’). Owen was inside the holding area with another set of bars was protecting him from Charlie, who was in the enclosure, currently gnawing on something that looked like a rat. “Hey Owen,” I smiled. Owen looked up from one of the girls, he was putting her head into a metal harness. He smiled at me.“Hey there,” he walked over and opened the gate, letting me in.“How’s Charlie doing?” I asked.“She’s doin’ pretty well. She’s been scratching at the bandage, but that’s about it. We gave her a tranquilizer in the rat, so she should be out soon. It’s better for her than being shot. ACU is still comin’, though.” I could tell he still didn’t like the idea of ACU being there, but it was for our protection and I knew he knew that.One of the raptors started making noises and shaking the cage that her head was in. We both looked over. “Shhh,” Owen tried to calm her, petting her head. It seemed to calm her almost immediately.“Which one’s this?”“Echo. You can pet her if you’d like.” I smiled and walked over. I was a little nervous, but I didn’t let it show. It only upsets the animal more if they know you’re nervous. I pet her head and she let out a little growl.“Echo,” Owen scolded, rubbing her head. “She doesn’t like that many people, so don’t take it personally. She’s the rebellious one, always wants attention.”Another one behind me made a chirping noise and I looked over. She had a blue stripe down her back.“Is this Blue?” I asked, admiring the stripe on her back.“Yeah,” he said as he walked over. “Come pet her.” he offered. I didn’t know how I felt about it. Echo already seemed to hate me already, why would Blue be different? I pet her anyway, walking over and rubbing her velvety skin. She let out a noise that almost sounded like a purr. “She likes you.” I couldn’t help but smile.“Owen, Charlie’s asleep,” Barry said as he let himself in. A woman was with him, she had a gun and was in a uniform, so I assumed she was from ACU. “This is Erin.” I smiled at her and Owen greeted her with a nod. “Dr. Cruthers, how are you doing today?”“Alise, please. And I’m doing well, thank you.”“You want to go in or should I?” Barry asked Owen.“I will.” Owen offered. I smiled. “I’ll go in first, make sure she’s fully sedated.” Erin said. I could tell Owen was reluctant, but he nodded anyway. Owen pressed the button to open the gate and she walked in, gun pointed at Charlie in case she wasn’t fully sedated. Erin gave us the go-ahead and I followed Owen in first, we were walking slowly and carefully. We wouldn’t want her to get startled awake. Owen went behind her and opened her eyelid to see her eyes were heavy.“She’s out.” he said. I nodded and knelt down next to her. Thankfully, she had fallen on the opposite side of the wound, so we didn’t have to turn her over. I opened the box of medical supplies I brought and cut off the bandage and cleaned out the wound very carefully, the scar tissue was already starting to grow, showing it was starting to heal. I finished cleaning and wrapped it up, just as Charlie was starting to stir a little bit. “She’s fine,” Owen put his hand out when Erin raised her gun at Charlie.“I’m done.” I said, putting my supplies back in the kit and standing up, walking back to where Barry had been watching and keeping Blue, Delta and Echo at ease. I assumed they didn’t like seeing people surrounding their sister and poking at her, so they got a little restless. Erin left right after, getting called somewhere else and Owen started to unstrap Delta. “So Lachlan wasn’t awake this morning, so I couldn’t grab the dinosaur costume, but don’t think I forgot.” I smirked at Owen.“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to wear it around the girls.” he said. I nodded, understanding. I probably should have thought about that too.“I understand, but don’t think you’re off the hook.”“Didn’t think I was.” Owen smiled. I remembered Lachlan’s 26th birthday was in three days, on Friday, and got an idea.“Oh I got it!” I said happily, Owen looked over, a little startled. “Lachlan’s birthday is this Friday and he's celebrating at Three Horns at 9 and all of his ACU buddies are going to be there and he invited Lucy and I. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a party crasher in a dino costume. In fact, he’d love it.” I smirked.Owen made a face and sighed. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”“Nope! I’ll meet you out front at 9:30 with the costume, just so we can be sure everyone is there. Don’t be late,” I smirked before out of the gate.“Wouldn’t miss it.” Owen said sarcastically. I just grinned as I headed for the car.
~~~
I texted Lachlan later that day and asked him if I could borrow the costume and he all he said was:
Niceeee, come get it tonight after 7.
“So why do you need the dino suit?” Lachlan asked me when I came to get it later that night around 7:30 pm. He handed me a bag with it folded inside. He had his friend Trent and a couple of other guys over and they were playing a video game, so the TV was loud and they were yelling at the screen. Typical gamer geeks, reminded me a lot of Lowery when he was a teenager and still sometimes now when he finds a game he likes.“Just a prank,” I wanted to keep it short, as I didn’t want to give anything away. I started walking towards the door and he was following.“I like the sound of that. You better get it on video!” he called after me. Thankfully, he didn’t ask any more questions.“You bet your ass I will!” I laughed.“Nice, see ya soon!” he closed the door. I smiled and went to my apartment and texted Aspen to tell her I got the costume. She was the only person I could risk telling because she wouldn’t say a word. I needed to tell someone. This was going to be awesome.
~~~
2 days later, when Friday rolled around, Dr. Collier had me go to the raptor enclosure for Charlie around 3 pm. I had been doing check-ups with the adolescent dinosaurs all morning since 8 am, so it was nice to have a little break from that.“I’m surprised to see they sent an assistant to do your job the past couple of days.” Owen greeted me from outside the cage when I got out of the car.“I’ve had the past two days off. I’m sure they didn’t do too bad. Who was it?” I asked.“I forgot his name, but he was nervous and his hands were shaking. I’m glad Charlie wasn’t awake or she would have bitten his hands right off.”“That would be Mark. He’s really book smart, he just needs to get used to handling the dinosaurs,” I explained. “And I’m sure if Charlie was awake she’d bite all of our hands off.” I laughed. “He’s gotta learn quick if he wants to stick around.” Owen commented.“I’m sure he will.” I said, looking around and through the cage. Blue, Delta, and Echo weren’t in holding and I didn’t see any of them through the bars. “Just got to give her a rat and put the girls into holding. Shouldn’t be too long.” Owen said. I nodded.“So you ready for tonight?” I smirked.“About that…”“You can’t chicken out on me, we had a deal!” I said.“I wasn’t going to. I don’t chicken out.” he was serious now.“Then I’ll see you at 9:30?” I clarified with a smirk.“Yes you will,” he nodded. “Gotta go wrangle up my girls, give me a minute,” he said, walking towards the gate. “Barry, you ready?” he called up to Barry, who was on the catwalk.Barry called back and threw the girls rats and gave a special one to Charlie. While Owen was getting the other girls, I noticed the ACU truck pull up and Lachlan just so happened to be stepping out of the car.“Hey birthday boy, how’s it going?” I asked.“Pretty good. I’m glad you’re here today and not shaky hands.” he laughed.“Poor Mark.” I shook my head. The poor kid already had a reputation as ‘shaky hands’, that was going to be hard to break. I looked back over to Owen, who was strapping in one of the girls, I couldn’t tell which one from where I was standing.“Hey, you’re coming to my party tonight right?”“Wouldn’t miss it!” I smiled.“We’re gonna get turnt up!” He exclaimed. I laughed, shaking my head.“You guys ready? Charlie’s out!” Owen caught our attention. We nodded and got to work.
~~~
I ended up getting out at 4 pm and home by 4:30. I didn’t have anything planned until the bar later, so I called my mom and talked to her for a while and made salmon and quinoa for dinner and rewatched Thor for the millionth time (because Loki). It ended at 8, leaving me enough time to get ready for the party and be there by 9:20 to meet Owen. I’m sure Lachlan wouldn’t mind if I was a little late, especially with the surprise I have in store.When I got outside the bar, I texted Lucy and asked her to come outside and meet me, I didn’t tell her why. She came out a few minutes later.“Hey, is everything okay?” she asked once she saw me, a look of worry on her face.“Everything is perfect. Look what I have.” I held up the dinosaur costume in the bag.“Is that a dinosaur suit?” she asked.I laughed and nodded excitedly, unable to hold my excitement. “Yeah, and Owen’s gonna wear it!”“No way! How did you manage that?”“He lost a bet. This is going to be amazing!” I said, looking at the time on my phone. 9:29. “He should be here any second.”“I wonder if he’s actually going to show up.” she wondered.“Oh, he’ll be here. He’s a man of his word.” I said confidently. No part of me thought he wouldn’t come. Then, I saw him walking over towards us. “Hey you, you ready to roar?!” I said. Both Owen and Lucy both gave me a face and my cheeks burned. “Yeah, that was bad. Just come on, it’s dino time!”
~~~
5 minutes later, Owen, Lucy and I were walking into the bar with Owen in the dinosaur costume. The second people saw him, they cheered and ushered him into the bar. Of course, I was recording the whole entrance.“At least there’s a face cover.” Owen called over the music. “What I couldn’t hear you!” I asked, opening it. Owen’s eyes widened.“Oh my god, it’s Owen! Dude! I never thought you’d be here… in that costume!” Lachlan exclaimed when he saw him.“Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, man.” Owen played it off as if he weren’t being forced to be in the costume. “Alright, shots with the Rex!” Lachlan called, the group of people cheered as Lachlan pulled Owen along with him.“He totally hates it, doesn’t he?” Lucy laughed.“Yeah, but he won’t hate it so much after a few shots.” I laughed.
~~~
The party continued until the bar kicked us out at 1 am. Normally, I’m not big on parties at all, but a couple of drinks in I was more relaxed and a tad bit tipsy. Lucy and I stuck together most of the time, as she’s not fond of parties either. We both prefer to stay to ourselves, but we had each other's backs as we mingled with other people.Plus, watching Owen and seeing how he interacted with everyone else was fun in itself. I could tell he was out of his element, but that’s because I was good at reading him. Other than that, he played it off really well. I think that he secretly likes the attention, he just doesn’t like to admit it.Lucy and I were outside the bar when one of Lachlan’s ACU buddies, Max, who usually went by his last name Lee, brought Lachlan over to us. He was leaning on Max’s shoulder, it was evident that he was drunk.“He said you’d get him home?” Max said. Lucy and I looked at each other, a little amused. Of course Lachlan would say that. Then, Owen caught my eye as he walked towards us.“I’ll take him.” Lucy said, noticing Owen as well. Lachlan put his arm around her shoulder to help hold himself up. I smiled, “Thanks, I’ll be right there.” “Go get that dino D!” Lachlan slurred. Lucy hit his chest and he laughed.“Goodbye Lachlan.” I said, shaking my head as Lucy pulled him along.I walked over to Owen, who was free from the dino suit as of 2 hours ago. It was pretty hot and I only let him out of it on the condition that he stay and hang out with us longer. At first, he stuck around with Lucy and me, but he got pulled away into the group after a while.“Now that wasn’t too bad, was it?” I asked.“Not as bad as I thought it’d be.” He chuckled.“Night, Owen!” one of Lachlan’s friends said.“Awesome costume!” another one said, patting Owen’s back as they left. Owen tensed up, not looking too amused.“Looks like you made some friends! You sure were the center of attention, even over Lachlan.” I laughed.“Yeah, and I’m not too happy about that.” Owen admitted. I understood, he seemed like he’d rather keep to himself and sometimes I feel the same way.“Well, you had a good time and that’s all that matters.” I smiled.Owen nodded, “You gonna get home okay?”“I was gonna take the shuttle,” I looked down at my phone. “That’s leaving in 5 minutes. What about you? You have a ride?” I still had no idea where he lived, but obviously knew it was somewhere on the island and I knew it wasn’t in the apartment complex.“Well, I took my bike here, but I texted Barry and asked him to give me one.” “Yeah, you’ve had quite a bit to drink. I’m surprised you’re still standing.” I laughed.“I hold my liquor pretty well.” he said. I nodded, it was evident because he wasn’t currently slurring or swaying. I was impressed.“Alright, well, I don’t wanna miss the shuttle. See you tomorrow for Charlie?” I asked.He nodded, “See you tomorrow.” he smiled.“Bye Owen,” I smiled back before walking away. It was nice to see him let loose for a change, he was always so uptight. Overall, tonight was a good night and I was happy I could see Owen.
~~~
I woke up the next morning to loud pounding on my door. I groaned and looked at the time: 10:03 am. I groaned and sat up. My mouth was extremely dry and tasted like chalk. That’s what I get for drinking whiskey last night. My head was pounding, so it didn’t help that someone was beating down my door.I sprung out of bed and quickly headed for the door to make it stop. I raised my brows when I saw it was Lowery.“You look like shit.” was all he said. I just stared at him. What the hell was he doing here? And that was rude. Given, I know I didn’t look like the most glamorous person when I was hungover, but he was still being rude. I wanted to call him an asshole but refrained. Now that would have been rude.“Okay, you didn’t answer your phone and I was worried you didn’t make it home last night.” He explained, walking inside.“Why are you worried? So I can’t sleep late?” I asked, giving him attitude as I walked away, assuming he’d follow. I needed coffee.“Well, you said we’d get breakfast at 9 and you never showed up.”“I’m pretty sure I texted you last night saying I got home super late and didn’t think I’d be up early enough to get breakfast.” I said, starting the coffee. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter.“No you didn’t…” he said in disbelief, looking down at his phone. “Shit, you did.”“Yeah. Worried, overprotective brother that doesn’t know how to give his 28-year-old sister some space, I get it.” I sighed, putting emphasis on my age as I added some sugar into my coffee before blowing on it and taking a sip.“We’re on an island full of dinosaurs, what do you expect? I don’t want to get a call one day that you’ve been trampled or they found your arm hanging out of a carnivores mouth.” he said.“You worry too much, Low,” I took a sip of the coffee, which gave me a little bit of life. “And you forget you’re the one that worked here first, you think I wasn’t worried that I’d get a call that you’d been eaten?” He sighed and nodded, “I see where you’re coming from.”“Exactly.” I took another sip of coffee after blowing on it. It was still super hot and it burned my tongue a little bit, but I needed it.“So… do you want me to leave? Because I still haven’t eaten breakfast and I’m pretty hungry…” he said, I just raised my brows, shooting him a look. “Fine, I’ll go.” he turned to walk away.I sighed, giving in. “I’ll make some eggs and toast.”“Great! Thanks, Lise!” he said, sitting down at the table with a smile. I rolled my eyes and rubbed my temple, trying to soothe my pounding head. Today’s gonna be a loooong day. At least I get to see Owen later… I mean Charlie. I get to go make sure Charlie’s healing up okay…
~~~
About a week later, I arrived at the enclosure at 11 am for Charlie’s last bandage change, which she would be very happy about. For the past week or so, Owen and I didn’t talk much aside from the here and there conversations that happened when I came to change Charlie’s bandage.That was mostly because I quit the job at the bar because I was getting more hours and I’d be on call now, so they just interfered with each other. I tried to do it for a couple of weeks, but it was all too much. Working 8-10 hour days, 5 days a week, then going to the bar from 6-1am some nights after work was not working. Lucy mentioned that Owen would go to the bar here and there, but seemed to have given up because he hasn’t gone in a week. To Lucy, it seemed like he stopped going because I wasn’t there… but then I think if that were true, why wouldn’t he ask me out so we could talk more? I’ve been to the enclosure almost every day and I thought that after Lachlan’s birthday, there was a small possibility that it might happen, but it didn’t. But then I remembered when Lachlan said Owen used to pick up girls left and right, but hasn’t in a while, so I thought that maybe he had a girlfriend? Or was still picking up girls under the radar?I’m not gonna lie, a part of me was a little hurt that he didn’t try anything on me. I mean, I’m not really up to the one night type of thing anyway at this point in my life, but it would be a little flattering. That’s why I figured he really didn’t like me like that. He enjoyed our conversations, but it seems like that’s about as far as it went.I tried not to think too much about it, especially since I had a job to do and I enjoyed it when we did talk. Plus, it’s not like I was mad at him about it, so I just acted the way I normally did around him.“He’s training them,” Erin told me when I got out of the car with my kit.I looked up on the catwalk, where Owen was. Owen clicked the clicker, “Hey, eyes on me,” I saw the raptors through the gate, gathered in the middle of the enclosure. “Hey, hey, eyes on me!” he repeated, clicking the clicker again. Blue was the first one to look up. “Good job Blue. Echo, Charlie, Delta! Eyes on me!” Charlie sounded like he was talking back to him. “Charlie, don’t give me that shit!” Charlie looked up and this time Delta was talking back. “Delta, lock it up!” Delta listened and the only one left was Echo. “Echo! What’d I just say?” Echo was looking anywhere but up. Blue looked at her and made a noise, it sounded as if she were scolding her. Echo snickered back before looking up at Owen. “Good, good. And we’re moving!” Owen kept his hand up and clicked the clicker with the other hand as he walked to the other side of the catwalk. The girls followed with their eyes up. Echo tried to break from the group and started making noise again, which seemed to be her way of talking back to Owen and rebelling. Blue growled at her and it sounded like she was scolding her again. Echo eventually gave in and walked with the rest of the girls. “Hold!” Owen said when he was standing in front of a bucket. The Raptors stopped, still looking up at Owen. Echo and Charlie got distracted again, breaking eye contact and looking around. Owen tried to get their attention again with the clicker. It wasn’t working until Blue put them in their place, then they looked up again. “Good, thank you, Blue,” Owen said, grabbing a rat out of the bucket. “Delta! Eyes up!” she looked up and Owen threw the rat at her, which she ate. “Echo!” Echo looked up, waiting for a rat. Owen threw it and then he grabbed a rat from a different bucket. “Charlie, eyes on me!” he threw hers carefully, making sure she got it. “Blue, this one’s for you.” he threw it and Blue ate it happily. “And, go!” The girls spread out immediately and the workers all clapped. I had never actually seen him training them before even though I’ve been there 11 times so far. “That was pretty good!” Erin commented as Owen started walking down the stairs with a bucket.“Still has its kinks,” Owen said. “They’re getting there though.”“That was amazing from where I’m standing.” I said. Owen smiled as he stood in front of us. “Well, Charlie should be out within the next few minutes. I’ll get the girls into holding and we should be good.” He said.“You’ll be happy to hear Charlie’s getting her bandage off today for good.” I said to Owen as he handed the bucket to Barry and he pressed the button for the door.“Yeah, no more sedation. I’m sure she’ll be happy too.” he said, walking into the gate. I didn’t go in there when he was getting the girls in the harnesses as I didn’t want to throw any of them off. Plus, I don’t think he wanted anyone in there anyway.When Charlie was fully sedated and the girls were in holding, Erin and I went in with Owen while Barry kept Blue, Echo and Delta company.I was just finished unwrapping Charlie’s bandage when I heard the sound of metal clanking together and a bang, followed by Barry screaming “Echo!” We all looked up at Echo, who came charging at us. She stopped a few feet in front of us and snarled. Crouched down, knees bent, getting closer. She seconds away from leaping and attacking us.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When Charlie was fully sedated and the girls were in holding, Erin and I went in with Owen while Barry kept Blue, Echo and Delta company.I was just finished unwrapping Charlie’s bandage when I heard the sound of metal clanking together and a bang, followed by Barry screaming “Echo!” We all looked up at Echo, who came charging at us. She stopped a few feet in front of us and snarled. Crouched down, knees bent, getting closer. She was only seconds away from attacking us.I jumped up to my feet and Erin held her gun up at her, but instead of letting her shoot, Owen stepped in front of me and in between Erin and Echo. “Hold your fire! You put 12 amps in her, she’s never gonna trust me again.” Owen said, putting his hand up in front of Echo, who looked like she was ready to pounce at any second. She was crouching down and growling. “Echo, stand down!” he said sternly. I felt my stomach drop when Echo snapped at him in return.“Hey, hey! What did I just say?” he straightened up, talking back to Echo. She stood down a little bit, but still was trying to talk back to him. “Get inside the gate.” Owen said without looking away from Echo. “Owen, are you serious?” I couldn’t help but ask. He was telling Erin and I to go, but what was he going to do? Echo was a loose cannon, especially without Blue’s supervision. There was no telling what Echo would do to him, regardless of their bond. It looked like Echo was ready to tear him apart.“Alise, go.” Owen ordered without breaking eye contact with Echo. I sunk back, going inside the gate with Erin. “Close the gate.” he said once Erin and I were in. His hand was still up in front of Echo, holding her back. She was still a few feet behind him, but getting closer. “Owen!” Barry protested.“Trust me!” Owen snapped back, looking over at him and then quickly back to Echo. He was showing dominance over Echo, but I could see his eyes were glassing over and that he was scared, who wouldn’t be? Barry was reluctant, but he pressed the button to close the gate anyway.I felt my heart drop as the gate started to close. I wanted to run out and grab him and pull him in, but I knew that’d cause even more trouble. Right before it closed, Owen was quick to roll under it and get in just in time. Echo snapped and lunged at the gate, running straight into it and falling to the ground.“Are you okay?” I rushed over, grabbing his arm.“I’m fine.” he said, Barry pulled him up and Owen adjusted his shirt. He sounded annoyed, so I didn’t say anything else.“Close call,” Barry said.“Whoa, that was crazy!” Erin said, still shocked. I nodded in agreement as I watched Owen walk over to Blue and begin to undo her harness. No one said anything after that and we all went our separate ways. That was intense. I thought Owen was going to get torn up for sure, but I sure as hell was glad that nothing bad happened.
~~~
The next day I started working at 8 am and had 3 appointments lined up before 12. I had to do a check up on an Ankylosaurus, a baby Sinoceratop had to get booster shots, and a Pteranodon had a viral infection and had to be put in isolation so she wouldn’t spread it to the others.I was back in the office I share with Dr. Collier by 11:45 am to write up some reports before lunch at 12:30 pm. I was in the middle of typing up one of those reports when I heard a knock on the door and someone clearing their throat. I looked up and saw Owen leaning against the doorframe of the open door with a smile.“Hey,” I smiled. “Come in…”“Hope I’m not interrupting anything…” he said, taking a step in.“Just writing up some reports, but they can wait.” “I’m glad you’re in the office today, I stopped by yesterday around 3, but you weren’t in.” “Oh, I was in the field for the afternoon,” I said, a little shocked he’d been looking for me. I didn’t even know he even knew which office I worked in. “Why were you looking for me?” I asked curiously.“I wanted to see if I could take you out…” he cleared his throat. “For a drink, it’s the least I could do for taking care of Charlie.” “Yeah… that’d be nice.” I smiled, even though it was my job to take care of Charlie. I didn’t want to turn down his offer.“You free tonight?”“I get off at 7.”“So, Three Horns, 8:30?” he raised his brows.I smiled and nodded, “Sounds good to me!”“Awesome. Have fun writing up those reports.” he smiled.I laughed, “So much fun.” I joked as he left. I couldn’t help the smile on my face as he walked away. I tried to tame the butterflies in my stomach, but I just couldn’t help what that man did to me.
~~~
I met up with Lucy at the employee cafe at 12:30 for lunch and told her about Owen and I going out later.“That sounds a lot like a date…” Lucy smirked.“No… it’s just a thank you for helping with Charlie.” I said.“Which is your job,” Lucy said, raising her brows. “It’s totally a date!”I laughed and shook my head, looking down at my phone when it started vibrating on the table. “Dr. Collier needs me in the field…” I said after reading the text.“Alright, well, since I won’t see you later, enjoy your date tonight!” she smirked.“Not a date.” I said, standing up as I grabbed my plate. “By the way, how’s Lachlan doing?” I asked, just to poke fun at her. I knew about her little crush on him.“He’s great, actually. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear about your date with Owen later.” she had me there. I rolled my eyes, “Bye Luce.”“Bye Lise!”~~~I didn’t want to call tonight a date because I didn’t want to get my hopes up (even though I really wanted to). Knowing Owen, he probably didn’t consider this a date either. It was just two friends grabbing a drink like we’ve done before. Regardless of the fact that I didn’t consider it a date, I still was a nervous wreck. Good thing he said 8:30 because it took me a good hour to get a decent outfit after changing about 10 times. It was about 68 degrees out, so I went with black skinny jeans with rips at the knees, a maroon blouse and a black leather jacket. It was comfortable and relaxed. Not too dressed up and not too dressed down. I curled my hair and put on a little more eyeliner and mascara, something I’d do when I go out at night, regardless of who it was with… I wasn’t getting dressed up because it’s not a date.I got there right at 8:30 and Owen was already at the bar. I let out a breath, shaking away the nerves as I walked over.
~~~
An hour and a couple of beers later, we had been talking the whole time and I was feeling a little bold when I said: “So, did you really just ask me for a beer to hang out? I thought you didn’t hang out with people, Owen?” I smirked.“I wanted to make sure you were okay after Echo got out…” he answered.“Thank you, but I am okay. No need to worry about me.” I smiled, taking a sip of my beer.“Alright, well, then, I like you…” he paused, I felt my heart flutter with excitement. Did he really just say that? “You’re pretty cool.” he drank his beer, still acting relaxed and cool. I bit my lip, shaking off the nerves.“So, if you’re interested in me, why did it take you so long for you to ask me out?” I asked curiously.“Just needed to find a good excuse,” he shrugged. I raised my brows, not truly convinced that that was the only reason why. There was more to it, I could tell. He looked at me and sighed. “Truthfully?” I nodded. “I was worried you’d say yes.”“Why would you be worried about that?” Now I was confused.“Because you’re different.” he said, looking away from me. “I’m different?” I asked.“Different from everyone else on this damn island. Nobody wants a relationship, even me. I didn’t want our date to end the way all of the other ones end.” he looked down at his beer.“How are you going to know how it ends if you never gave it a chance to happen? If I’m so different, why should it end the same way as the others?” I asked.“You got me there,” Owen shrugged, taking another sip of his beer.“Tell you what. You tell me how your last dates went and we’ll do something completely different.” I suggested.“They all ended in my bungalow, which wasn’t really a bad ending. I’m hoping that’s where our night will lead us.” he winked. I smirked, of course he couldn’t resist adding the charm.“Maybe this time it’ll end up in mine.” I was feeling bold, but I was slightly joking.“I like the sound of that.” he smirked.I laughed, shaking my head. “Obviously, I’m kidding. That’s exactly what we don’t want to happen. So, let’s do something exciting.” I smiled.Owen looked at me cautiously. “Like what?”I thought, then my eyes lit up. “You ever ride in a gyrosphere at night?” “No. You could probably get in a lot of trouble for that, too.” he was so serious about it.I raised my brows, “Of all the things I would have thought, I’d never peg you as a ‘follow the rules’ type of guy.”“I just think of all the things that could go wrong.” he shrugged.“Oh come on. Like what?” I asked.“It could easily break and you could become dinner for a Carnotaurus.”“Well, it hasn’t happened to anyone yet, come on!” I said as I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.“Keyword: yet.”I laughed and shook my head, choosing to ignore his last comment. We were going in a damn gyrosphere and there was no way around it.
~~~
The only way my gyrosphere plan was going to work was if I had Lowery in the control room and that’s where he just so happened to be. He told me the other day that he had to do a late shift in the control room, which meant he was the only one on for the night to make sure things in the park were running smoothly. So all I had to do was persuade him to let me take one out and we were good to go.Except he rarely breaks the rules, so I had to have a pretty good argument or I’d have to bribe him and the bribe sounded a hell of a lot easier.I had Owen wait outside, knowing that if Lowery saw him, it was all over. I already know how he feels about Owen and I doubt that’d change if he sees us together.I told the security guard that I was just bringing Lowery something, so he let me through. “Hey little brother, I brought you something.” I said as I walked over. “Oh hey!” He was looking down at his phone when I put a white paper bag on the table. “Is it food?” He asked excitedly. “Smells like pizza…”“Right on the money!” I handed him the bag.“Thanks Lise, I needed this.” He said as he took a bite, sighing at the taste.“I also brought you something else,” I held up a chocolate chip muffin and his eyes lit up. “Only if you do me a favor…”“What kind of favor?” He asked suspiciously.“Let me take one of the gyrospheres out for an hour or so…”“What?! Are you crazy? I can’t let you do that!”“Oh, come on, Lucy and I wanna do something exciting and fun!” I resorted to begging.“No way, wait until it’s open at 9am and I’ll give you free wristbands.” He said. I held up the muffin and raised my brows. “I’m not going to let you go out in the gyrosphere after hours for a muffin…” he said, going to take a bite of his pizza, but I grabbed it before he could.“Fine, then you don’t get to eat,” I said, knowing very well I was being extremely petty and childish, but nothing got between Lowery and food.“This is a bribe...” he trailed off, “Are you kidding me?” He looked at the food, his mouth basically watering. “Dammit. Fine, you have 1 hour and you better be back in.” He said.“Yes! Thanks, Low!” I hugged him from behind and left. I smiled when I met Owen outside. He didn’t think I’d be able to convince Lowery and his face said it all. “We have 1 hour!”“The muffin really worked?” He asked in disbelief.“I have my ways. Now we just have to get there…” I trailed off, not thinking that part through. “I have my bike,” Owen offered. “If you think you can handle it.” He smirked.“Of course I can handle it, let’s go!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
We got to the gyrospheres about 10 minutes later and I had to admit, I was a little nervous to be on the back of that bike. I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle before, but I sure as hell didn’t tell him that. I didn’t want him to think I was a wimp.Lowery had turned the gyrospheres on by the time we got there, all I had to do was press the green button and get inside and we were good to go. I wondered if Lowery had been watching on the security camera that was right at the entrance of the gyrosphere because if so, he’d see I was in fact not with Lucy and I was with Owen. I didn’t get a call, so I figured I was in the clear.“You scared?” I asked with a smirk as we put our seatbelts on.“Me?” he scoffed. “I’m not scared of anything.” I just smirked as we started to move. The outside of the gyrosphere was illuminated and there were headlights, so we could see pretty far in front of us. I’d been on the gyrosphere during the day and it was pretty cool, but it was different at night. Dinosaurs were mostly asleep and I was being careful with my steering so that when I saw some sleeping, I’d go the other way. I didn’t want to intrude on them or scare them. Every time we saw a dinosaur, I would say the names of each one, even though I was pretty sure he knew what all of them were.“You really know your dinosaurs,” Owen commented.“I have to for my job, but I knew about some dinosaurs before I came here, but there are also so many I didn’t know about until I got here. Most of them look almost completely different from the ones in the books I had when I was a kid.”“They alter them to make them appear scarier and more appealing to the eye. My raptors are supposed to be the size of a turkey,” he said and I nodded.“Yes, and have feathers. Almost all real dinosaurs do. I was completely obsessed when I was a kid, countless amounts of books. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was 8, I’d say a paleontologist.” I said, riding upon three fully grown apatosaurus’ grazing trees a few yards ahead of us, so I stopped there to watch.“Why didn’t you?” he asked.“Well, I love animals. I grew up with so many. It was also more attainable.” I shrugged. “10 years of school is more attainable?” he raised his brows in disbelief.I laughed, “It was only 7, but actually yes. The job outlook for paleontologists is not as good as veterinarians, besides, paleontology isn’t just about dinosaurs… what about you? Did you always want to be a raptor trainer?” I asked with a small smile. He could have totally wanted to be a raptor trainer if he heard about Jurassic Park when he was younger. He’s 32 now, so he would have been 8 at the time of it happening.“Considering that job didn’t exist 20 years ago, no. My dad was a navy general and both of my brothers went into the navy, so that’s what I knew I’d do after high school. But I did always have an innate curiosity about animals and their behaviors.”“What’d you do in the navy?”“I did a few different things. In the beginning, I was an aviation rescue swimmer and diver, then I switched to construction and when I got tired of that, I went into animal behaviors. I trained dolphins for the last 5 years that I was there.”“Then you came here?” I asked. He nodded, “InGen offered me a job in their security sector. Initially, it was to observe and research the behaviors of the raptors, but it evolved into so much more. We learned they could take command and follow orders. Especially if they had one they all looked up to.”“Blue.” I smiled. Owen nodded. “It’s incredible, really. How you’re able to train them… and you do such an amazing job. Your bond is so strong, it’s easy to tell that you love and respect them and that the love and respect is returned.”“I just wish other people would see it that way too. They’re living and breathing. They’re not a serial number or an attraction, or an asset.” he said, looking down.I shook my head, “Well, whoever sees them that way are dicks.” Owen chuckled, “Tell me about it.”After that, we drove around observing the dinosaurs and nothing bad happened like Owen cautioned. We did, however, see a Carnotaurus that was sleeping and that was a cute sight. By the time we got back to Owen’s bike, it was nearing 11:30 pm.“So, where to now?” Owen asked, sitting on his bike and leaning an arm on the handlebar casually.“Hmmm… well I heard there’s a meteor shower tonight, but that starts at 1 am, don’t suppose you’d want to stay up for that?” I asked, hopeful he’d say ‘yes’. I didn’t really want this night to be over because I was having a lot of fun.“Sounds good to me. I have the perfect spot that we can watch from,” he offered, handing me the helmet. I smiled, took it and put it on before getting on the bike.
~~~
Well, we may have decided at the beginning of the date that we wouldn’t end up at his bungalow, but we did. It was the perfect place to watch the meteor shower. He had such a beautiful view. It was right on the ocean and we were lucky the sky was clear.We opened a bottle of tequila, set up blankets outside and waited for it to start. I knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to do and had he tried anything, I might have given in, but he didn’t. The whole night. There were a couple of moments where he totally could have kissed me and part of me was begging him to, but he avoided it. I remember watching part of the meteor shower, then Owen was driving me home on his bike. Only, he didn’t drop me off at my apartment complex, he dropped me off at an abandoned building. I turned around to tell him this wasn’t right, but he was already driving away.I looked around. I was in the middle of the forest, animals were shrieking and making noises. Then I heard a growling noise behind me. I turned around slowly and came face to face with a Velociraptor. I was shaking, it was unlike any Velociraptor I had seen before, this one looked angry and it snapped at me, so I ran. I ran straight for the abandoned building that was covered in vines and pulled open the dusty door and ran into the darkness. I found a random room and closed the door. I was out of breath, I felt like I could barely breathe and I was starting to panic. I heard the Velociraptor walk past the room, clicking its nail against the ground as it thought. I waited a few minutes until I thought the coast was clear and I opened the door and the Velociraptor was inches away from my face. It growled and my eyes widened. With every step I took back, she took a step forward. She was crouching, her claws spread out, her mouth open. Then she lept at me and I screamed, turning my head away, bracing for the pain that would come next.“Alise!” I heard Owen’s voice pull me out. I opened my eyes, trying to push him away as I cried out. “Shhh, shhh. It’s okay, just breathe,” he said, grabbing me and holding me close to his chest. “It was just a dream.”I let out a shaky breath, my breathing tried to steady itself. I buried my head into his shoulder, his shirt soaking in the tears that had fallen during my nightmare. His arms wrapped around me helped me calm down and when I was calm enough, I pulled back.“Wanna tell me what happened?” he asked, concerned.I sighed, “It’s just… after what happened with Echo… I’ve had a couple of nightmares of a Velociraptor attacking me, but it’s none of the girls. It’s like there’s a raptor on the island that isn’t in captivity and it finds me, no matter where I am. I can’t get away from it. It’s like it’s hunting me. Whenever it finds me, it…” I looked down as my mind flashed back to when she got me and the screams I omitted in my nightmares, it was gruesome.“Hey,” he said, putting a finger under my chin, I looked up at him. “They’re all in captivity. You have nothing to worry about. I won’t let anything happen to you, alright?”I nodded, looking around. We were inside his bungalow on the couch and the lights were on. I looked down at my phone. “Wow, it’s already 3:30…”“You should just stay.” Owen offered, I figured he didn’t really want to drive after being asleep for a couple of hours. “No funny business… unless if you want some.” he smirked.I rolled my eyes, “As hard as that is to pass that up,” I admitted honestly, “We don’t want to do that, remember?” I laughed.“Then let’s go back to sleep,” he said, pulling me back down into his chest.I smiled, “Goodnight Owen.”“Goodnight Alise.” his groggy voice said before I slowly drifted off to sleep again.
~~~
I woke up the next morning to the sunlight shining through the window. I squinted my eyes and looked around Owen’s bungalow as the memories of last night came flooding in. I sat up on the couch, my head hurt a little bit and I remembered just how much I had to drink.“Mornin’ sleepy head,” Owen said as he stood in the doorway of his bedroom. I raised my brows when I noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt, so his six-pack was on full display. And I liked what I saw… a lot. “Like what you see?” he smirked. I realized I had been staring and it was like he read my mind.“Oh shut up and put on a shirt,” I shook my head, rolling my eyes. Owen chuckled as he disappeared into his room. I grabbed my phone and looked at the time: 8:07 am. “You have work today?” he asked, emerging from his room with a dark blue t-shirt that said N.A.V.Y on it.“Nope, I’m free all day. You?” “Me too. I just gotta drop off something for Barry at the enclosure, but I figured I could do that when I take you home,” he said. I nodded, realizing I was still in my clothes from last night and my breath probably smelled like tequila and I probably looked a little hungover, which I knew was not a good look.“Yeah, I should probably get home…” as much as I didn’t want to. It would have been nice to spend a little more time with him.“You ready now?” he asked, I nodded. “Let’s go.”
~~~
We arrived at the raptor enclosure about 10 minutes later. We got off the bike and a man was walking over to us. I had seen him around here a few times before, but from what Owen has told me, I gathered that he was his boss, Hoskins.“Is this your little flavor of the night?” Hoskins smirked. I raised my brows in disbelief as Owen walked over to him, squaring up to him.“You better shut your mouth right now,” he spoke sternly.“Oh, did I let your little secret slip?” Hoskins asked, smirking as he looked over at me. “I can think of something dirty and little… and it’s definitely not anything of Owen’s.” I said, glancing down to insinuate that I was talking about his dick.Owen smirked and Hoskins’ face dropped as he looked from me, then to Owen. “Are you gonna let her talk to me that way?”“Hell yeah, I am.” Owen nodded.Hoskins paused, “Well, you’re gonna regret that. Who is your supervisor?” he asked me.Owen stepped between us. “That’s none of your business.”“It’s gonna be.” Hoskins threatened.“Don’t you have someone else to annoy?” Owen asked, clearly irritated. So was I. This guy was just an asshole with nothing better to do.“Just get me your paperwork. I want it by the end of the day,” he said before walking off.“Just a bunch of empty threats.” Owen shook his head.“Wow, he’s a dick.” I said.Owen nodded, “Yeah, he is. Raptors don’t like him either. They’re a good judge of character.” he said. I nodded in agreement, I would trust the raptors judgment calls, especially if they didn’t like Hoskins. “I’m gonna go give these to Barry, then we’ll head out,” he said before he walked into the building attached to the enclosure. I waited by the bike until he returned. “Hey, you hungry? Why don’t we go get breakfast before I drop you off?” he asked.I smiled, that would be perfect. But then I remembered that my breath probably stunk and the heat was starting to get to me.“I would, but I’m still dressed for 68-degree weather and it’s nearing 80…” I trailed off.“Oh, right.” he seemed disappointed, it was kind of cute.“But, you could come over and I’ll cook breakfast? I make a mean omelet.” I smiled.“That could work too.” Owen smiled, looking more hopeful as he started up the bike. I smiled and put my helmet back on and we were off.
~~~
“Well, our night did end in your bungalow, but aside from that, was it different than the others?” I asked, bringing 2 plates freshly cooked omelets to the table, placing one in front of him.“Completely different.” he nodded, grabbing a knife and cutting into it.“Good, so my job’s done.” I laughed, taking a bite of the omelet. “So, we’ll have to do something different on our next date then… to keep it going…” I offered, hoping it would catch on that I did, in fact, want a second date. There was no doubt that I wanted it, I just hoped he felt the same way.“Yeah, but I got a few things up my sleeve that I think you’re gonna like, so leave it up to me,” he said, taking a bite. “This is really good.”“Thanks,” I blushed. “So, any spoilers?” I smirked.“Nope, you’ll have to wait to find out.” he said, taking another bite and washing it down with orange juice. I smiled. I couldn’t help the little butterflies in my stomach that I got because I was excited to see what our next date was going to be.
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After much debating with myself and a phone call to my best friend Aspen, I decided that I had to tell Lowery about my date with Owen, especially because we had another one planned for tomorrow, which was 5 days after our first date. I’ve put it off for this long, I figured I couldn’t wait anymore. I sure as hell didn’t want him to find out through someone else or god forbid he caught us on a camera because apparently, he’s always watching. I’ve had him be like: “I saw you over by the T-Rex paddock earlier, everything okay with her?” and I said “If you can see everything, wouldn’t you already know? Why are you stalking me?” with a look on my face that could kill. He said he wasn’t purposefully watching me - he just so happened to catch me on the cameras here and there. Of course, I called him a stalker because it seems intentional. Regardless of his excuse, I don’t think it’s always an accident. I still think he’s trying to keep tabs on me, but that’s another story.I decided to have him over that night for dinner and I made my special brownies from scratch that he loves. (Not that kind of “special”). I figured food and sweets would help soften the blow. I had an idea of how he’d react and that reaction wasn’t going to be all hugs and smiles.“God, Claire is so frustrating sometimes!” I heard Lowery exclaim from the living room as I cut the brownies into squares.“What’d she do this time?” I called back. Lowery complained about his boss, Claire, quite a few times before. She’s very by the book, organized and a little patronizing, something I figure you have to have to be in order to succeed as the Park Operations Manager. It had to of been a stressful job, I can barely manage the other assistants in my office, let alone an entire park. “She’s giving me a problem about going home next month, she says someone else requested the time off and I requested this time off over 3 months ago and she’s just telling me this now,” he said, I could hear the frustration in his voice. “That’s frustrating. Maybe she didn’t check the schedule or something, I don’t think she’s purposefully barring you from going home for the hell of it. You’d have to be a real dick to do that.” I said, putting the brownies on a plate.“You don’t know Claire Dearing the way I do.”“Well, I’ve never met her, so I really can’t say.” I said, walking into the living room with a plate full of brownies, hoping it would distract him.“Yes!” he exclaimed, taking one off the plate and eating it whole. I raised my brows. “These are amazing, Lise. You’re the best.” he was basically having a foodgasm.“Don’t have an orgasm.” I laughed.“Fuck you.” he sneered. I laughed, then remembered why we were here in the first place. No more messing around. I had to get down to business, there was no more putting it off.“So…” I sighed, finally working up the courage to say something. “I’m going to tell you something because I don’t want to keep things from you. But you have to promise me you won’t get mad… or do that weird stutter, nostril flare thing where your face gets red like a cherry tomato.”“I don’t do that, what are you talking about?” he defended, seeming highly offended.“Yes you do,” I said, sighing. Normally I’d be ready to argue with him, as we usually do as brother and sister. “But that’s beside the point…” I shook my head, letting out a breath. God, why was this so hard to say? Normally I could tell Lowery anything.“Tell me already!” he exclaimed.“Fine. Owen and I went out on a date…” I gave him a look, praying he wouldn’t get mad. His face fell. “You-you went on a date with Owen Grady?” he stuttered through gritted teeth. He already did the stutter so the nostril flare and cherry tomato were next, but he took a deep breath, trying to control it. I nodded, “Yes.”“When?” he asked sternly. “A few days ago, why?” I downplayed it a little. I didn’t exactly want him to know I’d been sitting on this for 5 days.“So I can go back and time and kick him in the balls.” He said seriously.“Lowery!” I snapped, hitting his arm. “And that wouldn’t have stopped him anyway,” I added, insinuating something that I knew wasn’t true. It was to lighten the mood and to get under his skin just a tad more. I’m so mean to him, but I couldn’t help it.“Alise!” he scolded.“I’m kidding,” I laughed. “Why are you like this? What is it about Owen that makes him so bad? He’s not who you think he is…”“I know guys like Owen. I’ve been friends with guys like Owen. Hell, I was Owen,” he began. I just raised my brows at him and squinted, cocking my head to the right. There was no way I believed that Lowery had ever been the “Owen” he’s thinking about. “In college,” he admitted with his head down. I still wasn’t buying it and my facial expression said it all. “Okay, I did it once and I still feel terrible about it. She was so sweet and I was a dick, but that’s beside the point. I already told you my problem with him and the last thing I want him to do is date my sister.”“I get that, but you can’t control it. It’s happening whether you like it or not. I’ve known my fair share of the Owen’s you’re talking about and I’ve been hurt by them before. Owen isn’t the man you think he is. There’s so much more to him. If you give him a chance, I’m sure you’ll see that too.” I said, hoping he would give in and see things from my perspective.He sighed after what seemed like an internal debate, “Fine… as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.” “Aww, thanks Low,” I hugged him and he rubbed my back.“Can I still kick him in the balls?” I pulled away, smacking his arm again. “No, you can’t.”“Fine, then I’m eating another brownie.” he shrugged, settling for that as he shoved one in his mouth. I laughed, shaking my head. That didn’t go as bad as I thought it would.
~~~
The next day I was supposed to have the day off, but Dr. Collier texted me at 9 am telling me I need to be in the office at 1 pm for a meeting with higher-ups. I’ve been in meetings before, but they were just with the entire vet team, including the doctors and assistants. I’ve never had to have a meeting with higher-ups before, so it was a pretty big deal.I arrived at the conference room a little early, figuring that the last thing I wanted to do was be late. That doesn’t send a very good message to the higher-ups. No one was there yet, so I waited outside.“Always timely, Dr. Cruthers.” I heard Dr. Collier’s voice as he walked over his Dr. Sanchez. Since I’ve been out of training, Dr. Collier switches between calling me “Dr. Cruthers” and Alise, usually when the other doctors or assistants are around he sticks with "Dr. Cruthers" because it's more formal and I knew it was more of a respect thing. I smiled at both of them. “Hope we didn’t ruin your day off dragging you in here.”“Not at all…” they walked past me and into the conference room, so I followed suit.“We’re in for it today,” Dr. Sanchez sighed, sitting down. I gave him a confused look.“It’s about the SM3 virus.” Dr. Collier explained.SM3 virus is just a fancy name for the viral infection that’s been going around with the dinosaurs that’s similar to smallpox, which can be deadly in dinosaurs just as much as humans. We just came up with the name a week ago after I diagnosed a Pteranodon with it. Since I’ve started working here about 3 months ago there has only been 1 case of SM3. “A Pteranodon that was diagnosed by you last week died last night and so did a Stegosaurus that was diagnosed hours before her passing. We’ve had 3 more cases in the last week.” Dr. Sanchez explained further. “I thought we had it under control?” I asked, a little surprised.“Not as much as we thought.” Dr. Collier said, right as Mark and Olivia made their way into the conference room, along with Dr. Sanchez’s assistants, Margo and Ed. A few other people that I didn’t recognize walked in the room and took their seats, then a woman with orange, bob cut hair with straight across bangs walked in. She was standing up straight and confidently and looked like she meant business. I subconsciously sat up straighter just seeing her.“Hello Dr. Collier, Dr. Sanchez.” the woman said as she shook both of their hands. I recognized her from somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Ms. Dearing.” Dr. Collier nodded his head. “Right, so I’m Claire, Parks Operations Manager and I trust you all know why I’m here.” she sat down directly across from me. Claire Dearing, Park Operations Manager, and Lowery’s boss. It all made sense now.“SM3 virus, yes?” Dr. Sanchez said, Claire nodded.“My job is to make sure the park is running smoothly and I hear about a viral infection going around that has killed 2 dinosaurs in the past week and there are 3 more cases since then. This is not acceptable.” she sounded angry, which was misplaced because it’s not like it was our fault.“We believe that the virus goes undetected for weeks, months even, until the dinosaur is showing all of the symptoms. We haven’t had much time to do research on the infection, like how it spreads, seeing as it’s just presented itself recently. All we know are the symptoms it carries and that allows for diagnosis.” Dr. Collier explained.“You need to get this under control. If you need a bigger team to figure out what is going on with the attractions, then so be it. Bring more people in, more experienced people,” she glanced at me, Mark, Olivia, Margo, and Ed - all of the assistants. Well, that was a little rude. I tried not to take it personally as she continued, “We can’t have the assets dying on a weekly basis because of some infection you don’t know anything about.”“We will get right on it.” Dr. Sanchez said.“I need to know your game plan,” Claire said.“We’re going to do screenings on every dinosaur who has presented any such symptoms, catch it early on and make sure the infection can no longer be spread. We’re going to figure out a treatment for the infection and figure out if it’s something that requires a vaccine.” Dr. Collier said.“I need to be updated with the progress of this. We can’t afford to have any more of the assets dying because of this infection.” Claire said, standing up. I couldn’t help but cringe at the word “assets” when referring to the dinosaurs. They weren’t just “assets”, they’re living and breathing animals.“We will keep you updated, of course.” Dr. Sanchez assured her.Claire nodded. “Thank you for your time. I’ll be hearing from you soon I hope.” and with that, she left. The 3 other people that came with her left as well.I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in until she left. Wow, she was intimidating as hell.Dr. Sanchez sighed, I could tell he wanted to make a further comment, but he refrained. He had a sense of humor and I would have expected him to crack a joke, but he knew how serious this was.“Okay, so here’s the game plan…” Dr. Collier began.The plan was basically to start screenings right away and get that part over with, then we’d worry about the other steps after that. Thankfully, they let me go after that and I was back home by 2 pm, just in time to get ready for my date with Owen and he was picking me up at 3:30.
~~~
“Wow, this is beautiful,” I said as I looked around.We were standing in front of a beautiful waterfall. It was peaceful and the rushing water wasn’t too loud. There were patches of flowers along the shoreline and a clearing in between the flowers and trees, right where we were standing. “I’m surprised there are no tourists…” I said. “That’s because they don’t know it’s here.” Owen replied. It was pretty secluded, but there was a dirt path that led right to it, so we were able to take Owen’s bike here.“You’ve been living here for 2 years, right? I’m sure you’ve explored quite a bit.”“I know a few spots. Maybe I’ll show ‘em to you sometime.” he said.I smiled, “I’d like that.”“I also brought some food…” he said, opening the bike seat as he pulled out a bag.“So, like a picnic? Wow, I never pegged you as a romantic type of guy. Is there wine, too?” I asked with a smirk.“Nope, but I got this.” he said, holding up a bottle of tequila. I laughed, that’s probably about as romantic as Owen Grady gets.“If you start on the tequila now, how do you suppose we’ll get home?” I raised my brows. He put it back.“Then it’s something to look forward to when we go back to my bungalow.” he said with a sly smirk.“You’re so sure of yourself. How do you know that’ll happen?” I laughed.“It happened last time, didn’t it?” he raise his own brows this time, but he still had a smirk on his face.“Right, well that wasn’t planned.”“We’ll see where the night takes us then.” He said, pulling out a blanket and we set everything up. He brought veggies and dip, a fruit salad, a pasta salad and some kind of potato salad with prosciutto that was really good. “Wow, I didn’t know you could cook so much,” I pointed out.“Truthfully, I bought these at the store.” he chuckled.“I never would have known,” I said.“Then we’ll pretend I did. I’m an amazing cook.” “I can tell, everything tastes so good.” I teased. He chuckled and smiled. “So how’s your week been? Haven’t talked much since I last saw ya.” He was right, we haven’t spoken much since our date. We had each other's numbers, but he warned me he wasn’t much of a texter. He was barely with his phone for that matter and leaves it everywhere, at his house, at the enclosure, you name it. One would think he’d be more organized than that after being in the Navy for so long.That being said, I was surprised when he texted me the next night after our date that he hoped my day went well and he can’t wait to do it again Friday. I told him my day went well and I hope the same for him and that I was excited for Friday, too. Other than that, not much has come out of it. It didn’t worry me, though. I wasn’t quite sure if that was something that should bother me.“A little stressful as of late. The Park Operations Manager is really on our case about a virus that’s going around that has the same effect on dinosaurs as smallpox has on humans. We’re trying to figure everything out, but she wants results like yesterday.” I sighed.Owen sneered, “Claire Dearing.” “How did you know?” I asked, surprised.“She’s the only Operations Manager on the island.” he shrugged.“Oh, so you know her?” I raised my brows.“I don’t really know her.” he put emphasis on the ‘really’.“But you know her?” I pushed, curious.“We went out once.” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders and biting a carrot.My eyes widened, “You and Claire? You guys are like total opposites!” I exclaimed, realizing I was probably a little too excited about this. But it was interesting, they were polar opposites. I just couldn’t see it.“Thought it’d be nice. It wasn’t. She was mad at me for wearing board shorts and she made an itinerary,” he said. Well, my hunch about her being a super organized person was correct.“And she doesn’t like tequila.” he added. Now that was probably the real problem.“That’s a big one for you.” I laughed.I felt Owen’s eyes on me, “I’m glad you like tequila.” he smirked.I squinted my eyes, “Why? Just because people get drunk off of tequila and make questionable decisions?” I asked.“You didn’t make any questionable decisions the other night. But I like when you’re drunk. You have less of a filter, then you get really embarrassed after you say something and you’re like ‘Oops, I shouldn’t have said that’ and you get all shy.” he smirked.“Shit.” was all I could say. He was right. I totally do say embarrassing stuff when I’m drunk.“I think it’s cute.” he smiled at me. I couldn’t help but smile back, and my cheeks probably turned a bright shade of red. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and picked it up. Normally I wouldn’t answer because it’s rude on a date, but it was Lowery. He knew I was on my date with Owen, but he asked me to text him where we were going earlier and I didn’t have an answer then, but he wanted to know if I knew now.“Sorry, I just have to answer this text. Lowery will freak out if I don’t, he’d think I got eaten or something.” I laughed as I answered him really quick, telling him that I was fine and safe and that’s all he was getting out of me.“You and your brother are close?” he waited until I was finished texting and I looked up at him.“Yeah, we’re only a year apart and we’ve always been close. Sure, he’s always been the annoying little brother and I don’t see him ever growing out of that, but I know he’s like that because he loves me.” I said, Owen nodded. “You said you have two brothers? How close are you?”“I’m the youngest. There’s Oliver, who’s 40 and Henry who’s 35. Oliver and I weren't that close, he was always out doin’ his own thing. He also went into the Navy when I was 10, so I didn’t really see him much. Henry and I were pretty close, though. We still are. He actually has a son named Arlo that I’m pretty close to.”“Aw, how old is he?”“He should be about 6 now. His birthday just passed in April.”“That’s so nice. I bet you’re an awesome uncle and that he loves you.” I smiled.“I try to be, you know, when I’m there.” he said, looking down. I understand that it’s hard being away from family. Heck, I’ve only been here for 3 months and I feel like I’m missing so many things back home with my family and friends. At least I have Lowery here, Owen doesn’t have anyone. Besides Barry that is.“You ever think about having kids of your own?” the thought just popped into my head. I wasn’t hinting at anything by any means, I was just curious. “Not anytime soon and definitely not on this island.” he answered, taking a sip of water.“What, you don’t want to have a little Owen running around here?” I laughed at the thought of it. I could picture a mini-Owen running around, training baby Velociraptors to do tricks. “No, because chances are, he’d be running away from something that’s hunting him.”“Good point, I didn’t think about that.” I said, taking the last bite of the pasta salad and washing it down with some water.“What about you? You want any kids?”“Definitely,” I nodded, putting the bottle down. “For sure. Eventually. But like you said, not while I’m on the island. It would be cool for my baby to see what I see, but there are just too many dangers.”“Just how long are you planning on staying on the island?”“I never really thought about long-term,” I said honestly, starting to think about it. “I guess I’d like to settle down somewhere and have kids by the time I’m 32, but that’s only 5 years away, so no longer than that. What about you?”“I’m just finishing up training with my girls and I’m out, so, another 4 to 5 years. Depending on how things go.”“What would you do after that?” I asked curiously.“I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to build a cabin.” he shrugged.“Where would you build a cabin? Back home in Missouri?” I asked. He told me he was from Bolivar, Missouri a few weeks back.“No, but someplace warm and secluded.” I nodded, “Well, you have a few years to figure it out. I always imagined myself settling down in Colorado, but since I’ve been here, the weather is completely different and as much as I do miss the snow, I could trade that for this any day.” I dipped a carrot into the dip and ate it.“So someplace tropical?” he asked, finishing up his potato salad.“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to go to California though.”“Why California?” he raised his brows.“Because when I get sick of the warm weather by the coast, I can go into the mountains and get the snow, it seems like a nice place to be.” I smiled.“That does sound pretty nice.” he nodded in agreement. He looked at his watch. “We should probably wrap this up within the next 15 minutes.” he said. I’d noticed he’d been checking the time here and there. Probably because it wasn’t safe to be out here at night. Even though the dinosaurs have their own zones and implants that will shock them, it’s still dangerous. Implants short out, like I’ve seen before and it’s not that hard for an animal to wander outside of its zone.I had been lost in thought when he said that. I had just been watching his lips move. I couldn’t help it, I’ve been wanting to kiss him since I first saw him come into the bar a couple of months ago, I just didn’t want to admit it then. I couldn’t help but think ‘what was he waiting for?’. There had been plenty of opportunities to make it happen on our last date, but I figured he was hesitant because we had been drinking and our night would have ended up just like the rest of his drunken nights with women. But now we weren’t drinking, now we were having an actual conversation and no alcohol was involved. I was getting antsy waiting, impatient even.“There’s just one more thing before we go…” I said, biting my lip. Owen looked up at me, his green eyes gleamed with curiosity. I took a breath and just went for it. I grabbed onto the back of his neck and pulled his lips to mine. I could tell he was caught off guard at first, but it only took a moment for him to return the kiss. I was careful not to show my eagerness right away and his lips were soft against mine. That all changed when he took control. His hand grabbing the back of my neck, his tongue darted out of his mouth and grazed my bottom lip. I didn’t hesitate to allow him access, parting my lips enough so he could slip his tongue inside. I ran my fingers through his hair as our tongues fought for dominance. It was like all of the pent-up sexual tension that has been building for the past two months was being released into the kiss. It grew more passionate, more hungry as the seconds passed. He pushed the containers of food to the side with his other hand, not paying attention to the spilled food on the blanket as he grabbed my waist and pulled me to my knees. I was quick to catch on and I straddled his waist, the kiss growing deeper. His hands moved from my waist and to my ass as he pulled my body flush against his and I still wanted more.We pulled away reluctantly as we both took a breath of much-needed air.“Wanna finish this in my bungalow?” he smirked, his hands wrapped around my waist. I raised my brows, looking down into his emerald eyes that were so magnetic, they were just pulling me in. Instead of responding, I grabbed his face and crashed my lips into his. “I’ll take that as a yes?” he chuckled, pulling away slightly. I hummed a response against his lips, kissing him hungrily one more time before getting off of him so we could quickly pack everything up and get back to his bungalow as quick as possible.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I woke up the next morning to the sound of Owen’s heartbeat. My head was on his bare chest, his arm was wrapped around my shoulders and my palm lay flat on his abdomen. I saw Owen move his free arm, scratching his head out of the corner of my eye. I tilted my head up, seeing that he was wide awake. When he realized I looked up, he looked down at me.“You woke up just in time.” he smiled.“Just in time for what?” I asked groggily as I yawned. Owen nodded his head towards the window of his bedroom and I looked over. It was a picturesque view of the sunrise, the sun slowly allowing more light to the world as the seconds passed.“Wow, it’s beautiful.” I whispered in the silence.“Yeah. I love watching it in the morning.” he said, his voice hoarse. I glanced at the time on the nightstand clock: 6:03 am. “Why are you even awake so early?” I laughed a little. It was a reasonable question, he was wide awake at 6 am and looks like he’s been up for quite some time.“Internal body clock. 12 years of waking up before dawn in the Navy programmed into me is a hard thing to kick.” “So you’re up every day with the sun?” I asked, not able to hold back my yawn.“For the most part. I do tend to fall back asleep some of the time though. You can go back to sleep, I see you’re tired.” he said.I smiled, “You don’t have to tell me twice.” I laughed lightly, putting my head back down on his chest, letting his heartbeat and steady breath lull me back to sleep.
~~~
My stomach grumbled as my nose filled with the wonderful smell of bacon before my eyes fluttered open. I was laying on my stomach, my head on the pillow Owen had his head on earlier and my hand resting on the empty mattress.The curtains were drawn, unlike earlier when we watched the sunrise. The bedroom door was wide open and the smell of bacon was taking over. I glanced at the time on the nightstand: 8:10 am. I saw Owen’s shirt on the bed next to me, so I put that on, figuring it’s more comfortable than my clothes from last night.I walked out of the room, the sound of bacon sizzling and the faint noise of Owen softly singing to himself as he stood in the kitchen by the stove in shorts and no shirt. That sight alone made my morning. “Mornin’ sleepy head,” Owen said as he looked back at me. I barely made any noise and he still managed to hear me. He’d mentioned how he had hypersensitive hearing and I was beginning to notice it.“Mmm, is that bacon?”“Yes it is, bacon and pancakes. I didn’t have eggs.” he said.“Bacon and pancakes sound amazing right now.” I said, sitting down at the small kitchen table that already had pancakes on it. He was just putting the bacon onto a plate.“I also have fresh strawberries, I know how you love those,” he said, bringing both the plate of bacon and the bowl of freshly cut strawberries over. I smiled at the fact that he remembered that I had once said that I loved fresh strawberries.“This looks so good and smells delicious.” I said, my mouth watering as I stuck my fork in a pancake and slid it on to the empty plate in front of me. The only thing that would make this perfect was coffee, which I saw a mug placed right next to my plate. I sighed happily, adding some sugar and blowing on it lightly before taking a sip. It was the perfect temperature. Owen chuckled as he sat across from me while I worked on cutting up the pancakes. “My shirt looks good on you.” he said, taking a bite of bacon.I blushed, “It was the first thing I saw. More comfortable than my clothes.” I shrugged, pouring the maple syrup onto my pancakes before taking a bite. They were amazing. Better pancakes than I could ever make and I was pretty good at making pancakes.“I especially like when you don’t wear pants with it.” he smirked.“Of course you do.” I laughed.“Because you have such a cute butt.” he grinned.“Shut up and eat your bacon.” I said, rolling my eyes. He chuckled and grinned even more before taking a bite of his bacon. “So, I was thinking we could stop by and see the girls before I drop you off?” he asked. I knew he was talking about the raptors.“Sounds perfect.” I smiled.
~~~
We got to the enclosure around 10 am. After we finished breakfast as he was bringing our plates to the sink and I said that he had a cute butt too and that he’d look better without any pants. One thing lead to another and we were both tangled in the sheets, we finally got out of the house by 9:50 am.Owen and I got off his bike and walked over to the holding area where Barry was strapping Echo into her the metal harness, the other three girls already hooked up. I could tell it was Echo because she had a scar across her face, which Owen told me was there because Blue and Echo once fought for dominance about a year ago and Blue won, but Echo was left with a permanent scar and a dislocated jaw as a result. Her jaw healed up on its own, but the scar was forever. It made sense after he told me that because Echo was always reluctant to listen to Blue but usually gave in eventually.“Do you have to be home anytime soon?” Owen asked me as we walked over.“I have to be at work at 2, so I’d like to be home by 12.” I said.He nodded, “Wanna watch us do a scent drill?” he asked.“Sure, that’ll be cool!” I said. I’ve never watched them do a scent drill before, but from what Owen has told me about it in the past, it sounds really interesting.“I thought you were gonna be here at 9.” was Barry’s greeting when Owen and I walked into the holding area. He had a small smile on his face, indicating that he was just busting Owen’s chops.“We were a little busy this morning. Didn’t get out until 9:45.” Owen smirked. Barry chuckled, catching onto what Owen was insinuating. I rolled my eyes.“Charlie wants you,” Barry said, looking at Owen. “She’s been chirping ever since you got out of the car.”“What does this silly girl want?” Owen laughed, walking over. He put his hand on her head and she shook against the cage, seeming annoyed. “Whoa, whoa…” he observed her reaction and studied her face. Then he looked at me. “I think she wants you.” he said.I raised my brows, “Me? Why?” I asked in shock. Why would Charlie ever want to see me?“We’ll find out.” Owen shrugged. I walked over and put my hand on Charlie’s head. She immediately let out a chirp and started purring. “She recognizes you. She knows you made her leg better.” I looked at him in shock, “How would she know it was me? She was sedated every time?” “She probably saw you before she went out and she can pick up your scent, even when she’s asleep. The girls probably communicated with her about you too.”“They were probably like “this is the bitch that knocked you out and went poking around in your leg”.” I laughed to myself, still petting Charlie’s leathery skin as she was still purring from my touch.“They must not have because she really likes you.”“She’s so sweet.” I said. Owen smiled at me.“You ready to do the drill?” Barry asked.“Let’s do it.” Owen nodded. I smiled and watched them do their thing. I gathered that a scent drill was basically hide and go seek, where Owen would have them smell something and then hide it in the enclosure somewhere for them to find. They did it a few times, Blue getting to it the first two times and Delta finding it the last time.Owen got me home by 12 and I got ready before work. I knew today was going to be a long day and that was confirmed when I went in and saw the appointments I had set up for the day. Screenings for the virus were still underway and it looked like I was the one finishing them up.
~~~
Well, work was exhausting. I didn’t get home last night until 11:30 pm. We only had 2 more diagnoses of the viral infection after screening over 100 dinosaurs, which wasn’t necessarily bad. It could have been worse. We put them into quarantine to see what else we could do for them to limit their pain while waiting for the infection to run its course and to prevent them from passing away.I was surprised to see a text from Owen that came in about an hour ago.
Hope your day went well.
It was short, simple and to the point. Very Owen. I texted back, not expecting a reply anytime soon.
It was a looong day. I just got home actually. Tired and in need of a drink lol
I walked into my bathroom and got ready for a shower. I needed to get all the dust and smell of dinos off of me. I was surprised when I got a text back just a minute later.
Well I would ask for if you wanna meet for a drink, but you said you’re super tired.
I smiled and answered.
And normally I’d say yes, but I have to be at work tomorrow at 9 am so I’m ready for bed lol
I put my phone on the sink counter and began to brush the dust out of my hair as I waited, hopeful for a quick reply before I had to get in the shower. I waited about 5 minutes and didn’t get one, so I figured he was busy doing something, so I hopped in the shower anyway. I got out 20 minutes later, taking a little longer than I needed to because I was so relaxed soaking in the steam and warmth of the water. I looked at my phone, noticing a text that was sent 15 minutes ago and then one that was sent 5 minutes ago, both from Owen.The first one read: More fun with the dinos, bright and early. I bet you’re going to be drinking lots of coffee for that one.The second one read: You’ve probably gone to sleep, so goodnight and sleep well. Talk to you tomorrow.I smiled, for not being much of a texter, he was texting quite a lot, I guess that was a good sign.
~~~
As Owen predicted, I needed 2 cups of coffee before I even got out of the house, Owen texted me right as I was on the shuttle at 8:35, saying: Good morning sleepy head, you on that caffeine high yet?I smiled and answered: 2 cups in. Goin for more when I get to work.He responded back a minute later: Hope it helps for the day. I’m about to head out to see my raptors. We both have a busy day ahead of us it seems.I smiled, texting back: Seems like it! Have fun with the girls!He texted back less than a minute later this time: I will. You have a good day too, I hope to hear from you about how it went later. To which I answered: You’ll get the full report lolHe answered seconds later: I’ll look forward to it :)I smiled as I got out of the car and headed straight for the cafe for that third cup of coffee that would definitely be needed today. I would probably even need a drink by the end of the day as well, so I texted Lucy to see if she’d meet me at Three Horns right after my shift and thankfully, she could.Of course, Lucy’s first question was about my date with Owen and said: “tell me everything!”. I didn’t tell her everything, but I told her the majority of what happened, keeping the juicy details to myself.“Hey ladies. What’s up?” Lachlan asked as he walked over to our us, putting three shots on the table.“Hey, Lach. Not much, just girl talk.” I smiled at Lucy. “What’d you bring us?”“It’s tonight’s special. Big Fat Elvis.”“What’s in that?” Lucy asked, confused by the light brown, creamy texture of the shot.“I have no fucking idea, but it’s amazing!” he said, knocking his head back, letting out a satisfied, “Ah!”Lucy gave me a hesitant look.“It’s just bacon whiskey and peanut butter amaretto. I’ve never had it.” I shrugged, taking the shot. It wasn’t half bad. Lucy drank the shot and pulled a face and I laughed. She wasn’t much of a drinker.“We missed you last night, Lise. The party was a rager!” Lachlan said, referring to the party he had at his apartment last night. I was kind of happy I wasn’t there, to be honest, it was just a bunch of people getting drunk and playing party games, that was stuff I did in college. I’m over it at 28. “Alise was on her date with Owen.” Lucy smirked.“You finally get that D?” Lachlan smirked at me.“Yes, actually, I did.” I admitted, taking a sip of my beer with a smirk.“Oh wow, you didn’t tell me about that. Do tell!” Lucy exclaimed.“And I’m out. You ladies enjoy that conversation.” Lachlan said before walking away. I laughed and looked at Lucy.“All I’m going to tell you is that it was really good and that man knows exactly what he’s doing. I’m not giving you any of the juicy stuff.”“Thank god. Please keep that to yourself, I was just saying that to get Lachlan out of here.” she laughed, taking a sip of her vodka and cranberry.“My lips are sealed.” I smiled as Lucy started in on the french fries, she was looking over in Lachlan’s direction. “So, is any of that in your future with Lachlan?”“Any of what?” she asked, genuinely confused.“You know… doin’ the dirty, bumpin’ and grindin’...”“I cannot believe you just said that!” Lucy blushed.I laughed, “I know. I’m embarrassed. But seriously, when are you going to get on that?”“I don’t think anytime soon.” she sounded defeated.“Why’s that?” I asked curiously, eating a couple of french fries.“Well, you see how he’s been hanging out with Amara so much?” she said, eyeing Lachlan again. Amara just so happened to be with him.“I thought that was just a fling?” I asked.“He called her his girlfriend the other day.” she looked down.“Wow, that was fast,” I thought out loud. Lachlan has never seemed like a “lock it down” kind of guy. More like a “one and done” kind of guy. “Hey, I’m sorry Luce. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem too serious.” I said, trying to make her feel better.“We’ll see.” she said, still defeated. I let out a sigh, decided I’d better change the subject as not to dwell on Lachlan anymore.
~~~
Owen texted me, around 7 saying: I hope your day went well and you didn’t die of a caffeine overdose.I laughed and texted back: My day is almost over and I survived (barely) but I’m still kicking! I met Lucy at Three Horns and we’re having a much needed drink and dinner.
Sounds like fun. Text me so I know you got home okay.
I smiled replying: Will do! Before getting back to my dinner. Lucy guessed that I was texting Owen because I couldn’t stop smiling, but I couldn’t help it. It’s what the damn man does to me! I decided it was an early night for me and I got home around 8:30 pm. I was too tired after getting out at 6 pm to do anything other than have a few drinks and eat dinner. Of course, Lachlan tried to convince me to stay out with them and Lucy gave me begging eyes as well. I felt bad leaving Lucy with Lachlan and Amara, but a girls gotta sleep. On the way home in the shuttle, I texted her a list of excuses she could use to leave, though. I think she ultimately went with the easy one that her stomach was bothering her, so she left. It made me feel a little less guilty leaving her there, knowing I had given her many ideas for an out.The second I got home, I kicked off my shoes and I texted Owen: Just walked through the door, made it in one piece. Might have had a littttle bit too much to drink but I had fun so that’s all that matters lol
Glad you made it home ok. You goin to bed now?
Not yet. I’m not tired enough. Oh! And I still have to tell you about my day!
I sent back, throwing my phone on the bed and changing into pajamas. I heard my phone vibrating and I was surprised to see Owen was calling me.“Hello?”“Hey… talking on the phone is a lot easier than texting. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”“Not at all,” I couldn’t help but smile. “Is that the only reason why you called me?”“Well, I wanted to know how your day went…”“Really? Because I think you called because you know I’m tipsy and I’ll admit more embarrassing things about myself.” I laughed.Owen chuckled, “That could be another reason,” he admitted. “But it’s also nice to hear your voice.”I blushed, biting my bottom lip, “Well, it’s nice to hear your voice too, Owen.”“Good,” he chuckled again. “So, how was your day?” he asked.We ended up staying on the phone until midnight, when I realized had to be up in 7 hours and he was probably going to be up in 5 to watch the sunrise as he usually did. We reluctantly got off the phone, the last thing I heard before I went to bed was “Sleep tight Alise, talk to you soon.”
~~~
The next morning I decided to text Lowery and ask if he wanted to get coffee at 8:15 am before both of our shifts started at 9 am.“So, what is this for? Do you need me to do something for you? Break into the control room? Let you take the Gyrospheres out after hours again?” Lowery asked suspiciously. I laughed, “No, I just wanted to see how my little brother was! Why do you always assume the worst from me?” “Because you’re a troublemaker, that’s what you do. Drive me crazy and make me cover for you.”“Well, that’s not entirely my fault. You’re the one who actually does cover for me.” I pointed out, taking a sip of my coffee.“True, I have to stop doing that.” he thought out loud.“Butttt, we both know you won’t.” I smirked. My phone buzzed in my pocket and it was a text from Owen, asking me what time I was going on lunch and if I wanted to grab some with him. I couldn’t hold back the huge smile that crept on my face.“Who’s that?” Lowery asked. I looked up.“Uh, just Owen.”“Oh, cool,” I could hear his voice fall as he looked down at his coffee. I sighed, putting the phone back in my pocket. He still wasn’t okay with us dating, I could tell. “So, how was the date?” he surprised me by asking.I raised my brows, “Why?” “I’m just trying to make conversation…” he trailed off.“Well, it went really well. He has a really nice bungalow, it’s right on the water and you can watch the sunrise right from his bedroom window, it was beautiful.” “God, Alise! I didn’t want to know that much information!” he scolded.I smirked, “You asked.”“Right, well next time don’t go into so much detail.”“I could go into more detail if you want, like how we got to his bunga-”“No, no, no, stop it. Stop it now!” Lowery covered both of his ears and I laughed.“So, you’re not gonna ask me about my dates with Owen anymore?” I asked.“Hell no,” he said, looking at his watch. “I’m gonna go throw up before work now.”I shook my head, “So dramatic.” I drank my coffee as he walked off. Now I could answer Owen and tell him lunch was on. I still got excited and there were butterflies in my stomach. I felt like a high schooler going on a date with my crush. I had to get my head into work, so I pushed it in the back of my mind, for now, still excited to see him later.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
For the past 3 months, I guess you can say that Owen and I have been in our “honeymoon phase”, that’s what Lucy calls it anyway and she brought this to my attention the other day. I’ve never really had a “honeymoon phase” in any of my past relationships before, so I didn’t really know what it was up until now. Our relationship still feels fresh and new, even though we’ve been together for quite some time. We’ve gotten to know each other so much, we see each other at least 3 to 4 times a week and when life gets super hectic it’s almost once a week, which is when the distance starts to get to me. I’d never say I was a clingy person, but it’s something about Owen that makes me miss him whenever we’re apart. He feels the same way too and I could tell he was kind of clingy too. After the nights we’d spend together, he never wanted me to get out of bed in the morning, pulling me back in for just “5 minutes of cuddles”. Boy does that man love his cuddles. I would have never expected..He’d text me saying he missed me if we hadn’t seen each other for a few days. He even admitted it to me once that he’s been clingy and that’s because he wants to spend all of his time with me (after basically pulling his teeth - he didn’t give it up freely, but that’s Owen, he doesn’t like talking about his feelings that much).We would go to the waterfall once a week if our schedules allowed it and have a picnic, we’ve even swam there a few times on a whim (and we didn’t have bathing suits so skinny dipping was a fun option and it was even more exciting knowing someone could totally stumble upon the waterfall and get a surprise of a lifetime).We’d watch movies together, we’d get lunch if our schedules lined up, I’d visit him at the enclosure and watch him train the raptors and he’d let me give them rats on occasion. Owen said they accepted me “as his mate” - which I thought was weird at first, but then he explained it to me that it was a territorial thing for them. They liked and respected me, which is why they listened when I told them to come and it wasn’t just because I had a rat in my hand. It was nice because I felt like I was being accepted by his girls - his family. Speaking of family, Lowery has gotten used to the idea of Owen and I dating (he still doesn’t dare to ask how it’s going though, after what I said last time), we’ve had dinner a few times here and there and he actually asked Owen questions to get to know him more and Owen did the same to him. They’re obviously not best friends, but apparently, they’ve texted here and there and I don’t know how I feel about that. My parents (meaning my mom and step-dad) insisted on meeting him, so they came down to visit a few weeks ago and gave him the ‘okay’, which I was happy about. I’ve dated a guy my parents didn’t like and, well, clearly that didn’t end well.I haven’t officially met his family yet, but I’ve spoken to his brother, Henry and his nephew Arlo with Owen over video chat. One time Owen’s mother insisted on talking with me when she called him and realized I was there. He was hesitant at first, but I quickly learned that’s because she is a complete over-sharer. I sure enjoyed hearing about how he’d always streak and never kept his pants on until he was like 8. Owen said his family liked me, so that’s reassuring.We’d go off the island every once in a while. We’d go to Costa Rica when we were getting antsy from staying on the island (which was mostly my idea, being on the island all the time never seems to bother Owen that much).I finally convinced him we should take a weekend trip to another country. I could tell he was a little hesitant about leaving his girls for 4 days, but Barry and I convinced him that Barry had it under control. Owen needed a break anyway. We both did.“Is this really all you’re bringing?” I asked as I pointed to his small backpack that didn’t look like it could fit 4 days worth of clothes as well as the essentials. “We’re not going away for a month. Do you really need a duffle bag and a backpack?” he asked, putting my duffle bag in the trunk of the car. “Jeez, what do you have in here, rocks?” “Just a weeks worth of outfits because I have to stay stylish. A blow dryer, a curling iron, and a straightener because I don’t know what mood I’ll be in each morning. And can’t forget my laptop and my tablet ‘cause I gotta stay connected.” I said, giving him ‘duh’ look.“Are you kiddin’ me?” “It’s hard work being a girl, Owen.” I said over dramatically with a smirk.Of course, I didn’t have that many things in there, just the essentials… but it wasn’t all a lie. I did bring my laptop and tablet, even though I probably won’t use them. Owen was probably going to make me disconnect anyway. Regardless, it’s nice to have the option.“Let me just pee really quick…” I said, putting my backpack in the passenger's seat and running inside. When I came out, Owen was sitting on the couch in the living room.“That’s everything? You don’t got a suitcase we need to get at your apartment?” Owen asked seriously.“Very funny,” I rolled my eyes. “I have everything. The boat leaves in 20 minutes so we really have to go. Like now.”“So snippy.” Owen smirked, standing up.“We wouldn’t be pressed for time if you didn’t pull me back into bed, twice.” I said, shooting him a glare.“I wouldn’t have to pull you into bed if you weren’t so anal about everything. You were too uptight. I had to loosen you up. By the sounds of it, I didn’t do a very good job. Might have to try again before we get to the boat.” he smirked at me, grabbing my waist and pulling me so my back was flush against him as his lips attached to my bare shoulder.“Owen…” I whined, “We have a boat to catch…”“So we’ll get the next one,” he shrugged, moving my hair behind my shoulder. He left a trail of open mouth kisses from my shoulder and up my neck, his beard tickling me and sending a shiver down my spine. I closed my eyes, my head tilting to the side to give him more access. He found that one spot that drove me crazy, he nipped and sucked at it.“Fuck, Owen…” I said through gritted teeth. I really wanted to catch this boat, we already missed the first one at 8 am and the next one won’t be until 11 am. That means we wouldn’t get to Costa Rica until 12 pm and then we had to pick a flight from there, so we probably wouldn’t be at our destination until mid-afternoon.Owen hummed against my neck, acting as if he wasn’t doing anything. His thumbs drew circles on my hips and his teeth continued to nip at my skin.“I hate you,” I whined, sinking into his touch and biting my lip. Owen chuckled against my skin. “Just fuck me already, Owen.” I mumbled, tugging on his hair.“Whatever you want, baby.” he chuckled, scooping me up in his arms and bringing me to the bedroom.
~~~
“So where to?” Owen asked, his arms wrapped around me from behind as we stood in the Juan Santamaria International Airport, looking at the list of flights and times on the screen.Before we decided to come on this trip, I looked at a few countries close to Costa Rica and came up with Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, and Colombia, but I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to go to. Owen had the idea to keep it exciting and just to go to the airport to pick a place that felt right and worked with our timing. “The flight to Honduras leaves in an hour and a half, or there’s one for Panama that leaves in an hour… that’d be cutting it pretty close,” I thought.“Which one do you want to go to more?” he asked, looking at me. I thought about it.“I kinda wanna go to Panama.” “We better hurry then.”“Of course now you’re the one telling us to hurry, we wouldn’t even need to be hurrying if it weren’t for you.” I smirked.“Yeah, but we were both pretty happy this morning, now weren’t we?” he grinned.I laughed and shook my head, pushing him along. “Just get in line you jerk.”
~~~
Thankfully 3 years of AP high school Spanish and 1 year in college allowed me to have an idea of where we were going according to signs. Owen knew a little bit of Spanish and spoke it better than he read it, so he left the navigation to me.We found a resort on Isla Grande and the room we were staying in was right on the beach. It was a luxury resort, so the room was beautiful. It had a California king sized bed, a TV (which I was sure we wouldn’t even be watching), a dresser, huge walk-in closet and it was a spa bathroom. The thing that really had me was the large double doors that overlooked the Caribbean ocean. It was an absolute paradise. The water was so blue, the air was so fresh. It was unreal to me.It was around 4:30 pm when we finally got there, so the first thing we did was go to get an early dinner because we were both starving. We found a cute little restaurant right on the beach. I brought a few brochures that I got from the resorts main lobby and rattled off a few ideas.“We could go snorkeling with dolphins… oh! Or we could fly a helicopter over the El Valle!” I read, beaming when I saw the last thing.“What’s an El Valeo?” He asked, taking a chip and dipping it in salsa before eating it.“El Valle,” I laughed at his mispronunciation. “It’s a volcano, look at how beautiful it is!” I showed him the picture that was in the brochure. “So I guess we’re going to fly a helicopter over it?” “Please? It’d be so cool!”“Whatever you want.” He smiled, taking a sip of his coconut margarita. I never thought I’d see Owen drink a margarita, but they didn’t offer shots of tequila - which he had originally asked for, so he settled on a margarita because of the tequila in it.“Okay, so we’ll do that tomorrow, what could we do Saturday?” I thought, flipping through another brochure.“Why don’t we just wait? Play it by ear. We’re on vacation, we don’t have to plan out everything.” He said, sitting back in his chair.I smiled at him, “You’re right. We’ll play it by ear.” I’m more of a planner and he’s more of an improviser and he was right, we didn’t need to plan this out. We just do what we feel like doing, that’s what vacation is about. “But we are going Salsa dancing tonight.” I snuck in, taking a sip of my strawberry margarita.“Are we now?” he raised his brows.“Yup and I don’t care if you wear board shorts, you’re not getting out of this.” I smirked, knowing he’d probably say that he only had board shorts and he couldn’t do it. Owen just smirked at me and nodded. “Well, since I’m not getting out of it… I need another margarita. Or maybe 3. If I’m drunk enough I won’t even realize I’m there.” he reasoned.“If that’s what gets you through it,” I laughed. “I’m gonna need a few more to get through it too, to be honest.”“Watching you fall on your ass will be hilarious and totally worth it.” he laughed.“Who said I’m the one that’s gonna fall?!”“You’ve fallen walking upstairs when you were completely sober, I’m pretty sure I got this one.” He laughed.I raised my brows, he was right, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. “Hmmm, we’ll see.”
~~~
Salsa dancing was so much fun. We were both a little tipsy so we spent the entire time laughing. We earned a few dirty looks and eventually we had to leave because we couldn’t keep our composure and we didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s experience. To my surprise, Owen was a pretty good dancer. I also didn’t bust my ass and neither did Owen, so that was a plus.We made it back to the resort around 11 pm. I went to take a shower and when I came out he had room service bring chocolate covered strawberries and a bowl of fresh fruit. He had the interesting idea of eating the fresh fruit off of me (when I was naked), saying he’d always wanted to try it. So, we did it and it only made us end up tangled in the sheets a good 20 minutes later.The next morning, I woke up to feeling the cool breeze and the sound of Owen’s heartbeat. First I noticed that the double doors overlooking the ocean were wide open, then I noticed the sun was peeking through the horizon. I looked up at Owen, he was laying there with a hand behind his head, completely relaxed and his eyes trained on the sun. I was surprised I didn’t feel him get up to open up the double doors, but he was as quiet as a mouse. He always was. He chalked it up to his days in the Navy.“Sunrise?” was all I could manage to mumble in a groggy voice as I looked at him.Owen chuckled, nodding as he moved a piece of hair out of my face. I smiled as I yawned, looking back down at the sky that was directly in front of the bed. We lucked out on this room and who would have thought that Owen Grady had a soft spot for sunrises and sunsets. I didn’t make it through even half of the sunrise, as it takes about 45 minutes and I was quick to fall back to sleep.
~~~
Later that morning, I woke up to find Owen’s side of the bed was just a pile of blankets and sheets wrapped into one. I glanced at the time: 9:27 am. I slept in a lot later than I usually did. Usually, I’m up between 6:30 and 8 am and I consider 8 sleeping in. But we are on vacation. I could only imagine Owen was losing his mind without something like his bike to tinker with.I yawned, stretching my arms over my head before getting out of bed. Owen was nowhere to be found in the room, so I figured he was outside. I went to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. My hair brought on a new meaning to bedhead. It was all tangled and all over the place. I laughed and ran a brush through it before throwing it into a bun. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then changed into a burgundy floral romper that was perfect for the weather today.I opened the double doors and saw the back of Owen’s head where he sat on a lounge chair. For a moment, I wondered what he’d be doing. He’d said in the past how he never liked suntanning because he got bored of it quickly. He always needed to be doing something, which is why he had trouble relaxing sometimes - which is what I’d point out to him. To which he’d say “I’m completely relaxed, what are you talking about?” But I’m not even going to get into that now.I walked over and saw his head was buried in a book. I caught a glimpse of the cover and couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Owen looked up and closed the book, putting it face down in his lap.“Are you reading FDR’s biography?” I asked, unable to hold back a little chuckle.“Maybe. Why does it matter?” He asked defensively.“I’ve just never seen you read a book is all. The only books you have in your bungalow are of cars and boats and Navy stuff. I just never imagined you having your nose buried in a book. Let alone a biography. About FDR.” I explained.“I like to keep you on your toes,” He said, smiling up at me and moving his book before opening his arms for me. I smiled and sat on his lap as he kissed the side of my head. “Did you sleep well?”“Yeah, you let me sleep too late.”“I didn’t want to wake you, you were so cute.” He said. I looked down at him. “Plus, if anyone needs more sleep it’s you. You get up too early at home.”“Me? You’re the one that’s up with the sun! We both need more sleep. Have you been up since 5?” I asked, brows raised.“Yeah, but I fell asleep on the hammock for a couple of hours. So I’ve only really been up for 40 minutes.” He defended.“Fine.” I shook my head, kissing his lips. I gave in, not wanted to fight him on it any further. “I have to call the place that does the helicopter ride over El Valle and see if they can fit us in today. But first I’m starving. Should we order room service or go out?” “Your pick, baby.” He said, rubbing my legs and giving me the reins, as he usually did.I hummed, thinking. “Let’s do room service. Pancakes and bacon.” I stood up, it was beginning to be my favorite breakfast because he usually forgets the eggs so that’s usually what we’re stuck with when I stay over at his bungalow.“Can’t forget the fresh fruit!” He added.“So you can eat it off of me?” I raised my brows, looking back at him with a smirk.“Only if you want me to.” He winked.“Let’s save that for another day, I actually wanna do something outside of our hotel room today.” I laughed, walking inside with Owen following close behind.
~~~
They were able to squeeze us in at 12 for the helicopter ride over the volcano. It was absolutely beautiful. I was super excited for it as we watched it from up above.“Let’s hike to it!” I said into the headset. The helicopter was so loud that you couldn’t really hear much.“We’re in the helicopter because you wanted to see it. This is the closest you’re gonna get.” Owen said.“But it’s far away, plus it’s inactive. People hike to it all the time!” I explained.“You’re never satisfied.” Owen couldn’t help the smile on his face. I could tell he wouldn’t budge, he didn’t really enjoy hiking unless if it was to a waterfall or something along those lines.“Fine,” I said, defeated. “At least let’s go rock climbing off a cliff. Unless if you’re too scared?” I raised my brows at him.“You know the answer to that,” he said, of course, he wasn’t scared. Nothing scares Owen. “We’ll climb the damn cliff, but only if we can go to the Lost Waterfalls.” he compromised.“You know how many tourists they’ll be?” I pointed out.“Well, you like waterfalls. It’ll be worth it.” he said. I couldn’t help but smile at that because I do love waterfalls and he’s sacrificing being around tourists, which he hates, for me.
~~~
We were not even halfway up a cliff that we were rock climbing and I looked down at Owen, he honestly looked a little scared when he looked down and then back up at me. The hint fear washed away from his face the second he saw me looking.“You scared?” I smirked.“No. I’m just worried you’ll do something to hurt yourself.” he answered, taking a step up. We each had a spotter and the ropes were attached to the top of the small cliff, where there were two more spotters. It was completely safe, something Owen double checked before we went up there.I laughed, shaking my head as I took a step forward. My foot lost traction and I slipped down, my stomach dropping in the process. Owen grabbed my waist right away, catching me right as the rope tightened up, causing his body to be the buffer between me and the cliff, which I would have slammed into if it weren’t for him.“Like that.” he said.I gulped and looked at him, the worry evident on my face. That was actually pretty scary, but he caught me. He saved me and I know he’d never let anything bad happen to me. He reached up and tried to separate our ropes while still holding onto me with one arm.“I love you, you know that.” I said without holding myself back like I had on many other occasions. I was worried it’d be left in the air with nothing in return, but I didn’t really care at this point. I just wanted to get it out, if he didn’t say it back then it was fine, just as long as he knew how I felt.Owen paused and nodded, “Yeah,” he looked at me, searching my eyes. “I love you too…” he said. I felt my heart skip a beat as I grabbed the back of his head and pulled his lips to mine, which was a little difficult to manage with the helmets on, but hey, safety first.“Hey! Esta todo bien?” one of the spotters called up to us, asking us if everything was okay.“Estamos bien,” Owen replied, telling him we were good. “We should probably get down now.” he said. I raised my brows, glancing up the rest of the cliff. We didn’t even make it halfway up. “We have a hotel room to get back to.” he winked at me and I immediately caught on. That sure sounds a hell of a lot more fun than climbing the rest of this cliff.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Since we got back from Panama a week ago, Owen has been acting really weird. When I called him to ask if he wanted to do anything this week, he never answered and texted me back a few hours later saying he’s “really busy”. That was on Tuesday and since then I’ve tried to text him the past few days, but he’d either answer hours later or the next day. I tried not to read into it, reasoning that maybe it was just a really busy week for him. Something was different, though. I could feel it. He’s never taken so long to answer my texts and in the past whenever I called him, he’d call me back as soon as he possibly could (and if he couldn’t, he’d text me). He’d go out of his way to talk to me like run by my office if he didn’t have his phone or he’s even used Barry’s phone to text me from before. I even visited him at the enclosure on Thursday to bring him and Barry some brownies because it was my day off. He acted weird, distant and distracted. That’s when I really started to worry.The missed texts and phone calls continued for another few days after that until I had enough. Something was going on and I needed to know what it was. Our time in Panama should have brought us closer together, not further apart.After getting Lucy, Aspen, and even my mom’s input; Lucy agreed with my first thought, that he was genuinely really busy; Aspen suggested that he was cheating, but that’s what her mind always goes to - the worst possible scenario; my mom told me to confront him about it as soon as possible. I was nervous. What if I did confront him and it did turn out that he was seeing someone else, or I could end up looking like a total idiot because he’s just been super busy with work. Part of me couldn’t help but assume the worst because of my past relationships. Maybe he was cheating. These are signs that I know all too well. One day I woke up in the morning frustrated after texting him early in the morning the day before and not hearing anything back at all. After a long day of mulling it over and over-thinking, I decided what I was going to do. When I got home that night I was going to text him and ask him what’s up. To tell me whatever has been going on because I know I’m not crazy - something’s going on. I had to think it through and do it in a way that wasn’t accusatory and that wouldn’t make him angry. So, I went with:
Hey, so I can tell something’s been going on recently and I know you’ve said you’re busy, but it seems like there’s more to it. If there’s something wrong, could you tell me so I can help understand?
I sighed and sent it at 5:39 pm. Now I had to wait anxiously for a response.I didn’t hear anything back from him last night. I was hopeful that I’d hear back from him by the time I woke up this morning, but at 9:30 am there were still no text messages from him. Now I was mad. I texted him back. Thinking my words through and being mindful was out the fucking window.
I’ve been trying to reach out to you and am left with nothing. Call me crazy, but there’s definitely something going on. I wish you would just tell me. I’m not going to sit around here with my thumb up my ass waiting for you to tell me any more.
I groaned and threw the phone on my bed. I needed coffee. And possibly a drink. It didn’t matter how early in the morning it was.After making coffee and calming down, I went back to check my phone. There was a text from Owen.“Finally.” I mumbled under my breath as I opened it and immediately regretted it.
I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to see each other anymore.
My eyes widened. What the actual fuck. So many things came rushing through my mind, so many things I wanted to say and ask him. The first thing that came to mind was ‘fuck you’, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere, so I typed the second thing that came into my mind.
Are you seriously doing this over text?
His response came a few seconds later: Yeah.I blinked slowly, shaking my head. Was this really happening? Like this? Over a text? Things were going so good! We went away together and we even told each other we loved each other. Was that all a lie? Why did he even say it back if he didn’t feel the same way?These are things I should probably be asking Owen, but since he decided to end our nearly four-month relationship over text, the last thing I wanted to do was text him these things. We should be doing this in person. Or at least on the phone. But he was too much of a coward for that apparently.I’m glad I didn’t have work until 12 pm because it gave me just enough time to have my mental breakdown and allowed me to do 2 hours worth of crying on the phone to Lucy about how much of a complete asshole Owen was. I would have called Aspen, but she would have done the whole “he was totally cheating on you, why else would he break up with you so abruptly” and I wasn’t ready for that. My mom would have immediately told Lowery and I didn’t need an “I told you so” from him just yet, so Lucy was my best option. I’ve never felt this much pain from a break-up, but I knew I was going to get through it. Eventually.
~~~
A few days passed and I’m not gonna lie, it has been pretty hard. The same day I got a text from Owen I had a panic attack in the bathroom at work and I haven’t had a panic attack in a long time prior. I was really overwhelmed and I just couldn’t keep it in. No one knew though, so that was good. I didn’t have work the day after Owen broke it off, so I was a wreck. I was sulking, crying on and off and just an absolute mess. I didn’t shower, brush my hair and I was in sweats and a baggy shirt. I looked like a troll doll or a hobo. Take your pick.The next morning (yesterday morning) I woke up and decided I really didn’t want to be like that anymore. I was only hurting myself.I’ve been looking forward to working more than usual so I can keep my mind off of everything. When I’m alone, that’s when it really starts to sink in. I’ve been trying to keep myself busy as much as possible instead of being home alone. I came into work at 8 am after meeting Lowery for coffee. We decided he’d come over later tonight so we could watch movies and he wanted to know about everything that happened with Owen. I wasn’t entirely prepared for it, but I had to talk about it sometime, so I might as well start now.“Morning Dr. Collier! I brought you coffee… large, black, two splendas?” I clarified, putting it on his desk in front of him.“Perfect, thanks Alise,” he smiled, taking a sip. “Here’s your schedule for today.” he handed it to me and I skimmed it over. “One more thing I didn’t add, one of the Velociraptors, Blue, has an eye infection,” he started to say, my cheeks flushed and I knew what he was going to say next. “I need you to go down to the enclosure and bring Gatifloxacin. Two in her left eye three times a day for two days, then once a day for five. Make sure you show Mr. Grady how to administer them.” My jaw tightened and my stomach dropped. I was glad he was looking down at papers on his desk as he spoke to me, so he didn’t see my facial expression or my face flush.Of course, I have to go down to see Owen, 3 days after he dumped me over text. Of course, it has to be me and no one else. I wasn’t the type of person to bring my personal life into my work life, so none of the doctors or assistants knew Owen and I broke up, although they were aware we were in a relationship previously, so to them, we were still together. I wasn’t about to tell him ‘no’ and risk him finding out or being looked at as insubordinate.Dr. Collier looked up at me and I was quick to take a sip of my coffee, hoping to calm the sudden wave of nausea and hoping he’d think that me drinking coffee was the reason why I hadn’t answered yet.“You want me to go now?” I asked after swallowing. Dr. Collier nodded.“If it’s not a problem.”I smiled through gritted teeth, “No, not at all. I’ll run over right now.”
~~~
The whole drive to the enclosure I fought the urge to pull over and vomit. Or breaking down into tears. I couldn’t help it, I hadn’t seen or spoken to Owen. How was I going to be able to speak to him now? Without punching him, that is. (Because he totally deserves it)I pushed my worries in the back of my mind as I stepped out of the car. Owen was standing outside the holding area, holding the door open and talking to Barry, who was on the stairs.I walked over and Barry nodded his head towards me, causing Owen to turn around. “This is for Blue. Dr. Collier told me to show you how to give it to her.” I avoided looking him in the eye as I held up the small bottle of Gatifloxacin.Owen looked a little caught off guard. Maybe he wasn’t expecting to see me, or that to be the first thing to come out of my mouth. There was no way I was going to mention or talk about the break-up. I was here to do my job, it wasn’t the time for that. But hell, it hard to keep myself from telling him off. “Yeah, let me get her.” his voice was soft and hesitant, he almost looked upset or sad.While he was getting Blue, Barry came down and I greeted him, then he continued on his way. I stared down at my phone, scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, avoiding any kind of eye contact or conversation with Owen. I knew he could tell that I was avoiding him because he didn’t try anything. I no doubt also looked pretty annoyed too, so maybe he was scared to say anything.“She’s ready…” Owen finally said softly, catching my attention. I looked up and shoved my phone in my back pocket as he opened the door for me, the buzzer going off.I changed my demeanor the second I stepped foot in the holding area. I didn’t want Blue to sense any sort of anger from me. “Hey girl… I know you’re not going to like this very much, but it’ll make you feel better, I promise.” I said, starting off with petting her head until her breathing slowed.I got a look at her watery, red eye that she’s no doubt been scratching at. She had the equivalent to a human form of pink eye, it was probably so uncomfortable and itchy. And it’s not like I can tell an animal what’s wrong and they’ll understand, so she had no idea what was wrong with her. That’s how it is with every animal, it’s hard not to feel bad.I opened the bottle and put one hand on her head, stretching her eyelid open even though she was fighting against it. Owen hovered his hands over Blue’s head for a moment, expecting her to get scared or angry. She started to growl for a moment, but I let out a soft “shhh” as I stroked her head, causing her to relax. Owen’s hands fell when he realized I was calming her down myself. I put two drops in and she blinked, getting used to the feeling in her eye. The medication also soothed it and has a numbing effect to it, so it usually started to feel better right away. She let out another noise that I considered to me almost like a ‘thank you’ because she purred after that.“Good girl,” I smiled, stroking her head before looking at Owen. “Do that three times a day for two days, then once a day for five. It should clear up by the end of the week. If it doesn’t, let Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez know.” I said, handing him the bottle as I walked towards the door, not waiting for an answer back. I just wanted to get out of there.“Okay.” he cleared his throat. “Uh, how are you doing?” He asked. I pivoted on my foot, turning to face him as I raised my brows.“Really? You’re going to ask me that now?” I asked, clearly a little hostile. He could have called, texted, something, if he really wanted to know, but of course, he wasn’t going to go too far out of his way for me.“Well, yeah. I want to see how you’re doing.” he explained.“I’ve been better.” I said honestly. I heard Blue growl and chirp. I figured it was because I didn’t say goodbye, because she’s done that a couple of times before when I went to leave without saying goodbye. “Bye girl.” I pet her head again and she soon started purring. I smiled, then my face fell as I looked at Owen, shooting him a look before letting myself out the door.I couldn’t help the tears that fell down my cheeks as I walked to the car with my head down. This wasn’t going to be easy to get over. I feel like my heart is shattered into a million pieces and he’s stepping on all of them, causing them to crack even more.
~~~
Later that night, I was sitting on the couch with Lowery, telling him just about everything that happened with Owen. From saying “I love you” in Panama to him breaking it off over text 3 days ago. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the text thing either.“Shit. I can’t believe he did that! I knew he was bad news.” Lowery said, shaking his head.I sighed, “Yeah, turns out you were right. Who would have thought?” I said rhetorically, looking down at my hands as I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes.“I didn’t want to be right. I don’t want to see you upset. I’m here for you, Lise, you know that.” he said, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into a side hug.“I do. Thanks, Low, but I’ve done enough sulking. Let’s talk about something else,” I said, thinking of a topic. “Oh! How are things going with Vivian?” I asked with a small smirk.“I think it’s going pretty well. We talk a lot.” he was a little shy about it, but he’s been talking about Vivian since she started there a little over two months ago.“Well, you work right next to each other, so that makes sense,” I laughed. “You gonna ask her out yet?” I asked. “I don’t know… I just, I don’t want to complicate things or make it awkward in case she says no…” he trailed off.“Well, you never know if you don’t ask and that’s all I’m gonna say about that,” I said, holding my hands up. I knew he wouldn’t want to hear what I had to say because he knew I was right. I heard a knock at the door. “You get the popcorn and I’ll grab the door.” I said, standing up.I wondered who it could be. My first thought was Lachlan. He likes to come by and say ‘hi’ on his way home from work sometimes. I opened the door and was met with someone I didn’t expect to see.
Owen.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“What are you doing here?” I asked, annoyed, which was evident by my tone of voice.“I wanted to talk to you.” he said.Of course, he wants to talk now.“Right now isn’t a good time.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, knowing that Lowery was in the next room and Owen was on his list of bad guys right now. There was no telling what embarrassing thing Lowery would try to do. “Hey, Lise, do you have that jalapeno popcorn you used to have back home?” Lowery’s voice came from the kitchen.“Uh, no, Lowery. They don’t sell it here.” I said, turning my head back to the kitchen.“Really? I thought I saw some at the grocery store…” he said, his voice grew closer. He stopped when he saw Owen. “Oh, well, what a surprise,” he said sarcastically.I sighed, “Lowery, can you just start the movie? I’ll be right there?” it was my subtle way of telling him ‘I got this’.“Are you sure?” he asked, walking away, looking back at us. “I could totally kick his ass for you.” he called from the other room. It was almost comical, but not at the same time.“Uh, I don’t think you could…” I said, loud enough for him to hear.“I’d totally try!” he called back. I raised my brows and looked back at Owen.Owen shrugged, chuckling. “He could try.” I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood.“There’s no need for that,” I shook my head. “Owen was just leaving.” I said, loud enough for Lowery to hear as I grabbed the door, ready to close it.“I can see right now’s not a good time… but I do need to talk to you. I owe you an explanation.”“You do.” I said, looking down at my feet. My demeanor had changed because he admitted that, that’s really all I wanted. “I can come by tomorrow…”“Yeah… okay. Come around 8 pm.” I said, looking up at him.“Great,” he smiled. “Have a good night.” he looked hopeful. I just gave him a half smile before shutting the door and letting out a sigh.
~~~
The next day I was the most nervous I’ve ever been. My mind was somewhere else completely as I was working. I tried to keep my head in the game, but it was difficult. I was just nervous about seeing Owen later and hearing what he had to say.The day went by pretty quickly and I got home at 6 pm. I took a long, hot shower and tried to relax before Owen got here. I drank calming tea and mentally prepared myself, going over the possible things he could say in my head and forming responses for them. I was completely overthinking the entire thing.I was so in my head I jumped when the doorbell rang. I put my mug down on the coffee table and got off the couch before walking over to the door. I took a deep breath. Shit. Here we go.I was so not ready for this conversation.I opened the door and Owen smiled, “Hey…”“Hey… come in,” I said, opening the door as I walked towards the kitchen. “Want anything to drink? Water? I’m not even going to say tea because I know how much you hate it.” I said, laughing a little, forgetting that I was mad at him for a second.“Water’s fine.” he said, sitting at the kitchen table as I poured two glasses of water and sat down across from him. I played with the glass, moving it around slightly, waiting for him to say something. I had so many questions running through my mind, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask any of them. The one glaring me in the face was if there was someone else and if there was, it would only hurt more.Finally, he cleared his throat. “So I know I kinda owe to an explanation about… everything,” he sounded nervous. I just nodded, agreeing with him. “It’s just… shit, I’m not good at this sort of thing.” he was right, he was never good at sharing his feelings. “So I guess it goes back to when you told me you loved me…”“Yeah. You know, Owen, if you didn’t want to say it back, you didn’t have to. You could have just said you didn’t feel the same way. I would have understood. It would have hurt less than a text.” I said, playing with the sleeve of my shirt nervously, my wrist leaning on the table.“That’s just it, though. I do love you, Alise.” I looked up at him, now I was really confused.He reached over and grabbed my hand. “I love you so much. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and… I broke it off because I love you.”“Owen, that doesn’t make any sense.” I shook my head.“I know… it doesn’t, at all. And I realize that now. I just know you deserve better, I’m not good enough for you.” he said, looking down. I’ve never seen Owen so vulnerable. Normally, he was so self-assured, I never thought he’d worry about something like this.“Why would you ever think that? Of course you’re good enough…”“I’ve never been good at commitment, I’m afraid of it. I’ve fallen for you and that scares me.” he shook his head, looking down.“I’m scared too. It’s always scary giving your heart out to someone,” I said, reaching out to cup his cheek and turn his head towards me. His eyes were glassy, I could tell he was about to cry. Honestly, so was I. “You never have to be afraid with me. I’ll never hurt you.”Owen looked back at me, right in my eyes. “God, I am such an idiot.”“Yeah, you kinda are.” I laughed.He leaned forward, pecking my lips softly, then pulling away slightly, just enough for our noses to brush together. It was as if he were asking if it was okay. My hand slipped to the back of his neck as I pulled him into another kiss. This time it was harder and more passionate. I bit on his bottom lip lightly and he opened his mouth, allowing my tongue to slip in. I ran my fingers through his hair as his hands found my waist, pulling me to my feet. He guided me so I sat on top of him, straddling his waist, all without breaking the kiss. I pulled away reluctantly, both of us breathing heavily as I looked down at him. One of my hands on the back of his neck and the other slid down to his vest as I tugged on it. “Next time you’re worried about something, tell me and we’ll talk about it. Don’t break up with me over text like a dick.” I warned.Owen looked up at me, a smile cracked on his lips. “Never again.” he promised, kissing me again. The kiss returned to the same intensity that it was before, then he pulled away slightly. “Should we move this to the bedroom?” he nodded his head towards the hallway with a smirk.I raised my brows, “You shouldn’t have to ask.” I tugged on his vest, my lips crashing into his once again. I giggled when he slapped my ass and stood up, my legs wrapped around his waist as he carried me off to the bedroom.
~~~
30 minutes later, we were laying in bed, the only thing covering our bodies was a light sheet. My head was on his chest and I was listening to his heartbeat and steady breath. I let out a happy sigh of contentment.“You know, Blue’s mad at me.” he said, twirling my hair around his finger.I raised my brows, “Oh really?” I asked, remembering how Blue seemed annoyed after I left yesterday.“Yeah, she won’t take me seriously. She growled at me when you left yesterday.”“Good. Us girls gotta stick together.” I couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if what happened between Owen and I was actually why Blue was mad at him.“Will you come with me tomorrow morning and tell her we’re all good? When she doesn’t listen to me, the other girls don’t and I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”“Only if you cook me those amazing pancakes and some bacon.” I smiled.“Deal,” he kissed my forehead. “I love you.”I couldn’t help my heart skipping a beat and the butterflies in my stomach as I picked up my head from his chest and looked at him, right in his green eyes. “I love you too.” I kissed his lips softly.Now everything was back to the way it should be, but I still couldn’t help the fear lurking in the back of my mind. I pushed it away, not wanting to bring it to the surface. I needed to focus on the good and that was the man lying in front of me. I loved him so much and nothing could get in the way of that.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It only took a couple of weeks for things to fall back into place, where they were before, where they should be. Owen and I were talking every day and saw each other 3 to 4 times a week, sometimes more. We’d spend the night at each others places more than we used to, Owen would even stay at my apartment some nights (which he usually didn’t like to do, it was something about A.C. and the quiet of the night that he couldn’t get used to).I’m not going to lie, I was still living in fear something might happen again, that he might change his mind and decide to dump me over text again. I tried to push that in the back of my mind as much as I could, but it would probably always bother me a little bit. Things were going great. Almost too great. It was only a matter of time before something happened that threw us off of cloud nine and I didn’t expect that thing to be in the form of a person. It was mid-day on a Thursday, I was taking a lunch break and Owen slipped away from the enclosure for a little bit so we could meet at his bungalow with the intention of having lunch, but he had other ideas, which became evident when we walked into the living area. He grabbed my waist the second we walked in the door, pulling my back flush against his chest.I chuckled, “What are you doing?”Owen moved my hair behind my shoulder as his lips left light kisses along my neck.“Nothing...” he mumbled against my skin, hooking a finger around the thin straps to my bra and camisole that I wear under my work shirt, which was the first thing to come off when I reached his bungalow because it was so hot out. He yanked the straps over my shoulder, leaving my skin bare so he could kiss, nip and suck on it without any barriers. I bit my lip, tilting my head so he could have more access. “I thought we were having lunch?” I asked. I was actually pretty hungry. I had a light breakfast this morning, about 5 and a half hours ago, so food sounded amazing right now.“We are having lunch.” he whispered in my ear, letting his lips lightly touch my skin. His hands gripped my waist and he pulled me flush against his body, my ass against his hardening member. I bit my lip again, shutting my eyes and leaning my head back against his shoulder as he continued to litter my neck and shoulder with kisses. I also pushed my ass back, adding more pressure to him, which caused him to groan.My stomach growled, rather loudly, bringing me out of the daze he put me in as I remembered that I needed food and that’s why I met him here in the first place. “This isn’t having lunch,” I said, stepping away and turning to face him.“I am having lunch.” he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, looking down at me with a smirk before kissing my lips.“I’m not lunch.” I laughed, pulling back and wrapping my arms around his neck.“Well, I can eat you, can’t I?” he raised his brows, smirking down at me.I raised a brow and thought, “Fuck it.” I shook my head, kissing him passionately. He was quick to grab my ass and pull me up, so I wrapped my legs around his waist as he led the way to the bedroom.By the time he laid me on the bed, he had already rid me of my shirt and pants and I discarded his shirt somewhere on the other side of the room. He was on top of me, leaving a trail of kisses from my neck to my belly button. I let out a sigh when I heard someone knock at the door, but Owen didn’t pay any mind to it at all, continuing to kiss and nip at my bare skin. “Are you gonna get that?” I laughed after a few seconds passed.“No,” he mumbled against my skin, his hand moving from my knee and up my thigh, causing a shiver to run down my spine. “I’m not home right now.” he said simply.I smirked and nodded, liking the sound of that. The last thing I was going to do was fight with that, I knew what was coming and I was going to love it. His fingers hooked around the sides of my panties as he started to yank them down, his hot breath sending another shiver down my spine.“Oh, Owen!” I heard a woman’s voice call from the front door. Owen froze in his spot.“Kira.” he said through gritted teeth before groaning and throwing on the closest shirt to him before rushing out of the room, leaving me no time to react.“Who’s Kira?” I mumbled to myself as I sat up on the bed and searched for my clothes.“Hey, Owen, nice to see ya!” I heard the woman continue when she saw Owen, she sounded so casual and relaxed. I really wanted to know who this chick was. I finally found my clothes and quickly threw them on before walking out of his bedroom to come face-to-face with this mysterious Kira. “Oh, who’s your little friend?”Kira looked like she couldn’t be anywhere over the age of 20, she had jet black hair and light blonde eyebrows, meaning she most likely dyed her hair. She had pale skin but it was hard to miss her shining emerald green eyes, which immediately reminded me of Owen’s.“This is Alise,” Owen cleared his throat almost nervously. “My, uh, girlfriend.”“Oh, very nice to meet you Alise, I’m Kira. Owen’s favorite cousin.” Kira smiled brightly and innocently. I immediately relaxed after hearing that she was related to Owen, my mind didn’t have to wonder anymore.“Nice to meet you too.” I smiled.“So, uh, Kira, what are you doing here?” Owen asked, almost sounding annoyed or caught off guard. I gathered she didn’t tell him about her coming here, otherwise, we wouldn’t have been doing what we were doing and he probably would have given me a heads-up. Plus, he’s not the easiest person to find on the island, his bungalow was kind of off the grid, so he was probably a little surprised she found him.“Well, I was just thinking I haven’t seen my favorite cousin in a while, might as well pop on over and see how he’s doing.” she explained with a smile.“You came all the way to Central America from Missouri to see me?” He almost sounded suspicious. I thought it was cute that she was coming to surprise him.“Don’t act so surprised. I thought you’d be excited to see me. I haven’t seen you since I was like 15.” “Yeah, that’s why I am surprised. Is everything okay at home?”I figured he asked because she could be running away from something like he said, it’s a little weird that she came all the way from Missouri randomly to surprise him.“Oh, everything’s completely fine. Nothing out of the ordinary,” she seemed distracted as she looked around his bungalow. “Say, you think I can crash here for a few days?” “I don’t really have that much room, so…” I was surprised by how standoffish Owen sounded right now. I mean, this was his cousin. He wasn’t being very welcoming.“Oh, come on. It’ll just be a few days, 4 days tops. You won’t even know I’m here.” she said.“I don’t think that’s gonna work.” Owen said firmly, he didn’t seem like he was going to budge on this one and I felt bad for her, so of course, I had to do something.“Uhm, I have an extra room in my apartment if you want to stay with me…” I offered.“Wow, that would be amazing. Are you sure I wouldn’t be imposing?” she asked sweetly.“Yes.” Owen said and I shot him a look. “It’s not a problem at all.” I smiled at her.“Perfect, let me just grab my bag from the porch.” she said, heading out the door.“I can’t believe you just did that,” Owen hissed at me in a whisper.“What? Why are you like this, she’s your cousin…” I whispered back, not understanding why he was acting like this. I stopped because Kira made a grunting noise as she lugged in a giant suitcase that could easily fit an entire wardrobe and then some. She’s probably just an over-packer like I can be sometimes, so it wasn’t too alarming to me. It could tell it clearly shocked Owen because he looked back at me with alarmed eyes.“So, when do I move in?” Kira said, laughing, so I caught on that it was a joke. I just smiled, ignoring the look that I got from Owen.“We can go now.” I smiled. “We’ll have lunch tomorrow?” I asked Owen, he just nodded, although he didn’t look too happy. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. “We’ll talk about this later.” I whispered in his ear so Kira couldn’t hear. “We will.” he said when I pulled away.“Let’s go lemon pop!” Kira smiled cheerfully and I laughed, helping her get her bag into the car I use for work, then we headed off for my apartment.
~~~
After being with Kira for a day I can say that she’s really sweet and friendly. We talked when I got home from work yesterday afternoon and she told me about what she’s been doing back home in Missouri and how she’s going to the University of Missouri for Psychology, but she took this semester off because she felt like she needed a break from college life. I could totally understand and relate to that. If I were able to take a break in college, I would have for sure.She told me a few stories about her and Owen growing up. Apparently, when she was 8 and he was 20, she used to dress him up in her mom’s clothes and they would have tea parties together, amongst some other things. It’s all adorable really and from what Kira told me, they were pretty close when she was younger. It really made me wonder why Owen never told me about her.I was just getting out of the shower after work the next day and heading to my room when I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I recognized the voices immediately, one was Kira’s and the other was Lowery’s. I was curious to see what they were talking about. I couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but it looked like I was interrupting something because they were awfully close to each other, not to mention Kira’s hand was laying on his chest.“Hey, Lowery…” I greeted him, raising my brows.“H-hey Alise!” He exclaimed and stuttered, seeming like he was caught off guard.“What are you doing here?” I asked. He never said he was coming so I was a little surprised he was here. Even though he does pop over here and there since he lives on the other side of the complex.“Lowery was just telling me-“ Kira began, her hand still on his chest. Lowery took a step back, “Nothing, I wasn’t telling her anything…” he defended himself.I raised my brows, really confused as to why he was on the defensive, I didn’t even accuse him of anything. “Okay…” I said, glancing between Kira smirking and Lowery looking nervous. “So what’s up?” I decided to ask, not accusatory at all. “I, uh, wanted to see if you were hungry… to get something to eat.” he explained.“I’d love to!” Kira smiled, grabbing his shoulder when she spoke. She was a little touchy and she’d do the same thing to me, but I could tell it clearly flustered Lowery.“But then I forgot I had to run some analysis that I forgot to do before I left work, so I should go do that… this was fun… uh-” he said, taking a few steps back, towards the front door as he glanced from me and then to Kira.“Kira.” She smiled.“Yeah… okay, bye.” He said before quickly leaving. “Well, he seems nice!” Kira smiled, looking at me.I stood there in shock, did he really just embarrass me like that? I shook my head, “Yeah, he’s uhm… a little weird,” I shivered and glanced down, remembering I was only wearing a towel this entire time. “I’m gonna go get dressed…”“Take your time love, I’ll be here.” Kira smiled as I walked away. I immediately picked up my phone and called Lowery to get to the bottom of his odd behavior.“Hello?”“Wanna tell me what just happened?” I asked.“Yeah. Uh, who the hell was that?”“Owen’s cousin. Why? Did she do something?” I asked, seriously confused at this point.“No… it was nothing. I just forgot to run the analysis and it’s pretty important. Maybe we can get lunch tomorrow?”“Yeah… sounds good.”“Okay, bye.”“Bye weirdo.” I said, hanging up the phone and shaking my head. Lowery had his moments and would get flustered sometimes, especially when he forgot to do something important, so I just figured that’s why he was acting like a jackass.Then I remembered that I had started to text Owen earlier, but got distracted when I was on my way out of work so I never sent it. I figured it was just easier to call him at this point.“Hey babe.” He answered. I smiled, he didn’t sound annoyed even though he was at work and that had been a theme the past few days because of his boss, so this was a good sign.“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that a few of us are going to Three Horns in 30 minutes if you wanted to stop by after you’re finished. We’ll probably be there for a few hours.” I said.“Is Kira going to be there?”“Yeah…” I trailed off.“Then no.”I groaned, “Owen, seriously? Come on, she’s your cousin. She can’t be that bad. And she told me how close you two were when she was younger, what happened that makes you like this?”“She did?” now he sounded annoyed, then he groaned. “There’s just something things about her that you don’t know.” He answered ominously.“Okay, so tell me and that won’t be an issue anymore…” I urged, my voice soft. I didn’t want him to get more annoyed than he already was.“Alright, fine. Well-” he stopped talking when I heard Barry’s voice in the background. I couldn’t make out what he said, but he sounded panicked. “Shit. I gotta go.”“Is everything okay?” I asked, worried.“I’m about to find out.” He hung up the phone. I sighed, throwing the phone on my bed.“Hey, did you ask Owen if he was going to come?” Kira called from outside my door as if like clockwork.“Uh… Yeah, he’s busy with work. He said next time though!” I called back, scanning my closet for an outfit to wear.“Oh man, I was really looking forward to spending time with him.” She sounded upset. I sighed, I felt really bad. Why was Owen being such a dick about it?There’s just some things about her that you don’t know, his words rang in my ears. What could that mean? I shook it off and got ready so we could go meet Lachlan and Lucy at the bar.
~~~
“Hey you two!” I greeted Lucy and Lachlan, getting a kiss on the cheek from Lachlan and a hug from Lucy. “This is Kira.” I said, looking at where she stood behind me.“Hi.” Lucy smiled and gave a small wave.“Well well, how’d a sexy thing like you wind up in this dive bar?” Lachlan asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at his usual flirtatious behavior. He’s used that pick-up line on me before too.“I could say the same about you, tiger.” Kira smirked, stroking his arm lightly.“Well, since you’re here, what are you drinking? It’s on me.” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her towards the bar. I scoffed, “Looks like he’s found his perfect match.” “I guess so.” Lucy said, her voice falling. I widened my eyes and looked at her, realizing how insensitive that was. She still has her crush on him, which she’s been trying to get over. I still urge her to tell him, I mean it’s been almost 5 months, but she was still nervous. “That’s not what I meant… I mean they’re both overly friendly… she’s harmless.” I explained. Lucy just shrugged and headed for the bar.I mean, I hope she’s harmless.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s been 5 days since Kira started staying with me and it was originally only supposed to be 3 or 4 days tops like she said. She hasn’t said anything about staying longer. In fact, she hasn’t even mentioned anything to me about it. That was partly because I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her about it either.I’ve been super busy with work and I was working nights and would get home around 11 and she’d already be in bed, or she’d be out. She slept pretty late so we didn’t really see each other in the morning either. We haven’t talked much, aside from me texting her here and there to check in and see what she’s up to. I asked her what she’s been doing and she said she’s exploring and meeting new people, so I guess it’s good she hasn’t been stuck home doing nothing all day.Owen still hasn’t loosened up about her being here and he still hasn’t told me his deal with her, mostly because I’ve been so busy. When I stopped by the enclosure for lunch earlier today he asked me if Kira was leaving soon and I said I had no idea. That’s when he got annoyed and told me I needed to talk to her about the length of her stay, especially since it’s been over what she originally said. I agreed with him, understanding why he was frustrated and decided I’d talk to her later tonight. I was going to be home by 6 pm, so it was the perfect time to talk to her.I texted her to make sure she’d be home and she said she was out with friends, so she’d be back by 7. I didn’t mind that at all, I was just happy that she was making friends so quickly and wasn’t bored out of her mind. After that, she asked me what I was making for dinner. I made sure she has had something the past 5 days, whether I cooked it the night before, left her the ingredients to cook something herself, or brought her something to eat on the way home from work. Owen was on me about that too, saying she wasn’t a child and could handle it herself, but I couldn’t help it. It was just my nature. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing it though, seeing as now she’s almost expecting it to be done.I ended up making Thai chicken salad and had it ready by 7, but she wasn’t home yet. I texted her around 7:30 to make sure all was okay, but she never answered. It was a little frustrating. I ended up putting the salad in the fridge and watching TV while I waited for her to come home, which didn’t happen until 8:15 when she stumbled into the house, making a hell of a lot of noise.“Sorry I’m late, lost track of time!” she said as she shut the door and took her shoes off before heading into the kitchen.“No worries…” I said as I walked into the kitchen. “There’s Thai chicken salad in the fridge.” I told her after seeing she was scanning the counters.“Great, you’re a doll. I’m starving.” she said, taking it out and grabbing a fork, taking a large bite. “I was actually hoping I could talk to you…” I trailed off, she looked at me with her brows raised, mid-bite. “But I can wait until you’re finished eating.” I said.“No, no. It’s fine,” she said with her mouth full. “What’s up?” she asked after she swallowed. I sat down at the kitchen table and she followed suit, I didn’t want to watch her eating standing up in the middle of the kitchen anymore, it was weird.“Well, I just wanted to talk about how long you’ve been here… not that you’re an inconvenience or anything, but I remember you saying 4 days and it’s been 5 and I realized we never really discussed this before…” I trailed off, I was a little nervous. I hated confrontation, but I tried to word it in a way that wouldn’t make it confrontational.“Right, well, you’ve been lovely and it’s not a big deal and I didn’t want to say anything…” she let out a sigh, “But my ex back home has been kind of stalking me. I just thought I’d come here to get away for a bit and he wouldn’t know where I was, but it turns out, he knows and he’s been asking all of my friends about me and trying to contact me, even though I blocked his number. I’m worried about what might happen if I go back and I know what I have to do when I do go back, but I don’t think I’m ready to go back just yet…” she explained. My heart dropped, I didn’t expect to hear that and I felt terrible.“I completely understand… I had an ex like that, you’re more than welcome to stay a little longer.” I said, rubbing her arm to comfort her.“Great. You’re such a sweetheart, bless your soul.” she placed her hand over mine and smiled. “Are you watching Impractical Jokers?” she asked. The TV was still on and we could hear it from the kitchen.“Yeah, you like that show?” I asked.“Like it? I love it!” she said, standing up and bringing her bowl into the living room with her. I smiled and followed suit. I loved this show, it was hilarious. It was also nice to spend time with her and hopefully get to know her a bit, seeing as she is living in my apartment and I barely know anything about her.
~~~
The next morning I had work at 9 am, so I met Lowery for coffee around 8:30.“So, we’re having a Thor movie marathon tonight starting at 6:30.” I said as I blew on the steaming coffee.“Thor? Again? How many times are you going to watch that movie?” he asked, almost in disbelief.“As many times as I want. Loki is so hot.” I shrugged, taking a sip of the coffee. “Your obsession with him is actually concerning.” he said. He wasn’t wrong. I had a poster of him in my room and Aspen got me a cardboard cut out of him that I left back at my parent's house. As much as I wanted to bring it with me, I didn’t know where to put him and I wasn’t about to take him on the plane as a carry-on item, I don’t even think that’s allowed.“I want you to play the movie at my funeral and I want a picture of Loki buried in my casket with me when I die.” I said, just to get a rise out of him. Plus, I wouldn’t mind any of that.He rolled his eyes, “Of course you do.”“Oh, and my dildo with his face on it.” I slipped in, a smirk on my lips. I was quiet enough so co-workers wouldn’t hear us as we walked down the hallway, but just loud enough so he could hear.“What?!” he asked, nearly spitting out his coffee. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink and I laughed at his reaction.“I’m kidding, I don’t actually have one. They don’t exist, I looked. Although, I could probably get a custom one, but those are super expensive.” I thought outloud.“How does that even work?” he wondered, probably thinking about how they could possibly get someone’s face on a dildo.“There are ways. So are you coming or not?”“Who’s gonna be there?” he asked curiously.“Kira might be and Lucy is going to spend the night and I think Lachlan might come too. Oh, and Owen.” I said. Lowery looked at me with his brows raised. I gave him a confused look and opened my mouth to ask ‘what’, but he cut me off.“Owen watches Thor?”“Hey, don’t act too surprised, he’s watched it with me before…”“Probably because you forced him to.” Lowery said under his breath.“I did not force him, he was fine with it. Although, this time I kind of just told him we’re having a Thor marathon at 6:30 and he’s bringing the beer and not to be late, so he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.” I shrugged.“Now that’s not surprising,” he laughed. “I’m actually gonna pass, I’ve gotta be in the office tomorrow at 3 am for the early morning shift.”“Bummer.” I said.“And no kidnapping me this time, okay? I know you.” he said, I raised my brows. I did that once… okay, maybe twice.“I was not going to… and I’m offended that you’d even say such a thing...” I trailed off, even though he guessed spot on. I was going to attempt to kidnap him with the help of Lucy, but he caught me. “Fine,” I sighed, glancing at the time. “Gotta get to work. See you later little brother.” I said, ruffling his hair.He opened his mouth and sighed, “Really?” he groaned, attempting to smooth down his hair. “Bye, you jerk.”“Love you too!” I called back, laughing to myself as I made my way into my office.
~~~
I got home that night around 5:45, just enough time to tidy up and set up for everyone coming over. I was surprised that Kira wasn’t home because she said she would be, but I figured she’d just come later. Lucy and Lachlan both got here at 6:30 on the dot because both of their shifts ended at 6 and Owen ended up getting here around 6:45 because he was running late with work. So, when all was said and done, we started the first movie at 7.Lachlan left after the second one finished at 11 and even though Lucy was practically falling asleep she said she wanted to watch the third one anyway and I wasn’t about to argue that. Owen didn’t seem to mind, even though he wasn’t really into the superhero movies. He just gave in because he knew I liked it, which was really sweet of him.About halfway through the movie, Lucy was curled up in a ball under the blankets and passed out and I was awake enough to finish, even though it was nearing midnight. I didn’t have work until 1 pm tomorrow, so staying up late didn’t bother me. I wasn’t sure if Owen had to work tomorrow, but even if he did, he could basically go in whenever he wanted to.I jumped when the door opened and slammed against the door stopper. I’m pretty sure if there wasn’t one, the handle would have gone right through the wall. The only light in the apartment was coming from the television, but I could tell it was Kira who was stumbling in. She mumbled something to herself as she kicked her shoes off, almost losing balance, but catching herself as she shut the door. She walked into the living area, leaning against the wall for support the entire way. “Oh hey, you two!” she exclaimed, standing up straighter when she saw Owen and I both looking at her. “Hey… you okay?” I asked, judging by the way she was acting, she was almost definitely drunk. “Yeah, yeah. Totally fine,” she said, surprisingly she was able to talk pretty decently, so I couldn’t really tell by her voice that she was drunk, but her lack of balance said it all. “I’m just gonna go to sleep. I’m super tired. Really long day. Goodnight!” she said quickly before stumbling her way down the hallway.“She’s drunk.” Owen scoffed.“It’s perfectly fine for her to be, the drinking age here is 18, remember?”“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she should be getting plastered and you said she’s done it before.”“It was just one time.” I defended her.“That you know of.” he said, taking a sip of his beer. I sighed.“Well, she’s 20, of course, she’s going to go out and drink. Don’t you remember when you were 20? You were drinking and if I don’t recall it was actually illegal when you did it.” I raised my brows at him. Owen just shook his head, taking another sip. I had him there and he couldn’t argue that.“So when is she moving out? Tomorrow, I hope.” “About that…”“Alise.” he groaned, moving his arm from around my shoulders as he leaned forward, setting his beer on the table.“Her ex-boyfriend has been following her around and she doesn’t want to deal with it right now.” I explained.“Well, that’s a lame excuse.” he said.“It’s not a lame excuse, a stalker ex is serious. I don’t want her going back to the states if it means being stalked by a dick. She’s just going to stay a little longer until she figures some stuff out, no need to worry, I’ve got it handled, okay?” I said, rubbing his back.“How long?” he asked.“We didn’t exactly say…” I trailed off, realizing that was probably something that should have been clarified.“Well, you better figure it out quick because she’ll stay here forever if you let her.” he said, relaxing back in the seat and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I sighed, part of me knew that what Owen said was probably true.
~~~
I was finally able to confront Kira about the timing of her stay a few days later. I didn’t see her because I was working late one night, then the next day Owen and I went to the waterfall and I ended up spending the night at his place, which I haven’t been doing much recently because I wanted to stay home to keep Kira company, but I was starting to learn that she didn’t need my company. She was always off doing her own thing most of the time anyway.The only reason why I can tell she lives here is because she leaves her crap everywhere and I’m constantly putting things in the guest room. She doesn’t do her own dishes, which I have to talk to her about as well. It got really frustrating sometimes. I’d like to say I’m a really neat person, people have always commented about that whenever they come into my apartment, but Kira was just a mess. Finally, I caught her home around 6 pm when I walked in the door after getting a few groceries at the local market. It was a long and tiring day. We had 2 surgeries, a mouth surgery on an adolescent Stygimoloch who cut open it’s jaw (and we have no idea on what - the park workers reported it when they were on safari), and a baby Triceratops who had a growth on its right leg. Then we had to put down an adult Stegosaurus that had something similar to cancer and she’s been being monitored for the past few weeks. It got so bad and she was constantly living in pain, so the best thing we could do for her was put her down. That is always the worst part of my job, but I know it’s always for the best. It’s better to live a happy, pain-free life than to be miserable and in pain. Needless to say, I was not ready for a conversation. I just wanted to put the food away, go into my room, get into my PJs, binge watch Agents of Shield on Netflix and eat popcorn for dinner, but I knew I couldn’t do that, not until I talked to Kira. I heard the TV blasting and I saw her sitting in the living room, sucking on a ring pop. I had a huge stash of those in one of the cabinets because they’re my favorite candy, but she’s gotten into them and went through like 20 of them in less than a week. I needed to find a better hiding spot for them.“Hey Alise!” Kira said, turning the TV off as I walked into the kitchen and put the two grocery bags on the counter. She walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face.“Hi Kira.” I gave her a small forced smile.“Oooh, what kind of goodies do you have?” she asked, looking into the bags. I was a little frustrated after my long day, then to come home seeing her eating my ring pops with the TV blasting, then having her come in here and poke her head around in my bags just made me a little more annoyed. It took me a second, but I realized I was overreacting and shook it off. “Just some stuff for dinner,” I said, taking my shoes off by the door. “Hey, I actually have to talk to you about something…” I said, walking back over. I might as well do it right now, while I have her. From observing her behavior in the past, she’d probably be going out any minute.“Oh yeah? What’s up?” she asked, sitting down on the counter across from me, sucking loudly on the ring pop. I pushed my lips together and let out a slow breath, I hated when she put her butt on my counters, but that wasn’t what I needed to talk about right now.“So, we haven’t really specified how long you’re going to be here and I figured we should probably do that… of course, I don’t mind you being here, but I’d just like to know… how long do you plan on staying here exactly?” I asked.“Oh, I don’t know,” she thought. “Maybe a month, month and a half.” she nonchalantly waved the ring pop in the air before sucking on it again.My eyes widened, “A month and a half?” I repeated what she said in shock, I was expecting to hear another week or two, tops, but a month and a half? “If that’s not a problem for you… that’ll be just enough time for Derek to get bored and move on, this happened the last time we broke up. It’ll all blow over in no time.” she said.“What if it doesn’t?” I asked. Owen’s words ‘Well, you better figure it out quick because she’ll stay here forever if you let her’ rang in my ears. He was right. “Oh, it will. Don’t you worry, cupcake. I really appreciate you letting me stay, by the way. It means a lot to me that you’d lend me a room and a place to stay and we don’t know each other that well. You’re honestly a blessing.” she said, sliding off the counter and hugging me.I couldn’t help but smile, she wore me down with her compliments. “Anytime.” I still didn’t fully process that she’d be with me for a month and a half, but I knew one thing was for sure, Owen was gonna be so pissed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I knew I had to tell Owen how long Kira was planning on staying as soon as possible, but I had a habit of putting things off until I was backed into a corner and that’s exactly where I was.Owen texted me the next morning to ask me if I talked to her, to which I replied: Of course I talked to her. It’s all sorted now! He texted back, asking me the result. I was just on my way into work and was easily distracted by the schedule that Dr. Collier just sent me. That, and I didn’t exactly want to tell him what she said. Not yet and certainly not over text. I’d have to talk to him in person about this, knowing how big of a deal this was. Answering him back simply slipped my mind until later that evening when he texted me again saying: busy day? It was basically Owen’s way of saying ‘why the fuck didn’t you text me back’ - except less aggressively, of course.I felt like an idiot for not responding yet, but every time I remembered I had to text him back, I kept pushing it off, figuring that dealing with it later would be better. Well, now it’s later Alise, time to get your shit together.
Really busy. I’d go into it, but it’s a lot over text.
So then, he called me. I should have expected it, I basically walked right into that one. The first thing he asked was how I was doing and what happened during the day, so the Kira thing was put on the backburner for now - thankfully. We had a long conversation about how each of our days went and I kept rambling on about things I normally wouldn’t ramble on about, like about the surgery I had earlier today, or just going off on a tangent about the dinosaurs using vet talk that I knew he didn’t really understand, until finally, Owen had enough.“What’s the deal? Why are you so talkative?” he asked.“What do you mean why am I so talkative? I’d like to think of myself as a pretty talkative person…” I trailed off, clearly stalling. That wasn't exactly true, but compared to Owen I was talkative, that was for sure.“You only ramble on about pointless stuff when you’re deflecting and you’re avoiding something…” he pointed out. I sighed, he was right. I should have known he’d catch on.“Pointless stuff? Now that’s offensive-” I said, ready to go on another rant, but Owen wasn’t having it.“Alise.” he said sternly, which got me to shut up. The second he said my name like that, I knew he meant business.“Owen, it’s nothing. I’m just overtired. I’ve been up since 4 in the morning because I couldn’t sleep and now my brain is fried. I have dust in my hair and dirt all over myself,” I sighed. “I think I just I need a long, hot shower and to go to sleep.”“Okay, that’s all you had to say,” he said, seeming to understand and take that as my reasoning. “You go take a shower and get some rest, we’ll talk in the morning. Love you.”I smiled, “I love you too.” He hung up after that and I let out a sigh of relief.Of course, I was still nervous about the Kira thing and that’s why I had been so talkative on the phone with Owen, but he didn’t catch onto that, thank god. I just needed to buy myself time to figure out what to say exactly. I knew this was a sensitive topic for him, apparently anything Kira-related was a sensitive topic for some reason. I had no idea what his reaction would be. This was all uncharted territory for me. I mean, do I just come out and say it straight? Plead with him and tell him how sorry I am? Start to cry so he feels bad and doesn’t yell at me? I had to figure out quick because Owen was smart and caught onto things quickly, so it’s only a matter of time before he found out and I want it to come from me.
~~~
The next morning I met up with Lucy for breakfast around 8 am. She had spent the night at the resort in a hotel room (which she did from time to time when she wasn’t staying with a friend). She had a 9 am shift today, then was back on the 5 pm boat to stay at her apartment on the mainland in Costa Rica because she had classes tomorrow, starting at 8 am.I don’t know how she does it - balancing working here and going to university full-time. She said she loved working here. Her stepdad is an investor of the park, so she’s been coming here since it opened 8 years ago. It was the reason why she wanted to go into Veterinary Pharmacology (even though she knew working with dinosaurs was different from working with other animals, but she hoped one day she’d be able to work with the dinosaurs).She seemed to have everything under control and down to a system and I admired that. It was kind of how I was when I was in college.“So wait a second, she really asked you to stay a month and a half? And didn’t even ask? Basically just told you?” Lucy exclaimed in shock, her eyes wide.“Well, she didn’t really just tell me, she asked…”“If she really asked you would you have said ‘yes’?” she asked. I opened my mouth and thought for a minute, then closed it, embarrassed by what my answer would be. “Of course you would because you’re too nice of a person.” she said. “I couldn’t help it… I was just more shocked than anything.” I defended.“And she’s taking advantage of you.” she pointed out. She was completely right.I sighed, “I know I’m being taken advantage of, but she said she was so grateful to have me helping her and lending a hand. What if she had no one else to help her like I can?”“You’re right. She might not have anyone else in her life that is helping her like you are, but there might be a reason for that. Owen has been trying to tell you something about her, hasn’t he?” She asked. I nodded.“Yeah, he hasn’t gotten the chance then it kind of just slipped my mind and I don’t know if it’s on his mind anymore, it kind of just blew over...” “That might be the case with that, but knowing Owen, he’s not gonna like this. Not just because she’s staying longer, but because she’s walking all over you. I know that’s the last thing he’d want to see. And I take it you haven’t told him yet, otherwise, we’d be having a completely different conversation.”“I know, you’re right,” I sighed. “I have to tell him soon. I can’t keep avoiding it.”“You’ll be fine. You can handle it. He won’t get too mad.” Lucy said, taking the last bite of her spinach, egg and cheese sandwich.“Yeah, ‘too mad’, he’ll still get mad though.” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.“Well, it’s Owen, of course, he’ll get mad,” she laughed. “He’d probably give you that stern and silent glare.” she said, trying to impersonate him with her lips pressed and eyes tight.“Totally not helping!” I said, shaking my head. It was hard not to laugh because she got the look so spot-on.“My shift starts in 15. Good luck talking to him and remember, you got this.” she said, picking up her plate.“I’ll let you know how it goes.” I smiled at her as she walked away. I took a large gulp of coffee as an attempt to push away the nervous butterflies in my stomach. This was not going to be fun, but I had to talk to him. Tonight.
~~~
I invited Owen over that night so we could talk. I also texted Kira and asked what she’d be up to and she said she’d be out with her friends for most of the night. That would be perfect, I could talk to Owen without any interruptions or being worried if she’d overhear.Or at least it was perfect until I came home at 6 pm and she was in the living area with the TV blasting. Apparently, her friends bailed so she said she was staying home tonight. Of course, on the one night I actually need her out of the house. I convinced her to go in her room for a couple of hours, just so Owen and I could talk. Of course, she had all of her questions, but I avoided them and steered the conversation in another direction. She didn’t catch on surprisingly, I was kind of worried she’d be as in-tune with things as Owen is. He can always tell when someone is bullshitting him and he’s not afraid to call someone out on it. But she was different, she wasn’t as observant.I told her we just wanted privacy and it took a lot of convincing (and mostly begging), but she finally agreed. I had a feeling she wouldn’t stay in there for long though and as I guessed, she lasted about 20 minutes before she came out when she smelt the dinner I was making, which was salmon and herbs with couscous and mixed veggies. Owen texted me and said he wasn’t going to be here for another 20 minutes, so I let Kira eat in the living area while watching TV, but on the condition that when Owen got here, she’d make herself scarce. He finally got here around 8 and she surprisingly went into the room without a fight, which I was grateful for. I let him in the apartment and greeted him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.“So… I made brownies.” was the first thing I said when he walked into the kitchen. I held up the plate and smiled at him. I had just finished cutting them right when he got here.Owen squinted at me, “What’d you do?”“What? Why would you say that?!” I asked nervously. How could he see through this?! “Have a brownie!” was all I could think to say, I was clearly nervous and I knew he could tell. I should have known he’d see through it.“Just tell me.” He said. “Not until you have a brownie…” I smiled, hopeful. Brownies make everything better. It’d soften the blow from the hammer I was about to swing. He raised his brows at me, waiting for an answer and clearly not up for a brownie. Bribes don’t work on him I guess, noted.“Fine,” I sighed, putting the plate down on the counter. “Kira’s staying here longer than expected…”Owen tensed, “How long?” “A month and a half…” I said quietly, looking down, waiting for his reaction. I was still worried about what he might do. I slowly looked up at him when I noticed him just staring down at me. I couldn’t gage him. He didn’t look angry, upset, annoyed, or happy (which I doubt would be his reaction) but the point was, I couldn’t read his face. It was a blank expression.“Is she here?” He finally asked.“Yeah… she’s in her room…” I said quietly and confused. He just looked at me then quickly walked away to the hallway and towards Kira’s room.“Owen, what are you doing?” I asked, quickly following him to the guest room. When he got there, he knocked on the door hastily.“Come in!” Kira said cheerfully before Owen barged in. “Oh, hey Owen!” “Pack up your shit, let’s go.” was all Owen said, beckoning her over with his index and middle finger.Kira’s face fell, “W-what?”“Owen…” I said calmly, grabbing onto his arm, but he quickly pulled it away.“You can’t stay here. Pack up your shit. I’m taking you to the airport right now.” He said, looking around her room and grabbing clothes that were scattered all over the place and started to pack them up in her suitcase that was on the floor near the closet.“What? No! I can’t leave, what are you doing?” Kira said, standing up, pleading with him. “Please, Owen, I can’t go back yet! You don’t understand!” now she was crying and tears were streaming down her face.Owen stopped what he was doing and looked at her, then back to me. He looked pissed and I was worried about what he might do next, but instead of putting up more of a fight, he sighed.“If you’re going to stay here there need to be boundaries.” He finally said after a long silence.“What do you mean?” Kira sniffled.“Alise and I are going to come up with some ground rules and then we’re all going to sit down tomorrow and talk about it, alright?”Kira looked down and nodded, sniffling again, “Okay.” Owen nodded and walked out. I gave Kira a small smile and followed him out.“Do you wanna talk about this now or do you wanna talk about this later?” I asked him.“I need to take a walk.” He still looked visibly angry, but not as pissed off as before.“So later then,” I said and he nodded and looked down. I could tell he was clearly upset, but he didn’t move or leave, so I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. “We’ll figure this out, Owen. Don’t worry.” I said, stroking the back of his head.He sighed, “I know.” He kissed my forehead.“Ooo do I smell brownies?” Kira asked as chipper as ever. No one would have known she was crying just moments ago.Owen tensed up and pulled away, giving me a look of frustration as Kira walked over to the brownies and popped one in her mouth. “Walk?” I asked.“I’ll be back tomorrow.” he nodded before leaving. I bit my lip to hold in a laugh as how insanely screwed up this situation was, but I didn’t want to encourage Kira, who was now sitting with her butt on my counter once again, eating another brownie.Now I need a walk. And I don’t even wanna come back tomorrow.
~~~
The next day I had work bright and early. Nothing too exciting happened. I was helping to train the new assistants, Sofia and Leo because Mark and Olivia’s semester internship was up, so I was stuck inside most of the day. I was the only permanent assistant as Margo and Ed were done a couple of months ago as well. They usually took on college students that needed an internship for the assistants, I was the only exception because they wanted a full-time assistant that could handle and manage everything else.Owen and I met at Three Horns around 5:30 pm to talk about the Kira situation. We came up with guidelines to talk to Kira about. 1: she had to get a job. I could easily get her one at Three Horns or if she didn’t want to do that, she’d get one at a gift shop. There were always jobs available on the island, Owen or I will be able to find her one quickly. 2: she couldn’t go out drinking every night and come home plastered at 3 in the morning knocking shit over for me to clean up in the morning. 3: she had to do her own dishes and keep her stuff in her room because I wasn’t going to clean up after her anymore. 4: she couldn’t rely on me for food every day, she had to be a big girl and get it herself sometimes. 5: she can’t eat all of my food without replacing it, because that’s been a big issue as of late. And with the job, she’d be able to afford to buy more food. Those were the major ones Owen and I could come up with, if there were more than what we came up with, we’d sit down and talk to her about them. We thought that was pretty fair. I wasn’t going to make her pay rent or anything, her buying her own food and cleaning up after herself would make it easier to live with her.Owen no longer trusted me to have a sit down with her on my own, which I could take offense to, but I agreed with him. I was weak-willed and all she had to do was bat her eyes, give me a hug and a few compliments and she had me in the palm of her hand. At least I know it.I had texted Kira earlier that day to make sure she’d be home by 8 for us to talk to her. We thought that’d be a reasonable time, but not surprisingly, she never showed up. My first reaction was to be annoyed, but then I thought something could have happened, but Owen said this was a normal thing for her according to his Aunt. I texted her to make sure she was okay around 8:45 with no response, then Owen decided to text her at 9:30 and 10:30 saying god-knows-what. Both of which she never answered to.We gave up around 11 and decided to call it a night and Owen decided he’d just spend the night since it was already so late. We both had a really long day with work, so we were exhausted.I was deep in slumber when I heard a noise come from outside of my room. I picked my head up and squinted, glancing at the time on the nightstand clock: 3:06 am. My eyes widened and burned when the door to my bedroom swung open and the lights flipped on. “You wanted to talk to me?” Kira asked, standing in the doorway. She was clearly drunk and this time it was not only evident by the way she was slurring, but how she couldn’t stand up straight and was leaning against the doorframe. That’s not even the first thing that caught my attention. She was wearing a long fur jacket, a black cocktail dress that looked oddly familiar and almost exactly like one I had, she had a tiara and a sash that said ‘It’s my 18th birthday’.There were so many questions that I had, but the first one that came to mind was: “Is it your birthday?”“No, not at all. It’s not until November.” she said casually, shrugging her shoulders.I squinted, “Okay…” then why in the hell was she wearing a sash that said that? And why in the hell was she dressed like a hooker? I shook it off, given it was 3 am and I was in the middle of sleeping, all of those questions could wait. “So you wanted to talk? Or am I interrupting something?” she asked, glancing over at Owen as if she were insinuating something may have been going on, even though Owen was clearly sleeping.“Yes, our sleep.” I groaned.“So right now’s not a good time?” she asked.“Not really.” I said.“Okay, well later doesn’t really work for me…”“Why don’t you just go get some sleep and we’ll figure it out later?” I asked, clearly sleepy and irritated. I mean, what the hell?“Okay, so I was interrupting something? You two crazy kids have fun!” she smirked before closing the door.I groaned, throwing my head into the pillow, wishing my lights were clappers and I could shut them off without getting up. Since that wasn’t the case, I reluctantly got up to turn them off, then got back into bed. I glanced at Owen, who looked like he was still peacefully sleeping. “Did you really just sleep through that?”“And she calls us crazy.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day Owen and I were hoping we could pin Kira down to have our conversation and she finally agreed that later that night would work around 7. Then I got a call from her at 7 on the dot with some lame ass excuse, saying she needed to help her friend with “something” and skirted around what that “something” was. Owen took the phone from me, “Kira, I don’t care what you’re doing, you need to get your ass over here in 20 minutes or I’m packing up your shit and leaving it outside and Alise is locking you out of the apartment.” and he hung up the phone. Clearly, he was having enough of her shit and frankly, so was I. It worked because she was here, 20 minutes later with the guiltiest look on her face. Owen told her to sit down in the kitchen and she listened without fighting. I let Owen take the lead on this, seeing how she respects him more than she does me and he had it handled.She was quiet the whole time and nodded, seeming to understand what we were saying. She agreed to all of the terms, saying she didn’t really have a choice, to which Owen said: “No, you don’t”. “So I’ll ask Sebastian at Three Horns tomorrow about a job.” I said.“So that means I’ll get free drinks, ey?” Kira smirked with a grin.“Not while you’re working.” Owen said, shutting her down.“Of course not while I’m working! That would just be crazy…” she laughed awkwardly. Owen shook his head, clearly not amused. “So, I get to go now? I’m not on lockdown, right?” she asked after a few seconds, ready to get up from her chair.“Yes, just no coming home drunk and waking Alise up at 3 am, it’s part of our rules.” Owen said.“Okay, so come in quietly, got it.” Kira gave us two thumbs up, heading for the door.“No coming home drunk at all, Kira. I mean it.” Owen warned and she sighed.“Alright, alright! Got it. Can I go now?” she asked, clearly getting impatient. Owen nodded his head and she smiled. “Bye!” she said before heading out the door. Owen sighed and I looked at him.“Well, that wasn’t too bad.” I said. It went pretty well, considering the ways it could have gone. She was surprisingly receptive, which was good.He shrugged, “We’ll see how long it lasts.”
~~~
The first week went pretty well. Kira was on her best behavior and she knew we meant business, especially since Owen got involved. She started her first day of work two days ago and it went well according to her and Lucy, who just so happened to be working the same shift as her. Lucy would be my eyes and ears while Kira worked there, whenever Lucy was there anyway.I had to run back home during my lunch break at 12 pm because Owen texted me from Barry’s phone and told me he left his phone at my place on the nightstand and he couldn’t leave to come get it because his boss was there for the day. He also asked if I could make him a sandwich, which, of course, I didn’t mind. I like to keep him well fed and happy. No one wants to work with a grumpy and hungry Owen.Before grabbing his phone I made a few sandwiches to bring for Owen and Barry and myself. I was initially planning on buying lunch at the cafe, but I knew I wouldn’t have enough time since I’m driving to the enclosure. I also wasn’t sure if Barry had anything to eat because usually Owen and him order lunch together and I want to make sure he ate something. Plus, if he does have something to eat, that sandwich wouldn’t go to waste - Owen would eat it happily.I grabbed an apple from the fridge and bit into it, sighing at the taste. I was starving. I was running late this morning because someone wanted 10 more minutes of cuddles and I fell back to sleep (and I’m obviously not talking about Kira), so I didn’t get a chance to eat anything but a piece of toast.I heard Kira’s door creak open as I rounded the corner to head towards my room. It sounded like she walked into something and she cursed to herself, sulking off to the bathroom with her eyes still closed. I raised my brows, walking into my room and grabbing Owen’s phone, just as she was exiting the bathroom.“You okay?” I asked. She looked like she’s been through the wringer. She was wearing the same clothes she wore when I saw her go out last night, her hair looked like half of it was teased and it’s sticking straight up, lipstick was smeared all over her face and she had raccoon eyes from her black eyeshadow.“Yeah, why?” she asked, opening her eyes fully as she leaned on the door frame casually. “You just look…” I trailed off. What do I even say? Drunk? Hungover? Like a zombie? “Tired…” “Not at all,” she said, smiling at me. I raised my brows, clearly, something was up and she was trying to convince me otherwise. Did she not just see herself in the mirror? “Okay, well, I just came to get Owen’s phone… I’ll see you later.” I smiled. Kira nodded and turned around, walking straight into the wall. I forced my lips together, holding back a laugh as she groaned.“Fucker.” was all she said before she went into her room. I quickly walked into the kitchen, grabbing the bag with the sandwiches in it before walking out of the apartment and bursting into laughter. I couldn’t help it. That was hilarious.
~~~
I made it to the enclosure 15 minutes, hopping out of the car. Barry was walking around to the holding area for the girls, holding a bucket when he greeted me.“Hey Barry, how are you doing?” I asked.“Pretty good, how about yourself?”“Me too. I brought Owen his phone and a couple of sandwiches for you guys, I didn’t know if you had lunch or not.”“Only if it’s roast beef.” he laughed, I could tell he was joking. He probably would have eaten anything I gave him.“You’re in luck, roast beef and swiss.”“My favorite!” he laughed. “Owen’s in the office.”“Want me to leave the sandwich with him?” I asked. He nodded, “I’ll eat it later. Thank you again.”“Anytime, see you later Barry.” I smiled before walking towards the office. I knocked on the door, hoping I wasn’t interrupting anything. I thought maybe Hoskins was in there because I didn’t see him out around the enclosure, but I was surprised when the door opened and there was the Parks Operations Manager, Claire Dearing standing in the doorway. She was looking over at Owen still and I could hear a laugh come out of her mouth.“Whatever you say, Owen,” she said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. She noticed me standing in the doorway and gave me a small, friendly smile. “Alise,” she said, catching me a little off-guard. I was surprised she knew my name. We only met once during that meeting about the smallpox virus and I was never introduced.“Claire.” I gave her a smile just as friendly as she gave me. She squeezed past me and out the door and I looked over at Owen, who was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest, but he had a smirk placed on his lips. “Hey babe,” he said after I walked inside, the door shutting behind me. He walked over and kissed my cheek, taking his phone and the brown paper bag from me.“Hey… uh, what was that about?” I asked curiously. They were awfully friendly with each other and Claire greeted me… nicely. It seemed out of character for her. Not that I’m saying she’s not a nice person, she’s just usually not as… relaxed as I just saw her. Laughing and smiling no less.“Just stuff about paperwork and meetings. Thanks for bringing this,” he said, looking in the bag. “Ooo, two sandwiches?” His eyes lit up as he reached in the bag.I laughed, “One’s for Barry and I already told him it was his, so don’t eat it and pretend I didn’t bring him one.” “Man.” Owen shook his head, looking defeated. I could tell he was just exaggerating. He unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. “How’s Hoskins?” I asked.“Nightmare,” he mumbled. “Up my ass about paperwork, but what else is new.” he shrugged, taking another bite, basically talking with his mouth full. That’s how I knew he was really hungry. “How’s your day?”“It’s fine. Work is a little frustrating right now. Bracken Poisoning is back and affecting some of the herbivores, so there’s that.” I sighed. Bracken is an herb that most herbivores eat and has existed for over 55 million years. We’ve had a few cases of it here and there, but it’s getting more frequent now than it ever has been. “Sounds like we could both use a drink after today,” he said. I nodded in agreement, “You’re telling me.”“Three Horns, 6 o’clock? See if Lachlan and Lucy wanna come,” he offered. I was a little surprised he said to invite them, usually, he preferred to stick with just the two of us, especially after a long and stressful day. Maybe he just wanted to distract himself from the day. I didn’t think too far into it. “Kira’s working tonight, right?” he asked. Ah, now that made sense. He wants to spy on her, see how she’s doing.“Yeah, she is. Wanna spy on her, Agent 007?” I teased.“More like wanna see if she shows up.” he mumbled, taking another bite of his sandwich.I rolled my eyes, “I’ll see about Lucy and Lachlan,” I said. He nodded. “I gotta get back to work, so I’ll see you later.”“I would kiss you right now, but roast beef.” he said with his mouth full. I hated roast beef and the taste always lingered on his mouth even after he finished the sandwich.I laughed, “It’s fine, that just means you owe me later.”“I can live with that.” he smiled, just as the door flew open and Hoskins stood in the doorway. Owen and I both visibly groaned and rolled our eyes.“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Hoskins said, sounding completely insincere. “How you doin’ sweetheart? Long time no see.” he grinned down at me. I raised my brows, he was such a dick. Every time I’ve seen him he’s either flirted with me or talked down to me.“What do you need?” Owen said sternly.Hoskins smirked at me before looking away, “No need to get riled up, pup. I wasn’t putting a move on her, I know she’s all yours unless you’re willing to share.”“You are the most-” I began. I was going to say ‘You are the most disgusting piece of shit I’ve ever met’, but Owen cut me off, probably for the better.“That’s bold, even for you Hoskins,” he said, throwing his sandwich wrapper out.“Didn’t think so. See you later, toots.” Hoskins waved me out. I clenched my jaw and my fist, so wanting to punch him right now, but I knew Owen would have something to say about that, so I left it to him and walked out of the office.
~~~
The rest of the day I spent out in the field doing screenings to see which herbivores were infected. We found three more dinosaurs that had Bracken Poisoning for a total of six (and that’s a lot to find in one day). We had to treat them, which consisted of an injection of thiamine solution. There was a Stegosaurus and a Microceratus whose poisoning was so bad, we had to take them to the infirmary because they need an IV.They were going to kill most of the Bracken in the area so the poisoning wouldn’t continue to occur. I was thankful that Dr. Collier still let me leave by 6 pm so I could meet Owen, Lachlan, and Lucy at Three Horns.“Sorry I’m late, it was a long day.” I sighed as I sat at the high top table next to Owen. Lucy and Lachlan were across from him. They’d been waiting for me for 15 minutes, but it didn’t stop them from ordering drinks while they waited and there were a few shots in the middle of the table.“Well, now that you’re here...” Owen said, taking each shot and putting them in front of me, Lachlan and himself. “Aw, you guys waited for me. How cute.” I laughed, picking it up.“Wouldn’t dream of doing it without you,” Lachlan smirked.“Don’t let them fool you, it’s their second round,” Lucy said.“Fuck you guys,” I said, shooting the alcohol back, feeling the familiar burn as the tequila coated my throat. I took a bite of the lime that Owen held out for me. “That just means you owe me another one.” “Hey yo, Kira!” Lachlan yelled and whistled, putting his arm up to get her attention. Kira heard was in the middle of talking to customers when she looked over at us.“She’s clearly busy, wait a second,” Lucy said, grabbing his arm and forcing it down. Kira finished up with them and walked over to us. “Hey sweetheart, think you can get us another round of tequila?” Lachlan asked, putting his elbow on the back of Lucy’s chair as he leaned forward.“Anything for you sweet thing,” Kira winked at him. “Anything else? Water? Kids chocolate milk?” she directed the last one to Lucy, who didn’t have a shot before. I could tell she was opting out of drinking for the night because she had an 8 pm boat to catch.“Water’s fine,” Lucy said quietly, looking down.“Ooo, kids chocolate milk, sign me up!” Lachlan said. I couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like he was trying to make Lucy feel better. I raised my brows when I noticed him rubbing Lucy’s back comfortingly and she just relaxed into his touch. Kira looked surprised for a second, then nodded as she wrote it down. “And a beer, whatever’s on tap. I’m not picky.” Kira wrote it down and looked at Owen, “A bottle of moonshine.” he said, then she looked at me.“I’ll have moonshine, too,” I said.“Oh! Let’s get fully-loaded nachos. And buffalo wings. And mozzarella sticks. I’m starving.” Lachlan said, rubbing his stomach.“Comin’ right up.” Kira smiled before walking away. I could see Owen eyeing her as she walked away. “She’s doing pretty well.” I smiled at him, grabbing his arm.“Yeah, she caught on pretty quickly too. She also hasn’t dropped anything yet, which much better than I did when I first started.” Lucy laughed.“Yeah, but you got the hang of it pretty quickly, right?” Lachlan asked, this time he rubbed her shoulder. He was being awfully touchy with her and she was just letting it happen. Lachlan was touchy with a lot of people, but the second he touched Lucy, she’d tense up, but now she wasn’t and I wanted to know why.“It took a few broken glasses, but yeah I did.” Lucy laughed. It wasn’t just any laugh, it was a flirty laugh. What the hell happened with these two and why haven’t I noticed until now?!“I’m just surprised she lasted this long,” Owen said honestly, shrugging his shoulders.“Well, it’s a good thing, isn’t it? Don’t expect the worst from her. She’s trying, that’s all that matters.” I told him, squeezing his hand. He nodded right as Kira came back with a tray full of drinks and shots. “I put in the food, so that should be out soon. Anything else I can get you?” she asked.“I think we’re good. Thanks, doll.” Lachlan smiled before taking the shot and sucking on a lime.Kira smiled and nodded, glancing at Owen. He just gave her a small nod as he took a sip of his beer. I sighed before picking up a lime and a shot. I coughed as the alcohol burned my throat, then sucked on the lime. We spent most of the time talking about what Lucy has been up to with school and Lachlan was telling stories about work and he was one of the most animated storytellers so it was hilarious. Kira brought us our food and Lachlan, Lucy and I thanked her while Owen just sipped on his beer. I could tell Kira looked a little upset for a split second before flashing a fake smile to the next customer. When Kira stopped by again to ask if we needed anything else, we ordered more drinks. I saw another little exchange between Kira and Owen where he wasn’t being receptive of her and he was just kind of ignoring her. Finally, I decided to say something.“You know, you could be a little nicer to her.” I leaned over and said to him. Lucy and Lachlan were both talking amongst themselves, but I still didn’t want them to hear what I was saying. Lachlan would probably but his way into the conversation as he usually did and make it into something it wasn’t.“What do you mean? I am nice to her.” Owen scoffed, taking a bite of a buffalo wing.“No, you’re not. You’re ignoring her and she just wants your approval.” I explained.“Why does she want that?” he asked, wiping his hands with a napkin, clearly not getting it.“Because she’s just trying to show you that she can do a good job and she wants you to acknowledge that.”“Who said I didn’t?”“So tell her that.” I urged. Owen didn’t budge and I sighed. “Just think about what I said at least.”“Fine,” he said, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. He probably just said that he would to shut me up.Lucy left around 7:30 so she could get to the boat and Lachlan ditched us shortly after because his ACU buddies, who were at the bar, but Owen and I didn’t mind spending the rest of the night talking with each other and complaining about how our day went while having more shots of tequila and a few more beers. By the time we decided to head home, we were both pretty drunk, me more so than Owen. When he was paying the bill he told Kira she was doing a good job and she looked so happy to hear that. Apparently, all it took was getting him drunk and he’d be nice to her. Go figure. We stumbled into my apartment around 11 pm and Owen got the bright idea to open up a bottle of tequila. So there we were, an hour later, completely wasted. I was making him watch Z Nation on Netflix with me, even though I’ve seen it a million times.The episode just finished when Owen said, “What does a zombie vegetarian eat?” I raised my brows, “What?” “Graaaiiiinnnssss,” he said, mimicking the low groan a zombie typically does while also putting his arms out to mimic how a zombie walks.“You’re an idiot,” I laughed, shaking my head as I stood up. “How long it’d take you to come up with that one?”“Thinkin’ about it the whole episode,” he admitted, reaching his hands out and grabbing me by the waist and pulling me down into his lap. “Where do you think you’re goin’?” he slurred, kissing my shoulder.“Let me go! I need water, all this tequila is making me thirsty.” I said, squirming to get away from him.“Fine,” he mumbled, letting his grip around my waist go. I stood up, almost losing my balance and face planting in the process. “Careful there, darlin’. Wouldn’t want that pretty little face of yours gettin’ messed up.” “Shut up.” I laughed, rolling my eyes as I stumbled into the kitchen, the wall catching me from falling over.Maybe we had a little bit too much to drink. I wondered, but we were in my apartment, so no harm, no foul. We were having fun, that’s all that mattered. Good thing Kira wasn’t supposed to be home for another hour, otherwise we’d risk having her call us hypocrites for saying she can’t get drunk while Owen and I are plastered.I opened the fridge, momentarily forgetting what I was coming to get. I scanned the shelves, hoping it would remind me.“Babe.” Owen’s voice came from beside me, causing me to jump. “Jesus Christ Owen, you scared me,” I said, putting my hand over my chest as he laughed. “I forgot was I was getting.” I sighed.“Forget the water,” he said, grabbing my waist and pulling me closer to him. His eyes were heavy with lust and as piercing as ever. I knew what he wanted and it was not a bottle of water. I sighed, letting the fridge door close because I knew I wasn’t getting myself out of this, not after the look he was giving me, not that I even wanted to get out of this one. He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my lips to his. It was a sloppy, wet, drunken kiss, but we were too drunk to care. I ran my fingers through his hair as his hands cupped my ass. I let out a moan when he placed me on the counter as his teeth tugged on my bottom lip. There was nothing gentle about any of this and right now I wanted to get down to business, just as much as he did.He pulled away, leaning his forehead against mine as his eyes pierced mine. We were both breathing heavily from the passionate kiss we just shared. “Wanna know what I haven’t done in a while?” he asked, his gaze dropping down to my neck as he lightly clamped his hand around, rubbing circles along it with his thumb.I bit my lip, feeling a rush of heat through my body. “What?” I asked.“Fucked you on the kitchen table,” he said lowly, tightening his grip around my neck and sending a shiver down my spine. “Made you scream my name, made your moans echo across the entire apartment, loud enough for your neighbors to hear.” he kissed my cheek, his words vibrating in my ears.“You better change that…” I said, pulling on the collar of his shirt, biting my bottom lip seductively and looking up at him. He took one look at me before kissing me hard, taking that as his go-ahead to do what he wanted with me.
~~~
Nothing could ever match the amount of pleasure Owen could give me or was currently giving me as he did exactly what he said he was going to do and that’s fuck me on the kitchen table from behind while I screamed his name. Moans and groans escaped both of our lips with the occasional ‘fuck’ that left our throats, nothing could quite match the intensity we shared together in this moment. Nothing else existed when we were in this moment as far as I was concerned, which is exactly why we didn’t hear the front door open or close.“Guess I got dinner and a show!” Kira’s voice came from behind us.“Kira!” I said, looking back at her.Owen muttered a “Fuck” as he froze. His body was currently blocking her from seeing anything but his ass. Kira looked a little shocked but more amused. “Don’t mind me, just gonna grab water and head to bed,” she said, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. “Carry on!” she said before rushing out of the kitchen and to her room.I leaned my elbows on the table and sighed. “Shit, of course that just happened…” Owen was quiet for a moment, still probably in shock at what his cousin just walked in on, then he cleared his throat. “Well, the worst is already over. Should we finish?”I bit my lip, a little surprised he was so ready to continue even after Kira - his little cousin - just saw everything and was in the next room. “I’m drunk, so fuck it. I don’t really care anymore.” I said and Owen didn’t waste a second to finish what we started.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s been 2 weeks since the… kitchen incident. Which is now what I refer to it as. Kira has obviously mentioned it since then, poking fun at it, but I’ve deflected it as much as I can. I’ve started to just roll my eyes and let it go at this point. I can’t tell whether or not Owen is as embarrassed by it as I am. He kind of just sat there with a smug look the one time Kira poked fun at it in front of him. Almost like he was proud of himself? Of course, he was, he’s a guy with an ego the size of his head.I invited Lowery over for dinner one night because we haven’t seen each other in about a week because we’ve both been so busy. We tried to get coffee in the morning a couple of days but I got called in earlier than expected both times. “Please tell me you made brownies… or cookies because I could really use one today.” Lowery said the second he walked into the apartment and kicked his shoes off.“I understand that brownies and cookies are like your alcohol, but that doesn’t mean I have them every time you come over. I have tequila, does that help?” I laughed, knowing it wouldn’t.“God no, I don’t know how you drink that crap,” he pulled a disgusted face. I just laughed and shook my head. I honestly have no idea how I drink that like it’s candy while most people can’t stand it. At this point, after all, I’ve drunk with Owen, I don’t even need a chaser. Don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Oh well. I drained the pasta I was making for dinner. “Oooo, mom’s fettuccine alfredo recipe?” he asked, looking over my shoulder.“Yes, it is,” I hummed, smiling as I mixed in the sauce, glancing over my shoulder at him. His mouth was basically watering as he was watching the sauce mix in with the pasta. “Don’t have an orgasm.”“What? Ew, no.” he shook his head.“That’s what it looks like. I’m waiting for the moan.” Not that I wanted it, of course. I was just saying that to see his reaction.“You’re disgusting.” he shook his head, opening the fridge to grab a bottle of water.“Love you too, dickhead.” I smiled as I mixed the chicken and broccoli in and put everything in two bowls. “Have a rough day?” I asked, sitting at the kitchen table and placing a bowl in front of him.“Claire is up my ass again, but what’s new,” he said, sticking his fork into the chicken aggressively.“What happened this time?” I asked.“Just that I can’t ever do my job right apparently. I always do something wrong. She always says I need to “focus on the task at hand”,” he said in a mocking tone with air quotes. “Well, you do get distracted easily.” I shrugged. Lowery shot me a glare. “So you’re siding with her?”“I never said that. You just have ADHD is all.” I laughed, taking a sip of water. He didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes because he knew I was right.“So, you know what was weird…” he said, trailing off as he made his weird ‘thinking face’. “I saw Owen in the control room today.” “Really? What was he doing?” I asked, confused. Not once have I ever seen him in the control room before. Well, given I’m not usually there, but it’s the first time Lowery has mentioned anything about Owen being in the control room and he basically lives there.“He was talking to Claire about something. I asked her what it was about when she walked over but she just told me to mind my own business.” he shrugged.“Well, I did see her at the enclosure a couple of weeks ago and Owen said it was about meetings and paperwork. It’s probably because it’s June and heading into summertime and it’s going to be much busier than usual.” I said, trying to come up with any good excuse as to why Owen would be there talking to Claire. Lowery just shrugged and nodded his head as the front door burst open. It could only be one person. “Always graceful,” I said under my breath as Kira appeared in the kitchen.“Ooo, what smells so yummy?” she asked with a bright smile.“Fettuccine Alfredo. There’s some in the pot if you want some.” I offered.“Great, I’d love to have dinner with you guys!” she said, making her own invitation. It’s what she tended to do. I glanced at my brother, whose eyes were wide as she cleared herself a spot at the table and sat down.“So how were each of your days?” Kira asked, smiling brightly.“Mine was good, what about you Lowery?” I said, looking over at him. He shot me a look and I smirked. I don’t know what it was but Kira always made him nervous.“Pretty good,” he said quietly, shoving his mouth with food to avoid talking anymore.“Well, mine was lovely.” she sighed, eating. “So, did you tell him about yours and Owen’s sexscapade in the kitchen?” Kira smirked. “Ya know, I haven’t gotten the chance to tell him yet,” I said sarcastically, looking at Lowery with a smirk. I wasn’t planning on telling him anything about it because I was still a little embarrassed and I’m sure it would freak him out. Although his reaction would have been worth it, how do I even bring that up? ‘Owen and I were really drunk one night and we fucked in the kitchen and Kira walked in’ doesn’t exactly sound like a good conversation starter.“Well, it was a sight I tell ya. I never thought I’d see my cousins ass, but there’s a first time for everything, ey.” she shrugged, taking another bite of food. “It happened right on this very table I might add.”Lowery mumbled something inaudible as he looked up at the ceiling and shook his head, obviously pissed off. I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Oh, Kira, as blunt as ever.
~~~
The next day I had just finished up in a meeting with the research team about cures for common illnesses in the dinosaurs. We usually consult with the research team and have meetings with them once or twice a week, depending on the illnesses that are presenting themselves and if they have a cure or vaccine for them. Today they came to us with a possible cure for hookworms. Of course, we have to test it on the dinosaurs and I was there to arrange when that would start.Normally, Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez would take part in these meetings, but Dr. Collier has been giving me a lot more responsibility recently, which I didn’t mind. Lowery told me they were looking for another doctor position, so I hoped that was why. He was testing me to see if I’d be a good fit. I definitely wouldn’t mind getting out of the assistant position, I am a doctor after all. I walked back into mine and Dr. Collier’s office, thinking about things I wanted to write in the report that I’m going to write for Dr. Collier and Dr. Sanchez. I was so in my head, I jumped when I saw someone turn around in my chair to face me, and that someone just so happened to be Kira. She was on my computer, looking at something she shouldn’t have been looking at.“Kira? What are you doing?” I asked. She knew where I worked because I had told her, but never has she once visited me in the office, so of course, I was skeptical.“Just wanted to see what you get into everyday… nice office. Could be more homey though.” “I share the office with my boss so it can’t. Also, if my boss found you here on my computer, he would not be too happy.”“Oh, you mean Eric? Nice guy. He told me to make myself right at home while I waited for you.” she smiled.“Okay… right,” I said, that’s really weird. She called him by his first name and he welcomed him into our office? I didn’t buy it. “Did you need something?”“I was just bored and figured I’d come to watch you poke dinosaurs or whatever you do.” she shrugged, turning back and forth in the office chair.“Help them,” I corrected her. “I help them, not poke them. Only when they need shots.” “All of that is really fascinating…” she said, but I could tell she was being sarcastic. She stood up and I raised my brows. “I have a really fascinating job.”“Sounds like it.” she shrugged.“Okay, well, I really have to get back to work, so…” I trailed off, but I really wanted to say: could you please leave? Get out of my office? Not be so weird?“Right,” she said walking past me. “But before I go…” she stopped, turning around to face me. “Anyway you could spot me some money just to grab some lunch? I’m really low on funds right now…”“Uhm, don’t you have a job?” I asked.“Right, well I don’t get paid until Friday, so I’m in a bit of a pickle…” she trailed off, giving me a smile.I sighed, taking my wallet out of my pocket. “How much do you need?”“Maybe $40? I’m really hungry…” she said, batting her eyes, putting emphasis on ‘really’.I raised my brows and pulled out some money. “Here’s $15.” I handed it to her.“Perfect, thanks puddin’ pop!” she said, patting my head before leaving.It’s all starting to make sense now… Lowery acting weird around her, how she’s always so chipper, how she basically manipulates me into giving her everything she wants and why Owen has his reservations about her. There is something wrong with her. I’m definitely going to be keeping my eyes open now, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.“Oh my god… Owen was right…” I said to myself.
~~~
I saw Owen later that day when we met for a drink after work. I wondered if I should tell him what happened earlier with Kira because I knew he’d only get mad at me for actually spotting her the money. The more I thought about it, the more I wish I never gave in. She could have gone home and made lunch for herself… we have sandwich ingredients at home and leftovers from last night.That’s exactly what Owen told me when slipped and told him. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t lie to him or withhold information from him, I’ve tried that before and it only ended badly. “This was part of the rules, she has to figure out her own food situation.” Owen snapped at me. I sighed and nodded, “I know but she just makes me feel bad, Owen. I can’t help it.”“You’re too much of a pushover,” he said, drinking a sip of his beer, his eyes scanning the bar. I sighed and nodded, agreeing with him and looking down at my beer, gliding it on the countertop slowly. “Hey,” he said softly, I looked up at him. “It’s not your fault. She’s manipulative,” he said, looking over at where she was, cleaning up a table in front of us. “Kira!” he called her over and my eyes widened.“Owen, what are you doing?” I asked. There was no telling what he’d do, he was annoyed at her for manipulating me to give her money and he had a little bit of a temper when it came to her. The last thing I wanted was for him to embarrass her at her job.“What can I do for ya?” Kira asked, approaching with a smile.“We seemed to of forgotten our money at home, but you can use the tip money you just got to pay for us. And we’ll take another round. Since you think it’s okay to ask Alise for money for lunch, you won’t mind spotting for a few drinks, right?” he asked. He said it all rather nicely too, which surprised me.Kira stood there for a moment with her eyes widened. “Uh, yeah, totally. I got you!” she stammered at first, finding the words but then played it off once she did. “I was totally going to pay for those anyway. To pay you back. It was going to be a surprise...” she trailed off. “I’ll grab some more drinks for you!” she smiled before walking away.She came back just a few minutes later with two beers and two shots of what looked like tequila. “Shots are on me too.” she smiled and Owen nodded at her. “Alright, well, my shift is over so Jesse is going to be taking care of all of your needs. You two have a good night!” she smiled before walking away. “Wow, free beer and tequila. She really knows the way to your heart” I laughed, watching as Owen took the shot. “She’s really good at covering her ass is what she is.” he said, placing it back on the table with an ‘ah’ as he watched Kira go into the back room.
~~~
I had off work the next day and Kira had a 9 to 5 at Three Horns so I was free to spend the day however I wanted. And that meant situating my ass on the couch with coffee, a bag of Doritos and ice cream to binge watch Agents of Shield because I was just finishing up on the third season and it was intense as hell.It was going great, until my phone went off at 1 pm and it was Dr. Collier calling me to tell me he needed me to come to the office and sign the updated version of the safety regulation contract and they needed all the staff to sign by the end of the day, so it couldn’t wait.It took me a good 30 minutes to make myself presentable enough before going in. He had me meet him in our office and we went over the contract before I signed it. It was all painless really and I was out the door by 2:30.“Bye, see you tomorrow!” I said to Dr. Collier as I walked out of the office. I headed down the hall and was surprised to see that Owen was standing at the end of one of that halls, leaning against the wall. He looked like he was talking to someone, but I couldn’t see who because another wall was obstructing the view. I curiously walked over, then stopped when I saw he had been talking to Claire.Claire’s eyes met mine for a moment and she looked like she was caught off guard. She straightened her body, “Thank you for your time, Mr. Grady. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your report.” she said, sticking her hand out.“What?” Owen asked, standing up straight, no longer leaning on the wall. He actually sounded confused for a moment.“Your report. I expect it on my desk in the morning.” she sighed, giving him a look before glancing over to me again. There was something odd about the look she gave him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.“Right, Ms. Dearing. I’ll try to get it to you by then.” Owen said, shaking her hand. She smiled, giving me a small smile before turning on her heel and walking away confidently. Owen turned around and I caught a glimpse of a small smile on his face. His lips straightened when he saw me.“Hey…” was all I could manage to say after seeing that little exchange that was oddly suspicious. “Alise,” he said. I could tell he was caught off-guard. “I thought you were off today.”‘Is that why you were meeting with Claire secretly for the third time that I even know of’ is what I really wanted to say, but I didn’t want to sound like an overprotective girlfriend. They’re probably just talking more than usual because of work. Maybe they’ve been talking this much before and I just didn’t realize until now. There were so many possibilities.“Dr. Collier called me in to sign something… what were you talking to Claire about? Are you in trouble?” I asked, pretending like I didn’t hear what was said. I wondered if his story would actually match up to what I overheard.He scoffed, “No, just work stuff.”I nodded slowly, thinking about how vague “work stuff” was… like was it just paperwork and what was the report about? I had so many questions that I wanted answered. But now wasn’t the time.“Hey, listen, it’s nice to see ya, but I gotta run back to the enclosure…” he said, kissing the side of my head. “I’ll see you later. 5 o’clock, right?” he asked.I nodded, “Yeah.” I said. We were going on the mainland to go out to eat with Lucy for her birthday.“Okay, good. Bye.” he said before rushing off.I bit my lip and sighed. I did not like what I just saw or how quickly he walked off. This whole situation just felt weird. What could this even mean? I just shook my head. I’m probably overthinking it. We all work for the same company, I’ve crossed paths with Claire before and obviously Owen. It’s probably just work stuff… like Owen said and I trust him. He’s never given me any reason not to...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After what I just saw happen between Owen and Claire earlier today, I knew I’d spend the rest of the day overthinking, so I went home and made brownies to distract myself. I ended up keeping them in the oven for a little bit too long because I got distracted (which rarely happens) and the whole kitchen started smoking up. I quickly put the fan on and rushed to the sliding door to open it and get some airflow before the fire alarm went off. Whenever that damn thing goes off I can never figure out how to turn it off and maintenance has to come to do it for me.The second I opened the door, I heard shooting sounds coming from Lachlan’s apartment as well as him screaming nonsense, most likely at the video game he was playing on the TV. His porch door was wide open and I remembered he said he had off work and would most likely be spending the whole day sleeping and playing video games until we had to go to the boat for Lucy’s party.I thought that maybe he would be able to distract me, keep my mind off of things. I only had an hour before we had to leave for the boat and I could spend the whole hour mulling over the events of the day, or hanging out and playing a video game with Lachlan. I chose the latter.I went next door and knocked on the door, anxiously biting the inside of my lip and spacing out. I needed to stop thinking about this crap. It was going to drive me crazy.“Hey short stack!” Lachlan said when he opened the door and saw me. I pulled a face, “I’m 5’6 and 5 inches shorter than you, why are you calling me short stack?” “Just cuz, couldn’t think of anything better ducksack.” “Ducksack?” “Like a ducks nutsack. Thought you’d appreciate it more. Is it already time to go?”I rolled my eyes, “No, just heard you playing some video games and wanted to see if I could come join.” I shrugged. “Well, come on in you sexy thing! I’d love to kick your ass in some friendly combat,” he said, letting me in.“Yeah right, you’re going to kick my ass,” I scoffed. “Oh, and don’t call me ducksack, like ever again. Or anything that has to do with a nutsack for that matter, okay free willy?” I said, looking down and referring to the fact that he was only wearing those damn boxer briefs again.“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll put on a shirt.”“And pants. We have to leave in an hour.” I reminded him.“Will do!” he called back as he walked into his room. I shook my head and walked over to the couch. There were junk food wrappers everywhere as well as dirty paper plates with utensils. This boy needs to clean up after himself and I’ve told him that before when I’ve been here, but it goes in one ear and out the other.“Sorry, wasn’t expecting company,” he said, picking up what looked to be a pair of boxers from the arm of the couch I had just sat on.“You’re a pig.” I laughed.“You just caught me on a bad day. If I knew you were coming I would have cleaned up a bit, I swear.” he defended.“Yeah, right you would have.” I rolled my eyes, picking up a controller, knowing full-well that that probably would not be the case. “Now, what are we playing?”“Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Wanna do team deathmatch?”“You’re on,” I said, putting my foot on the coffee table and leaning back into the couch. I knew he wouldn’t mind if I made myself comfortable. He always told me to make myself right at home, besides, he does the same thing at my apartment anyway. I always have to kick his dirty feet off of my coffee table.He went to the main menu and put on team deathmatch, then pointed the controller at me. “And don’t try to shoot me this time, we’re on the same team, remember that.” he reminded, hinting about the last time we played together. I totally shot him. Multiple times.“I just get excited. I see someone, I kill them.” I said, shrugging. “Which is why I leave ACU and special forces to you. Otherwise, everyone on my team would be dead.”“Yeah, and thank you for that. You stick to poking the dinos, I’ll stick to electrocuting them.”“Why does everyone always assume I poke dinosaurs? I help them!” I said, sighing. Lachlan just laughed as the game started.
~~~
We met Owen at the boat at 5 pm, which left at 5:15, so we got to the mainland at 6:15 and met Lucy and her family at El Hicaco, a restaurant in Jaco, which is right where the boat comes in. It sounded really upscale and it’s right on the water, so of course, I had to look it up. I needed to make sure all of us dressed appropriately and I did not let Owen out in board shorts, even though he asked.Reservations for here are taken months ahead of time and it’s $15 (or 8994 in Costa Rican colon) for a margarita and I couldn’t bring myself to even look at the price of the entrees. Normally, I’d skip out on something like this. I mean I’d barely be able to afford an appetizer at a place like this, but Lucy’s stepdad insisted on treating all of us for her birthday and Lucy practically begged us to come. She said she only wanted to invite her closest friends, so it was just me, Lachlan and Owen.Her stepdad, Tomas, is super friendly and welcoming. The first thing he did when we got there was give us each a big hug, ordered the most expensive wine on the menu for all of us then he asked each of us why we started working on the island and what we were doing. Lucy seemed a little nervous and I figured that’s just because this lavish stuff isn’t for her. She especially seemed nervous when he was talking to Lachlan, who of course, talked everyone’s ears off with stories and what not. At one point, I noticed Owen sneaking a glance at his phone and I raised my brows. He never checks his phone when we were out, unless if it was important. He answered a text and then looked back up and nodded his head to act like he was paying attention the whole time. I smiled a little, taking amusement in the way he attempted to play that off. I glanced down in his lap when I saw the screen light up again, I could barely read what the text had said, but I’m pretty sure it said it was from Claire. I blinked and tilted my head again, leaning forward slightly to get a better read on it, maybe it said it was from someone else and she was just on my mind so I was seeing things. Nope, definitely says Claire. Owen looked down in his lap and grabbed it quickly and I moved back so he wouldn’t be able to tell I was looking. I accidentally knocked my napkin on the floor in the process. I sighed and leaned over to pick it up, thankful that it wasn’t a utensil or something else that would make a loud noise.I caught a glimpse of something and had to do a double take to make sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing. Lachlan’s hand was on Lucy’s thigh and she grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers. My eyes widened as I sat up, knocking my head into Owen’s shoulder as I sat up.“You okay?” he asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.“Me? Are you okay?” I asked him.He gave me a confused look, “Yeah, I’m fine…” he said, rubbing my back lightly before looking away and taking a sip of the wine I knew he hated and he was just drinking it because Tomas bought it for us. I could read him easily. So that’s how I knew he was nervous about something and that something was up with him. His finger was tapping against the bottom of the glass, his palm that was resting on my shoulder was getting sweaty, so he shook it out and grabbed his napkin. His phone went off again and he reached for it.“Barry?” I whispered. Owen looked up at me, giving me a confused look. “Is that Barry texting you?” I asked again, glancing down at his phone.“Just somethin’ about work,” he said, letting out a sigh before sticking his phone in his pocket. I bit my lip and nodded my head. He didn’t say it was Barry, he just said it was about work. He also didn’t mention Claire either. I didn’t want to mention that I saw her name on his phone because we were out to eat with other people and didn’t want to draw attention. Why the fuck are they be talking about work after work hours? And why was he trying to hide it from me?I was not happy about this one bit.
~~~
While we were in the middle of our entrees, Lucy got a phone call and excused herself, then Lachlan excused himself to the bathroom shortly after. I was suspicious about what was going on with them and thinking about that distracted me from Owen and Claire talking before, so I was hyper-focused on them. Tomas and Lucy’s mom, Jazmin, were talking to Owen and me about when they invested in the park, then Tomas went on to ask Owen about his job training the raptors.I used that as my way out, excusing myself to the bathroom, not caring that Owen squeezed my hand a little bit tighter before I left. Lucy and Lachlan have been gone for too long and after what I just saw under the table, I don’t think it for the reasons they said.I found my way to the bathroom and wasn’t surprised when I rounded the corner and saw both of them kissing with Lachlan’s back against the wall and Lucy’s arms wrapped around his neck.“Damn, it took you two long enough,” I said, causing Lucy to pull back and give an awkward smile as if she weren’t just playing tonsil hockey with the star player.“I know right,” Lachlan laughed. “I had no idea Lucy felt the same way and now I’m getting laid like 3 times a week when she’s on the island and even more if I come to visit.”“Lachlan!” Lucy smacked his arm.“What?” Lachlan said, rubbing it, genuinely acting surprised.“You’re such a pig,” she said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.“A pig that you can’t resist, right?” Lachlan smirked.Lucy looked at him and sighed, “Oh shut up you jerk.”“Love you too, babycakes,” he said, kissing her cheek before walking by me, ruffling my hair before making an exit. I just laughed, smoothing my hair down as I looked at Lucy.“‘Love you too’? Seriously, what the hell have I missed…”“A lot, and he doesn’t really mean it. He’s said that in the past before we started dating.” she shrugged. She was right, he says that to me too, but I wasn’t so sure his was so platonic when it came to her.I shrugged and shook my head, “I don’t know… I think he might actually love you. You’ve been friends for what? A year? More than that?” I asked. Lucy shrugged and shook her head. “Well, how long have you two been dating?”“Officially?”I raised my brows, “How long was it “unofficial”?” I asked.“Well, we slept together a few months ago. I mean, we kissed before that, but we were drunk and he said he didn’t want to go any further because he didn’t want our first time to be when we’re drunk…” she explained. That was so sweet. Of course, Lachlan cares about her if he waited, normally he doesn’t give a shit. “Anyway, I got super nervous after that and tried to avoid him but he was relentless. He told me he wanted me to be his girl and that no one else made him feel the way I do. It was sappy and really totally unlike him. I just fell for him. We’ve officially been dating 2 months.”“That’s so cute!” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” “I just wanted to keep it to ourselves. Lachlan agreed too. I’m surprised he hasn’t slipped up yet either.” she laughed.“Me too. Although I’ve noticed him being awfully chipper as of late. More so than usual.” I said. Lucy smiled and looked down. “Well, I’m really happy for you two,” I said, rubbing her arm comfortingly.“Thanks.” she smiled at me.“Sorry for being a cockblock. I can get him if you want to continue…” I asked, being completely serious. I would have gone back to the table and gotten him and let them continue their little love fest.Lucy laughed, “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. It’s probably for the better, we probably would have gotten carried away like in the past.” she explained.I raised my brows, “Huh, well, that’s a story I wanna hear!” I smirked.“Yeah, I’m keeping that one to myself, thanks.” she laughed, walking with me towards the dining area.I laughed, linking my arm with hers. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.” I smiled. At least one relationship is blossoming before my eyes, while mine is seeming to crumble.
~~~
The rest of the night I tried not to focus on the Claire and Owen thing, especially because Lachlan was there. Boy, was it hard to keep myself from going off on Owen when we got onto the boat. Heck, I almost threw him overboard when we were walking out on the deck.I knew I was being slightly irrational. I didn’t have all the facts… but I knew it was Claire he was texting. He also didn’t lie and say it was Barry, so that was good. If only I could read the damn texts… but I wouldn’t do that to him. I trust him. Then why am I having this fucking debate? Because I’m human and he’s being a dickhead. He’s obviously hiding something and he’s terrible at it. Lachlan and I parted ways with Owen at the dock and he went on his bike back to his bungalow while Lachlan and I caught the shuttle. It took everything in me to smile back at Owen and kiss him goodnight when we said our goodbyes. I wanted to knee him in the balls, or clock him in the side of his head… Okay, maybe this was the wine talking. Wine makes me aggressive and sleepy. I like my tequila buzz much better than my wine buzz, that’s for sure.“Alright, what’s wrong with you?” Lachlan asked as we stopped at my apartment. He stood in between me and the door and I raised my brows at him. “What’s wrong with me? Get out of my way!”“You’ve been quiet ever since we left the restaurant,” I never thought Lachlan would be the one to pick up on this over Owen, who didn’t even say a thing. Of course, I was being quiet and distant, I was all up in my head, thinking of ways to kill Owen without it being traced back to me… no, ugh, that’s the wine talking. “Is this about Lucy and me? Listen, I told Lucy you had a crush on me but she said I was crazy, but it seems like-”“No, you’re definitely crazy,” I said, taking my key out of my purse. “Now move.”“Not until you tell me what’s up,” Lachlan said, raising his eyebrows at me. I sighed, “I think Owen’s cheating on me…”“What? With who?” “Claire…” I looked down at my feet as Lachlan burst into laughter. I dropped my jaw and raised my brows. “Why are you laughing, you jerk? I’m being serious!” I said, hitting his arm.“Because everyone knows they can’t stand each other. All they do is bicker and fight. They can’t be in the same room with each other without being at each other’s throats.” “Yeah, well, turns out that’s not true.” I sighed.“Did you see them together?” He asked, this time more seriously. “Yes, on multiple occasions,” I said.“That fucker. Let me go get my gun…” he said, taking a step forward, but I grabbed his arm. “Not in that way! And you have a gun?!” I asked in disbelief. I didn’t know they let people have guns on the island apart from law enforcement.“Yeah, in my locker. They won’t let me keep one on me.” He shrugged.“And there’s a good reason for that!” I said.“Why?” he asked seriously.“Because you just threatened to shoot my boyfriend!”“You’re the one that said you say them together!” He defended.“I didn’t mean I saw them together in that way, Lachlan. I’ve just seen them together and they aren’t usually bickering, they’re smiling and laughing. A little too friendly if you ask me.” I said, rolling my eyes. I was annoyed at the thought of it.“So, they don’t hate each other anymore. That’s a good thing. You don’t want to be on Claire’s bad side.” He said.I groaned, “What? That’s not the point Lachlan.” I was getting nowhere with him.“Then what is the point?” He asked, completely serious.I sighed, “You know what, forget it, I’m calling Lucy.” I said, shaking my head as I opened the door.“Just make it quick because Wednesday nights after 11 are our sext nights,” he smirked.“Of course they are.” I rolled my eyes and walked inside.“Night carebear!” He called.“Night ballsack,” I said, shutting the door and shaking my head. I sighed as I looked at my phone, seeing a text from Owen.
I didn’t want to say it in front of Lachlan, but that dress you wore was incredible. You should wear dresses like that more often, hell, I’ll take you out to one of those expensive ass places if it means I get to see you in a dress like that. Wish I could help take it off you right now ;)
How could I be mad at him when he says stuff like that? At this rate, Wednesday nights after 11 will be our sext nights.I groaned, throwing my head back dramatically. I need a shot of tequila, stat.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A couple of weeks later, I let the Owen and Claire thing blow over. I was so busy with work that it slipped my mind. I know, how does something like that slip my mind? I didn’t see any more signs of them talking outside of work but if he was, he was being stealthy about it. I even checked his phone to see if he had texted her recently, but he hadn’t. He also deleted the conversation from that night, but he does that will all of his texts, so I didn’t read into it. He didn’t catch on that I was snooping around thankfully, but he did catch me on his phone in the early morning one day when he walked into his room with coffee. I told him I left a few pictures on there for when he misses me. Of course, they were all the dumbest faces I could pull and I didn’t forget the famous, terrible double-chin picture.I wondered if I should have confronted it before, or even now. I’ve been cheated on in the past. Multiple times and this was only eating at me and it was starting to show in our relationship. He’s even asked me if everything was okay because I was acting differently.
“What do you mean, ‘different’?” I asked, a little on edge.
“I don’t know, just more clingy than usual. I mean, I know I’m irresistible so you can’t help it,” he smirked, lightening the mood.
“Yeah, that’s totally it.” I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. I also bit my lip, was my insecurity really showing?
It was. I was going to mention it to Aspen, but I was worried she might go full-detective mode and stalk him on social media (even though he only has a facebook that he rarely uses). I tried to talk to Lucy about it, but she was super busy with finals (her school was on a different schedule than the universities in the states). I knew I definitely could not tell Lowery about it at all, or my mother because she’d tell Lowery. I talked to Lachlan a little bit about it and he told me he was cheated on in the past, which is mostly why he was so firm on not having a serious relationship before Lucy. Lachlan seemed to understand where I was coming from, but not completely.When I hit my lowest point, I went to someone I never thought I’d go to - Kira. I hadn’t heard from Owen all day yesterday or this morning and it was already 1 pm. On top of that, I had just received a text from Lucy 15 minutes ago telling me she saw Owen on the boat to the mainland with Claire. I was drowning in anxiety and Kira just so happened to be in the living room when I came out of my room.“Hey there cake pop. You’ve been in your room all morning, everything okay?” she asked, pausing the TV and watching me walk into the kitchen. I sighed and grabbed a bottle of water, walking back to the living area.“That’s a loaded question.” I sighed, taking a sip of water.“Come tell me about it...” she urged, patting the couch. I sighed and thought. I had no one else to talk to right now and I just had so much I needed to get off my chest and out of my head. Maybe talking to her was a good idea - I thought so at that moment anyway.“Well, it’s about Owen and Claire…” I started, sitting down next to her. I told her the full story of everything that’s happened up until the text I got from Lucy. “Wow, baby girl, that’s a lot to deal with,” she said, rubbing my arm comfortingly, but somehow, it didn’t bring me much comfort. “But you know, I do wonder what they’re doing… you said he’s been hanging around her an awful lot lately. I’ve seen them together too.” she added, I let out a sigh. That definitely was not helping right now.“I’m sure he has an explanation… it’s probably just a work thing.” I shook my head. I trust Owen. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me… “Why don’t you call him? See if he says he’s alone.” Kira urged. I thought about it for a minute. Did I really want to go down that road? “I don’t need to test him, I trust him…” I trailed off, the words seemed hallow at this point and even I could tell. “Are you sure about that?” she asked. I bit my lip, looking at my phone. “It’s better to know than wonder.” she rubbed my back comfortingly. I sighed and gave in, finding Owen in my contacts and pressing the call button.“Hey babe,” Owen said.I smiled, “H-hey. I haven’t heard from you yesterday or this morning so I just wanted to see what you were up to…” I said, more nervous than ever.“Yeah, I left my phone home yesterday and I’ve been running around all morning, so sorry about that.”“What are you up to?” I asked again, praying he told me the truth.“Just on my way to the mainland. Need to get a few supplies,” he said. I let out a small sigh, but then I remembered the answer to my follow-up question would tell me everything.“Are you with anyone?” I asked.“Nope, just came by myself.” He said simply. That’s when my heart dropped. He lied to me. I couldn’t believe it.“O-okay. I’ll talk to you later.”“Alright. Love you, bye.”“Love you too.” I choked out, tears filling my eyes as I hung up the phone. I looked down and let out a shaky breath. “He said he was alone…”“Now doesn’t that paint a pretty little picture of your ever so loyal boyfriend…” Kira said. That was the last thing I needed to hear.“I have to go,” I said, grabbing my bag and rushing out of the apartment. Tears were streaming down my face and it got harder and harder to breathe. I felt like a 10-pound weight was on my chest. I knocked on Lachlan’s door hastily, hoping he’d be home. When he wasn’t, I slid down the door and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t believe this. Owen was cheating on me.
~~~
Lachlan ended up coming home 10 minutes after my panic attack and took me inside to help calm me down. He actually did a pretty good job at it too, more than I would have expected for him anyway. He made me tea (which I didn’t even know he drank, then he said it’s Lucy’s), we sat on his couch and he let me tell him everything and he actually seemed to grasp everything I was telling him, even though I was ugly crying half of the time.“Wow, Owen’s totally a dick. I never would have thought,” Lachlan said, sounding really angry. I sighed and nodded, sniffing in. After telling him, my anxiety calmed and the ugly crying was over with, but my cheeks were stained with tears. He took a tissue to wipe them. “He doesn’t deserve you, you’re way too good for him. Tomorrow I’m going to have some words with him, you better believe that.” “Are you going to bring your gun, too?” I asked, letting out a small laugh. It was kind of a joke to lighten the mood. It distracted from how insanely fucked up this situation was. “You read my mind,” he said, but I couldn’t tell if he was joking, but then he cracked a small smile and chuckled, showing me that he was. “Alright, so Thor 1, 2 or 3?” he said, standing up. “I mean, we have all day, so we could watch all of them.”“You know just the way to cheer me up, Lach. Thanks.” I smiled at him, taking a sip of the lukewarm tea.“Anytime, beautiful. And hey, turn that frown upside down. I’ll go get the DVDs from your apartment and we’ll watch the dreamy Chris Hemsworth kick some ass.” he said, hitting my shoulder lightly.“Well, it’s Tom Hiddleston who’s dreamy. Chris is alright.” I shrugged.“What? Chris is ‘alright’? Have you seen the dude? He’s built tank and have you seen his eyes? So dreamy.” he said, I could tell he was over exaggerating for my benefit.“I’ve always preferred a hint of green,” I said, letting out a small sigh. Owen’s eyes were green. Of fucking course that reminded me of him. I shook my head. “So I’m more of a Loki girl.” “I thought his eyes were blue?”“It depends on his surroundings, really. Sometimes blue, sometimes green, it changes a lot actually.” I said.“Huh,” Lachlan thought for a second. He looked like he was thinking really hard and also very confused about it. Then he gave up and shrugged, “I’m just gonna grab those movies and we can argue about who’s more dreamy when I come back.” he laughed, walking towards the door.“The key is in my jacket pocket!” I called.“Got it!” he called back before I heard the door shut. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. At least I have a friend like Lachlan who can help me through this and knows just the way to.
~~~
I ended up spending the night at Lachlan’s because I realized I fell asleep on his couch only when he woke me up in the morning at 7 am, unsure if I had work or not. I did and I had to be there at 8 am, so I went home and quickly got ready. I didn’t make it into the office until 8:30, but Dr. Collier didn’t seem to mind. Even when I was going to apologize, he stopped me and said it was fine. “But don’t let it happen again” he warned in a stern voice, but I knew he was joking. I’m rarely late, so he wasn’t too strict about it when I was.He gave me the schedule and I was on desk duty the whole day. Doing reports, taking inventory, doing all the fun assistant stuff that I love to do. If I was going to be doing this all day, I needed coffee, stat. I didn’t get to have any this morning because I was rushing. Good thing Dr. Collier is as much of a caffeine addict as I am, so I was able to do a coffee run shortly after I got there.Dr. Collier left around 10:30 am to do fieldwork, leaving me to my own devices. I had been doing a good job at forgetting everything that happened last night, especially when I was talking to Dr. Collier about work-related stuff, but now that I was alone, everything came flooding in. I tried to focus my attention on the reports as much as I could, but it was really hard. I was sitting at the computer, tapping the spacebar and then deleting the spaces when I remembered that Owen texted me this morning around 8, but I didn’t have the time or guts to read it. I shook my head, now wasn’t the best time to read it either. I waited a few seconds before I caved and sighed, opening the text and reading it.
Good morning beautiful. I’ve got a busy day today so I won't be able to talk, but I wanna take you out tonight. Anything you wanna do.
I didn’t know if I wanted to smash the computer or burst into tears or throw a temper tantrum on the office floor. All were very appealing but highly inappropriate and embarrassing. I did the only thing I could think of and that was grab my cup of coffee and drink it, but of course, it was empty. I let out a groan and got up, I might as well refill it now. I was about to walk out of office when Owen appeared in the doorway. I froze and gulped hard when I saw him.“Can I talk to you?” he asked. He sounded agitated and looked pissed off. Immediately I fell into the ‘oh shit, I did something wrong’ mindset. I was thinking that I did something wrong. Go fucking figure.“Yeah…” I barely choked out as I took a step back into my office and he shut the door.“Wanna tell me what’s going on with you and Lachlan?” he asked.“Me and Lachlan? What are you talking about?” I asked, getting defensive. “Someone sent me this…” he said, holding up his phone and showing me a picture of me and Lachlan at Three Horns the other day and we hugging each other goodbye and Lachlan was kissing my cheek. In the picture it looked like it was pretty close to my mouth, but it definitely wasn’t outside of the picture. “Not to mention when I went to your apartment last night, Kira said you were at Lachlan’s, so I went there and he denied that you were ever there. So tell me what’s happening here,” he demanded.“Uhm, we were saying goodbye to each other. Who sent you that picture?” I defended, raising my voice and clearly getting angry. I mean where the hell did he get off?“It doesn’t matter. You two have been hanging around each other a lot recently and it’s not the first time I’ve heard about you two being especially close with each other.”“Yeah, we’re friends, Owen. We’re pretty close.” “Too close if you ask me. People have asked me if we’ve broken up before because of him.”“What are you playing at? Are you accusing me of cheating? Because at least I’m open with you and I tell you exactly where I am and who I’m with. I don’t just take day trips with him to the mainland and tell you I’m getting supplies when I’m really not.”“What… what are you…” he trailed off, looking confused. “Oh, come on,” he said, his voice falling when he realized what I was talking about.“Yeah, Lucy saw you and Claire on the boat together and I’ve seen you two hanging around each other a lot. You think I’m the one cheating and the one with secrets, Owen? Take a look in the mirror because you’re chock-full of ‘em.” Now I was pissed.“Okay… that’s not what you think…” Owen pleaded, putting his hands out and trying to calm me down.“So you admit it, you are sneaking around with her?” I asked.He sighed and looked down, “Yes.”“This is rich. And you have the nerve to accuse me of doing something with Lachlan?” “Kira said you two were getting closer recently and then she sent me the picture this morning. I didn’t know what to think,” he said honestly.“Wait, Kira?” I said, pausing for a second. “Kira got in my head about you and Claire, so I was talking to Lachlan about it. That’s why we’ve been spending more time together and that’s why I was over his apartment last night. He’s been cheated on before and he understood where I was coming from. I just thought, seeing you and Claire together…” I trailed off, I didn’t want to say it out loud.“That I was cheating on you? With Claire? God no. I can’t stand her.” he scoffed.I looked at him, confused. “Then why have you been sneaking around with her?”“She was helping me with your 6-month anniversary present. I wanted to have a private dinner with you on the beach in Jaco and the restaurant wanted me to do a taste test. Claire helped me come up with the idea and I wanted a second opinion. Barry isn’t exactly the fine dining type of man and I thought Claire would be helpful. She wanted me to go to this meeting with higher ups and I only said I’d go if she helped me with that.” he explained. I felt my stomach drop as I let out a sigh of relief.“Oh wow, I am such an idiot.” I said, shaking my head. This made so much sense… much more sense than him cheating on me. “Hey, listen, no your not,” he said, tilting my head up so I could look at him. “I can see why you thought that...” he said, searching my eyes. “I love you and only you. I’d never cheat on you.” I nodded, believing every single word he said. “I’m sorry I should have trusted you.” I said, embracing him in a tight hug. Owen’s arms tightened around me, making me feel safe and secure. I couldn’t help the few tears that escaped, it was an emotional past couple of days. Weeks even, since I first saw him and Claire together and was left in wonder. “And I should have trusted you,” he said. He pulled away and sighed. “Kira got in both of our heads.”“Kira is gonna get it when I see her later…” I said, shaking my head. My fists were already clenching.“Does that mean you’re finally kicking her out?” he asked, hopeful.“I’ll give her a chance to defend herself and then see how I feel. I can’t just kick her out though, it wouldn’t feel right.” I sighed.He nodded and grabbed my face and leaned down to kiss me. “I love you so much.”“I love you too.” I smiled into the kiss. I groaned when my phone went off and read a text from Dr. Collier. He needed me in the field and stat. So much for desk work. “Duty calls.” “Call me before you talk to Kira, I wanna be there for that,” he smirked.I laughed, “You’ll have a front-row seat.” I said, pecking his lips again before we parted ways.I was so relieved and so happy that this was finally over. There was an explanation to everything and it wasn’t that Owen was cheating on me. There’s one thing I know for sure and that’s that that little bitch is going to get it when I see her later.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s been a couple days and I still haven’t been able to pin Kira down to talk to her about what happened. Apparently, she had been working late the past two nights and the other night Owen and I went out so I ended up staying at his bungalow. The next night I was so tired I passed out by 8 o’clock when my intention was to plug my phone in, but I laid down on the bed to do so and I fell asleep instead. That’s how you know you’re getting old.The next morning started off like any other. I woke up at 6:30 am, had my morning coffee on the deck, talked to Lachlan for a few minutes before I went back inside to make breakfast and get ready for work. I got there right at 8 am, right when my shift started. Dr. Collier wasn’t in today, so I went to Dr. Sanchez’s office to get the schedule and found out I will mainly be working in the field today. Checking up on dinosaurs and doing screenings for Algae Poisoning because that’s the disease of this week that’s been presenting itself. I was checking up on the Sinoceratops that was presenting the symptoms of Algae Poisoning when I got a call about a Stygimoloch who was sick and her symptoms were blood coming out of her nose and mouth. I got there as quickly as possible. The Styg was fighting against the restraints the ACU had on her by the time I got there. Lachlan was there and he gave me the rundown of what happened. I waited until the sedation kicked in and she fell to the ground, laying on her side. Trent made sure she was completely out and I walked over cautiously with my kit. The first step was checking the blood for contaminants and the mouth and nose for any signs of disruption or abrasions because she could have torn something open and that was causing the bleeding. I was about to start my work when her eyes shot open and she lunged at me, head first, causing me to fall to the ground as her head rammed into my stomach. I screamed out when I felt and heard the cracking in my ribs. ACU shot her with 12 amps and I heard the Styg cry out as well as people yelling around me, but I couldn’t quite make out what anyone was saying. I heard people shuffling around as they tried to get the Styg under control. My head was starting to rush and I felt woozy but I still tried to sit up, and instantly regretted it when her tail flew back and hit me right in my face, causing me to drop right back down on my back, hitting the back of my head hard against the ground.“Alise!” I barely heard as I saw Lachlan hovering over mine. “Alise, can you hear me?!”I thought I was responding, opening my mouth and talking, but all I heard coming out was incoherent mumbling. “We need help, call Dr. Sanchez right now!” Lachlan said, panicked. I was trying to tell him that I was okay, but I couldn’t hear the words coming out of my mouth. That’s when everything went dark.
~~~
I came to again when I was in the infirmary, hooked up to an IV and laying on a cushioned cot they had with a mountain of pillows behind my head. It wasn’t exactly a hospital by any means so there was no fancy hospital bed or machines, they just had the basics. I started to sit up but was stopped almost immediately.“Hey, hey, don’t move. Doctor, she’s awake!” I heard Lachlan’s voice call. I looked up at him, he was a little blurry and I noticed I had double vision and the light behind him was burning my eyes so much that I had to blink hard to get it all to stop. I opened them again as the doctor walked over.“Alise, I’m Dr-” “Fischer. I know. We’ve worked together before.” I said but realized it came out as more of a mumble. “You’re right, we have. It’s a good sign you remember that. Do you remember what happened?” she asked.“I was helping a Styg that was bleeding out of her eyes and nose… she was scared… woke up. Hit me in the stomach with her head...” I said, grabbing onto my stomach as the pain started to rush in like a freight train hit me. It wasn’t the only thing that hurt, my head was throbbing. More specifically my left eye, where the Styg’s tail hit. I quickly reached up and touched the throbbing area and I winced. “Its tail hit my eye,” I said.“Right. That’s good you remember. I’ll give Lachlan an ice pack to hold on your eye while I ask you a few more questions if you’re up for them?” she asked. I nodded. She asked the typical questions you ask a patient who’s been through trauma to make sure no memory loss occurred. The basic, “What is your name” “What’s the date” “Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning”, etc. All the annoying questions you could ask. She also did the “light test”, eyes following the light. I passed both just fine, which was a good sign.“So what're the injuries? Broken rib? Possible orbital fracture? Concussion?” I asked, judging by what I just experienced, I had a few hunches.“Possible broken or bruised ribs, possible orbital fracture and definite concussion. We had to stitch up a cut on your forehead, but that’s the least of your worries,” she said, looking at a piece of paper. “We need to get you to Clínica De Jacó as soon as possible to get further examined and you definitely need x-rays. Since you’re awake, we’ll figure out the boating schedule and have a nurse go over with you,” she said. I nodded and sighed. That was honestly the last thing I wanted to do, but this place was a lame excuse for a doctors office, let alone a hospital so I knew I had to.“Give me this, I don’t need you to hold it like I’m a weak damsel in distress,” I said, swatting Lachlan’s hand away as I held onto the ice pack. He just laughed and shook his head, sitting down in the chair next to my bed. “Don’t you have to get back to work?” I asked, a little snarky. I was a little annoyed with this whole situation and it was clearly showing by my attitude.“Hamada’s orders are to stay with you until you woke up,” he said, not paying any mind to my snarkiness. It probably went right over his head.“So, I’m up now." I raised my brows, then winced at the sudden pain in my eye.“Yeah, guess I should get back to work,” he sighed, standing up.“What happened to her?” I asked quietly.“Who?” Lachlan asked.“The Styg…” I trailed off. I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that.“Protocol.” was all he said quietly. I just nodded my head and bit my lip. “Oh, and I called Owen,” he added. My eyes widened. “You called Owen?” I asked again, Lachlan nodded. “He’s gonna be pissed.”“Sounded it on the phone,” he said. “And I’m gonna leave before he gets here…”“Wish I could too.” I laughed. Lachlan laughed and then sighed.“You gonna be okay?” he asked. I nodded.“I ever tell you about the time I got attacked by a bear at the animal sanctuary?” I asked. Lachlan’s eyes widened. “Wasn’t as bad as this, but still pretty bad.”“No, but you definitely have to. That sounds insane! You’re one tough chick.” he said. I smiled. “Keep me posted, okay?” I nodded. “Oh, and you look as sexy as ever,” he smirked, I could tell he was being sarcastic. I squinted my eyes at him. “You’re an asshole. Just leave,” I said. He laughed and left, leaving me there, scanning the room for a mirror. I could only imagine what I looked like.“Where is she?” I heard Owen’s voice from down the hall. Oh boy. I sighed as he appeared in the room and rushed over. “Are you okay?” he asked.“Owen, I’m fine,” I said, applying a little too much pressure to the ice pack without realizing it and wincing.“Who was with you? Besides Lachlan?” was the second thing he asked. I was a little surprised, no ‘what happened’ or anything, but I assume Lachlan had already told him.“Why?” I asked, looking up at him. “Because clearly one of them wasn’t doing their job or this wouldn’t have happened,” he said, I could tell he was pissed.“That’s not what happened. She just got scared is all and wasn’t fully sedated. It was my fault, I should have double checked,” I said, even though I didn’t believe that was entirely true. Who was really at fault in all of this? It wasn’t just one person so I couldn’t even give Owen a name and even if I did, what would that do? Piss him off more? Would he go find that person and talk to them? I don’t even know when it comes to Owen.“You didn’t double check? I don’t believe that. You’re safer than that.” he said.I sighed, “Well, I guess I slipped up.”“You wouldn’t be sitting here with stitches in your forehead, a few broken ribs, and a possible orbital fracture if someone didn’t screw up.” he said sternly.“I’ll be more careful next time,” I said quietly.I wanted to say that it was bound to happen one of these days, really. I’ve been here for so long, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened already. Dr. Collier and Dr. Sanchez have mentioned some incidents happening in the field, but this was definitely the worst that I’ve heard.Owen sighed, “They need to make sure this never happens again.”“It won’t. They already put her down,” I said, looking down. I couldn’t help the tears that were in my eyes. That’s what protocol is. When a dinosaur attacks anyone, no matter the situation, they’re put down. No acceptions. “It’s probably for the best,” he said, leaning forward and taking the ice pack from me. He gently placed it on my eye, right where it had been throbbing. He studied my face, looking at all of the things that were wrong with it.“I probably look really ugly right now,” I sighed, looking down. Lachlan’s dumb little comment getting to me. “You know that’s not true,” he said, picking my chin up and searching my eyes.“Will you come with me to the hospital?” I asked.He nodded, “Of course. I’m going to be by your side the whole time, no matter what.”
~~~
The boat ride to the clinic wasn’t too bad and I chalk that up to the shot of morphine Dr. Fischer gave me and it was a godsend. I would have been in so much pain without it. I felt high (mind you I went to college once - and I'm only talking about pot) and I was super relaxed. I don’t remember half of the stuff I was saying, but Owen sure got a laugh out of it.I ended up staying in the clinic overnight for observation. They told me I have a concussion (which we already knew); 3 cracked ribs, all on my left side and the ones on my right were most definitely bruised and the huge welts and bruises that were already starting to form on my stomach were a telltale sign of that, and thankfully I didn’t have an orbital bone fracture because that would have been a nightmare. It was just going to be a huge bruise. I also had to get the stitches out of my head in a week. So, I guess I can add being mauled by a dinosaur to my resume. Doctors orders were to put ice packs on the infected areas, so my entire stomach and face; I can’t do any intense physical activity until they are properly healed in four to six weeks because of the broken ribs and the concussion and I need to take painkillers. All the damn painkillers. That’s really all they could do for me. So they discharged me the next morning and I was back to Owen’s bungalow by dinner time. The last place I wanted to be was back at my apartment, especially if Kira was going to be there. I didn’t have the energy to deal with her and thought it would be best to go with Owen. Plus, he said it’d be better so he could keep an eye on me. Even though I didn’t need to be watched over, it made him feel better. I didn’t argue with that.“So it’s gonna take four to six weeks to heal, which means I should be back in the field in a month, month and a half tops. It just means I’ll be doing stupid desk work for fucking ever, but I’ll be getting back to work in a few days so at least I’ll have that.” I said as Owen helped me into his bed.Owen sighed, I’d been talking about this since we’ve been on the boat. I was trying to figure out in my head when I’d be back at work, so he was probably sick of hearing it by now. “I don’t think you’ll be back in a few days, Alise. You need to rest. The doctor said one week.” “But I don’t need one week off, it’s ridiculous. They’re just being extra cautious. I’ll totally be ready in a few days,” I said, groaning and clutching my side as I sat in the bed. I looked up at him, that was bad timing. Owen just looked at me with his brows raised. “Like I said, I’m fine. I’ve got painkillers, that’s all I need.” I said, shaking the bottle with a smile.“We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” was all he said as he pulled the blanket up as if he were tucking me in. “But I don’t wanna talk about this tomorrow,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Yes, I know I was acting like a child, but I wanted him to be on my side with this. I didn’t want him to side with the doctor.“Well, I’m done talking about it now so have fun talking to yourself,” he said before walking away. I dropped my jaw as I watched him walk out.“Are you kidding me? I can’t even come after you right now, you dick!” I said, groaning as I threw my head back against the headboard dramatically. Of course, hurting the back of my head in the process. “Ouch.” I hissed rubbing the back of my head. I tried to be quiet so he didn’t just hear how much of an idiot I am.“You still have a concussion, the last thing you should be doing is throwing your head back into the headboard and throwing a temper tantrum because you didn’t get what you wanted,” Owen said as he walked back in. I squinted my brows at him, shooting him a glare. Which hurt my eye a little bit, but he deserved the glare so it was worth it.“I can do what I want, I’m an adult,” I crossed my arms over my chest as he brought over two bags of frozen vegetables. “I’m guessing you don’t have ice packs?” I asked. He shook his head.“Peas and corn will have to do,” he said, gently putting one on my stomach and gently holding the other one on my orbital bone. “I hate peas. Ever since my parents tried to force feed them to me and Lowery. Lowery gagged and spit them out and I puked out of my nose because they were so gross.” I said, causing him to chuckle.“You puked out of your nose?” He asked in disbelief.“Yeah, it’s possible and it’s a disgusting feeling,” I said as I thought as I remembered something else that had to do with food up my nose. “Hey, there was this one time I wanted to see what would happen if I snorted linguini and if you could see it coming out of the roof of my mouth, so Lowery was standing there, shining a flashlight down my throat to see if it would work.”Owen chuckled, “Did it work?”“Well, I felt it tickle my throat and then I threw up, so yeah, but it ended badly.” I laughed. “But it was a successful experiment. My parents were like ‘What the fuck is wrong with you weirdos and where did we go wrong’.”“You and Lowery got into some shit, didn’t you?”I laughed and nodded, “Didn’t you and your brothers?”“Oh yeah. Loads of shit. I was always the one that got hurt the most because they said it’d be a good idea and it’d work and I was too stupid to think otherwise. I remember one time we made a slip and slide out of a bunch of tarps and dish soap. Henry thought it’d be cool for me to sit in a sled and tie it to the back of his ATV with a rope.”I laughed, “Didn’t work so well?” I guessed.“Oh no, it worked. It was pretty fun, too. It was after that that he decided it’d be a good idea to tie a rope around my ankle and see how fast I could go on the slip and slide.”I let out a surprised laugh, the type of laugh that you do when you know you shouldn’t be laughing but are anyway. “Holy shit, that could have taken your leg off! How old were you?”“I had to of been like 8. But yeah, thank god my dad came home and was like ‘What the hell are you idiots doing?!’, we were grounded for weeks. That was one of the many times my dad caught us doin’ stupid shit.” I laughed, “Brothers are fun. Stupid, but fun,” I said. He nodded in agreement and chuckled. “Speaking of my stupid brother, I gotta call Lowery.”“I already did. Told him you were alright and that you needed your rest. I told him you’d call him tomorrow.” he said, I smiled and let out a sigh.“You’re amazing, thank you,” I said. Owen just smiled at me.“Here, you take this. Let me get you some water so you can take your medicine.” “I’m also starving. Hospital food sucks ass. I’m really craving a burger…” I said, looking at him with hopeful eyes. I felt bad for asking, but I’ve barely eaten anything for the past couple of days and a burger sounded delicious right now.“I don’t have any hamburger meat…” he trailed off, looking at me. “Shit. Fine. I’ll go to Three Horns.” “Yes! I love you. You’re the best.” I said, rubbing his cheek.“Whatever makes you happy,” he kissed my forehead and left to get the water. I could totally get used to this.
~~~
It was nearly impossible for me to sleep that night. I tried, but I just couldn’t. I was in a pretty moderate amount of pain and I could only lay on my back when I’m used to my side or my stomach, but that wasn’t entirely it. Insomnia is one of the symptoms of a concussion and of course, I got it.When I finally did get to sleep, I woke up less than an hour later with a nightmare about what happened with the Styg. Whenever I had a traumatic experience, it always manifested in my dreams. It was not fun, at all.It was nearing 4 am and I barely slept and when I can’t sleep, I overthink. I was thinking about how Dr. Collier had texted me earlier today and told me he wanted me to rest for the next few days and he’d consult with the doctor and figure out when the best time for me to come back was. What could the consensus be? The freaking doctor wanted to wait a week, but maybe Dr. Collier would be smart and be on my side? I doubted it.Thankfully, I didn’t have to wonder for too long as he called me around 11 am and said he decided that it would be best if I didn’t come back for another week and that I’d be eased into it. 3 days the first week, 4 days the next, then the full 5 after that. Of course, I told him I was starting to feel better, but he wasn’t having it. Saying that it was a traumatic experience and that I needed to rest, not only physically, but mentally. I asked him about getting back in the field and gave me the vaguest answer ever. He said, “we’ll see how you're doing in four weeks and we’ll start talking about it”. It wasn’t even a definite answer. So needless to say, after that phone call I was a little pissed off about that.I was on lock-down for the next week and basically would be stuck in doctor jail until they clear me for field activity, which could be god knows when. This sucks.
~~~
I was starting to feel better after a few days. I stayed with Owen for a couple of days and then I was back to my apartment because Owen had to work and he was concerned that if anything happened to me or I needed help, he wanted someone like Lachlan or Lowery to be nearby. I understood where he was coming from, but being at the apartment was the last place I wanted to be, especially if Kira was around.Thankfully, Kira stayed out of my way when I was there. I think she could tell I was annoyed with her because every time she tried to talk to me, I’d shut her down. The last thing I wanted to do was worry about her or have a conversation with her about what happened while I was preoccupied with other things.Doctor jail was torture. Not being able to work or leave the house to do anything remotely fun is as boring as it gets. Not to mention I can’t have sex, which is just the topping on the cake. The doctor said that I shouldn’t for the first 5 to 6 days, but after that, it’s free game. The only thing that would stop us from doing anything is the pain in my ribs - which still hurt like a bitch.The doctor also suggested that I take walks here and there so that I was staying active. Whether it’s around the apartment or outside. The only thing was that I had to stop if my ribs started to hurt and I also had to make sure I took deep breaths to prevent getting pneumonia. So, 5 days after my accident I gave walking outside a try. I needed to get out of this damn apartment and I only have 5 more days before I can go back to work, so I needed to get out. Even though I only lasted about 20 minutes before my ribs started to hurt, it was still something.My days spent at home were pretty boring. I could only binge watch so much Agents of Shield and Daredevil before my head started to hurt as a result of the concussion. I spent half of my day with the lights off and ice packs on my head, left eye and stomach because of the pain. There was only so much the Ibuprofen could do. They prescribed me Vicodin, but that’s the last thing I was going to take. I just stuck to extra strength Tylenol.The next two days weren’t as bad. Lachlan came by when he got off work early to keep me company, then Lowery had off the next day so he came over and I convinced him to let us go out to the park and pet some baby dinos. I needed my dino fix. I may have had to beg, but it worked anyway so that’s fine. I lasted a good 20 minutes before we had to stop and take a rest, then he made us go home because he was worried.Owen had off the day after that (today), so he picked me up in Barry’s car last night (there was no way he was letting me on his motorcycle). Kira was at work, so we didn’t see her. He hasn’t spoken to her either since what happened a week and a half ago, he said he was waiting for me to talk to her, which clearly wasn’t going to happen any time soon. She didn’t even try to talk to him either. I think that once she saw we were still together, she must have realized her little plan didn’t work.I had actually gotten a better night sleep that night than I have since the accident happened and I didn’t have any nightmares, so that was definitely a plus. I woke up the next morning at 9 am to the familiar smell of bacon and coffee. I sat up and slowly got out of bed, wincing a little bit at the pain in my ribs. I took the Tylenol that was on the nightstand before slowly walking out of the bedroom and seeing Owen cooking in his boxers.“Well, there’s a sight I missed,” I smirked. I haven’t seen him cooking in his boxers in a while, so it was a bit of a turn on. Everything was a turn on since I haven’t been able to have sex with him in over a week (and it wasn’t just because we’ve been busy - I physically can’t have sex with him). I tried to convince him last night that I was completely fine to have sex, just as long as it was slow and gentle, but he said ‘no way, out of the question’. I told him that I masturbated the other night with no problem and I convinced him to give me a little tongue action. I didn’t tell him, but it hurt quite a bit, but what came after was the bodies natural pain killer, so the pain was coupled with pleasure and totally worth it. The second I (carefully and slowly) rolled over on my stomach and went for his boxers, he swatted my hands away and told me to go to bed. Of course, I pouted, resorting to batting my eyelashes and hoping he’d give in, but he didn’t. So that left me all hot and bothered and in need of the D. Badly.“Why are you up? I was gonna bring some for you when I was done cooking.”“Owen, I’m fully capable of managing a trip to your kitchen from your bedroom in your tiny ass bungalow. I’ve been wobbling back and forth around my apartment the past few days because I’ve been so bored.” I said, sitting down at the kitchen table. “Wobbling?” he asked, chuckling as he poured a cup of coffee and added a little bit of sugar.“That’s what it feels like anyway. I feel like a baby orangutan learning to walk.” I said, blowing on the coffee before taking a sip. “I probably look like one, too.”“Have you seen a baby orangutan learning to walk?” He asked, chuckling.“Yeah, at the animal sanctuary. His name was Chipper because he was always hanging upside down and smiling at everyone. He even waved at people. He was always so happy and playing with his toys. I miss him, he was cute.” I said. I missed most of the animals at the sanctuary from time to time. Especially ones like Chip, who I’ve known since he was born.“I’m sure he misses you too,” Owen said as he put the last pancake on a plate and turned the stove off before placing two plates on the table, one with pancakes and one with bacon. “How are you feeling this morning?” He asked, grabbing two empty plates and putting one in front of me.“Never been better. Ya know, this would be even better with some sausage. Drop ‘em, big boy.” I smirked, looking down at his boxers so he knew exactly what I was talking about.“Not gonna happen. Eat your pancakes.”“Fine.” I pouted and put a couple of pancakes on my plate and started to eat them. It was worth a try.After we finished eating breakfast and he was doing the dishes, softly singing to himself. I got up and walked over to the coffee pot to pour some more coffee. I noticed his side-eye as he watched me carefully pouring my coffee. I didn’t need him watching over my every move, and I was about to say that, but when I looked at him, he looked at the dishes and started to whistle as if he weren’t just watching me.I laughed to myself and added some sugar before taking a sip. I leaned against the counter and watched him. The way his biceps moved when he was washing the plates, my eyes glanced down to his chest and more importantly, his six-pack. He’s been doing a lot of ab crunches recently and it’s really been paying off. I bit my lip when I noticed his butt tense. This was torture. It was like he was begging me to do something, he had to of known really, that I can barely resist him fully clothed, let alone clad in boxers.I set the mug on the counter and walked over to him. I felt his body tense for a split second because I caught him off guard when I wrapped my arms around his torso and kissed his shoulder lightly.“You’ve been so good to me, baby,” I said, he shivered against my touch. “I’ve been trying to think of ways to thank you because just saying it isn’t enough,” I said, kissing the back of his neck. He hummed in response, turning the water off and drying his hands on the small hand towel before turning to face me. “You don’t need to thank me,” he said, grabbing my cheeks and kissing my forehead. “I’ll do anything for you.”
“But I want to,” I said, putting my palms flat against his chest. I realized it came out more like a whine and Owen raised his brows at me. “I mean, you deserve a little reward…” I pouted my lips at him, running my hands down his chest. His hands grabbed my wrists when my fingers grazed the elastic to his boxers. “I want to and I know you want me to…” I bit my lip, looking up at him. He stared down at me for a second before he dropped his hands, allowing me to do what I wanted. I smirked and slid my hand into his boxers, right as his phone started to ring. I pretended like I didn’t hear it at first, even though it was blaring in my ears. I was just enjoying the feeling of him getting hard in my hand and the little groans that were coming out of his mouth were definitely a plus. “Fuck,” Owen mumbled after the phone finished ringing, only for it to go off again. He pulled away and went to get the phone. “Hello?” he asked, sounding agitated. “Shit. Yeah, I’ll be there in 15,” he said before hanging up the phone. He gave me an apologetic look before even saying anything.“You have to go to the enclosure?” I guessed, rolling my eyes and he nodded.“I have to sign some paperwork. I’ll be back in 45 minutes, an hour tops,” he said, walking into his room to put some clothes on. I let out a sigh and leaned against the counter.
Dammit. I totally had him too.
~~~
Right when he left, I had a sudden wave of vertigo and struggled to find my way to the couch. I plopped down and shut my eyes, still feeling the room spinning. It went away after a couple of minutes and I slowly opened my eyes. I rested for a few minutes before getting up to grab water and a couple of ice packs (which Owen finally got - he actually got three of them).I sat on the couch and put one on my stomach and held one on my left eye. I’m glad Owen didn’t see that because he always gets overly concerned when I have a little episode, but it comes along with the concussion. Symptoms can last for a few weeks and even years. I’m praying it’s not the latter.After a few minutes, I heard my phone go off from the bedroom. I reluctantly got up, leaving the ice packs on the couch before finding it on the nightstand in Owen’s room.“Hey Luce, what’s up?” I answered the phone.“Uhm, hey Alise… I just got to work actually and I was surprised because Kira usually works this shift with me every week, but she’s not here…” she trailed off.“Okay, so where is she?” I asked, the annoyance in my voice. She can’t be acting out now, especially on top of everything that’s happened. She literally has a week and a half before she leaves!“Right. Yeah, so I asked Colin where she was and he told me she got fired a week and a half ago for drinking on the job.”“She what?!” I exclaimed, feeling the anger bubble up in my stomach and up my chest. I winced at the slight pain in my rib at the sudden jolt.“Yeah… I know you said she’s been at work the past couple of days and I knew you should know…” I took a breath, trying to calm down so I didn’t direct my anger towards her. She didn’t do anything wrong, she was actually doing me a favor by telling me. “Yeah, thanks for telling me Lucy, I really appreciate it. I’ll let you get to work. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I said.“Yeah, definitely. Have a good day!” “You too, bye,” I said as I hung up the phone. I took another deep breath, letting it out slowly to prevent myself from getting anymore heated than I already was. First of all, she’s been lying and said she’s been going to work. Second of all, she got fired for fucking drinking on the damn job and third of all, she was staying in my fucking house, disrespecting me like I don’t mean shit. There was no more avoiding talking to her anymore. I needed to get to my apartment to see if she was there because I needed to talk to her. And I needed to talk to her now.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I was thankful when I saw that Owen had taken his bike to the enclosure, leaving Barry’s car here so I could take to my apartment. I know I was probably being brash and hasty, but I was furious. I needed to talk to her and I needed to talk to her now. There was no way I was letting this lying little bitch stay in my apartment any longer. It was disrespectful and so immature. I was completely through with being nice.I was unsure of when Owen would be back and I didn’t want him to freak out if I was gone when he came back, so I called him when I was halfway there and told him where I was going.“I’m gonna kill her,” was the first thing I said when he answered the phone and I was clearly irate.“What? Who?” Owen asked. I could hear the confusion in his voice.“That little bitch Kira. She got fired over a week ago for drinking on the job and she’s been lying to me about it, saying that she’s working when she’s not. What the fuck has she been doing? There’s no way I’m letting her stay in my house and disrespect me like this. I’m gonna fucking kill her.”“Alise, calm down,” he said calmly. “Where are you?” “I’m on my way to the apartment. I just wanted to let you know where I was. I gotta go though, I’m almost there.” I said, his voice seemed to calm me down just a little bit, but not enough.“Wait, no Alise!” I heard him say as I was hanging up the phone. I felt bad for hanging up on him, but I had one thing on my mind and that was getting to my apartment.
~~~
I used the key to get into the apartment and immediately heard the sound of the TV on full blast as well as men’s voices coming from the living room, along with Kira’s. I raised my brows as I walked into the living area slowly. Did she seriously have people over? And do I smell smoke?Then I saw the three boys that were sitting on my couch. Two of them had cigarettes in their hands and the other had his feet on my coffee table. There was a half-empty bottle of tequila on the table and a few empty bottles of beer. Kira sat on the arm of the chair, leaning over as one of them lit a cigarette for her, which was in her mouth.“Uhm, excuse me,” I said in complete shock at the scene in front of me.“Oh, Alise!” Kira jumped up as she quickly put the cigarette out on one of my plates that had cigarette ashes and buds all over it. “I wasn’t expecting you home today…”I bite my lip, trying to keep my composure as the three boys and Kira looked at me, waiting for a reaction. “Kira, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked, clenching my hands into fists and digging my nails into my palm as a way to release some of this anger.“Yeah, sure,” Kira said. “Be right back,” she winked at the boys as I walked into the kitchen and she followed. “What’s up?” She asked.I raised my brows, “What’s up? That’s all you have to say?”“What’s the problem?” She asked. Did she really not fucking know?“What’s the problem? What’s the problem…” I repeated, shaking my head at her idiocy. “First, who the hell are those guys?”“I met them in town last night. Really nice guys, I invited them over for a few drinks.” She said nonchalantly.I raised my brows again, did she really not see the fucking problem here? “So you just brought three random guys into my apartment to spend the night and you offered them my alcohol?” I asked in disbelief.“Yeah. Are you mad?” She asked, pulling an innocent face.“Uhm, a little.” Was all I could say as I dug my nails further into my palm.“Why?” She asked and that’s what set me off.“Why? You’re seriously asking me why? I’ll tell you why. Because you lied to me and told me you were at work, then you disrespect me by bringing three randos into my house to sleep over, drink with them and smoke cigarettes with them. It really makes me worry about your sanity.”Kira just looked at me with a blank expression before quickly walking into the other room. “Well, apparently I’m fucking crazy so you guys have to go!” She said, pausing the TV. “Yeah, you can go now. Get out!” She continued as I heard them shuffling to get out the door. I stood in there in shock about the way she just snapped like that. “Are you happy now?” She asked, walking back into the kitchen after shutting the door behind them.“Yeah, I actually am. You cannot drink my alcohol without asking or have random people smoking cigarettes in my house without my knowledge, let alone having them spend the night.”“I didn’t realize you were so protective of your alcohol. You know, that’s really not good. It makes me question your drinking habits, you and Owen go through a few bottles of tequila a week, it’s really worrisome.” She said in a mocking tone.I scoffed, “My drinking problems?”“Yeah.” she scoffed back.“You’re the one that drinks until the early morning and wakes me up when you come home, not to mention you’ve drunk all day on multiple occasions and in case you haven’t noticed it’s 12 in the fucking afternoon, Kira. I’m surprised your liver hasn’t stopped working at this point!” I exclaimed, there was no holding back at this point. I was so heated, I didn’t even realize the door open.Kira just looked at me and screamed at the top of her lungs before picking up a glass beer bottle and chucking it at the wall, leaving it to shatter and beer was now all over the wall and floor.“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I called after her as she walked down the hall. “You better fucking clean that shit up!” “Bitch, you clean it!” She called back then the door slammed shut.“Are you fucking-“ I started after her, but I felt a hand grab my arm and saw that it was Owen.“Alise, she’s not worth it.” He said, tightening his grip the more I fought.“No. Did you not see what just happened? I’m going to slap her. She has the nerve to call me a bitch…” I trailed off, mostly saying the last part to myself. Owen grabbed my other arm and held me back gently, not wanting to hurt me even more. I was too angry to realize just how much my ribs were hurting from yelling.“Yes, I saw what happened and you’re gonna slap her? Then what are you going to do after that?” He asked calmly.“Punch her in the tit.” “Really? Punch her in the tit? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?” He couldn’t help but chuckle.I sighed as I stopped struggling, he was right. “Yes. But she’s fucking crazy.”“Now you see what I mean. Are you gonna kick her out yet?” He let go of my arms.“Fuck yes.”
~~~
After that, I let Owen deal with Kira and he really put his foot down. He made her pack all of her stuff and they were out of the house by 12:45 pm. Of course, Kira tried to say goodbye and pretend like nothing happened, but Owen was just like “Don’t even think about talking to her” and it shut her up real quick.I was just finishing up with my mandatory three times a day icing for 20 minutes when Owen walked into the apartment at 4:15 pm after dropping Kira off.“She’s finally gone. I made sure she got on a plane so she’s not coming back.” he sighed as he took a seat on the couch next to me, more like plopped down. He was as tired of this as I was.“Remind me never to offer up my guest room to any of your crazy family members again.” I laughed, taking the ice pack from under my shirt and putting it on the coffee table. He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t you just come live with me so you won’t feel bad about turning them down?” He asked.My face lit up as I looked at him, “Really?” “Yeah. If you think you can handle living in my “tiny ass bungalow”.” He mocked me on something I’ve said on many occasions.I smiled at him, “To be with you, I think I’ll learn to.” Owen smiled and kissed me, “Oh, and happy anniversary.” He said. My eyes widened.“Shit, it’s the 23rd today. With everything that’s happened, I didn’t even… I forgot…” I said, looking down, beating myself up over it. How could I forget it was August 23rd and our 6 month anniversary? Because I’m an idiot, that’s how.“It’s okay, it’s been a rough few days. Weeks even. Hell, it’s been a rough few months.” He said, kissing the side of my head. “And I forgot too if it makes you feel better. Claire texted me about an hour ago saying good luck about tonight.” He admitted. It made me feel a little better.“Crap, I forgot about that…” I remembered the fancy dinner on the beach Owen had planned for later tonight.“I canceled it since you’ve been in doctor jail,” he still chuckled at the term I used. “Figured the last thing you’d wanna do is jump on a boat with all the vertigo.” I smiled, “Thank you. I appreciate that.” As much as it would have been nice to go out tonight for our 6 month anniversary, I wasn’t at my best and he thought about that and understood it and that’s all I could really ask for.“I still have an idea for tomorrow though, to make up for tonight. How would you feel about going to the waterfall? I hear there’s a meteor shower later tomorrow night too, but that starts at 1 am, don’t suppose you’d wanna stay up for that?” He asked with a grin on his face.“Just like our second date? That’s exactly how I asked you too,” I said, he wouldn’t normally phrase a question like that. It was all me. “I’m surprised you remembered.” “Hey, I remember stuff…” he trailed off. “Sometimes.” Out of the two of us, we both forgot our fair share of things. It’s hard to keep track of everything and things slip our minds easily.“Yeah, “sometimes”.” I mocked.“You’re the one that forgot our anniversary.” He deadpanned.“So did you! You just said Claire was the one who reminded you!” I exclaimed.Owen smirked, “I know, I just like it when you get mad.” I slapped his chest and rolled my eyes. “You’re a dick.” “A dick that you love?” He asked.“A dick that I love,” I nodded. “With a dick I also happen to love. And I also haven’t had that dick for over a week, so that’s gonna be my anniversary present and no excuses. My ribs are fine.” I said, pointing a finger at him and squinting my eyes. I wasn’t lying, my ribs were fine. They hurt a little when I laughed or coughed, but as long as he didn’t bring me to pound town, they’d be fine.“We’ll see.” was all he said. I groaned and got up slowly, grabbing the ice packs from the table.“We’ll see my ass,” I mumbled under my breath, earning a chuckle from him. I put the ice packs in the freezer, grabbed a water bottle and the last beer and walked back into the living room. Owen turned the TV on and went straight to on demand. “Game of Thrones?” I asked, chuckling as I handed him a beer. “Yes,” he admitted, opening it and taking a sip. “Still have to see what happens to Snow at the wall and Ned in King’s Landing,” he mumbled, searching for the ninth episode in the first season, the one we were on. I had watched Game of Thrones years ago but stopped after the third season, but we were bored one night trying to figure out what to watch and I’d suggested it. He’s been hooked ever since. I’ll definitely have to convince him to get HBO in his bungalow now that I’ll be moving in with him, but I don’t think I’ll have to do much convincing.“Fine, we can watch, but only if we do something fun tonight.” I proposed, he raised a brow at me.“Like what?”“I don’t know… but I’m sick of being stuck inside. Maybe we can go to Three Horns? Get some dinner and play pool with Lucy and Lachlan? I’m dying to get out of the house. I feel like I’m in jail.”“Well, you do call it doctor jail,” he said, amused. I shot him a look. “We can go out. Text them and see what they’re up to. What time did you wanna go?”“Maybe 7:30. It’ll give us enough time to watch a couple of episodes and for me to put makeup on and try to cover up this gnarly black eye.” I said, lightly poking my face. It was starting to go from black to a yellowish-green, but it was still very noticeable. It wasn’t as bad as the bruises on my ribs, which were still a dark violet color, but weren’t as bad as they were a few days ago. It’s getting better day by day, slowly but surely. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t self-conscious about it.“Looks better than it did a week ago.” he shrugged, trying to make me feel better about it. I nodded and sighed as he pressed the ‘play’ button. I just smiled and put my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close.
~~~
Lucy and Lachlan were both free tonight, so we met them at Three Horns around 7:30 and we played a round of pool, got some food and then they wanted to know everything that happened with Kira, so I told them the full story.“Holy shit, Alise, you got some balls!” Lachlan exclaimed, taking a sip of his beer.“I just had it with everything. She pushed me over the edge. I don’t know why I let it go on for so long.” I shook my head.“I bet you’re never letting any of Owen’s relatives stay at your apartment again.” Lucy laughed.“Well, that’s not going to be an issue anymore,” Owen said, taking a sip of his beer. Lucy and Lachlan both gave us a confused look.“I’m moving in with Owen…” I said.“Oh, that’s great! When?” Lucy asked.“I don’t really…” I trailed off, looking at Owen. We haven’t really talked about that yet, guess we probably should have.“We’ll have to wait and see how she’s feeling in a couple of weeks,” he said.“Damn, well, I’m gonna miss you as my neighbor. No more early morning naked talks on the deck.” Lachlan shook his head, looking down.“Naked?!” Both Lucy and Owen exclaimed, Lucy’s eyes were wide and Owen was raising a brow, his shock still more composed than Lucy’s.“Uh, half naked. And not me, Lachlan.” I laughed. “I’m gonna miss waking up to your six-pack and bubble butt, but I’m trading up,” I said, grinning at Owen.“Uh, rude,” Lachlan said overdramatically.“Don’t listen to her!” Lucy said, covering his ears and laughing. “She’s just trying to make Owen feel better. He’ll never have a bubble butt quite like yours!” she said.“Thanks. You can squeeze it if you want.” Lachlan said, sticking his butt out for her to squeeze. Lucy laughed, her cheeks becoming noticeably red as she covered her mouth. “Not here, I’ll save that for later.” she winked.“You two are so adorable,” I said, shaking my head as I took a sip of water. The painkillers made me nauseous, so the last thing I wanted to do was drink. Owen scoffed, “That’s what you call adorable?” he took a sip of beer.“Well, yeah. They’re young and in love. It’s adorable.” I said.He shook his head and chuckled, “Whatever you say.”I laughed and looked at the time, it was nearing 9:30 pm. “Well, as fun as this was, my boyfriend and I haven’t had sex in over a week and a half and it’s our 6 month anniversary, so we gotta get out of here.” I grinned, glancing at Owen, who just shook his head.“Say no more. Enjoy ridin’ that D!” Lachlan exclaimed.“Oh, I will. Believe me.” I smirked, looking at Owen, who just rolled his eyes, but I could see the small smile on his face that he was trying to hide.“Well, you two… enjoy that. Text me tomorrow?” Lucy asked me.I nodded, “Will do. I don’t know what time though, we might be up late.” I winked at Owen.“Alright, enough. Go get a room.” Lachlan laughed.I laughed, standing up. “Oh, and we’ll try to be quiet, but if you hear screaming don’t-” I started to say, but Owen cut me off.“Come on, Alise,” he grabbed my hand, pulling me along. I smirked and gave one last wave to Lucy and Lachlan, who were both cracking up.I smirked as Owen pulled me along to the car, “So pushy and eager. That’s what lack of sex will do to you-” I smirked as he opened the car door for me. I was going to continue on, but he slapped my ass instead, causing me to let out an involuntary moan as I looked back at him. “Hey!”“It got you to shut up, didn’t it?” he smirked. I bit my bottom lip and glanced around, there wasn’t anyone around us where he parked the car, so I figured it couldn’t hurt when I said “Do it again.” with a smirk.“Get in the car and I’ll think about it,” he smirked back. I didn’t waste a second doing as I was told. He shut the door behind me and I bit my bottom lip. At this rate, I don’t even know if I’ll get to show him the anniversary present I have for him...
~~~
I didn’t waste a second when we got into the apartment because the second the door shut, I pushed Owen back against the wall and kissed him hard. I couldn’t help it. The whole ride home I was thinking about kissing him. Especially when he put his hand on my thigh as he was driving and I was wearing a dress, so that skin on skin contact was enough to get my mind going.I grabbed onto the back of his neck and pulled myself closer to him. He chuckled in the kiss and I used that to my advantage and slipped my tongue in his mouth, kissing him deeply. He grabbed onto my waist, his thumb digging into one of my bruises, causing me to wince as I pulled back.“Shit, I’m sorry,” he mumbled, dropping his hands immediately.“It’s fine,” I sighed, a little annoyed that at the moment I was so… fragile. “No pain, no gain, right?” I said.“I know you want to, but we don’t have to-” he started to say, but I cut him off with my lips. I shook my head, “I actually have a present for you. I wanna give it to you tonight. Right now.” I said, looking up at him.A small smile cracked on his lips, “Alright.” I smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the bedroom. I sat him on the bed and walked towards my closet. “Where are you going?” he asked, lightly grabbing my hand and pulling me back.“Just wait here,” I said, leaning down to peck his lips. “It’s a surprise,” I smirked, walking into the walk-in closet. I shut the door behind me and changed, laughing at all the nonsense that was coming out of Owen’s mouth like ‘Should I count to ten?’ ‘Close my eyes?’ and other stuff like that. When I was finished, I opened the door. His eyes fell on me and all he could get out was a simple and quiet “Wow.”I bit my lip and looked down at the dark purple matching lingerie set that I had gotten just for this occasion. Normally, I wouldn’t feel so insecure with him seeing my body, but after the accident… with all the bruises, I suddenly felt like I was under a microscope. “You like it? I guess it works out nicely because it covers up the bruises…” I said, looking down. The top was silk and lace, covering up the bruises, while the panties were sheer and lace. “Come here…” he said softly, beckoning me over. I smiled and walked over and stopped in front of him. “You don’t need to cover them up, baby. You’re beautiful. Even with the battle wounds.” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me closer. He lifted the top lightly, exposing all of the dark bruises on my stomach. His lips lightly grazed them, sending a shiver down my spine. He left soft kisses all over my stomach, he was so gentle the sensitive skin didn’t hurt at all. I ran my fingers through his hair as he littered my stomach with kisses, biting my lip as he looked up at me. I leaned down and kissed his lips lightly, pushing him back so I could lay on top of him as the kiss grew more passionate. He unhooked my bra and slid it off my arms, all without breaking the kiss. Then he rolled us over so that he was on top, gently, so I didn’t feel a thing. He might not be taking me to pound town tonight, but we were going somewhere just as good.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Things finally started to calm down and get back to normal a month and a half later. I moved in with Owen 3 weeks ago and that was going great. It was a little bit of an adjustment that I had to make, considering the bungalow is so much smaller than my apartment. Sometimes I needed alone time after a crazy work day, or Owen would just be getting on my nerves because I felt like we were always on top of each other and I struggled to find somewhere to go sometimes. Owen usually caught on when I was feeling that way and he went outside to work on his bike or something like that. We weren’t at each other's throats by any means, I love living with him. Even though it was small, we both had our system that seemed to work. He’d get up before me (usually with the sun), make breakfast and coffee just in time for me to eat when I was finished getting ready for work. We’d eat breakfast together most mornings, unless if he had to run to the enclosure early or I had to work early. I was thankful that they loaned me a car from the park, so I was able to get to and from work without a problem. The shuttle was definitely not coming anywhere near Owen’s bungalow that's for sure.My black eye was healed completely and my ribs were healed for the most part, there was still some discoloration and a little bit of pain when I laughed too hard or had a coughing fit - or when Owen brought me to pound town, but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be. Dr. Collier was being extra cautious about me returning to the field, so he ordered I do some x-rays before giving me the go-ahead for fieldwork. I was so sick of working the desk and being out of the field, I just wanted to be free and out of doctor jail. I was so close to being free. I took the x-rays a couple of days ago and I had the past 2 days off, so I was going to figure out whether or not I could go in the field today. Today was an exciting day, not only because of potentially returning to the field, but it was September 23rd and also my 29th birthday. I went in that morning when my shift started at 9 am and walked into mine and Dr. Collier’s office with coffee in hand, I figured I’d bring him some coffee too… loosen him up a little bit. Maybe it was a bribe but hey, who cares.“Good morning, Alise,” Dr. Collier greeted me when I walked inside and put the coffee on his desk. “Large, black, two splendas,” I smiled. He nodded.“You got it. Thanks,” he said as I walked over to my desk and put my bag down. “So I just got a call a few minutes ago about one of the Velociraptors that’s sick. The symptoms are watery diarrhea, vomiting and noticeable weight loss in the past week. Symptoms started about a week ago, they figured it was a bug but they’ve only gotten worse. It could just be a stomach bug, but I’m thinking it could be intestinal Cryptosporidiosis.” he said. Intestinal Cryptosporidiosis, which we call “Crypto” is a parasitic alveolate that can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal illness. Owen had mentioned something about one of them not feeling well but figured it wasn't anything to worry about. Clearly, he was wrong.“Sounds like Crypto. I once worked with an elk that was diagnosed with it, he was presenting the same symptoms.” I said. Dr. Collier nodded.“With your experience with it and the Velociraptors, I figured you should take point on this. Go down to the enclosure with the assistants, assess her, get a stool sample and send it to the lab with one of the assistants and see what else needs to be done,” he said, I smiled. This was his subtle way of telling me that he was letting me back in the field.“She might have a fever and dehydration. What should I do if I need an IV?” I asked. I’ve never been in charge of making a call like that without going through him. The more serious cases Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez would make that call and come in immediately to assist.“Then we’ll make arrangements to do so. I trust your judgment call. Do what needs to be done and keep me posted.” he said.I nodded, “Will do. And thank you.” “No need to thank me. Just be careful. Make sure she’s fully sedated before working on her, but I know I shouldn’t have to remind you after what happened before.” he said, writing something down on a piece of paper.“I’ll triple check this time, believe me,” I said, walking towards the door. "Oh, and Alise,” he said, looking up from the papers on his desk. I looked back at him. “Happy birthday,” he said, a smile crossed my face.“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.” I went to grab Sofia and Leo, who were excited about working with the Velociraptors for the first time.I called Owen on the way over and told him I was on my way. Of course, he asked ‘Are you sure you’re okay to do that’ and I told him Dr. Collier gave me the go-ahead and let’s not have a repeat of what happened the first time I went to the enclosure because this time I wouldn’t let him buy me a drink if he disrespected me again. He laughed and said ‘yeah, yeah’ before hanging up.By the time we got to the enclosure, I found out it was Charlie who was sick. (The poor girl with her doctor visits). She fainted right before we got there, so we were quick to check her out. Of course, she was sedated by ACU (something Owen was more cautious about than he had been in the past when she was hurt - I guess he didn’t want to risk her waking up when I was working with her).She looked like she’s been through the wringer. Her ribs were sticking out more than usual, her skin elasticity was diminished and her skin was so dry, flaking off in a few spots. She was severely dehydrated and needed an IV, stat. I talked to Dr. Collier and he said the best way to give her an IV was to bring a large tent and set it up like the infirmary. We couldn’t risk transporting her when she was so sick like this. I sent Sofia back to the lab to check the stool sample while we set up the tent and positioned it so that the raptors couldn’t see into it. The girls were already watching on with looks of worry and growling as Barry tried to calm them. Their reactions didn’t surprise me or anyone who’s worked closely with them before. They’re sisters, so of course, when one of them is sick they all wonder what’s wrong and it’s not like you can tell them what’s going on, they’re left in wonder and they panic as a result.We made sure to keep Charlie heavily sedated and muzzled as I hooked up the IV with help from Leo. Owen insisted on being inside the tent with us and Erin, who came from ACU, to make sure everything went smoothly. It was going to take a couple of hours for the IV to filter through her system and all we could do was wait for Sofia to call us back with the results. Erin excused herself and stepped out of the tent to get something. “So, with the Velociraptors…” Leo began. I immediately smirked, Leo was curious and his questions can be quite amusing sometimes. “What kind of food do you feed them?” Owen glanced at me for a moment before answering. We both knew that question was for him and not me. “Mostly meat because they’re carnivores. Chicken, pig, turkey, cow. Rats for snacks.”“Do they prefer one over the other?” Leo asked curiously.“Well, they’re animals. Just like you. Do you prefer chicken or turkey?” Owen asked with a brow raised, although I could tell he wasn’t looking for an answer. It was more of him making a point.“I’m more of a turkey guy, but that’s just me. Chicken can be super dry sometimes and that just ruins it for me.” Leo said thoughtfully.Owen kind of just nodded and rolled his eyes, so I decided to mess with him a little. He was so worried about Charlie, as was I, but it’d be nice to see him smile. “Owen, are you more of a chicken or turkey guy?” I asked and I actually wanted to know the answer. I’ve only really seen him eat chicken and he likes roast beef or turkey with his cold cut sandwiches.Owen rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly. “So how much longer is this going to take?” He was clearly unamused by this conversation, unlike me. I was all for it. I shrugged, looking at Charlie, who was laying on the large cot. She still looked dehydrated. Much better than before, but it’s only been 30 minutes and less than have the IV. I didn’t want to flood her either because that could cause further problems. “Could be anywhere from an hour, hour and a half. Depending on how dehydrated she is.” I answered.Owen nodded and looked around. I could tell he was getting impatient. I was about to tell him he didn’t need to wait in here, but Leo continued on with his questions.“So do you notice any different personality traits between them or are they just the same all around?” Owen gave him a look that could kill. I held back a laugh.“Hey Leo, could you grab some more gauze from the truck?” I asked, clearly Owen was sick of the questions and his mind was elsewhere and the last thing he needed was Leo and his hilariously absurd questions.“Yeah, sure,” Leo said before leaving.Owen looked at me, “How do you work with him?” He asked seriously.I laughed, “Patience,” I said simply.“I have patience,” He said pridefully.I raised my brows, “Really, Owen?”“Yeah,” He nodded, really convinced. I call it being stubborn.I scoffed, “We both know you’re lying.” Owen pulled a face and opened his mouth to say something, but Leo walked into the tent. “Here you go,” He said, handing it to me.I smiled, “Thanks Leo,” I said, putting it on the table next to me. I didn’t really need gauze, I just needed him out of there to calm Owen down.Leo sat down in the chair next to me and looked up at Owen, who was standing by the cot and next to me. “So do the girls have favorite colors? Like do they prefer blue, or red, or maybe a periwinkle?”I bit my lip, trying to hold back a laugh as Owen shot me a look. “You’re right,” He said abruptly. “I have no patience.” Then, he walked out.I bit my lip harder, turning my head away from Leo so he couldn’t see the silent laugh that I couldn’t hold back.“Was it something I said?” Leo asked. I held my composure, pushing away the laugh and looked at him, he looked really concerned.“Not at all,” I said, opening the IV just a little bit more so that it wouldn’t take so long. “Charlie’s favorite color is turquoise.” I could help but play into what he was saying. It’s what I tended to do with him, it was hilarious and went right over his head. I might as well have some fun with him.Leo looked at me, fascinated. “Really?”I nodded. “Yeah, totally,”He raised his brows. “How do you know?” “She told me,” I answered, holding back a smirk and a laugh. “When?” He asked so seriously. I was about to lose it.“You know, this isn’t enough gauze. Mind grabbing me some more?” I asked.Leo nodded, “On it!” I bit my lip, holding my laughter, especially since I heard someone else walk into the tent.“Is he serious?” Owen asked and that’s when I lost it. I looked up at Owen, my face no doubt a shade of red and tears streaming down my face. “I’m glad you find him amusing because I find him irritating.” He said with his stern, straight face. It only made it even more hilarious to me. I was doubled over in my chair laughing when I heard my phone ring.“Shit. Dr. Collier,” I said as I sniffed in and took a deep breath. “Hello?” I answered, not able to help the small lingering giggle that came out. Owen just smirked at me, of course, he’d find this amusing.“The lab confirmed it’s Crypto. What types of medications do you suggest?” He asked. I could tell he was testing me.“She needs an anti-parasitic drug to help alleviate diarrhea by attacking the metabolic process of the cryptosporidium organisms. She also needs an anti-mobility agent to help slow the movement in her intestines, so Imodium could work for that. I would recommend continuing the IV treatment, finishing off this bag as well as another because she’s severely dehydrated.”“Exactly what I was going to say. I’ll send Sofia with nitazoxanide for the anti-parasitic, 500mg tablet every 12 hours for 3 days. I’ll give you an oral suspension for the first dose, after that they can crush it into her food. I’ll send over some Imodium. Given she’s about 300 pounds, we can give her 12mg each dose. Once a day for 3 days. You finish out the IV treatment and wait until she wakes up. Work with Mr. Grady to observe her behavior for an hour or so and see if she’s doing better. Tell them they need to give us daily updates for the next week and that they need to call us immediately if she gets worse, especially if she faints again.”“Will do, Dr. Collier.”“Good work. I’ll see you later.”“Thank you. See you later. Bye.” I said before hanging up and looking at Owen.I told Owen everything Dr. Collier had said and by the time we finished with Charlie’s IV, it was nearing 4 pm. It took so long because we had to wait for them to bring supplies over to set up the tent and to transport her over to the tent took a little bit of time because she’s so big and heavy.We put her back in the enclosure and kept an eye on her by watching from the balcony. They sedated her pretty well so it took another half an hour for her to come to. She was a little loopy in the beginning, to say the least, walking sideways and leaning against the wall of the enclosure. Leo thought it was amusing, but Owen did not. I admit it’s always a little funny to see animals acting drunk after the anesthetic wears off, I just didn’t let Owen know that.Charlie ate a little bit of food, but I didn’t expect her to eat much. Just the little bit that she ate was a good sign. At one point she started talking to her sisters from where they were in their individual holding areas, so we decided to let them out. The only reason why we put them in was so that Charlie could adjust without having her sisters crowding her. Blue, Delta, and Echo were all curious about what their sister had been through and they were protective over her. Barry said it was hard to keep them calm while Charlie was in the tent and we heard a lot of growling and chirping coming from outside the tent. We observed her behavior with the girls for another half an hour and she seemed to adjust well. She was a little tired, but she kept up with the girls when they were playing. I reminded Owen to talk to either me, Dr. Collier or Dr. Sanchez about her progress, but he probably wouldn’t have a problem with that, seeing as we live together now and it would be hard for him to forget about telling me. I got back to the office by 5:30 pm after watching Charlie, just in time to talk to Dr. Collier and give him feedback about how it went. He said he was proud of me and that I did a good job. One of the reasons why I loved working with him, not that I have anything against Dr. Sanchez, he just doesn’t praise people for their work as much as Dr. Collier does. He gives me hope that this position actually could be mine. I even mentioned that if they were looking for a doctor anytime soon that I’d love to give it a go and he told me that if that were happening, I’d be a top contender, which was awesome.After this long day, I’d normally wanna go home and binge watch something with a bucket of ice cream, but I was ready to go and do something fun. It was my birthday after all. The original plan was to go to Three Horns and have a drink, but I wanted to do something different. Ever since I’ve been out of doctor jail and my ribs were completely healed, all I’ve wanted to do was go out. Go to the movies, go to the beach, go out for lunch or dinner with Owen or my friends. I have yet to go bowling though and I figure what’s a better way to end the night on a high note? I just needed to convince Owen to come along and it’d be the perfect way to spend the night.
~~~
Owen agreed to go bowling pretty quickly, seeing as it was my birthday and all I had to do was bat my eyelashes and he was in. We went to Three Horns first with Lowery and Barry and his girlfriend, Anya, who works in the petting zoo. Then Owen, Lowery and I met up with Lachlan and Lucy at the bowling alley around 10 pm. Barry and Anya decided to call it a night, so they didn’t join us. Bowling was also free for park employees after 10 and there weren’t any tourists around, so it was perfect. They only did it on Wednesday’s, too. So we really lucked out.Lucy and Lachlan were already there by the time we got there and it looked like they had already set up the game.“Heyo! You fuckers are finally here!” was Lachlan’s greeting.“Hello to you too, dickhead,” I said as a term of endearment as I sat down to put on the bowling shoes, Owen and Lowery did the same. “BIRTHDAY HUG!” Lachlan said out of nowhere, practically jumping on top of me and giving me a hug.“Birthday hug, more like birthday hump,” I said, swatting him away. Of course, then he pretended to air hump me because he was Lachlan.“Hey, man, back up,” Owen said, but we could tell he wasn’t really trying to threaten him, it was more of a joke.“He’s just jealous you’re a better humper than he is,” Lucy said. I dropped my jaw not expecting that from Lucy, but sometimes she had it in her.“And you would know how exactly?” I asked, that caused Lucy to shut her mouth, her cheeks to burn as she slid down in her chair in the cutest way. I clearly won that.“Well, now that you are here… Big Daddy’s up first!” Lachlan grinned, grabbing a ball and getting ready to bowl.I laughed, “What?” “He put in the names for us,” Lucy explained, rolling her eyes as she walked over to give me a hug. “Happy birthday, by the way. I have a present for you. It’s over on the chair, you don’t have to open it now though.”“Thanks Luce, you’re the best!” I hugged her back.“You’re up Sweet Cheeks,” Lachlan said, slapping Lucy’s ass.“Lachlan!” She scolded, covering her butt with her hands, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. All of us couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s Big Daddy to you, Sweet Cheeks.” He said as he sat down. Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes and bowled as I scanned the names that Lachlan put in. Right after ‘Sweetcheeks’ was ‘Tequila Sunrise’.I chuckled, “Please tell me Tequila Sunrise is me or I’m offended.”“You know it, bro!” Lachlan said, putting his hand up for a high-five, which I returned.“Wait, am I really manchild?!” Lowery asked in shock.“Nice one Lach! Totally fits too.” I said, leaning my elbow on the back of Lachlan’s chair.“Well, what’s the last one?” Lowery asked because it was cut off because Lucy was bowling and hers was magnified.“Doesn’t matter. Owen’s definitely not manchild, Lowery. Get over it.” I smirked, sitting down next to Lachlan. “‘Dino D’,” Owen read the last name, clearly amused.“I am not a manchild…” Lowery mumbled, sliding his shoes under his chair.“Just be thankful you’re not Big Daddy,” Owen said lowly to Lowery, patting his back, which jolted his whole body. Owen was pretty strong and Lowery’s a wimp.Lowery immediate grabbed his back where Owen hit. “Ow…” he mumbled.“There’s only one Big Daddy and you’re lookin’ at him!” Lachlan said, grabbing Lucy by the waist and pulling her into his lap. “Right, Sweet Cheeks?” He asked, looking at her fondly.“For the last time, I will not call you ‘Daddy’...” Lucy said.I noticed it was my turn and stood up, grabbed a 10-pound ball and stood in my usual position. “All of you better get ready to kiss my ass, because you’re all going down!” I said to them, ignoring whatever nonsense insult Lachlan decided to throw at me as I bowled a strike and smirked at him, pointing to my ass with a smirk.“Oh, it’s on,” Lachlan said, shaking his head. “Big daddy’s gonna getcha, little girl.” He smirked.“Oh god, no,” Lucy said, pulling a disgusted face as she got off his lap and sat across from him. We laughed. It did sound really gross, to be honest.“You’re up, manchild,” I said, hitting his back right where Owen had patted, causing him to wince again. “Don’t hurt yourself. Or cry when you get a gutter ball.” I smirked, he's a terrible bowler. I always beat him whenever we play.“I hate you,” He muttered before walking up and grabbing a ball. Owen sat next to me and leaned back, putting his arm over my shoulders.“You think I can get some of that Dino D later tonight?” I smirked at him. “Maybe, only if you’re good, little girl,” He smirked, poking fun at what Lachlan said earlier. “Gross!” Lucy exclaimed, she was sitting right next to us and overheard every single word. “You’re the one that’s friends with us. You can leave whenever you want.” I said, not that I wanted her to. I love Lucy.“No, I can’t. I’m locked in forever,” Lucy laughed. “Me too,” Owen chuckled.“Hey!” I said, hitting his chest. “You’re here because you wanna be. Not because you’re locked in. You could have said no, mind you.”“No, I couldn’t have,” He said, looking down at me. I raised my brows. “You’re too incredible to say no to.” He said. It might have been true, but he said it sarcastically.“Oh, you mush. It’s your turn,” I took his arm off me.“Get it Dino D!” Lachlan said with a ‘woo woo’ attached to it. Never a dull moment with these guys. I really cherish this time with them. I just hope there will be many more to come.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“You used all the damn hot water again,” I groaned as I walked out onto the deck wearing a towel wrapped around my body and one wrapped around my hair. “It’s like showering in ice water - no, that’s exactly what it is. Showering in ice water,” I said, looking at where he was sitting near his bike, tinkering with it. “I swear, you take longer showers than me.” The warm breeze on my cold, wet skin caused a shiver down my spine.“You look sexy in just a towel.” He smirked.I groaned, “Owen, I’m being serious. You need to fix the water heater or take less time showering.” It has already been a month and a half of living with this. I hated when my shower was cold, it just disrupted my whole day.“I’ll get to it,” He shrugged, seeming detached like every other time I’ve told him about this. I’ve complained to him about it for the past couple of weeks. I let it go for a month, but I couldn’t handle it anymore. I rolled my eyes. “You keep saying that.” “You’re pretty sexy when you’re angry,” he smirked. I looked at him and groaned, rolling my eyes again. I could never win a damn argument because he’d pull that out and we’d most likely end up in bed 5 minutes later. Not this time. I won’t let it. “Alright, I’ll fix it.” He said after realizing I was not messing around anymore. I just stared at him. “Right now.” He smiled.“Good boy.” I smiled, turning around to walk into the bungalow.“You still look sexy in that towel!” he called after me. I smirked, letting it fall by my feet. I glanced back at him as I walked towards the bedroom. I smirked again when I heard footsteps walking up the porch steps and the door close behind him. Don’t get this confused. This isn’t him winning the argument. The second we’re done he’s fixing that damn water heater.
~~~
The rest of that day we spent relaxing around the bungalow (and by relaxing I mean he brought me to pound town multiple times). Of course, he fixed the water heater too, so I won that argument. The next day we had to go back to real life and back to work.My eyes fluttered open the next morning when I felt little circles being traced on my bare shoulder. The sound of Owen’s heartbeat filled my ears as I glanced at the time: 6:08 am. No doubt Owen was awake and the sun was peeking through the horizon. I turned my head to look at him.“Morning,” I said groggily, kissing his chin. “Mornin’ sleepy head,” He kissed my forehead and I smiled, looking at the sunrise. I was looking for a few minutes before remembering that Aspen was supposed to send me her ultrasound pictures for her baby and she just told me last night that she was pregnant. I grabbed my phone and looked at them. “Awww look at it!” I said, showing Owen the pictures. He just smiled and nodded. “I can’t believe Aspen is pregnant. When we were kids we always thought I’d be the one having the baby first.” I laughed.“Why’s that?” Owen asked softly.“She hates kids. Or at least she did. She’s gonna love her baby, more than anything.”He chuckled, “I would hope so.” I smiled and looked at him as the thought popped in my head. We never really talked about kids, just that we wanted to have them. We never talked specifics. Maybe now would be the right time to mention it, I mean I could easily slip it in and we are pretty serious. “How many kids do you want?” I asked.“Two.” He said firmly and quickly.I laughed, “You’re pretty firm on that.”“Two seems like a good number. Three is off balance and four would be a lot to handle. But obviously, I could do it, if the situation presented itself.” He said.“You know how to handle four raptors, but kids are a completely different ball game.” I laughed.“Yeah, but at least our baby wouldn’t eat me if I forget to feed it.” He said. I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot when he said ‘our’, I’m sure it was a slip-up, but still. I bit my lip so he wouldn’t notice my idiotic grin. “No, but there would be lots of crying, especially if you forget to feed it.” I pointed out.“I wouldn’t let that happen. I’ll train it not to cry.” He said.“Good luck with that,” I laughed, then thought. “You better not even think about using that damn clicker.”Owen chuckled, “We’ll see.” He said under his breath.“No, not “we’ll see”, it’s a no.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Owen chuckled and looked back at the sunrise and so did I. It was so peaceful.“What about you? How many kids do you want?” he asked after a few moments.“Two seems like a nice number. They’ll watch each other’s backs and annoy the shit out of each other, it’d be good for them.” I said, thinking about Lowery and me.“So, you have your five-year plan to be out of here because you want to have kids, but where does marriage fall in with that?” He asked. We’ve never talked about marriage either, and we might not have been dating for that long, but if he asked me, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.“Well, I definitely want to be married before I have children. I don’t really know where it falls in, I guess I know when the time is right, you know?” Owen nodded and I decided to push, maybe this was him wondering if I’d marry him? “What about you? When does marriage fall into “Owen Grady’s five-year plan”?” I said, putting it in air quotes because I know he doesn’t have one.“I’ll know,” he said confidently as he nodded. “When the time’s right.” I just smiled at him and looked back at the sun that was coming over the horizon, hoping that he thought the time would be right with me… soon.
~~~
I didn’t go back to sleep after that. I was too excited about Aspen’s baby and the conversation Owen and I just had, plus I had to be at work at 9 am and it was currently 7 and I needed to leave the bungalow by 8:40 the latest to be there on time. After the sun was up, we still kept talking, or I did rather. I was in the middle of telling him about how Lowery still won’t ask Vivian out, even though he talks about her like every day.“I mean, I don’t know what more I can do. He just needs to ask her out already.” I sighed, waiting to see if he’d have any input on it, except he was quiet. Like he has been for as long as I’ve been rambling. “Owen, are you even listening to me?” I asked after a long pause. I looked up at him, his eyes were closed and his mouth was hung open and his breathing was heavier and louder. He opened his eyes, raising his brows as he looked down at me. “Sorry,” he mumbled, clearly half asleep. “You kept me up pretty late last night,” he smirked.“Hey, you’re the one that asked if I was ready to go again, so it’s your fault,” I laughed. Owen shrugged, closing his eyes again. “Fine, you sleep. I’m gonna take a shower and make breakfast.” I said, getting out of bed. He mumbled something inaudible as he rolled over on his side. I laughed, shaking my head as I headed for the bathroom.
~~~
I made it into the office at 9 am on the dot with coffee in hand. Dr. Collier was sitting at his desk, shuffling through papers when I walked in.“Ah, Alise. Just the person I wanted to talk to,” he said, dropping the papers on his desk. He seemed overwhelmed with all of them and like he just gave up. He hated paperwork, which is why I was there to help him with it.“Need me to do some paperwork?” I asked, my brow raised.“No, no. We hired a new assistant for that,” he said. I gulped, did that mean they didn’t need me to be an assistant anymore? My mind immediately went to the possibility of me being fired. But I didn’t do anything wrong? “Sit down,” he said, pointing to the seat in front of his desk. I hesitantly did so. “With the growing number of dinosaurs on the island, Dr. Sanchez and I want to make our team bigger, bring another doctor and assistants on board. I immediately thought of you for the role of doctor and you’ve been showing me through your work that you are more than capable to take on that role. Is that a role you’d be interested in?” he asked. I immediately let out a sigh of relief and my face lit up. “Of course, that would be great. Thank you so much.”“Of course, Dr. Cruthers. I have a new schedule for you, the doctor's schedule. Your position starts today, I hope that’s not a problem.” he smiled.“Not at all. This is going to be great!” I couldn’t hold back my excitement as I smiled. Dr. Collier laughed and smiled, handing me my schedule.“You’re on your own today. If you need anything, Dr. Sanchez and I are here as always. Here’s also a list of to-dos now that you’re a doctor.” he handed me another sheet of paper.“Great, I’ll look it over and get started.” I smiled, glancing it over. I knew the job description of the doctor, heck, I was doing almost all of this stuff before, way more than any other assistant was allowed to do. I was just happy and excited that I was finally going to be referred to as a doctor (aside from Dr. Collier, who always referred to me as a doctor in a professional environment).This was amazing. I can’t wait to tell Owen or Lucy… or Lowery, or Lachlan or Aspen and my mom. Hell, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone.
~~~
A couple of weeks later, on October 23rd, it was our 8 month anniversary and Owen said he had a surprise for me and to be ready by 6 pm. He told me to dress up in one of those cocktail dresses that he really likes, so I went with dark blue lace at the top and fit and flare skirt that I got specifically for this occasion, so he’s never seen it before and I know he’ll love it.“Babe, are you ready?” I heard Owen’s voice call from the living room, just as I was finishing putting on my black heels.“Yes, coming!” I said, grabbing my clutch and walking out. He stood in the living room with his mouth hung open. “Earth to Owen, pretty sure you’re drooling,” I said, waving my hand in front of his face and laughing.“You just look beautiful…” he said, smiling at me.“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said, folding the collar of his light blue dress shirt. I leaned up and pecked his lips, not having to do much reaching because of the small heel I was wearing. I’d most definitely end up carrying them by the end of the night, but they go with the dress so well. No pain, no gain. “You have a jacket? It might get a little chilly,” he said.“Ooo, still no hints of where you’re taking me?” I asked as I went back into the closet, which he made bigger using the van that’s attached to the bungalow. I couldn’t fit any of my stuff in there, so he made it bigger for me, which was sweet of him.“Nope, my lips are sealed,” he said as I walked back out. I hummed, “Hmm, too bad, I was really hoping they’d be open,” I said, biting my lip as I stood in front of him. It was lame, I know. But I couldn’t help it.“Very funny, but we have a boat to catch so there’s no time for that,” he said, then he cringed.“Ah, so there’s a hint! We’re going to the mainland!” I exclaimed, smiling.“I dunno, we’ll see. Let’s go,” he said, grabbing his leather jacket and pulling me out of the bungalow and to his bike before I could get any more hints out of him.
~~~
“Wow, you really outdid yourself, Owen. This is amazing,” I said, looking around at the setup. There was a secluded table set up on the beach with firefly lights surrounding the perimeter and it was lit up beautifully. There was a path leading up to the restaurant where a waiter would pop by here and there, but other than that it was fairly cut off from the rest of the world and very private.“Sorry it wasn’t much of a surprise and that it took 2 months for it to happen,” he laughed lightly. “It was a bit of a surprise, I forgot about it to be honest,” I said. Although on the boat ride here I remembered what he said he had planned and wondered if this was going to be what our 6 month was supposed to be.“Are you sure about that? You remember everything?”“I don’t remember everything…” I said, taking a sip of the white wine they served, which I didn’t mind. I liked white wine, just not as much as I like tequila. Owen had a whiskey on the rocks, he usually doesn’t do wine unless if he’s forced. Obviously we’d both prefer tequila, but this was a fancy restaurant and we wanted to at least act classy. “But no, you’re right. I remembered.” I laughed.Owen chuckled, “I thought so.” “Although, our 6 month anniversary was the day I kicked Kira out and the day you asked me to move in with you, so that’s still good in my book.” I smiled.“Yeah,” he nodded. “I also remember having incredible sex that night, too,” he smirked.I raised my brows, “Well if you keep all of this up, it’s gonna be even better tonight. I still have a present to give you later, too.” I winked.“Careful with that mouth, I might need to punish you for it later,” he said sternly.“Punish me with what? Your cock?” I asked, smirking. My voice hushed even though there was no one around.Owen thought, “Tempting, but I was thinking you need a little spanking. And I won’t give you anything until you beg for it.” he said. I bit my lip, drawing in a breath. All of the heat rushed between my thighs. He was always so good a dirty talk, especially in public places, it was a real turn on.“I’m about to flip this table over and have you fuck me right here,” I started, but then my stomach growled. “But I’m really looking forward to the swordfish, so that’ll have to wait ‘til we get home,” I said, mentally cursing my stomach for always getting in the way. Owen laughed, then I thought about what he said. “And we’ll really see who’s begging for it. I know you can’t resist my p-”“-here you are,” the waiter said, cutting me off. He put each of our dishes in front of us and I could see that he was trying his best not to laugh and that his cheeks were flushed. “Can I get you anything else?”“No, we’re good, thanks,” Owen said, the waiter nodded and rushed off.“He totally heard all of that,” I said, my cheeks flushing. Owen just laughed and nodded, agreeing with me. “Don’t laugh at me, you dick,” I said.“Why don’t you try your swordfish? It looks really good,” he said, cutting into his steak. I could tell he was trying to get me to shut up and I could have totally argued with him, but my stomach growled again and I gave in because the swordfish looked amazing.
~~~
After dinner and dessert, we decided to walk on the beach. I loved the smell of the salt water and the sand between my toes. As predicted, I gave up on walking in my heels and they were now in my hand.“Tonight was amazing Owen. I know it’s not really your style, but thank you,” I said, looking over at him. Fancy dinners aren't one of his favorite things, it’s probably his least favorite thing, but I didn’t mind being spoiled here and there and it was nice that he could do that for me.“I’m glad you liked it. I have one more surprise for you,” he said, stopping.“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I asked, looking back at him.Owen looked behind me and up at the sky. “Do you see how big the moon is tonight?” he said. I was a little confused, but I looked up and behind me anyway.“Wow, it is,” I smiled, turning back around to look at him. Now he was kneeling on the ground on one knee. “What are you- Oh my god,” I said, realizing exactly what he was doing as he opened the black velvet box.“Shit. I’m terrible at these things, but before I met you, I was stuck and I wasn’t living my life. I was stuck doing the same thing over and over again. You taught me how to live my life and have fun. I love you more than anything in this world and you make me a better man and I can’t thank you enough. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Alise Grace Cruthers, will you marry me?” he asked, looking up at me with hope in his eyes.“Yes, of course!” I said, tears filling up my eyes as he slid the ring on my finger. At this point, I had already dropped my shoes in the sand. I grabbed his face lightly and pulled him up, kissing his lips. “I love you so much.”Owen smiled, pressing our foreheads together. “I love you too, more than anything.” he kissed me again. When we pulled away, I smiled and looked at the ring. It was a simple rose gold band with a circular diamond in the middle, with other little diamonds surrounding it. “It’s beautiful. Did Claire help you pick it out?” I joked.“Nope. This one was all me,” he said.“Well, I love it. It’s perfect,” I said, admiring it, then I looked up at Owen and kissed him again. I was so incredibly happy with this man, at this moment in time and with my life. Nothing could ever get better than this.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Things couldn’t be any better. It’s been 1 month since Owen and I got engaged and I’ve been doing great at work, it was a lot more responsibility, but nothing I can’t handle. I also recently got a surprise that could change everything, so that was exciting… but also a little scary.It was early Wednesday morning when I woke up at 6:05 am and watched part of the sunrise with Owen, but fell back to sleep in the middle of it. I didn’t end up waking up again until I heard the front door slam shut, causing me to get startled awake. I looked around, catching a glimpse of the time. Was it seriously 10:07 am? How did I sleep this late?!“Sorry babe, it’s me!” I heard Owen call from the other room. I sighed as I rolled out of bed, grabbing the first article of clothing that I saw and that was Owen’s shirt. Either it’s been really hot lately, or I’ve just been getting major hot flashes (because Owen says the temperature has been the same) so I’ve just been sleeping in underwear because the fan isn’t cutting it. “You’re still sleeping? Everything okay?” he asked when I walked out of the bedroom. I was squinting at the light and could still feel drool on my face, which I rubbed off. I probably looked like a zombie right now.“Yeah, I’ve just been super tired lately,” I shrugged. I didn’t want to pull any more attention to it, so I changed the subject. “Why’re you here? I thought you had work?” I asked, running my fingers through my hair to tame the mess that I could only imagine that it was. “I mean, not that I mind because I love seeing your face in the morning.” I smiled, kissing his cheek before going to the kitchen.“Uh, yeah, well a kid fell into the enclosure today and I had to go in there and get him out before the girls ripped him to shreds.” he said nonchalantly.“Wait, what?” I asked, spinning around quickly. “Are you okay? That must have been so scary…”“I knew they wouldn’t hurt me,” he said. I raised my brows because I could hear the hint of doubt in his voice. “I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?”“And thank god for that! You’re lucky, Owen. I’m glad you’re not in multiple pieces,” I said as I put bread in the toaster and started the coffee.“Me too,” he said, walking over to me.“Although, if you came back in multiple pieces, I’d want the bottom half,” I said, leaning my butt against the counter, thinking.“Why?” he asked suspiciously.“I have my reasons…” I said, laughing.“You’re crazy.” he shook his head, kissing the side of my head. “So you took the rest of the day off?” I asked, looking over at him. He nodded, “I’m all yours.” he said, leaning down to peck my lips.“Good, because I’m hungry and I’m craving a little bit of you,” I smirked, wrapping my arms around his neck and looking up at him with innocent eyes. I know, it was a terrible pick-up line, but he’s used worse on me.He chuckled, “Well, I think I can help with that.” he said, grabbing me by my waist and lifting me up. I laughed and wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me off into the bedroom. The toaster dinged as he laid me on the bed. Clearly, I was going to eat that later.
~~~
I didn’t end up getting out of bed until noon, so I made myself eggs and toast while Owen worked on his bike. By the time I finished eating, I was rewatching Agents of Shield season 2 and I could have sworn I heard Owen talking outside. At first, I thought he might be on the phone, but I spotted it on the coffee table so I turned the volume down and tried to listen. I heard Owen’s voice distinctly and I couldn’t quite make out the second voice, but I heard heels clicking on the steps of the porch.Seconds later, Owen walked in the house, throwing his dirty rag on the floor. “Claire wants me to go check out a new dinosaur they made,” he said in a mocking tone as he walked into the bedroom.“Did you really just throw that there? Pick it up!” I said, rolling my eyes and waiting for him to walk back into the living area so he could pick it up.“I was gonna pick it up later,” he said as he walked out in the same shirt and vest he had on earlier.“Yeah, later,” I scoffed, taking a sip of my coffee. We both knew later meant never and I was the one that was probably going to pick it up. “And you’re going to see a hybrid?” I asked. Lowery had mentioned something about them making different dinosaurs and creating hybrids and Dr. Collier had mentioned it at one point too, but I’ve never actually worked with one. I didn’t know they had one made already but I guess they did.“Yeah. I’ll be back soon,” he said, kissing my lips. “If she doesn’t kill me that is,” he said under his breath.“Are you talking about the hybrid or Claire?” I asked with a small laugh.“Obviously Claire.”“Well, good luck with that. I want to hear all about it,” I winked. Owen groaned and threw his head back dramatically as he walked towards the door. “Love you!” I called.“Love you too!” he called back as the door shut behind him. I laughed to myself and turned the volume back up. I watched another episode before deciding to take a shower.
~~~
I had just gotten out of the shower, which was long, hot and refreshing. Since I had the day off today, I wanted to spend it doing relaxing things. That all changed when I heard my phone going off like crazy. I walked over to the nightstand where it was charging and picked it up. All sorts of texts were rolling in. The first one I noticed was the alert in big and bold letters “ CODE 19: ASSET OUT OF CONTAINMENT !! ”, followed by another one with a set of instructions.My stomach dropped and I felt a sudden wave of nausea. I rushed to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet, wiping the corners of my mouth as I sat on the cold tile, reading the messages again to let them sink in. This was not a drill.I subconsciously rubbed my stomach as it dawned on me just how bad this was. Throw in the fact that I was 2 months pregnant into the mix and things got a whole lot scarier. I had only found out 1 week ago and I have yet to tell Owen for a few reasons and I was planning on telling him tonight actually. I shook that thought out of my head, I had other things to worry about.We’ve been prepped about this in the past, I know what to do and where to go, but those drills never prep you mentally for the real thing. We had a designated meeting area for all park staff and I started getting dressed and ready to go there, but then I got another text from Dr. Collier saying that has been compromised and to get to the main resort. This can’t be good.I thought about the plan Owen and I made should this happen. Owen was insistent we had a plan, while I preferred to be naive and live in denial like this could never happen, but boy was he right. I just hoped this day would never come.Our plan was that I get straight to the control room with Lowery. It was probably the safest place on the island. Also, if I was there, Owen would know where to find me and there was a chance that I’d be able to find him to contact him. He rarely ever answered his phone and today he left it on the nightstand, which is why I didn’t even bother texting him.I quickly changed and threw a few things into a backpack, like a change of clothes for both me and Owen and a few other essentials before getting in the car and driving straight for the resort.
~~~
It took me 15 minutes to get to the main resort and another 15 minutes to make my way into the building as the crowd was insane. Their emergency measures were to bring everyone to the main resort. I used my identification card to let me into the control room, thinking how good it was that I actually had clearance to be in here, even though this was a completely different department than what I do.I saw Lowery at the controls and headed straight for him, he looked stressed, as one would expect. Vivian saw me before Lowery had and she let out a soft, “Hey Alise,” with a small smile. She was stressed too, it was easy to tell.“Alise, thank god! You’re okay?” Lowery asked, jumping up to hug me. He knew about mine and Owen’s plan, so I could tell he was relieved to see me there and that I was okay.“Yeah, I’m all good. You?”“Physically, yes. It’s chaos right now.” “What got out?” I asked, judging by the mass chaos going on in the control room it had to be something big. The T-Rex, I wondered?“The Indominus.” was all he said. My eyes widened. I figured the Indominus was the genetic hybrid they had made, but I didn’t ask too many questions because he wasn’t supposed to share that information willingly. Even to park staff. My clearance level wasn’t high enough for that. That was also most likely the hybrid that Owen went with Claire to go see. My eyes widened as I thought about it. Before I could even ask, Lowery told me that Owen survived a brush with the Indominus at the paddock. Then I was worried again when he said Owen left with Claire to help find her nephews in the valley. It dawned on me that him going out there was extremely dangerous. Dammit Owen, I thought. Of course, he’d do something like this. Lowery said that almost all of ACU has been killed trying to contain the Indominus and my mind immediately flashed to Lachlan. I haven’t heard anything from him recently and the last time I spoke to him he wasn’t feeling well, but my stomach fell at the thought of anything happening to him. I asked Lowery to pull up the feed from before, I could tell by the stills that it was gruesome. He told me Lachlan wasn’t there and I sighed with relief. Apparently, he never showed up for duty today and Lowery couldn’t figure out why, so that's another thing I had to worry about.Mr. Masrani came in, then decided he’d take the rest of ACU in a helicopter to take out the asset. I quickly took my phone out and sent Lachlan a text saying ‘Is everything good? Are you on the island?’ and waited impatiently for an answer while Vivian left to see Mr. Masrani out. Lachlan texted me back saying ‘I’m on the mainland. Lucy took me to the hospital. I saw what happened, asset out of containment, shit! Wish I was there!’
‘No you don’t, everyone is dead. It’s the Indominus. It’s really bad here.’
‘Shit, then I’m glad I’m here. Stay safe out there kiddo. See you soon!’
I smiled and put the phone back in my pocket as Vivian returned to her seat and we all watched on impatiently waiting for the helicopter to reach the Indominus. Lowery got a call from Claire.“Wait, are you following the dinosaur?” Lowery asked in disbelief, then paused. “ACU is airborne, they took the helicopter!” he exclaimed.“Are they crazy?” Vivian asked after Lowery hung up with Claire. “Yes.” Lowery and I both said at the same time. Our attention was brought to the monitors as ACU was shooting at the Indominus from the helicopter. The Indominus crashed into the aviary. Pteranodons and Dimorphodons fled out of the aviary, which meant big trouble for Mr. Masrani and the ACU. Before I knew it, they were attacking them and the helicopter crashed into the aviary and exploded. Everyone gasped throughout the control room and I flinched.“We have a breach in the aviary,” Vivian reported, sniffling. Mr. Masrani was dead and there’s no way around that. We watched on as the dinosaurs reached the resort and there was mass chaos. Then Hoskins burst through the doors with a group of people behind him. “Simon Masrani’s death was a tragedy. New mission is to prevent further loss of life.” Hoskins announced.“Uhh, who are these guys?” Lowery asked.“Glad you asked,” Hoskins said. “You’re all relieved of duty. There’s a new team on the ground.”My stomach dropped as Lowery looked in disbelief. He took out his phone and walked out to a quiet corner. I followed him, not wanted to be anywhere near Hoskins by myself.“That’s a bad idea. The board assigned emergency ops to InGen private security division. This guy Hoskins is in charge now. They have this insane plan to use the raptors to hunt the Indominus…” Lowery said to Claire on the phone. He paused, then hung up the phone. We looked at each other then back at Hoskins. This was not good. What do we do now?Lowery looked down at his phone again and answered it, “Claire… oh- hi, yeah, hold on.” He held out the phone to me and I gave him a confused look. “Owen,” he said.I put the phone to my ear.“Alise?” he asked calmly, but I could hear the slight panic in his voice because I knew him so well. I could hear the sound of a car in the background.“I’m here,” I smiled.“Good. You need to stay there where it’s safe. I want you on the first boat out of here.” he ordered. I knew there was no convincing him otherwise.“I know. I will be.” “Good,” he said. My eyes swelled up a little bit with tears, I couldn’t help it. The thought of him out there, going with the raptors scared the shit out of me. I knew he wouldn’t let them do anything with his girls without him.“Be careful out there and don’t do anything stupid… please,” I sniffed, trying to cover it up. I didn’t want him to know I was crying, just another thing he’d have to worry about.“I’d never,” he said seriously, but I knew it was sarcasm. And that’s what scared me.“Owen, I’m pregnant,” it just came out. I didn’t know if it was the right time to tell him or not, but I couldn’t bear the idea of him not knowing in case something happened to him. He needed to know. “W-what?” his voice was shaky.“I’m pregnant,” I looked down at my stomach. “So you come back to me… to us, safe and sound, okay?”Owen paused for a moment before confidently saying, “I’m comin’ back, don’t you worry.” “I love you,” I smiled, not expecting to hear it back from him. He didn’t say it back when there was an audience.“I love you too. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” he reminded me. I smiled and nodded before he hung up.I sighed, sniffing and handing Lowery the phone, breathing out the tears. I hated crying, especially in front of people.“You’re- You’re pregnant? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lowery’s confused voice came from beside me.“I didn’t even tell Owen, you think I’d tell you first?” I laughed lightly.“Good point,” Lowery said, putting the phone back in his pocket. “So now I hope you’re actually planning on getting on the next boat and not doing anything stupid?” I scoffed, “Stupid like what?”“Like going after him.”I sighed. A week ago I would have told Owen that he’d have to wait for me because nothing was stopping me from going with him. I would have told him to either wait for me or let me follow him through the woods by myself. I looked down at my stomach and smiled. “I have something else that’s very important to worry about now,” I put my hand on my stomach, letting out a small sigh. As much as it was going to pain me to say, I knew I had to... I knew that I had to be on the next boat out of here, for mine and Owen’s baby to be out of harm's way.
~~~
We all watched anxiously and nervously as Owen held up a chunk of the Indominus’ skin with the tracker in it to the raptors cages. They were playing a hide and go seek drill, or that’s what I gathered from what I’ve seen them do in the past.I was biting the inside of my lip as I watched Owen riding his bike with the raptors hot on his heels, praying that they wouldn’t turn on him. Their bond is strong, but they’ve never been out of containment, it’s a whole new world for them.The raptors finally zeroed in on the Indominus and everyone prepared to engage. I prayed they would hold for Owen’s signal like they said they would, but I highly doubted that. It’s Hoskins we’re talking about.The Indominus came into view and my stomach dropped. She was HUGE. They waited and I knew something was wrong by the way Blue started chirping. She was talking to it. That thing had to of been part raptor in order to communicate with them. The raptors turned their heads and their cameras were directly on Owen. That meant… “What is taking so long?” Hoskins said impatiently as he stood up. “Light it up!” Gunshots went off and the raptors bolted in different directions.“This isn’t good…” I said, grabbing Lowery’s arm. He looked at me. “Owen’s not the alpha anymore.” My voice was shaky. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. We watched as the scene played out in front of us, the whole thing looked like a war zone and I was more worried for Owen than ever. The raptors turned on them, picking them off one by one. The girls still had their head cameras on, and we could tell which raptor was doing what. I watched Charlie’s camera, she was clearly eating someone, then she looked up and directly at Owen. He lowered his gun and stared at her, the look on his face showing that he wasn’t scared of her. Maybe there was a chance Charlie would change her mind. Maybe there was a chance Charlie would remember Owen was her alpha. I was hoping there was.Then, there was an explosion and the camera shut off. I couldn’t help the tears that were in my eyes that I tried to stop from coming out. It’s just... these were Owen’s girls. I’ve known them for almost a year and I took care of Charlie, multiple times. Owen had said that me and her formed a bond after that and I felt our bond every time I came around the enclosure and she bowed her head at me, or chirped and purred when I pet her head while she was in the harness. This was all so much to take in.I watched on, as much as I didn’t want to. I needed to know Owen was okay. Blue’s camera showed that she was chasing after Owen, who was now on his bike, but soon she lost him. I was relieved, but then I thought that I have no idea what he was doing now.Lowery’s phone went off, I was praying it was Claire with an update. “Okay, I will, bye,” He said, looking at me. “They’re on their way. Gotta call a chopper… if there are any left.” He said. I let out a sigh of relief. Now it was just a waiting game.Eventually, everyone was starting to pack up their things and leave, Lowery and I shared a look of confusion. “They said we had to evacuate… there’s a boat, you coming?” Vivian asked, walking over to us with her coat in her hand.Lowery looked at me, then the monitors and let out a sigh. I knew what was coming and I didn’t like it.“Someone has to stay behind.” He said, all heroic like. Then he walked over to Vivian and tried to kiss her, but she tensed up and pulled back.“Oh no, I have a boyfriend…”“Yeah, but I didn’t know you were like together, together…” Lowery said. I put my head in my hand, embarrassed for him.“We are.”“That’s great... it’s just, you don’t mention him, like ever.”“No, I’m at work,” Vivian said.“Yeah, no, yeah I know. Well?” Lowery reaches in for an awkward hug. God, this was painful to watch.“Great,” Vivian said.“Great, yeah.”“You gonna be okay?” Vivian asked. Lowery nodded. “Okay, bye…” she left. Lowery let out a sigh and walked back over to sit down next to me.“Holy shit, that was embarrassing,” I tried to hold back laughter, I didn’t want to make him feel even worse.“Tell me about it. I thought we had something…”“Dude, you do not know how to read signals at all.” I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.“Don’t you have to catch that boat?” He said, looking over at me. I bit my lip. I knew I should, but I really didn’t want to leave Owen. I was about to get up, but I saw Owen pull up into the resort through the security cameras. Claire and her nephews were close behind, running up towards the building.“They’re almost here… I can wait for him.” I decided I couldn’t leave him.“Alise…” he warned.“Lowery, it’s my decision.”“Alright, fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” He said. I nodded and watched the monitors. They all ran into the building, but stopped and went into the lab for some reason. They walked into a room where there were no security cameras and that worried me. My eyes widened when I saw one of the raptors entering the building and heading for the lab.“Oh no…” I said, my breath shaking. “They’ll be fine,” Lowery said, putting his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. “Owen’s got this.” I smiled and nodded. He’s right. If anyone can make it out of this, it’s Owen.We watched on, they were prevented from making it to the control room because the raptor stopped them, but I was relieved that they made it out of there.“Blue’s coming up on the resort…” Lowery said, bringing my attention to Blue’s camera. Blue, Delta, and Echo surrounded Owen, Claire, and her nephews. My mind immediately feared the worst. I saw the look Owen was giving Blue as he dropped his gun on the ground and reached for her head. The Blue I know is in there somewhere, she has to be. I know Owen was thinking the same thing.Owen unhooked the camera on her head and it fell to the ground, so Lowery switched to the security camera and we watched the Indominus come over to them. I let out a sigh of relief when the raptors turned on her and were back on Owen’s side.The next 30 minutes were the longest 30 minutes of my life. Between watching Owen trying to shoot the hybrid, to watching Echo and Delta get killed, to Claire making Lowery open paddock 9 and the T-Rex coming out and beating the Indominus with the help of Blue and the Mosasaur.After all of that, I left the control room with Lowery and went to find Owen, which took about 10 minutes because of the crowd of people. People were bleeding, laying down on cots, getting medical attention, it was a scene I hoped I’d never see.“Owen!” I exclaimed when I found him in the crowd, rushing over and hugging him immediately. “Are you okay?”“I’m just fine, are you?” He asked as we pulled away. I could tell that wasn’t entirely the truth and that he was talking about being fine physically. Today would take an emotional and mental toll on both of us. All of the people here, actually.“I am now,” I said. He smiled and cupped my face, leaning down to kiss me.“And the baby?” He asked when we broke away.“Glad to have daddy back safe and sound.” I smiled.“I am a man of my word,” Owen said proudly as he pecked my lips once more. “What do we do now?” I asked, looking around at the scene around us. It still felt unreal. “We get married,” he said. “Where?” I asked with a small laugh.“Colorado, California, Panama, Costa Rica - right when we get off the boat. Wherever and whenever you want, I’m all in.”I smiled then pulled him into another kiss, which he immediately returned. At that moment I knew that it didn’t matter what just happened here, or that there will be emotional scars for quite some time. All that mattered was the people who got out alive and that included me, Owen and our baby. And we were going to start our new life together. And that started with me becoming Mrs. Grady.