Harlow opened her mouth to say something but I caught the movement and flicked my gaze to her for a second, giving her a clear message to stay out of it.  She shut her mouth and glared back at me, her eyes widening in a ‘what the fuck’ type gesture.  That shocked the shit out of me, and my concentration was diverted from the asshole to her.  I’d never been given that look by a chick before; usually it was J or Nash who challenged me like that.  I raised my eyebrows at her, and fuck me if she didn’t raise hers right fucking back.

I was snapped out of my distraction when the dickhead decided to listen to me.  “Fuck you,” he muttered at me, and then jabbed a finger in Harlow’s direction, “And your boss will be hearing from me.”  He grabbed his kid by the arm and his dog by the leash, and made a hasty exit.  Not fucking soon enough, as far as I was concerned.

After he left, I looked at Lisa to make sure she was alright.  She was looking at me wide eyed but didn’t say a word.  “You okay?” I asked her.

She nodded.  “He wasn’t very nice but I feel sorry for his dog; he didn’t get to see the vet,” she said.

I crouched down in front of her.  “No, he wasn’t a nice person.  There are lots of other vets he can go to though so you don’t need to worry about his dog,” I said, and waited a moment before saying, “Okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

I stood back up and turned to Harlow.  She was standing with her arms folded across her chest and I struggled not to stare at her tits that were now pushed up by her arms.  She had one of the best racks I’d ever seen; a man could die happy after getting an eyeful of that.  My dick was in agreement with that.  Shit, time to rein this in; there was a kid in the room.

I moved my eyes to hers and was greeted with that irritated look again.  “Thanks for that,” she said, but I wasn’t entirely sure she meant it.

“You’d rather I’d stayed out of it?”

She dropped her arms and slowly shook her head.  “Not necessarily, but it was a bit over the top really.  I’m used to dealing with assholes like him, so I didn’t need you to threaten him like that.”

“You shouldn’t have to put up with that shit.”

She sighed.  “No, I shouldn’t have to, but that’s the general public for you.”

“Well, if you have any more trouble from that guy, you call me.  I’d be only too fuckin’ happy to sort him out for you.”

She took me in, and I mean, her eyes raked over me, and assessed me, before she muttered, “I bet you would.”

At that moment, we were interrupted by a guy who came from the back room.  He looked at me, and asked, “Is Monty your cat?”

Before I could reply, Lisa piped up, “Yes, is he okay?”

Directing his attention to Lisa, he replied, “Well, I need to keep him here overnight because I need to operate on him, but he will be okay.  Would you like to come out the back and say goodbye to him?”

Lisa hesitated, looking to me for guidance.  “Can I?” she asked me.

I nodded.  “Yeah, I’ll wait here for you.”

She followed the vet, leaving Harlow and I alone.  Harlow gave me a strange look and I waited to see what she was going to say.  She opened her mouth but then shut it quickly, like she’d thought better of it.  Instead, she reached under the counter and produced a sheet of paper.  Sliding it, and a pen towards me, she said, “Please fill these details in for Monty.  Just make sure you leave us the best number to contact you on in case of an emergency.”

“You think something’s going to happen to the cat?” I asked.  Christ, Lisa would fucking lose it if that cat died.

“He should be okay, but just in case.”

“Good, because that kid doesn’t need to lose anything else in her life.”

Her eyebrows pinched together and she looked confused.

“What?” I asked.

She shook her head.  “Nothing.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.  If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

Her eyes flared with surprise, and then she replied, “Okay, why did you leave it so long to bring Monty in, especially when your daughter obviously loves - ”

And then the vet came out, interrupting us again.  “Monty needs an operation on his face as he has a cat fight abscess and it’s been left too long to be able to treat it with just antibiotics,” he said, giving me the look I was sure he reserved for pet owners who didn’t look after their pets properly.  “We’ll call you tomorrow when he’s ready to be collected.”

I didn’t have the time or the fucking inclination to check him on his attitude.  “Fine,” I said, curtly, and picked up the pen Harlow had given me and filled out their paperwork.

Once I’d filled it out, I slid it back to her and asked, “What time tomorrow do you think it will be?  I’ve got a lot on so it’d be good if you could give me a heads up.”

She appraised me, probably noting my shortness with her.  I gave zero fucks about what she was thinking.  A minute ago, I wanted to rip those jeans off her; now I had no interest in her judgmental ass.  Stuck up pussy was my least favourite kind.

“You’ll probably be able to collect him anytime after lunch.  I’ll call you to confirm that,” she replied, coolly.