Breaking Creed Read Online Free PDF

in. Make her sit beside his feet. But after the day she’d had,she deserved some extra scratches. He loosened up on her leash, and Grace pranced over to Bailey.
    He took a sip of the beer. It felt good going down, and the bottle made his hand slick with cold. Despite the setting sun, it was still hot. He could smell the shrimp and wondered how long it’d take to get rid of the fish smell from his nostrils.
    “What happens to them now?” he asked, and could see that both Bailey and Kesnick knew what he was asking without further explanation.
    It was Kesnick who attempted an answer, though he prefaced it with a shrug. “I guess they find their families and notify them.”
    “Can you let me know what you hear?”
    “Sure,” Bailey told him.
    Before they could continue, a waiter came scurrying over to their table.
    “Sir, we can’t allow you here with that dog.”
    “We’re outside,” Kesnick said. “And she’s a service dog.”
    “Doesn’t matter. There’re people eating.” The guy was tall, with buffed arms and sun-streaked hair.
    “It’s okay,” Creed told them. He didn’t have the energy to argue with a surfer probably pumped up on Red Bull and taking his table patrol seriously. “We’ll do this another time.”
    But as he started to stand, Bailey grabbed his arm.
    “No, it’s not okay. This dog rescued five kids today.”
    “Sorry, but I don’t make the rules.”
    “No, you don’t. Send over the owner,” she told him.
    “Owner’s not here tonight.”
    “Yes, he is. You must be new. He’s seated in the lounge. Martini. Gin, not vodka. Last bar stool by the window.”
    Creed saw the waiter’s face pale despite his tan skin. A vein bulged at his temple. He shot a look at the window in question.Then, without a response, he turned and made his way through the crowded tables to the lounge door.
    “I don’t want to get you two in trouble,” Creed said, but he could see how much Bailey and Kesnick were already enjoying this showdown. “I almost got kicked out of this place once before.”
    “Really? Because of Grace?”
    “No, it was years ago. I was drunk and started a fight.”
    Bailey stared at him, waiting for more. Kesnick, however, smiled and lifted his bottle of beer in salute.
    The waiter was back at the lounge door, towering over a gray-haired man in a tan jumpsuit. The waiter was pointing at them, and the owner lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He said something to the waiter and sent him back inside, then he hobbled his way toward them with a scowl on his face.
    “Seriously,” Creed said, “I don’t want to get you two thrown out, too.”
    He was used to people treating him differently whenever he had the dogs with him, telling him where he could or couldn’t park at rest areas. Warning him to keep his dogs quiet when they weren’t even barking, or to keep them away from their children. But most kids liked dogs. Without parental interference, they were drawn to dogs. Their first impulse was to touch them, just like the kids on the fishing boat. Apparently it was an impulse so strong that it overrode other basic survival instincts.
    “Hello, Mr. Kesnick.” The gray-haired man put a hand on the flight mechanic’s shoulder as he squeezed back behind his chair and scooted over to Bailey, all the while keeping his eyes on Creed. “Hello, darling,” he greeted her as he bent down and kissed her cheek.
    “Hi, Daddy.”
    Creed raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled as she introduced them.
    “Daddy, this is Ryder Creed and Grace. Creed, this is Walter Bailey, the owner of Walter’s Canteen. He’s also my father.”
    “Part owner,” Walter corrected her as he shook Creed’s hand from across the table. Then he took his hand and offered it to Grace to sniff. “Sorry about the misunderstanding. Hey there, Grace.” Then to Creed, he said, “She’s a gorgeous little girl. We had a Jack Russell years ago.”
    “Not that I remember,” Bailey said.
    “Must