Venti entered the gym, feeling happy. Almost deliriously so. Art was a fantastic addition to his life, he was possibly getting another job thanks to Haavard, and then there was the photoshoot to look forward to as well.

It went all to Hell the moment he saw the bull at the counter.

Standing around seven feet tall, broad shouldered and possessing a fair deal of muscle, he was nothing compared to himself, but Venti still felt his heart drop down to the pit of his stomach. "Oh good lord," he growled at the bovine, who regarded him with a sidelong cocky grin, "why the Hell are you back in town?"

"Reggie, baby, I'm hurt," the bull said, leaning up against the counter. "You mean you're not happy to see me?"

"Alexander, I'd sooner see Charles again than you."

Alex pooched out his lower lip in the fakest display of sorrow Venti had ever seen. "But Reggie, what about all those fun times we had?"

"Fun? You call what you did to me fun? Thanks to you I can never show my face in the sporting goods store for that!"

Alex whooped in laughter. "Yeah, those were good times. I still can't believe you actually fell for that prank."

"Yeah, putting the entire contents of a laxative in my drink was so hilariously funny."

Alex shrugged, sneering up at the jackal. "I thought so. You should've seen the look on your face before tearing off into the bathroom."

"Why are you here, Alex?"

"Call me Bronx, Reggie."

"Oh, so you're just passing through? Great, see you later!" Venti walked past the bull, but paused when Alex caught his forearm.

"Sorry, pal, but I'm here on business, not to mention I moved back. My job requires it, being the photographer for a new magazine."

Venti felt his heart sink even lower, and he refused to believe what he was hearing. "You're not serious. This is some kind of joke."

"And when I heard that I was going to photograph a big, black jackal with a wild coloration, well, I just had to see him for myself."

This was not going to be a good day for Venti.

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