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Friday 18th, the day that I am to meet my new co-driver but with my injured shoulder I have had absolutely no sleep what so ever and so I know that I am going to be as grumpy as the grumpiest of old men, lord have mercy on the guy it is not his fault that he has caught me on a really bad day.

I get myself dressed as best as I can, I am just trying to put my right arm back into the sling when I hear a knock at my front door, just fucking great, he's an early riser.

With my arm half in the sling and half out, I head to the door to answer it. I open the door whilst growling and standing the other side of the door is a fellow Rottweiler.

"You Jake Davis?"

My mirror image just gives a gentle nod and so I stand aside to allow him to enter the house, once he is inside I use my right foot paw to shut the door, with the door shut Jake does something that takes me back slightly, he begins to help me with getting the sling situated properly on my arm.

Normally I would be jumping down the guy's throat for his troubles, but right now I am just so damn tired that I let it ride.

"Thanks."

Jake nods gently again.

"Judging by how much growling you are doing I would say that you have had next to no sleep with your arm?"

As hard as I try I can't keep the sarcasm from dripping from my muzzle.

"Ding, ding, ding we have a winner Jo, let's see what Jake has won."

I watch as he cringes after my tirade, I rub my temple with my left paw.

"Sorry Jake, I shouldn't have done that, I'm just kind of out of things at the moment."

I motion with my left paw to let Jake take a seat on one of the sofas that line the living room walls, he sits and I take a seat next to him.

"The name is Anthony Stone, but for the love of all that is good just call me Tony, and before you ask no there is no Italian blood running through my body, my folks just liked the name, Anthony."

Jake chuckles a little.

"Well Tony, at least your tired brain is starting to wake up a little, and don't worry about the sarcasm, I can match wits with anyone on that score. Now have you had any breakfast?"

I just shake my head no.

"Okay then let's get you out of the house for a while and get some food in that belly of yours."

I really don't feel like going out in public at the moment, but I am hungry and I haven't had chance to do any grocery shopping yet so I stand from the sofa and head towards the door, Jake is just two steps behind me, we head out through the door and I close it using my good left paw. Jake makes his way to the passenger side of his car, a Subaru or as I like to call them a scubby, how very original but I digress, Jake opens the passenger door for me and I slip into the racing bucket seat, oh yeah, you can tell that this guy is a serious Rally Hound, to go along with the snug fitting bucket seats it has a four-point safety harness attached to both seats and of course the ubiquitous Anti-roll bars and cage.

Jake slides his admittedly fine Rottweiler ass into the driver's seat and sets about securing my harness before securing his own, with the harnesses secure he fires up the straight six engine and we head out to the local fast food place.

As we pull into the parking area I spot Lane's car parked in one of the spaces, obviously, this outing had been planned either by Jake or Lane. Jake pulls the car into the closest available parking space and then he shows me how to remove my harness, it's as simple as just pressing a button in the centre of the buckle and three of the straps spring free leaving the fourth strap which has the buckle on it to fall to the footwell of the car.

We both exit the car and I turn to face Lane's car and can see that the Tiger is making his way towards us, a stupid shit-eating smile plastered across his muzzle, I am about to let fly with a major tirade but the Tiger has already held up his paw to stop the mouthful of language that has built up inside me.

"Before you say it, Tony, yes I know that I told you that I would give you a few days to rest before letting Jake meet up with you, but you and I both know that if I HAD given you those few days you would've sat at home brooding over Derek's death and then you would have analysed everything over and over again and then I would have gotten a phone call telling me that you were going to quit, if you want to hit me fine go ahead, but I know that deep down inside you know that every word I have just said is true."

With Jake being a fellow Rottweiler, he can see that my blood is still boiling and so he stands between Lane and I and faces me.

"Look, Tony, just let it go bud, Lane hasn't gotten where he is today without keeping his finger on the pulse, he needs to keep you on board and so I'm afraid he will do what he thinks is needed."

I stared deep into Jake's eyes but no matter how hard I tried or how much I wanted to grab Lane by the shirt collar and throw him against the wall of the fast food joint, just staring into Jake's eyes was enough to take any bite that I had away, with a dejected sigh I made my reply.

"Fine, I will not rip him a new hole, but he will be paying for the breakfast, and as much as we want too."

As I said the last bit I looked over Jake's right shoulder at the Tiger standing behind him. With the heat between us now mainly cooled the three of us entered the fast food place to fill our bellies.

While waiting for our food to arrive we took seats at an empty table, with Lane still not fully trusting that I would not give him a black eye with my one good paw, he sat on his own on the one side of the table while Jake and I sat on the other side. Lane looks towards Jake and I and begins to speak.

"Okay Tony, Jake, I'm in a bit of a bind here, you see with you both out of the business for a while it now means that I have to put young Donny McCabe in a car with an untested co-driver just to make sure that we have the contractual two cars taking part in each rally, so I want to get physio started as soon as your shoulder is strong enough to take it so to that end Tony you will see the team medics once a week and they will check on your shoulder each time. Jake, I want you to make sure that Tony sticks to his appointments, I will be in direct contact with the medics and so as soon as they feel that Tony's shoulder is strong enough I will put him on a strict course of physio which will probably be very intensive and will be on a daily basis, so seven days a week for at least four hours a day, at the end of the day I need you two rallying again."

Once our breakfast was done I looked at Jake and a silent message passed between us.

"Well Lane, as you have put me in charge of Tony's recuperation I can see that he is still a little out of it from the accident, and also the fact that he is not sleeping thanks to his injured shoulder, so thank you for the breakfast but I'm going to get him back home now so that he can rest some more, let me know when his first appointment is and I will make sure that he keeps to it."

With that said Jake and I stand from the bench seating and head back out towards Jake's car, again once we are both securely strapped in we begin our journey home. After a mile of travel, Jake breaks the silence.

"Message received and understood Tony, you were so ready to climb over the table and take Lane's head from his shoulders, I must admit I too was close to taking a few of his teeth out, I know all too well that a shoulder injury can't be rushed, it will take as long as it takes to heal and that is all there is to it, yes I can see Lane's point about us being out of action but I won't run the risk of injuring you any further just so that it will make Lane's life easier."

After travelling for a further fifteen minuets we finally pull up outside my house, again we go through the rigmarole of unlatching our harnesses and exiting the car, I unlock the front door to the house and we both walk inside, Jake closes the door behind us and then gently helps me to remove my jacket, with my jacket gone I lower myself down to sit on one of the sofas.

"Okay Tony, you are still going to need almost round the clock help so you stay sat there and maybe watch a bit of TV while I head back to my place and collect a few things which I will then bring back here so that I can stay here for a while."

I look up at Jake and give a gentle but heartfelt smile.

"I haven't said this enough yet Jake, but thank you, and I will warn you now, for the next few days I am going to be one sour bitch, you may want to call Lane yourself in a few days and tell him that you are quitting."

Jake just shakes his head no.

"Trust me, Tony, compared to some of the premadonas that I have been partnered with over the years you are quite tame."

Jake begins to giggle a little as he heads out through the front door. Once the door is closed I pick up my TV remote and begin the tedious task of watching some of the dreary shit that passes for daytime TV. This is going to be a long recovery.