"Oh you are not paying for any of this," Eli said as they got to the counter and he started to put everything down so the guy could ring everything up for them. "Think of this as a present. Which means I pay and you just accept it and pay for something for me in the future, got it?"

He didn't want Shannon to pay for it for more than that reason, though it was mostly because these items were a present for Shannon and there was no way that he'd make him help out in paying. Next time, sure, but not this time, especially since they were going to get him a collar and Eli didn't want him even thinking about paying for it.