Chapter 6

Teddy

“Holy shit, this feels amazing!” I laughed, probably a lot louder than necessary but with the protective headgear and all the shooting, I felt half deaf. “I didn’t hit anything, but damn that’s powerful!”

Tate laughed and lifted up one of the headphones. “You have to aim if you want to hit anything besides trees, Cover Girl.” He ducked when I threw both hands in the air, gun waving like a flag. “Hey. Don’t ever wave a loaded gun around. Rule number one, okay?”

“Shit, my bad. Yes. Got it. No waving a gun around like I just don’t care.” I flashed a toothy grin at him. “Seriously, sorry.”

“Now you know and you won’t forget it.”

“Definitely not with the death stare you just sent my way,” I told him as I squared my shoulders and turned toward the target. “Now help me kill something.”

“You’re gonna have to spread those legs.”

Oh fuck. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I shivered when his big, warm body pressed behind me, his rough hands sliding down my arms to make sure my elbows were just right when I held the gun. “I’ll bet you say that to all the girls.”

His deep chuckle rumbled behind me, rattling my spine but I kept my shoulders squared and back straight. Just because Tate was a hot piece of man didn’t mean I needed to hand over my panties. “Funny.”

I looked over my shoulder at him and, holy shit, I really shouldn’t have. The man had that whole rugged outlaw biker sex appeal on a good day, but when he smiled my panties just...incinerated. “I can be,” I told him and spread my legs. “This good?”

His hands skimmed my hips. “A little more, but keep your hips squared and bend your knees just a bit. Drop this elbow,” he told me, his hand once again gliding over the area in question. “All right, now the gun shouldn’t knock you on your pretty little ass.”

I wiggled for good measure. “I did feel kind of unsteady before. Maybe I shouldn’t shoot in stilettos?”

“No, you definitely should.” His voice was thick with desire and lightly flirtatious. “Maybe we should do a half-off deal for girls in bikinis and heels.”

I laughed. “Now that’s a good marketing plan, Golden Boy.” I snorted a laugh. “Hey you could be one of The Outsiders, remember that movie? Shit, I haven’t thought about that in forever.”

“The Outsiders? That old ass movie with Tom Cruise?”

“One and the same. You could’ve been Pony Boy’s brother or his cousin from out of town,” I told him, barely able to contain my laughter.

“Are you obsessed with that movie or something,” he asked and stepped back so I could line up my shot.

“Nope. One of the foster homes I stayed in, the parents were always gone and they would lock us in the basement with tons of VHS tapes. My favorite was The Outsiders.” I waited for the pity or some trite remark, but the fucker laughed. Laughed!

“Don’t tell me, you discovered yourself as a woman to that film?”

This time I put the gun down and doubled over with laughter. “Oh, Tate. Who knew you were such a funny fucker?”

He shrugged. “I’m an acquired taste.”

“Hmph,” was all I could reply because my mind rolled a few images I had no business thinking about. I got myself under control and picked the gun back up, whispering each step to myself. “And squeeze,” I said and pulled the trigger. My eyes whipped open and I squinted. “Oh shit, I actually hit it!” I jumped up and down, wrapping an arm around Tate. “Die fucker!”

Tate chuckled and shook his head. “All right, Annie Oakley, let’s see if you can do it again.”

I did. Again and again. Mostly my bullets clipped the outer edge of the paper, nowhere near the human silhouette, but it felt damn good. “So in about two years, I’ll be ready to protect myself,” I told him an hour later.

“Nah, you’ll be ready way sooner. But you need to do this a few more times. I’ll even give you a discount for the open carry class. It’s six classes but you’ll know how to shoot, clean and load your weapon. Plus, overall safety.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Look at you, being all business-like.”

He grinned and rolled his eyes. “Quiet, Cover Girl, let me show you what to do next.” Tate stood close, showing me how to check the chamber without shooting myself in the face. “We’ll do cleaning next time.”

“Eager to get rid of me?”

“Hell yeah. I hate beautiful women who smell good. Yuck,” he added with a shiver.

“Whatever.” I shoulder checked him as we went inside so I could pay for today’s lesson. I insisted. “Thanks for this Tate, I’m no safer but I don’t feel so...victimized.”

“That’s a start. Just call for your next lesson.”

I nodded, grabbed my purse and walked through the elaborate structure that finally spit me out onto the blacktop parking lot. I slid my Chanel glasses down to shield my eyes. I loved these sunglasses, they were classics and they were the first major purchase I’d made with a modeling check. It had been a fantastic feeling and the fact they were still in one piece made me feel like less of an asshole for dropping so much cash on a pair of sunglasses. Though here in sunny Nevada, they got a lot more use than when I was based in New York.

“Hey bitch, just because you used to be somebody don’t mean you can come in here and take what don’t belong to ya!” A stringy-haired blonde with bad highlights and high-waisted acid washed jeans stopped right in my path. She was a little shorter and a little rounder than me, but she looked mean as a junkyard dog. “Fucking slut.”

“Look bitch, I don’t know who you think you are but if you have a problem you should probably take it up with the dick that’s got you acting like a damn fool, and not me. Because I’m not in the fucking mood.” I could tell I shocked her and I was damn proud of that. People, especially women, thought they could intimidate me because they didn’t know that I was a bitch on wheels with just enough hell in me to make them regret it. “And while you’re at it, you should get those split ends checked out.” I skirted past her and kept walking toward my car, feeling a little amped up by the encounter with the eighties barfly.

“Stay away or I’ll make you pay, bitch!” she screamed and seconds later I felt air whizz by my head as a beer bottle sailed past me.

“Learn how to throw, hooker!” I laughed and unlocked my car with my key fob as I approached it, shaking my head at the foolish woman. Why was it that women always wanted to fight over the one thing in this world that didn’t mean shit? Men, yeah right. My career, Jana, my life...yes. Men weren’t even worth the effort of balling up my fist.

And definitely not the bruised and bloodied knuckles, because I didn’t slap. I jabbed.

I refused to let that woman ruin my good mood and decided to head to Jana’s house. Maybe some alcohol therapy and girl time would make me feel better about everything. I parked behind her Prius and walked around the back because it was a nice day and Jana loved her backyard. I found her staring off into space like something was terribly wrong. “What’s up? Is it Max? Do we need to kill him or something, because I will totally be your alibi.”

Jana turned to me with tears swimming in her eyes but slowly enough to torture me, her mouth pulled up into a grin. “Nothing as bad as all that. Teddy, I’m pregnant.”

I gasped at the idea that I’d have a little niece or nephew to spoil rotten, then a frown appeared. “Oh, I get it. You’re in love with a big handsome man who thinks the world was created just for you, an awesome career and the bestest best friend ever. Your life totally sucks.”

She smacked me playfully. “Shut up.”

“You’re happy about this. Right?”

Jana nodded, flicking her long blonde hair out of her face as she sniffled. “I am, Teddy. I really, really am. It’s just, well I’d given up on thinking this would ever happen for me, you know? And what if Max isn’t happy?”

I shook my head and smacked my lips, giving her a what the hell look. “You know Jana, doctors frown on pregnant women smoking crack.”

“Teddy,” she whined.

“Look, Max thinks the sun shines out of your pussy. He’ll be so happy that he’s probably going to smother you with love and overprotectiveness. You’ll be wrapped so tight in cotton that you’ll want to kill him before you even start showing.” She laughed and I wrapped my arms around her. “Seriously, you should probably jump up and down, maybe run up the steps two at a time and carry a big box before he finds out.”

Jana’s body shook with laughter and I felt better too. “Thank you, Teddy.”

“Don’t worry. I love you and you’re going to be an amazing mother, trust me.”

“Teddy,” she began nervously. “What if...what if my face scares my baby?”

My heart instantly broke for Jana. Not because of the jagged scar on the right side of her face, but because she really didn’t see how incredible she was. “That’s never going to happen. You’ll love that little tyke so much, take such good care of it that it’ll think something is wrong with the other moms who don’t have a hero mark.”

“Oh, Teddy,” she cried and then sobbed so hard her body shook.

“Well now that you’re already a blubbering mess, I think I should tell you about something.” I sucked in a deep breath and put a few feet of distance between us as I finally told her all about the gifts. “They started a while ago. I think it’s Kip Riley.”

“Teddy, you have to call the cops.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, I did that and they were no fucking help at all. Laughed, if you can believe it.” That still made me angry enough to cause bodily harm, but it wasn’t worth it so I shrugged it off.

“Teddy,” she began but I held up my hands to stop her.

“I’m doing all that can be done, Jana. Don’t worry about me and please, don’t tell Max.” She hesitated but I looked right through her. “Please.”

She nodded. “As long as you’re not in any danger, I won’t say a word.”

“That’s good enough for me.” For now, anyway. I didn’t want Max getting involved and especially not now, with a kid on the way. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” I would worry enough for the both of us.

She listened as I told her about the randomness and over all sexual tone of the gifts, nodding as her gaze was set on a fixed point in the distance. “You should stay with us.”

“Yeah, right. Because I want to catch you christening every part of this place? No thanks, but thank you for the offer. Besides, you and Max are still getting used to living together.”

“It’s been six months,” she reminded me with a roll of her eyes.

“Still. You’ll be nesting, or whatever, soon. I’ll be fine and even if I’m not, there’s no way I’m putting you in the vicinity of harm’s way.”

I groaned when Jana began to tear up again. “You are too good to me, Teddy. I love you.”

“I love you too, honey. Now you need to go rinse that face and put on something sexy when you tell Max he’s gonna be a daddy. There’s a bottle of wine at home calling my name.”

And thankfully no gifts waiting for me when I got there.