I leaned over the table. “My gun is pointed at your cock. If you continued to make fun of me, you’ll never fuck again,” I lied.
His face paled a little, but his smile remained. “You came here for advice. You came to me because I’m close with Grey, and you’re hoping to get some sort of shovel that’ll help you carve the right path for her. You’re not going to shoot me because you need help, whether you want to admit it or not.”
How did Greyson stand this little fuck? I sneered and straightened. “I don’t need advice on fucking a girl.”
Jeremy shrugged. “No, what you need is something you’ll never say out loud, so I’ll just tell you what I know, and you can do with the information what you please.”
I searched his eyes for a second before nodding him on. That’s all I needed. Just something that would help me make all of this make sense. I needed to understand what was happening and what I should do next without changing what was happening. I didn’t want things to change, I just wanted them to…I needed them to grow.
“Okay,” he inhaled deeply. “Listen to the words she isn’t saying and react the way you naturally would,” he told me.
My face twisted. “What?”
Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, do that. Easy sounding, hard to execute, but my guess is she’s showing you that she already cares about you, unless…” his eyes narrowed, “you have her chained in your basement?”
I glared at him.
He held up his hands. “To each their own, live your best life, and all that jazz. Whatever the circumstances, just take care of her. That’s it. Take care of her. Mentally, emotionally, physically. Everything. Listen to the things said and unsaid. React naturally, learn.”
My expression softened, my brows pulling together. “Learn?”
Jeremy nodded. “Learn, Ev. You have to allow yourself the opportunity to learn. This isn’t an assignment. It’s not some rogue you’re hunting, or some client you’re going after, it’s a girl. Learn. Listen, take care of her, and learn.”
~~~
June 21st, 2022
I watched after her until she disappeared between the trees, gungripped in hand, before turning back to where the bullets had come from.
Whoever thefuckhad decided to be this stupid would certainly pay in blood and bones.
I pulled my gun out and loaded it, my eyes skimming the tree line. Whoever they were, they had terrible aim, but he drew her blood, and the rage I f
elt at seeing that was fucking unrecognizable.
Steven should have been the last motherfuckerto draw her blood other than me. This was unacceptable.
I headed for the trees, eyes and ears trained. Two bullets within two minutes. The person was either unfamiliar with a gun or unsure of themselves. Either way, they’d die for the sins they committed today.
If they hadn’t heard of me before, they were sure asfuckgoing to know who I was before they found their way to Hell.
I kept my gun at my side and stayed low as I headed through the trees, searching for any sign of movement. My mind and body fell into the thrill of the hunt. My heart slowed, my breathing eased, my mind was calm. All that mattered was finding my target and putting a bullet in their head.
Her face filled my mind, the fear in her eyes.
No!No, she was safe. She was smart. She had a gun.
But she was stupid enough to challenge me. In every situation, she challenged me. She stood up to me, talked back. If she had done that to anyone else, she would have died.
She was smart, but she was also prideful, stubborn.Fuck. She had better listen to my orders this one goddamn time.
I shook my head as I continued through the trees. I needed to focus. I had to trust her too.
A twig snapped to my right and I took off, catching movement a second later. I lowered myself a little more seconds before a bullet whizzed by me, slamming into a tree on my left.
Silencer.
And every time they shot they stopped moving. Bad aim, freezing to shoot, they were no expert. That worked in my favor.
