“Sorry. What about tomorrow night?”
“I’ll have to check my schedule, and I’ll get back to you,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Easy tiger, your killer is showing,” Sage whispers in my ear. “We don’t need him. Take a breath and put down the knife.”
I look down at the bread knife in my hand that I clench in a tight fist and slowly relax my fingers, placing it back on the table.
“How about we all watch a movie tonight?” Vienna says brightly, trying to ease the very noticeable tension.
“Sounds good,” Gio agrees as Ben and Suzy beg off, claiming they want an early night.
“What about you, Tori?” Colton asks, and when I look at him across the table, his pretty blue eyes study me carefully, looking between me and the knife I placed on the table with something that looks like desperation.
“I’m going to pass. I want to go down to the shooting range and blow off some steam. I have entirely too much pent-up aggression and need to release some of it,” I reply, wondering if it would be bad form to whisk him away to my secret room and do some damage to his pretty skin. I can’t go back to the Black Rose now, but I also have a live-in sub, which I hadn’t added to the plus column of them living with us. First, though, I need to kill some targets so I don’t do too much damage to him.
“You have a range?” Tristan’s eyes light up with excitement, looking around like it might appear. “I haven’t seen it.”
Although the range is in the basement below ground, there is a way to access it from the house that won’t give away all the other facilities down there.
“Yeah, it’s off the parking garage. You just need to put in an access code on the door. You’re welcome to use it. There are a range of weapons down there to choose from and a few different target options. You should see Tori throw knives. It’s kind of scary.” Gio looks at me proudly, oblivious to the tension flowing through my body.
Sage groans next to me as I reach for the knife again. Fucking Gio and his big mouth. Now, instead of being alone, it looks like I’m going to have some company.
“I’d love to watch you shoot, I bet it’s sexy as fuck,” Tristan teases me lightly, and I can’t come up with a reason to deny him.
“Maybe Tori wants to go on her own, Tris,” Colton suggests gently, but the way Tristan’s joy fades from his eyes has me feeling guilty, so I shake my head.
“No, it’s fine. You’re welcome to join me as long as you don’t get pissy when I kick your butt.” I try for lighthearted, and Sage mutters, “Good girl,” under his breath. The praise has me shivering slightly, and Xavier moves ever so slightly. His leg brushing against mine causes goosebumps to rise on my skin.
“You all better watch out. Tori could shoot the dick off a sparrow,” Ben says, holding up his glass of wine in a toast, and all the tension, sexual or otherwise, seems to drain out of the room. The rest of dinner is more pleasant than I thought it would be. The others carry the conversation, allowing me to relax and enjoy having company around. I’m able to get out of my head for a little while, and I hadn’t realized how much I needed that.
Our guests try to insist on cleaning up after dinner, but Ben and Suzy shoo them away. Casey and Gio have already disappeared when we all sort of drift into one of the living areas with large windows that overlook the landscaped pool and backyard. It’s the one Sage and I use most. It has a large, comfortable sectional and Sage’s gaming system, which is connected to the hundred inch TV. The windows are currently covered by bulletproof shutters, which automatically lowerwhen the sun sets. We can manually override this, but I haven’t felt the need to since living here. If I want to swim at night, I use the indoor pool.
Vienna eyes the shutters warily but doesn’t say anything as she sinks down onto the couch next to Colton. Sage bounds over to the gaming system and lifts up two controllers, tossing one into Colton’s lap. “How are you at GTA?” he asks, sitting down and powering the system up.
“Fairly decent,” he replies, picking up the controller as Vienna rolls her eyes.
“Fairly decent is a lie. He’s extremely proficient,” she tells Sage, whose eyes sparkle.
“Awesome, this will be fun.”
“Isn’t GTA a little too close to your real life to be enjoyable?” Tristan stands behind the couch, and his hands go down to Sage’s shoulders, giving them a little squeeze. Sage moans and leans into the pressure.
“Oh yeah, right there,” he mutters.
“I’m a legitimate businesswoman with legitimate businesses, thank you very much,” I say primly, and all of them look at me with disbelief in their eyes.
I scoff and whirl around, leaving the room and heading toward the elevator. It’s true, some of them are legit. I hear footsteps behind me, and when I glance over my shoulder, I find both Tristan and Xavier are following me.
“Coming to kill some things?” I ask bluntly, but neither of them flinch at the suggestion. In fact, Tristan gets a manic look in his eyes that reveals his excitement.
I push the button, and all three of us step into the elevator when it opens. I press the button for the garage, knowing I can’t use the entrance from the bunker, and the car descends, a comfortable silence surrounding us. It barely takes moments before the doors open again, and I lead them over to a door inthe side of the wall. I press the code into the keypad. It swings open and a light switches on, and the low hum of the ventilation system kicks in.
“Holy shit!” Tristan’s voice echoes through the large area as he scopes out the setup. We have a couple of lanes, but an entire section is designed as a tactical obstacle course similar to what the military or special forces use to train their teams. All of it is soundproof and designed to catch any stray bullets.
Off to the side is the gun locker, and I key in another code and gesture for the guys to help themselves, while pulling my own gun from the waistband of my lounge pants.
“You were carrying that the whole time at dinner?” Xavier asks, studying me carefully while Tristan mutters excitedly about the array of guns.
