17. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

C annon sat in the chair and ran his hand through his hair. His head felt naked without his ball caps. With all the other things people were doing for him, he felt a little like a prima donna asking for his baseball caps. So he'd kept quiet. But it was kind of like once you noticed a place on your body that itched. Once he missed his caps, it was all he could think about.

Locks had left as Clara walked in with lunch. She was in the kitchen getting a tray for him. The front door opened and Ellie breezed in.

"Hey Cannon, I thought I could kill two birds, one stone. I've got the next month's schedule and Clara said she brought enough food for me too."

Cannon cracked a smile. Ellie hadn't taken a breath, just pushed all the words out as fast as possible. From everything he'd heard, her last supervisor in the FBI was a dick. It had taken her a while, but the women of Bluff Creek had helped her find her voice.

"Ellie, have a seat. We're going to eat in the front room so Cannon doesn't have to move," Clara called from the kitchen.

Ellie trotted over and sat down.

"Okay, I printed off the calendar. I'm qualified to do some of these classes with a little bit of guidance. But I have no idea what this night class is here. HKYCA? What is that?"

Cannon chuckled. "Hennessy asked if he could rent the range part of the facility. I looked into the legalities and as long as I have them all sign waivers, we're good. They are using the pop-up range for their own Hennessy's Kick Your Cousins Ass competition. I was just going to run the lights, smoke, and stuff like that. They want to use paintball guns, so I found some stuff that cleans up easily. The paintball guns and the special paintballs should be delivered this week. I offered looking into laser guns, but Hennessy wanted it to hurt when his cousins got hit. We're charging them one hundred dollars a person and they offered that any of the MC could join them. I know not all the cousins were available to come. Any MC persons who want to participate pay the one hundred dollars too. The money should cover our outlay for the guns and pellets and for the person who cleans the facility to have an extra five hours paid."

"Well, now that sounds like something fun to do. That might be a fun girls' night but so would laser guns. I'm assuming they'll come in the tactical range door, and we can just have the doors locked to the gun store and the rifle and pistol ranges."

Cannon accepted the tray from Clara and breathed in the smell of the hot roast beef sandwich with au jus. Thick-cut french fries were piled beside it.

"Yes, Ellie. Thank you, Clara. I appreciate you coming over."

She placed his drink on his side table. "You are welcome. We need to get you healed and strong so you can get on your knees and grovel."

Ellie giggled, then snorted.

"Oh, you may think it's funny since it's not you, but I think you need a man who lets you know how special you are."

Ellie shook her head no. "I'm good. Umm, how about I take my sandwich to go?"

If Cannon didn't know better, he'd think that Ellie was petrified of men, but he'd watched her since she came to the MC. She joked and laughed with all of them. Maybe when he wasn't so clouded by pain pills, he would dig into Ellie's life.

"Nope, I won't mention it again. You and Cannon need to get stuff straight for the next month. Let me know if you need anything else. I'm going to eat in the kitchen and catch up on my book."

Cannon didn't understand how his and Clara's relationship had grown. Besides the guys, he'd always kept people at arm's length. It preserved a healthy boundary between him and any entanglements. No entanglements meant no loss. No loss meant that his life was smoother.

"Remi's basically loaned me to the range for the foreseeable future and I'm really enjoying it but…"

Cannon waited for Ellie to continue, but she stayed quiet.

"But what? You hate it and need me to find someone else. You love it but not sure you want to do it forever. You love it and want to take a bigger role. Do any of those fit?"

Ellie blushed and took a big bite of her sandwich, slowly chewing, but Ellie needed to remember he'd been a police officer. Silence was a great interrogation technique. He chewed a couple fries and then dipped the next one in the au jus. He groaned. Man, he'd missed this food while he was in the hospital.

"I really love it. But what if when you come back, you don't like working with me?"

He smiled at Ellie. "I think I've been around you long enough to know that I would love to work with you. Now, I'm not going to promise that we won't disagree because I'm a grump sometimes. What I will promise is we'll work together to figure out any disagreement. I've needed someone to help run the place for a while. Are you going to be happy not going on security details as much?"

Ellie grinned at him. "It's actually the perfect job for me. I get to shoot things and teach people, but I can be home with the boys all the time. Remi had already been looking at how she could use me in administration so I wouldn't be gone as much. I'd much rather work at the range if you'll have me."

Cannon stuck his uninjured hand out. "Welcome to the range, partner."

He and Ellie finished their lunch while discussing the schedule. He'd been looking forward to Hennessy's rental because he enjoyed being around the cousins. They'd had an interesting childhood without any of them having their moms in their lives, but they were all great men. He was thankful he'd become friends with War and Bear because Bluff Creek was the first time he felt like he had a permanent home.

"If we're good, I'm going to head back to the range. Is it easier for you if I call with questions or concerns or text?"

Cannon chuckled. "I need to get my phone replaced. Until then, you'll need to call Jesse's landline."

"I have a replacement phone for you," Clara said, walking in and handing him a phone. "And, yes, I was eavesdropping. I'm curious about what all happens at the range. Scoop said you'd backed up your phone recently, so you didn't lose much."

"This changes things. Whatever you prefer. You're not going to bother me, so feel free to ask any question, even if you think it's stupid."

Ellie nodded and picked up her dishes. "Sounds good. I'm going to head back."

Cannon waited until she left, then called Clara in.

"What would you like to know about the range? Have you ever shot a gun before? I'm happy to teach you when I can."

Clara sat down in the chair beside him. "I had someone who tried to teach me years and years ago. I'm sure I've forgotten everything he said. Are there people my age who come there?"

"I have classes for all ages and the range is open to anyone eighteen and over. Kids ten and older can be there if they have a parent with them. Whiskey's dad and uncles come by every so often to shoot. They like our range. Regina drops in, too. The area that Whiskey and his cousins are renting is the tactical area. There are buildings and pop-ups with people on them that you have to decide if the person popping up is a friend or foe before you shoot. The bail bonds require their employees to go through the range and practice multiple times to keep their skills up."

Clara leaned back and pulled her crocheting out. He waited to see if she had more questions. He'd been more awake today than since he'd come home. His pain was manageable right now. The pain pills made him, for lack of a better term, loopy. It was hard to concentrate.

"I think I'd like to learn. If something happened, I want to be able to defend myself or anyone with me."

Clara with a gun. He could see it because she was strong willed.

"If you were just defending yourself, a little bit of instruction would be enough. If you would need to defend along with other people, it would take a lot more instruction. You'd need to practice situational awareness with where your bullet is going and making sure none of your friendlies are in the line of fire. I think we can easily get you to the first part."

He bit his lip when a grin spread across her face and she sat up a little straighter.

"I'm glad you're not one of those men who think women shouldn't be doing that type of stuff."

"Me too, because if I was, Jesse would probably do all sorts of horrible things to me until my attitude changed."

Clara turned and stared at him. Uh-oh. He recognized her deep conversation look.

"Have you all discussed anything yet?"

"It's been a day."

Cannon had tried to keep the whine out of his voice but dang.

"Don't get all whiny. I think you need another pain pill."

Clara got up and walked into the kitchen for his medicine. He wasn't whiny, but the pain was building. He probably should have taken his next dose at lunch, but he'd wanted to have a conversation with Ellie without the haze of the medicine.

Clara held out a pill and a drink. He glared, then tossed the pill in and washed it down with the drink.

"Don't glare at me. You need to heal so you can fix this situation. Now, if you're going to be a grump, why don't you try to sleep. I'll just sit here and crochet. And maybe figure out how you can dig yourself out of this mess."

Clara's grumbled words had him fighting back a laugh. He did need to fix the situation, but he was honestly happy about Jesse's decree that they couldn't talk about anything from before. It gave him a little reprieve. He was so scared to say anything and damage their relationship more.