34. Protect Herself

34

PROTECT HERSELF

“ Y ou aren’t going to make fun of me if I jump the first few times it’s fired, are you?” Regan asked him ten days later.

“No,” he said. He’d gotten her gun permit processed in less than two weeks thanks to his father and him putting in some calls. He didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It’s not like she had a criminal record and she followed the procedure.

“I’m not sure I like the idea of this,” she said.

“You don’t want a security system and cameras in your office,” he said.

“I can’t and you know it,” she said. “Clients wouldn’t want to come in knowing they were going to be on camera.”

“But you record their sessions and when they have video calls they are recorded too.”

“Not the same thing as having cameras when they walk in. Maybe someone is giving me a false name to hide their identity for a reason. If they are on camera I could be putting someone in jeopardy.”

“They are on camera when they walk into the building,” he said. He was getting things set up with the Fierces. They had cameras installed already that were being monitored by someone else, but he’d be taking that over. Or rather his father would be.

“That’s different,” she argued. “There are a lot of businesses in the building and just walking into the lobby means nothing.”

He wasn’t going to argue with her. He was just glad she agreed to this without too much of a battle. And that she was opening up with him on so many levels that he had a clear understanding of her.

Her strength was there for the world, but her vulnerability was for him to see.

He had to handle that with care so she felt like she could continue to be as open as she was.

“You need to put these goggles on,” he said. “And earplugs in too.”

“This is a lot of work,” she said. “I don’t plan on ever firing it outside this range. And if I need to, heaven forbid, do I stop to put goggles and earplugs in? That kind of defeats the purpose of having it if I need to do that before I use it.”

He turned to look at the smirk on her face. “No,” he said. “You don’t need to do that, but here you do. I thought you’d be more cooperative than this.”

“I got the permit, bought the gun, and now I’m here. What more is there?”

She had a point. “You could put a smile on your face.”

“No,” she said. “I’m not doing that. I don’t believe there is any threat. I told you that.”

“You told me that you couldn’t figure it out and that those you thought might have done it you don’t feel that way now.”

He wanted to be the judge of that but knew it wasn’t going to happen.

They’d argued over it again. She’d thrown some pretty big words at him about trust and her judgment.

He couldn’t dispute that and had to let it go.

Doing this was the next best thing in his mind.

“That’s right. I’m sure it was someone just annoyed for some reason. It happens. Not everyone loves me like you do.”

He adjusted the goggles on her face. They were too big for her, but she looked adorable in them just the same. “That’s right,” he said. “I do. And that is why we are here and I’m concerned. That should be a good trait to have with a partner, right?”

“It is,” she said. “As long as it’s not overbearing.”

He squinted one eye at her and helped her get into her stance.

“Spread your legs apart a little and get your balance.”

His hands went down and nudged them apart even further than what she did. If he let his hand move to the front and rub against her heat quickly...well, he was only human.

“That isn’t teaching me to fire a gun,” she said.

“I can save it for later,” he said. “I promise.”

She turned her head to look at him. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, not a lot of makeup on. With her jeans and sneakers, she looked more like a student with how small she was rather than a licensed therapist.

“Is it going to hurt when I fire it?” she asked.

He took it out of her hands. “Watch me. I should have done it this way first anyway.” He was going to fire his own gun, but then decided it’d be easier to show her how it’d look with her much smaller one.

“Your legs aren’t spread as much as you made me do it,” she said, moving her hands down and nudging him. “I call that sexist.”

“Or it’s more that I know what to expect and don’t have to worry about balance after the gun goes off.”

She snorted and he found it cute.

He fired three rounds and then lowered it. “That was louder than I thought.”

“Which is why you need to wear that.” She was standing behind him. “Did you jump?”

“A little. Even after the third shot and I knew what to expect.”

He didn’t want her to get used to it. No reason for that. But she had to know how to protect herself.

Which of course was going to be the next conversation during lunch.

“Your turn,” he said.

She resumed the position, he helped her put the gun in front of her and take aim. Showed her the best way to try to hit her target.

First shot, she barely clipped the bottom of the paper.

“My hands moved.”

“I expected as much. It’s the first you’ve felt what it was like to fire a gun. You ready to try again?”

“If I have to,” she said.

He turned her to look at him. “Listen, Regan. I hope you never have to fire it anywhere other than here. I’m serious. But if you do, you need to know what to do. How to get the safety off and to hit what you’re aiming at. Nothing worse than pissing someone off by firing and missing.”

Her eyes widened and she gulped. He didn’t want to scare her but was failing at that.

“I understand.”

“Good,” he said. “Back to it.”

After thirty minutes, he was helping her put her gun away and they were leaving the range.

“My hand is numb.”

“It’s like anything else in life the first time you do it. You might get a bit sore. Some of your other muscles will be too because you were tensing while you fired.”

“Why is there a smirk on your face while you explain that?”

He laughed and nudged her a bit. “Maybe I’m thinking of other things that can get sore too the first time you do something.”

“No comment,” she said. “Nothing other than I’m hungry. Do we want to go back to my place for lunch or grab something while we are out?”

“We can go out to eat,” he said. Because he didn’t think she’d put up that much of a stink if they had this conversation in a public place.

“That works,” she said. “I’ll cook dinner tonight. We can figure that out and then stop at the store before we leave.”

When they got in his SUV her phone started to ring. He knew she was on call, but her phone rarely rang. She just got texts more than anything.

She pulled her phone out of her purse.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“It’s my father.”

“Does he call you often?”

“No,” she said. “I guess I should get it. Hello, Dad. Everything okay?”

He could only hear one end of the conversation. Her face got red and she started to talk about Kellen again, then she stopped.

He started the SUV and pulled out while she sat there and listened to whatever her father was saying.

“Let me get back to you on that, Dad,” she said. More words on the other line and then, “I’ll let you know today. I’ll talk to Zander since we are together now.”

She hung up and he turned. “What do you have to talk to me about?”

“For some reason my father has decided to take an interest in my boyfriend and wants to meet you.”

“You’ve met my parents,” he said.

“I have and they are lovely people. I enjoy talking to your mother and sister and even your father when he’s in the office.”

They’d gone to dinner with his parents one other night. A last minute invitation that he’d asked her to attend with him.

He shouldn’t have been shocked his mother just wanted to see if they were still together and how things were going.

His mother could have just asked his father who saw him and Regan together more often.

Nope, his mother wanted to see for herself.

“Did your father say when he wanted to meet me and why?”

“He said that they are going out of town for Christmas and since I didn’t see them at Thanksgiving, he realized it’s been almost six months. Before I moved to my new office. I hadn’t even realized it. I think it was because they ticked me off right before that.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because my father is Vice President of a bank. He got on my case about money and budgeting. He thought I was getting in over my head. I told him the rent wasn’t much more than what I was paying and the location was better.”

“Now you can prove it to him and say how busy you are just getting clients in the building alone. And everything the Fierces do for their renters.”

“You mean like setting them up?” she asked. “I most certainly will not be telling them that.”

He laughed. “I didn’t mean that. Just that you can say you’ve got more clients just like I do from people seeing us in the building and the newsletter that goes out twice a month.”

“You’ve got no problem meeting my father?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Do I need to worry? I’ve got a gun. You do too.”

“Oh God. I appreciate you trying to make light of this. I really do. And none of this needs to be brought up either. Not the letter I got nor the fact I’ve got a gun. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I thought your parents didn’t show a lot of emotion,” he said.

“They don’t, but that doesn’t mean they can’t nag like the next overbearing parent.”

“Kellen?” he asked.

“Yes. I guess my brother isn’t talking to them much. He didn’t in the past either, but when he lived locally they didn’t care so much.”

“How often do you talk to Kellen?” he asked.

“We text a lot. He’d like to meet you too. He’s trying to come home at the holidays. The problem is, he doesn’t want to stay with either parent. Not see them either.”

“He wants to stay with you and I’m there?” he asked. “I can stay at my place. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not that. I mean, I think he will stay with me and you can too. I’m not sure what I’m doing for the holiday yet. I’m only working half a day on Tuesday. We are closed Wednesday and I’ll be back to work on Thursday. He doesn’t have much time off either. He said that he planned to come on the weekend, spend a few days here, maybe see some friends and then leave Christmas morning.”

“So if we spent it with my family on that day, he wouldn’t be around?”

He hadn’t talked to her yet about the holidays.

“No,” she said. “That would be his reason to leave. He’d have to get back home. I think he gets Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, so he’d only be taking Monday off. My father is out of town so that is one less thing he has to worry about. My mother is more into Christmas Eve. She hasn’t reached out yet, but I expect that she will soon.”

“Do you think she’s going to want to meet me too?”

“Once my father does, then my mother will be the next person. It’s what they do.”

He shook his head. “They still talk a lot?” he asked.

“I don’t ask much. I don’t want to know.”

“I’ll be game for anything,” he said. “I’ll be your backup.”

“Good,” she said. “I’ll need it.”

He pulled into a parking lot of a pub he’d passed by on the way to the range. “Do you care if we eat here?”

“I’ve never been here before, but it works for me.”

“I’ve been here a few times,” he said. “They’ve got good food and a lot of sandwiches and salads.”

“Like you ever eat a salad,” she said, getting out of his vehicle and laughing.

He reached over and put her gun in the glove box and locked it and then locked his SUV.

They got a seat and ordered their drinks.

“I appreciate you doing everything today,” he said.

“I don’t feel as if I had much of a choice.”

He didn’t like hearing that.

“We all have choices.”

“We do and we don’t,” she said. “I listened to what you said and it wasn’t unreasonable, but I still feel like it wasn’t my choice.”

“Then the next thing I’m going to say won’t make you happy either.”

She sighed. “What is that?”

“I’d like to teach you some self-defense moves.”

She smirked at him. “That I don’t have a problem with.”

“Really?” he asked. That went better than he expected.

“Nope. Anything to get my hands on you.”