“Yeah?” He studies me, from my black sneakered feet, up jeaned legs, to my hoodie covered torso.
Ang watches Spence before he glances back at me, notices my shaking hands, and tucks me behind his back. “Actually, can we talk a sec?”
“My office?”
“Yeah.” Ang turns and takes my hands. “Can you wait here for a sec? I promise I’ll be quick–”
“No.” I step in, pushing away the thoughts that tap on my memory. “You promised.” My lips quiver. “You promised you wouldn’t go.”
“Just for a minute. Not even a whole minute. You’re safe out here.” He turns to Spence. “Anyone else here?”
“Nope. It’s six fuckin’ thirty in the morning. Who else is stupid enough to be at a gun range at this hour?”
“See?” Ang turns back to me. “No one else is here. I’ll just be over–”
He turns to point at a door, an office door, but I step back and hold my stomach. The sickness is back. “No. You promised.” When my eyes itch, his shoulders droop. “I’m just gonna go home. Forget I mentioned anything.”
“No.” He snags my hand when I turn away. “Don’t leave.”
“I changed my mind. I don’t want this anymore. I want to go home.”
“No.” He twines his fingers with mine and closes his eyes to think. “Spence. No office.” Ang turns to face the man watching me have a breakdown. “I’m not leaving her. I promised.”
“Suits me.” Spence folds his arms and watches me closely. “Speak, Riggs.”
“Yeah.” He blows out a heavy breath. “Exactly that. You remember that thing we did. That movie we watched?”
“Mm.”
“Yeah.” His eyes flick between Spence’s and mine. He’s trying to talk in code. He’s trying to talk about me. “Just don’t touch her, okay? We’re here to learn, she wants me. Teach us, but don’t touch.”
“Oh…” He studies me a moment too long. “Oh! Okay. I’ve gotcha, playa. I got just the thing.”
True to his word, Ang doesn’t leave my side once. Spence shows us through his complex, and the entire time we move and discuss guns, Ang’s hand remains wrapped around mine.
Strangely, it doesn’t freak me out.
“I’m gonna set you up with a nine-millimeter,” Spence starts as we move through a heavily locked room. Walls and walls of displayed guns, it’s like he’s a genuine collector and he’s showing us the VIP section. “Your sister learned on a nine, as well.”
“My sister learned? She knows how to shoot?”
Gun in hand, he walks around me like he just can’t figure out if the twin thing is a guise. On the third or fourth revolution, he leans in close and sniffs me.
He fucking sniffs me!Which results in a panicked squeak and me scrambling against Angelo’s side.
“She did. She’s good at it, too, but her teacher is the best marksman I know.”
“You?”
“No. I’m the second-best marksman I know. Bish taught Jessie. He showed her how to hit a bullseye from fifty feet away. You’ve got big shoes to fill, missy. You think you’re up to it?”
“Um…”
Chuckling, he stops at a metal table and disassembles the heavy gun he took down from the wall. “Glock .45.”
“I’ve seen this gun before.” I look up and meet Spence’s eyes. “This is Kane’s gun.”
He winks. “This is thesameas Bish’s gun. Correct. This ain’t his, because if he left his laying around and not on his body, I’d be disappointed.” He snaps the gun back together, holds it by the barrel, and offers it to me. “Don’t worry. It’s unloaded.”