“Sasha,lookat me.”
I begrudgingly pulled my eyes from the torn-up label in my hands.
“I have the next two days off. Why don’t we go to the shooting range? Blow off some steam.”
Normal “I didn’t just watch a man get shot in the head” Sasha would’ve immediately said no, but I was beyond that now.
“Okay. Yeah, let’s do it.”
A wide smile broke out on my dad’s face. “Great! I can’t wait to see if you still got it.”
“It’s been over a decade since I shot a gun, dad.”
“Yeah, but boy, were you a great shot as a kid.” He gestured behind him to the den where my NRA trophies sat proudly. Being raised by a gun nut, Dad took me hunting and eventually entered me in a few competitions. I ended up winning a scholarship for my marksmanship. It was one of the stumpers I used when I played two truths and a lie.
“We’ll see.”
We sat in silence as I sipped my beer, and dad wolfed down his food. “Damn, your mom’s lasagna gets better every time I eat it.” He pushed his chair back and patted his stomach. By nature of his job, he was in better shape than most fifty-five-year-olds I knew.
Taking the last gulp of beer, I picked up his plate and took it to the sink. The familiarity of this late-night ritual relaxed me. My dad and I had always been night owls, having some of our best conversations when the rest of the world was fast asleep.
By the time I got his plate in the dishwasher, dad was already grabbing another couple of beers from the fridge. Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, I caught a whiff of smoke on him. “Busy day?”
With a squeeze, he let me go and moved toward the den. “Yeah, there was a big fire in one of those new McMansions in Creve Coeur. We got lucky, and everyone got out safe, but we had a second story collapse on Jerry and Dave.” Dad plopped down in his recliner and pulled up the footrest, letting out a heavy sigh. “It was pretty fucking scary for a minute.”
“I bet.” I crawled back under the afghan and settled in.
We watched reruns of M.A.S.H in complete silence until dad’s soft snores filled the room. I grabbed an extra throw and covered him up before settling back into the cushions and finally drifting off to sleep.
* * *
After another coupleofdays of pampering from mom and dusting off my gun knowledge with dad, I finally packed up to leave.
As soon as I got behind the wheel, I noticed a black sedan tailing me. Quick breaths escaped my lips, and my heart rate picked up as my fingers fumbled to scroll through the hundreds of numbers in my contacts list.
“Sasha?”
“Someone’s following me.” I floored it, trying to shake my tail. Unfortunately,the car had no issue keeping up. My heart thrashed against my chest, and my throat was tight, making swallowing impossible.
“Calm down, baby. It’s—”
My eyes flashed up to the rearview mirror, bile churning in my stomach. “How the fuck am I supposed to calm down? There’s someone following me!”
“Baby, it’s just Pete. He’s going to keep an eye on you. I should’ve—”
“Yeah, you should’ve told me you were going to have me followed. I was about to have a fucking heart attack, Luca! God damn it.” Ending the call, I signaled and pulled onto my street.
Rage and fear fought for domination as I tried to breathe some peace into my body. When my hands stopped shaking, I grabbed my bags from the trunk and rushed to the door, never looking Pete’s way. Who the fuck knew if he could betrusted.Hadn’t Luca said he didn’t know who he could trust?
With every lock in place, I finally took a deep breath. I was home. I was safe.
The apartment smelled stale, so I opened the kitchen window. Ryan leaped up on the ledge, rubbing his face against my hand.
“Hey, baby. Did Ashley visit you?” A glance at his water bowl confirmed he was well taken care of during my little breakdown. “Don’t worry, sweetie, mommy’s home for good.”
Carrying a purring, content Ryan to the couch, I plopped down. He kneaded my lap until he fell asleep, leaving me to my thoughts. My eyes glanced over to my suitcase, where my handgun was packed away. I couldn’t believe things had gotten this bad. I had a fucking gun in my home.
That night, after showering and getting settled in bed, I tried to relax. I wished Luca had never told me he doubted his own men.