“There she is,” he says. “Finally, I meet the magnificent Candace.”
My heart explodes in my chest and my mind goes to Tag before it plays Rick’s words again: Fact find—which we’re doing for you—prepare, and then act. And shoot your damn gun. I reach in my purse, grab my mace, rather than my gun, and spray him in the face. He curses, and lifts his hands, leaning on the wall. That’s when I pull the tactical pen from my waistband and shove it in his thigh.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Savage
I round the corner as Candace slams the tactical pencil into Asher’s leg, the mace bottle in her other hand, and holy shit, this is life at its best. I burst into laughter.
“Holy fuck, Savage!” he yells. “What the hell?”
He gets it.
This is “holy” territory.
Holy fuck. Holy shit. Holy wonderful.
“I guess you pissed her off, man. Candace, baby, that’s Asher.”
Candace drops the weapons in her hands and settles back on her heels and withdraws her attack, her breath heaving from her chest. “Asher?” she gasps. “You’re Asher?”
“That’s right, sweetheart,” Asher half-growls because, despite the fact that I know he’s one of the rare ones who barely reacts to mace, he feels the contact. “I’m Asher,” he adds. “Did you talk to my wife or Savage before planning this or both?”
“Your wife?” she blinks. “Why would your wife want me to mace you? Are you an asshole to your wife?”
“No,” Asher says, pushing to a squat. “She knows I’m about 90% immune and it’s a blast from the past. She maced me.”
“Your wife maced you?” Candace gasps. “Why?”
“I was trying to save her the way I am you, and she did the same thing as you and shot first, asked questions later.”
I catch Candace’s arm and pull her to her feet. “Which is a good thing,” I assure her. “You didn’t exactly use that pen effectively though. It didn’t get past his jeans and into his leg.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Asher says, standing, eyes watering. “I need to go and wash my damn face.” He steps around Candace and enters the bathroom.
“Navy SEALs aren’t what they’re cracked up to be, baby,” I say. “As proven by you all but taking him out.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt her!” Asher calls out. “Asshole,” he mumbles as the water comes on.
“Oh my God, Rick,” Candace whispers. “I can’t believe I just did that.” And when she would press her hands to her face, I drop the mace and pen and catch her wrists.
“Now you’re just making me a hero,” I say. “Don’t touch your face until you scrub down. Most people react far worse to mace than shithead in there and it doesn’t take much contact to feel the pain.”
“I feel horrible that I just did that,” she frets, and then calls over her shoulder, “I’m so sorry Asher!”
“Always happy to be a sparring partner,” Asher calls back. “Just warn me next time,” he adds in another mutter.
I grin. Candace knees my leg. “Stop. I really do feel horrible.”
“Go wash up,” I say, releasing her and motioning her to the bathroom.
“And you stop laughing at him.” With that, she spins around and enters the bathroom with Asher.
Following, I stop in the doorway and watch Asher step away from the sink, offering it to Candace while he grabs paper towels. “Sorry,” Candace murmurs again, turning on the water and lathering up. “You really aren’t in pain right now?” she asks.
“I’m fine,” he says. “It feels a bit like bad allergies for me. As for the pen, you should have gone for the groin. And,” he adds, scowling at me, “Savage should have warned you I was coming.”
“You called after she went to the bathroom, jerk-off,” I snap. “And why are you sneaking up on her?”
He steps up to me, puffed up in the chest in challenge, and there was a time when him doing this would have been real, when he would have wanted to punch me. Back when all he saw when he looked at me was a mercenary. He hated me. I liked that about him. Now? Now, we’ve shifted, become friends. The truth is, much about my life has shifted since I joined Walker Security and for the first time, I allow myself to believe that was preparing me to come back to Candace.
“Pussy,” Asher snaps.
“Fish-face woolly mammoth,” I snap.
“Wooly mammoth?” he challenges. “What the fuck, Savage?”
“All that damn girly hair around your pretty little face.”
“You and your ugly mug wanna throw down?” Asher challenges.
“Yeah, man. Let’s throw the fuck down.”
Candace steps to our sides and presses a hand to both our chests. “Stop, you two. Stop now.”
Asher and I burst into laughter. “One day,” he says.
“Bring it, woolly,” I challenge, but I also back away and let him out of the bathroom.
Candace follows us, eyeing us both, a confused look furrowing her brow. “What just happened?”