Chapter Sixteen
Chloe felt like she’d slept for several hours, and somehow, she knew Erik had stayed with her the entire time.
Holding her and keeping the chills at bay.
He hadn’t just held her until she fell asleep, and then come back when she woke up.
He’d stayed. Despite numerous other things he could have been doing, he’d stayed. Because she’d needed him.
“Hey.” Her voice was rough, still sore from before.
His hand stroked over her arm. “How are you doing?”
Her eyes were gritty, a mild headache pulsed at her temples, and there was a heaviness in her heart, but she said, “I’m okay.”
“I’ll go make you some tea.”
Erik went to pull his arm away, and Chloe latched onto it, keeping him in place. “We need to find him before he hurts someone else.”
“I know.”
Chloe turned over so she was facing him.
“Use me.” The words came out shaky and left a bitter taste on her tongue.
Her stomach twisted with fear at even the thought of seeing Jackson again, but she couldn’t keep doing this.
She couldn’t keep hiding in her apartment with a protection detail while Jackson picked off the people she cared about. Danny…
Her sinuses prickled with impending tears as she thought of her friend, his bright light extinguished because of her. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
Erik didn’t protest the suggestion, but there was a hint of a growl in his words. “I suspect Savoy will make an appearance at the funeral, or at least be close enough to see you.”
“I’ll sing at the service.” Jackson had been especially enamored of her voice. Sing for me, Chloe baby. He’d sit and listen to her rehearse, then remark on how she must have been one of the sirens of mythology in a past life. Maybe this time, her siren’s song would lure him to his doom.
“Jayla and I will work out the logistics.” He jutted his chin toward something behind her. “I turned off the ringer on your phone so it wouldn’t wake you, but you’ve had several calls. I’ll go get you that tea while you check them.”
When he pulled away this time, she didn’t stop him, though it was tempting to pull him back. She immediately missed his warmth. Before he could leave the room, she said his name. When he turned to look back, she said, “Thank you. For staying with me. For… Well, for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” He reached for the door, but paused. “We’ll get him, Chloe.”
The confidence in his words helped buoy her flagging courage. She’d made the offer to act as bait, but words were easy, and now that Erik wasn’t right beside her, lending her his strength, the thought of going through with it was terrifying.
Chloe was just lying there, staring at the ceiling as a chaotic mix of thoughts and memories whirled through her head when she heard the brief knock and called out, “Come in.”
She’d had multiple missed calls and voicemails.
Her dad, her mom, Lattie, John, and several other people from the opera house.
While her parents may have just been checking in, news of Danny’s death had likely reached the others, and she found she couldn’t call them back.
Not yet. Her emotions were too raw, too close to the surface, and she knew if she tried to talk to any of them, she’d break down and cry again.
She’d taken the easy way out and texted that she’d call them later.
It wasn’t Erik who came in with the promised tea, but Jayla. She stepped through the door with a tray, and Chloe sat up. “You don’t need to wait on me.” She may not have felt like getting out of bed, but she wasn’t an invalid, and this wasn’t their job.
Jayla waved off the protest as she set the tray holding a cup of tea and a bowl of soup down on the bed beside Chloe. “I wanted to come in and talk to you anyway. How are you holding up?”
Chloe reached for the tea and nodded. “I’m okay.” She took a sip, the warm, herbal brew immediately soothing her throat.
The other woman sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to disrupt the tray. “What’s your proficiency with firearms?”
“Ah, none. I’ve never even held one.” The closest she’d come was her hand brushing against Jackson’s holstered sidearm when she’d hugged him while he was in uniform.
Her answer seemed to surprise Jayla. “Really? But your father’s a general.”
“He wanted me to learn, but I wasn’t willing.
” She’d been a teenager with certain views about guns, and those views had led to some pretty explosive arguments with her dad.
He’d eventually given up trying to push her into his way of thinking, and to maintain peace in the household, they’d agreed to disagree and left it at that.
“Okay. Do you have any hand-to-hand combat experience? A martial arts class or self-defense?”
“No. Growing up, I took dance classes, music lessons, theater, and worked with a vocal coach.”
Jayla nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. All right. The dance classes might translate well; there’s a rhythm to fighting.”
“You want to teach me to fight?”
“Yes. Erik and I will protect you to the best of our abilities, but we have to start thinking about worst-case scenarios here and prepare. You need to know how to defend yourself and fight off an attacker. Are you still unwilling to learn how to use a gun?”
Under the circumstances, opposition seemed foolish. “I’ll learn.”
“Great! We’ll start training you up. You’re going to earn that badass rattlesnake tattoo.”
Chloe chuckled and shook her head while Jayla shot her a beaming smile before pointing at the untouched soup. “Eat up. You’re going to need your strength.”
Erik was telling her about guns, explaining about different makes, models, and calibers, and Chloe was trying to pay attention, but her mind kept wandering. Danny’s family must be devastated. She knew they lived in the area. She should send them flowers. Or maybe something more personal?
“Chloe.”
“Hm?” She looked up at Erik.
“Are you listening?”
“Right. Sorry.” She sat up a little straighter. “I’m listening.”
He demonstrated with his own gun, which he said was called a SIG Sauer M17, how the manual safety worked, how to eject the magazine, load the ammunition, reinsert the magazine, and chamber a round. How to stand, how to hold it, what to do if it jams.
Chloe listened, she paid attention, but when Erik held it out to her, butt first, and told her to “Feel the weight,” she balked.
“It’s okay, Chloe. The safety’s on.”
She nodded, cringing slightly as she wrapped her hand around the grip. Erik released the barrel, and her hand dropped slightly as she took the weight. It wasn’t heavy per se, but it was heavier than she expected.
“Do we dare take her out to practice?” Jayla asked, dipping a carrot stick in some ranch dressing. “What if Savoy is watching? Follows.”
“Then we shoot him,” Erik replied, while Jayla chewed her snack and nodded thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, Chloe gingerly set the gun down. Logically, she knew it wasn’t just going to start spraying bullets, but she’d rather err on the side of caution.
“I’ll check to see if there are any ranges around here. But first…” Jayla set aside her carrot sticks and dusted her hands together as she stood. “Let’s move the furniture out of our way and teach her how to defend herself.”
It didn’t take long to push the furniture back and create a square of clear space for them to work.
Like with the gun lesson, Erik and Jayla demonstrated first, with Erik playing the aggressor.
Sneak attacks, to full-on charges, they showed her how to escape from a hold, no matter which side it came from.
Jayla, Chloe quickly decided, was a badass.
She didn’t hold back. And poor Erik took all the abuse.
With a savage yell, Jayla broke free once more from his hold, turned, and without pause or hesitation, kneed him squarely between the legs.
Chloe let out a hiss of dismay and covered her mouth with her hands as Erik let out a pained grunt and doubled over on himself before his knees buckled and he hit the floor.
“Nothing is off limits,” Jayla told her sharply. “Nothing. You scratch, you bite, you pull hair if you can get hold of it, and you definitely hit them where it hurts. Anything to buy yourself time to get away.”
Grabbing a bottle of water, Jayla cracked the top, guzzled half of it, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Give him a minute, then you can try.”
Chloe crouched beside Erik, wincing sympathetically at the pain written on his face. It sounded like he was having a hard time breathing. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, but his voice was strained when he told her, “Just need… a minute.”
She wouldn’t have been surprised if he walked funny for the next several days. The force Jayla had put behind the blow had been extreme. Yet, to Chloe’s amazement, that promised minute was all Erik needed before he rose to his feet and seemed to shake the injury off.
It looked like Jayla was going to play choreographer for this little dance as she clapped her hands together and said, “Let’s try an arm grab. Go!”
Erik snatched Chloe’s arm, his hand clamping just above her wrist. He didn’t pull; he was giving her time to remember what to do, but Chloe was drawing a blank.
She’d seen Jayla do this. She’d covered his hand with her free one, did a sort of loop and cranked his arm behind him, then pushed down.
It had seemed easy enough, but when Chloe tried it, she knew it was a weak attempt at best. Erik was letting her overpower him.
“Okay, okay,” Jayla called out, moving closer. “Good try. Speed will come with practice. Let’s do it again.”
So they did. Again, and again, and again, until she had the move down.
Chloe thought they might take a break – she really needed one – but Jayla called out, “Sneak attack, from behind.”
Erik didn’t hesitate, and before Chloe fully knew what was happening, his arms clamped around her, his body pressed close to hers. She was supposed to be doing something to free herself, but instead, as his breath warmed the side of her face, she pushed back against him and closed her eyes.
She heard a low growl in her ear, felt how he hardened, and her body heated with desire.
“Er… okay,” Jayla commented with a little huff of laughter that made Chloe’s cheeks warm with embarrassment at having so totally forgotten herself in the moment.
Jayla sobered. “But Chloe, you need to remember, for this exercise, that’s not Erik behind you. That’s Jackson Savoy.”
The reminder was like a bucket of ice water tossed on the flames.