Chapter 10
Jennifer
I pulled Kate down as soon as the shot sounded, moving quickly.
She lay under me, shaking and wide-eyed. She hadn’t signed up for this. She was an admin, and damn it, I was so pissed off. Here I was, trying to do what was best for my child and my team, and the danger came right into the building.
“Mr. Davis. Please, put the gun down.”
He pointed it directly at Daisy as he wiped the back of his other hand across his forehead.
“You don’t understand. I worked so hard for this business.
I put my life into it. And now it’s all gone up in smoke.
Literally. The damn man blew up the building.
All my investors are backing out. My followers don’t want to deal with me anymore because, apparently, I’m too dangerous.
If you would’ve just listened. If you had understood, this wouldn’t have happened.
I would still be making money. But instead, I’ll have to beg on the street. ”
I highly doubted that was the case. He was being investigated for criminal activities thanks to what the authorities had found, but that wasn’t on us. We had nothing to do with it.
But here he was, putting us in danger.
I slowly sat up, blocking Kate. He didn’t seem to mind me moving, so I continued to stand, nodding at Daisy.
Someone must have heard the shot, and though we hadn’t been able to send out an alert, the security system would.
Whoever was outside would, as well. The authorities were probably already on their way, and our team would be here soon.
We needed to contain this before it got too dangerous.
“I’m just so tired. So tired of all of this.”
“I understand,” I said as he moved toward Daisy.
Daisy looked like she wanted to curse at me, but I wasn’t about to let him shoot again. He had shot into the ceiling, and who knew what would happen if he got off another round. It could go into the wall, hit someone in the tattoo shop, or someone outside. Or anyone in here.
“It wasn’t fair that man took his frustrations out on you. But you don’t need to do the same here. You can just put the gun down, and we’ll talk it over. But we can’t talk to you when you have a gun pointed at us. Don’t you see that we’re scared?”
Kate let out a whimpering sound. I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but he seemed to understand and wavered just a bit.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want things to go back to the way they were.”
“Then let’s talk it over. But we can’t do that with a gun in your hand.”
“I’m just so tired.”
When he lowered the gun, Daisy and I moved.
She had the weapon out of his hand immediately, and I got him on the ground, my knee in his back, his arms behind him before he could even call out.
Kate was on her feet then, phone in hand as she dialed the authorities, and I was so damn proud of how quickly she reacted.
The man under me began to cry.
I wasn’t surprised when the back door burst open and Kingston, Kane, and Gus ran through.
“Jennifer!” Gus shouted as he came in.
I saw the fear in his gaze as he took in the situation.
“It’s fine. We’re fine. If someone could get me some zip ties, that would be great.”
“I just want it to stop,” Mr. Davis continued to cry, shaking under me.
“I hear sirens. I’ll go head them off and make sure they know the situation is handled.”
“I’m on the phone with dispatch right now. They understand what they’re walking into,” Kate said, and another moment of pride slid in.
“Let me handle this?” Kane asked, and I raised a brow.
“Because I can’t?”
“No, because I think you should go hug Gus right now.”
I met his gaze. I didn’t see worry for me there, other than the normal concern for a teammate being in danger. He didn’t know I was pregnant. But Gus did. Daisy did. And I did.
“Okay,” I said after a moment and then traded places with Kane, letting Gus take my hand to help me up. I could have gotten up myself, but based on the look on his face, he needed to do that. Needed to help.
So, I let him.
The adrenaline began to wear off, and I got nauseous again.
Before I could say anything, to figure out if he was angry that I had taken a risk, or proud because his teammates had taken care of themselves and the situation, the authorities came in. We all stood at attention, hands up so they knew we weren’t the threats.
“Tell us what happened,” the cop said as he walked in. Daisy began, with Kate and me adding in details.
Kingston handed over the security files, as well as any others we had from the bombing. After two hours of going through everything, they finally left us alone in the now-empty tattoo shop next door.
The security office would be closed for a couple of days. The authorities needed to look it over again, and Noah and Ford wanted to double-check that everything was safe, considering a gun had gone off inside.
There was a bullet hole in the ceiling, and that thought brought chills, though I did my best not to think about it.
“Are you okay?” Gus asked, and I nodded, worried what he might say next.
“I’m fine. Promise. He didn’t hurt me.”
He kept looking at me as if straining to find a bruise or bullet wound. As if I couldn’t take care of myself.
Anger swamped me because I was good at my job. Yes, we had been in danger, but nobody got hurt.
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “I can protect myself. I’ve always been able to. I promise. Even after all these changes, I can still do that.”
He narrowed his eyes at me as everybody quieted around us. At this point, I didn’t even care that all my team members could hear me and were watching this unfold. If Gus and I were going to make this work, then we’d have to figure it out now.
“I was worried. So fucking worried,” Gus growled.
I threw my hands up in the air. “That’s fine. But stop looking at me like I’m going to keel over. This isn’t going to work between us if you’re afraid of me being in danger every moment.”
“You were just in danger. There was a literal gun in your face.”
“Yes, and it was scary, but we handled it.” I let out a breath. “I can save myself. You don’t need to risk everything to protect me all the time.”
“I know that,” he gritted out. “I didn’t run in to save you, did I? We were formulating a plan when you and Daisy took care of it. I would’ve been in there if you needed me, but you didn’t.”
I tried to sense if there was any hurt in him, anything hiding below the words, but I couldn’t. “Are you okay with that? That I didn’t need you?” I asked softly, afraid of the answer.
“Of course, I’m fine with it. Our jobs are dangerous, Jen.”
“I know. And I know I’m going to work in the office for a little while.” We were walking a dangerous line with this conversation, but there would be no hiding this pregnancy soon enough. “But, as we just found out, the office isn’t always safe. So, we’ll have to figure things out, okay?”
“Jen,” he whispered, then took a step forward, brushing my hair back from my face. “I want both of us to be safe. All of us,” he said, emphasizing the word all.
“I’m scared. I was scared. But I’m really afraid that you and I are going to screw this up because you don’t trust that I can handle myself.”
“You’re an idiot,” he grumbled. I blinked at him as one of the guys whistled.
“Wrong move,” Noah grumbled.
“Excuse me?” I asked, my voice strained.
“We’ve gone over this already. Of course, I trust you. But I’m sorry if seeing a gun being waved in the face of the woman I love stressed me out. That would’ve stressed me out even if you were a superhero who could dodge bullets.”
My lips twitched. “That would be a scene, wouldn’t it?”
“Pretty much. You kicked ass, and while that was scary as hell, I’m not going to forget our plan and how much I love you just because danger keeps trying to find us. But we’re going to figure this out. And I keep saying I love you, and you aren’t reacting. So, will you please react?”
There was an echo in my ear, like people were talking, and then there was only silence. I tried to figure out what he had just said and what it meant. Because it couldn’t be real. This feeling I had inside, this warmth, it couldn’t be real.
“You love me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Of course, I do. I know it might seem too soon, but I think I fell in love with you the first week we met, when you kicked my ass, had me down on the mat, and then didn’t mock me. You just taught me how to do it better next time. That’s when I fell in love with you.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until he slid his thumbs across my cheeks, wiping away my tears.
“You don’t have to love me back yet. But know I’m going to spend the rest of my days making sure you find a way to.
I know we have a lot coming up, so many changes, but what I feel?
That’s not going to change. It might grow a bit, it might settle, might bloom or whatever the hell you want to call it. But I’ll always love you.”
“And now I’m crying,” Kane grumbled, then let out an oof as Daisy elbowed him in the gut.
“Oh.”
“Don’t say anything,” Gus whispered, but then I took his hand in mine.
“I was trying to figure out what this feeling was, this need to always be with you and want you in my life. I thought it was just the intense friendship, our chemistry, but I was wrong.”
For some reason, he looked crestfallen. “It’s love.
I love you so damn much. So please, love me back.
Always love me. And let me figure out what the hell we’re doing.
Because things are about to change and blow up in new and interesting ways.
And I can’t wait to figure them out with you.
There are no maybes about it. I love you, too.
” Then his lips were on mine, and I was breathing him in, holding him.
All our friends shouted and clapped, whistling their congratulations. I just held on to Gus.
I hadn’t recognized what the feeling was.
It had been love all along, the tricky bastard.
But I was really glad I would be with a man who understood it and could figure things out with me.
And be my partner no matter what.