Chapter 33 Liar
LIAR
Present Day
Iheld the door to the observation room open; the doctor looked at me warily but didn’t comment. I had a lot of thoughts about the woman in front of me, but I would sort those out as we went. We walked in silence to the elevator, and when I hit the ground floor; she gave me a curious look.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said the moment the elevator doors opened.
“Good plan, do I walk out of here ass out or do you have cash for the over priced gift shop?” She laughed out, and it took me by surprise.
How she built the walls back into her mind so quickly amazed me.
Even I shut down for what seemed like days when forced to confront past trauma.
I already knew that the results of whatever the doctor determined would be the turning point for the agency, they already agreed to give her immunity in exchange for more information on Midas’ operations.
Addams and I were supposed to go over it when the psych evaluation was over, but clearly he didn’t take the whole being raped by your father’s business partner any better than Mia did.
I wondered where the little prick was right now; it was obvious he had some deeper connection to her that was not being shared.
Perhaps if I played my cards right, I would learn.
It was cruel of me to search for any clues in her trauma-filled story, but I found a lead when she mentioned an uncle. My guess is that’s her true father.
“Go with the scrub bottoms, where we are going is not dress appropriate,” I commented when she pulled out a high-back blue sundress from the rack.
“And where is it you are taking me?” she replied, still clutching the dress in her hand.
“Not a place where dresses are worn,” I responded.
Mia turned toward the dressing room in the back section, and my eyes swiveled toward the book section that had caught my attention when we walked in. Thankfully it was by the exit, so if she did try to run, I could catch her.
There were a bunch of self-help and healing books, but that wasn’t my style.
I knew that no amount of therapy or medical advice would cure my trauma, and there was no fun in reading a book that told me such.
There were a few fantasy and sci-fi books, but mostly young adults, and I couldn’t care about those for now.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I could get behind a made-up world away from Earth, but I did not have the luxury of escaping.
I clocked a vibrant pink color and a cage on the top shelf in the adult section.
There were your standard dark romances, the bratty females and the all too willing males, but this one stood out like a sore thumb; the horror aspect intrigued me.
I must have been a glutton for punishment or something because In love with the devil by Sky Blu had me trapped in that birdcage on the cover, my face deep in concentration as I read the prologue.
What the fuck was this shit and why was I so addicted to reading more?
I mean, I have never fucked a woman’s ass before, but Julian sure made it sound appealing, you know, rape aside.
“Ahem,” Mia tapped my shoulder and slammed the book shut. “I think you should read your torture porn elsewhere, this is still a hospital after all,” she finished, her eyes landing on my lower half. I coughed, hiding my embarrassment, as I readjusted my pants, pinching myself in the process.
“Why are you wearing the dress?” I frowned while she childishly made fucking motions with her hands, laughing at my reddened face.
“You said it was optional besides I don’t want to walk around in baggy scrubs,” she smirked, still making obscene gestures.
“Whatever,” I responded, and she smiled knowingly.
Yeah, so she won the battle again, but I will win the war.
I walked up to the counter, In love with the devil firmly gripped in my hand.
The cashier scanned the tags from Mia’s gown along with whatever cosmetics she managed to shop for.
I set the book down last, and Mia slapped another vibrant cover on top.
Goddess’s Grace by Margareta Stroom, had a woman and a wolf on the cover.
What the fuck is a shifter romance? “No,” I ground out.
“Call it a palate cleanser, and besides Adrian is the best kind of lover.” She winked at me, and I rolled my eyes.
The cashier smiled knowingly as she watched us debate over one book or two. “Fine, Goddess’s Grace as well.”
“Do you want me to wrap these? Your wife will love them, they are both very deep,” she said with a wink as she scanned the other book.
“No thanks, we will carry the books,” I replied smoothly as she totaled the items. Mia just stood there snickering like a hyena as I took the books. I handed her the bag she picked up.
We were out the doors in the parking garage when Mia commented, “I didn’t peg you as a smut reader.”
“Why? Because all smut readers are women?” I spouted, if this were a debate, I would win. Women aren’t the only ones allowed to read porn.
“Not at all, but you don’t seem like the bookworm type,” she shrugged and skipped in front of me, touching cars as she went.
A firing range was probably not the best idea, but something told me bowling was a nope. I wasn’t even supposed to take her out of the hospital, but that place was suffocating enough. That doctor was weirdly engaged in her story too.
“What is this place?” Mia questioned as I opened the car door for her.
“This is why you shouldn’t wear a dress,” I chuckled out, taking her hand and heading inside.
The inner section of the range was vast, with safety gear on a wall to the left side, the guns locked away behind the man at the counter.
In front were several stalls where people were preparing targets to shoot.
I led Mia to the safety wall, grabbing a pair of ear protection and dropping them on her head.
She grabbed a pair of yellow safety glasses, and a large smile beamed across her face.
“Garrett, think you can set us up for some long range?” I hollered at the man behind the counter.
“Go see Cody outback, I think he just cleared a field,” Garrett replied as a sheepish smile crossed his face.
“Let’s go,” I held my hand out to her, and she took it.
It was a small gesture, but her willingness to give me her hand was the inkling of trust I clung to, like the woman I met three weeks ago was the same woman standing in front of me now.
It was probably just delirious thoughts of a lonely man.
She’s a killer, a temptress; don’t trust her. I reprimanded myself.
We walked out a side door, around the backside of the building.
I could feel the excitement emanating from Mia, a bounce in her step.
I pulled Mia off the sidewalk and held her gaze before I whispered, “so before we get to Cody, you should know you aren’t supposed to be here, this never happened and your name is not Mia got it? ”
She nodded and smiled, “got it.”
We walked around the back of the building, and Cody was sitting at the covered resting spot, a radio in hand, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Look what the cat dragged in, and who’s your pretty lady friend?” Cody greeted us. I dropped Mia’s hand and gave him a bear hug, chuckling. We began to sit at one of the plastic picnic tables that littered the overhang.
“Good to see you too Cody, how’s the family?” I questioned in a lighthearted tone, pulling Mia to sit in my lap.
“Ah, same old, Megan and the twins keep me busy, but enough of me, who’s this fine lady you have with us today?” His eyebrow quirked suggestively. What would I say? Hey Cody, this is my freshly emancipated psycho killer girlfriend. Did I mention she’s part of the mafia?
“Summer, Summer Mathews,” she beamed, holding out his hand to shake it. I laughed, putting my hand on the back of my head. The name rolled off her lips like butter, and I wondered if it was one of her aliases. Summer. Is that your true name, little firecracker?
“Now you are a fresh drink of water, how did you two meet?” Cody pressed clearly, enjoying my slight embarrassment.
“Well,” I swallowed, I had no idea how to even begin that tell of how she set me up, or the fact I arrested her the next week.
“We met over drinks when his date stood him up, and the rest is history,” she smiled, interlocking her hand in mine and planting a kiss on my cheek.
“Yes that’s right, still can’t believe we never got around to the pool, I would have loved to show you my trick shot,” I ran my other hand through my hair, pushing it back.
“Well, I am impressed, Dustin must be smitten with you if he invited you all the way out here,” Cody’s proud face smiled at Mia’s, and she shook her head.
“I hear that he is a great shot, I look forward to seeing his skills up close,” Mia smiled mischievously, and I rolled my eyes.
“Well time is ticking, we should be able to get a few shots in before sun down,” I said as I checked my watch.
“Right,” Cody clapped his hands together and walked over to an armory wall, “all I have on hand that is roughly the same caliber, are the Ruger and Savage, price wise it’s about the same and of course per round cost will they work?”
“Yeah they should be fine, Baby do you have a preference?” I asked as she stood up to follow. Cody had opened the cabinet and was pulling out two long rifles, and I got up behind her to see for myself.
“I’ll take the Savage, I have always wanted to try the lapua round,” She went to grab the rifle from Cody, and he paused before giving it over.
“You know it’s got a hell of a kick right?” Cody raised an eyebrow.
“Oh trust me she can handle it,” I laughed as I grabbed a range finder from him instead of the second rifle.
She winked at me, and we were off.
It was a bit of a walk to the end of the range, but soon we were setting up the rifle on the rampart targets.
“You are a mysterious woman, are you a gun enthusiast?” I assumed she wouldn’t have known the difference, but every other assumption about her had been wrong.
She threw her head back in laughter. “it doesn’t take a genius to know the difference between a 308 win and 338 lapua, but yes I read about them once.”
“Huh, that’s cool. So you’ve never shot before?” I surmised as I leaned back against the post while she settled the gun on a sandbag, lying flat on her stomach.
She glanced back towards me and winked, obviously still not going to admit anything. We were both pretending to be having a nice conversation. Of course, she had shot before. Midas was the king of gun imports, and the sex trade boomed after the Obsidians joined.
She seated the round and steadied, then fired. I looked down my own scope, seeing her on the outer left side of the target.
“Not bad but a little left. You could – ” the thought died on my lips as the wind blew and in full display was her pretty pink pussy.
“What was that?” she asked as she slid further off the sandbag and her dress hiked up more.
“Uh a little to the left,” I closed my mouth to stop from drooling.
Where the fuck were her panties? Did not she pick any up at the hospital?
I racked my brain, desperate to remember, but ultimately distracted and too far consumed in the way the wind tickled her bare cunt, the muscles that flexed as she settled.
This woman would be the death of me. She made a few adjustments with the scope, her butt shimmed against the mat.
God, it excited me. I didn’t even register that she had shot another round.
“I fucking love this rifle,” her excited tone snapped my eyes back to the rangefinder.
“Almost perfect but you over-corrected, try breathing with the wind. Settle the butt of the rifle within your shoulder tighter,” I remarked as I watched the wind tease the end of her dress up once more.
The gravel crunched. I looked up to see Cody coming to check on us. I quickly pulled her dress over her ass and scooted next to her. Another shot rang out as he came to stand at our station.
“Ah that’s really good for a first try,” he commented, and I looked down my scope.
She had shot in the far right corner of the target, her previous shot two inches from center, but she turned and blushed, feigning innocence.
“You were right, it has much more of a kick than I thought,” The lie dripped off her sweet smile, and he drank it up.
“Well, I will leave you guys to it, holler if you need me,” Cody patted my shoulder and left after that.
“Why did you lie?” I questioned.