His lips twitched and dimples emerged. Uh-oh! My biggest weakness.
Get it together, girl. I was doing a bang up job of scaring away this stranger. My self-defense instructor would clearly give me an F for this one.
He shook his head slightly as if to say I was crazy. “If you’re going to use that thing in your hand, now is your best shot,” he said as he pressed his chest into the gun, his hands still in the air.
Stupid move. “Are you crazy?” I didn’t want to shoot him or anyone.
“Isn’t that you?” he countered. His voice had a playful edge to it.
Yeah, I was. How did he know? Dr. Meyers diagnosed me with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, after I’d found Mom and Julie’s bodies dead on the kitchen floor. Exposure to a traumatic event can trigger such things as panic attacks, anxiety, nightmares, fainting or blackouts, memory loss, and others. Sometimes a person may feel as if they’re going crazy, my doctor had explained.
“Do you normally pull a gun on everyone who comes near you?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Do you normally bang on cars, freaking people out in the dark?” I retorted.
He narrowed his eyes.
I did the same. It seemed we were at an impasse.
“Well, use it or put it away. I’m not going to hurt you.” A mocking grin threatened on his kissable lips.
“What’s going on here?” Tyler asked as he came running out from the sports complex, panic in his voice. “Lacey.” Tyler skidded to a stop, facing the stranger and me. “What the heck are you doing?”
“What took you so long?” I asked Tyler without taking my eyes off of the stranger.
“I couldn’t find the key to the electrical panel for the lights. Kade, man, what did you do to her?”
What kind of name was Kade?
Kade slowly turned to Tyler, a muscle working in his strong jaw. “What did I do to her? Are you serious, man? Tell your girlfriend here to lower the weapon. I don’t want any trouble. I was looking for Kelton. He said he’d be down here.”
“What? Your brother is back? Since when?” Tyler’s voice hitched.
Why was he shocked that some guy was back?
“Get the fucking gun off me, then I’ll explain,” Kade said.
Tyler lightly touched my arm. “Lacey, please. He goes to school here. He’s cool.”
I didn’t move.
“Come on,” Tyler prodded. “Put it away. Kade isn’t going to hurt you.”
Of course, Kade wasn’t going to hurt me. If he were, he already would have. Still, I was afraid that if I lowered the weapon now I would collapse when the adrenaline rush was over, and I didn’t want to look like an idiot. What the heck was I thinking? Which was more important—looking like an idiot, or my own safety?
Suddenly, in a blur Kade had the clip out of the gun and was handing both pieces back to me. Smooth move. It seemed he knew a thing or two about guns, and as morbid as it sounded, I was turned on even more by this sexy guy.
“Next time, don’t get so paranoid,” he said. “You could kill someone.”
A wave of anger doused any remaining desire, and the buzzing in my head started again. Who was he to tell me not to get paranoid? Impulsively, my fist shot out and connected with his nose, and his head bobbed back as blood splattered out.
“Damn, woman. What the fuck was that for?” He grabbed his nose.
“Lacey?” Tyler stepped in between Kade and me. “What are you doing?” Horror was etched on his face.
“He’s an asshole,” I said as I held back the pain throbbing through my hand.
“So what? Do you hit all assholes? That’s not you,” Tyler said.
“What do you know about me?” Tyler didn’t know everything about my life. He knew my mom and sister died, but I told him it was a car accident, as I told every friend of mine in California. Very few people knew the details. I had an extremely hard time talking about it. The cops had asked that we keep the facts close to our chests. Based on some of the evidence they found, they speculated that the home invasion was part of a bigger case, and they didn’t want to compromise their efforts to catch the culprits. They kept the specifics out of the media. Still, eight months later, law enforcement wasn’t any closer to finding out what happened. The thought alone compounded my anxiety.
“I’m sorry, Lacey. You’re right. Let’s go,” Tyler said.
“I can’t. My car won’t start.” My voice shook with fury. I had to calm down or a panic attack would take over again. As the buzzing in my head roared, I took a deep breath.
“Kade, man.” The guys matched in height at about six-foot, although Kade was broader through the shoulders than Tyler. “I haven’t seen Kelton tonight. If I do, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.”
In Kade’s eyes, I saw anger, confusion, and then nothing. It was like my teacher just erased the mathematical expressions from the board, and all that was left was a blank slate. A shiver went up my spine, and not the good kind. I hated looks like that. My mom had always said, “Honey, watch out for those who show no emotion. Those are the ones that will eat you alive.”
I narrowed my eyes at him in return.
“Fine. I’m sure my brother will be home soon,” he said and seared me with a fierce look before he stalked off.
“Are you okay?” Tyler wrapped his arms around me.
“I’m fine. He’s a bit of a jerk, isn’t he?” I pushed gently against his chest. I wasn’t looking for comfort. Maybe he was, though.
“Wouldn’t you be if someone pulled a gun on you?” A muscle ticked in his jaw as he gave me some breathing room. “I don’t know what spooked you, but what’s with the gun? I didn’t know you carried one.”
“I know how to use one, if that’s what you’re worried about. I practice a lot.”
Fear plagued his handsome features. “You’re only seventeen, Lacey. Do you know how much trouble you’ll get into if they catch you with that at school? Are you trying to screw your chances of making the baseball team?”
It was like I’d fallen into the frigid waters off the coast of Alaska. I wasn’t thinking about baseball when I drew the gun. I wasn’t thinking at all.
My shoulders slumped. He was right. I had to remember to take the weapon out of my car the next time. I didn’t want to throw away all my hard work. God, I’d been doing so well since we moved here. I still had nightmares, but little in the way of panic or anxiety attacks until tonight. Dr. Meyers had warned me about triggers. Certain stimuli could set me off.
“Hey,” he said, taking the gun and clip from me then setting them down on my front seat. “I know you’re scared.” He cupped my face with his large hands. “I can see the fear in your eyes. Kade wasn’t going to hurt you. He can be intimidating, though.” His head dipped slightly, but his blue eyes never left mine. “Okay?”
I let out a sigh and blinked. I wasn’t scared. Whatever expression he saw on my face wasn’t that. It was more irritation with myself for how stupid my actions were tonight.
“I’ll give you a ride. We’ll grab a bite another time.” He raised my hand to inspect the redness across my knuckles. “You’ll need to put ice on this when you get home.”