Page 73 of Break Out

I took a deep breath and eased my SUV into the lot for my apartment. “I hadn’t thought about that at the time.”

He nodded. “I know. That’s why I want you to stop carrying.”

After I parked the SUV, I powered off the engine and faced him. “Why? Because I didn’t consider the security cameras? They threatened us.”

“With words, not weapons.”

“He reached for his—”

“He’d deny it,” he said in a firm tone.

Shit. This reminded me of arguing with Dad.

“You went quiet.”

“I’m not giving up my gun.”

He heaved a heavy sigh. “They shoot you, I could lose you and our baby.”

I bit back a grin. “So you changed your mind about peanut?”

He leaned toward me. “Simone, please. Put my mind at ease.”

“Answer my earlier question. What do I do instead? Carry a knife? Mace? How am I going to protect myself? Because you might have noticed that I take care of myself.”

His eyes heated. “I’m gonna take care of your sass in the bedroom, but we’ll talk about it later.”

Rafferty tapped on the back hatch, and our conversation ended.

Once out of the SUV, both men behaved as though this were the Olympics and their event was the grocery-delivery two-hundred-meter freestyle. I understood wanting fewer trips to the apartment, but they were one-upping each other for no good reason. We got all the bags inside on the first go, but they went back for the cases of soda, seltzer water, and Steel’s beer.

Not to be left out, I followed them back to the lot. They stood at the open hatch in an intense conversation.

Steel whipped his eyes to me. “Go inside, Jade. We got it.”

I tilted my head. “You got an agenda is more like it.”

From the impatient look crossing Steel’s face, I’d pushed his patience to the brink. “Jade, humor me.”

“Fine.” I pointed at Rafferty. “I’m texting you and you better respond.”

“Whatever, Si—Jade. Go inside.”

Twenty minutes later, I had everything put away when Steel led Rafferty inside, telling him where to put the boxes of Bubly seltzer water.

“Productive pow-wow?” I asked.

Rafferty straightened from the pantry where he’d stacked the water. “Simone, cool it. He told me who those assholes were and what you did in the store. I can’t believe you brought out your gun inside a Target.”

“I kept most of it hidden by my purse.”

Rafferty widened his eyes. “The cameras in the sky will see that shit.”

I threw a thumb toward Steel who leaned against the breakfast bar with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I got that from this guy already, Raff.”

“Someone’s gotta make sure it’ll sink in.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Say… Gainesville, perhaps?”

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