Page 17 of Law Of Love

I gulped, blinking multiple times to bring myself back to reality. “It's loaded?”

“It's always loaded.” Kaleb shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans, the action causing his shirt to lift briefly, giving me a flash of his chiselled abs. He looked like he’d been carved from the gods—it must have been a mistake that he was placed on this earth with the rest of us. Too bad he was such an ass.

He sighed, having caught me gawking. “Seriously, Freya. Just because you fired a gun at the shooting range once doesn't mean you should handle them alone."

“Well, don't leave it around then,” I snapped back, and he glared at me before chuckling with disbelief, shaking his head as he ran a hand down his face.

“Jesus Christ.”

The air was thick with tension, and we glared at each other, my teeth drawing my bottom lip into my mouth.

“Was that your boyfriend?” Kaleb asked me, nodding towards the front door.

I cocked my head. “Zach? No, he's not.”

“That was a quick 'no'.” Kaleb was teasing me, and even though it frustrated me, I couldn’t help but enjoy it a little.

I shrugged. “Because he’s not.” I wanted to change the subject. Zach was not who I wanted to be talking about. “I’m not going to say anything to my mom about last night, by the way—just in case you were worried. She’s already got enough on her plate, and I don’t want to add that to the mix.”

Kaleb arched his brow, silently asking me to elaborate.

I sighed. I was staying at his house, so he deserved to know why. “My dad was supposed to be back from a business trip days ago—but nobody’s heard from him—and we got evicted from our house because we hadn't paid our debt. My mom and I knew nothing about it, so we're waiting for my dad to come home and clear all of this up.” I said hastily, unsure if Kaleb had made sense of the jumbled mess of words.

“So, he's running away from his problems?” Kaleb asked, and I scowled, crossing my arms over my chest.

“My mom and I aren't problems.”

Kaleb laughed, but it was one of his laughs. It wasn’t genuine. “I didn't say you were.” He settled on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. “But if you see my gun lying around, don't touch it. Don't even look at it. I don't trust you not to shoot a hole through the television.”

I couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be a joke or not, but I decided against laughing. Kaleb was an easily riled-up man, and I didn’t want to put his limits to the test. Today, at least.

I turned towards the mirror, huffing at my appearance and pulling my soggy hair back into a bun. We settled into an awkward silence, and it caused my skin to crawl. “What's up with that Will guy, by the way? He was kind of creepy.”

Kaleb paused, his jaw taut as his face morphed into a frown. “Why? What did he say to you?”

“He just asked for my full name. He didn't say much, but he was just… strange.”

Kaleb cursed. “Brent was an idiot for suggesting you come with us. If you ever see Will again, don't speak to him.”

His comment caused my eyebrows to furrow. Kaleb shot at his shooting range, so why would he be opposed to me speaking to Will? I was under the impression that they were friendly.

“I wasn't planning on it.” I didn't see myself revisiting the shooting range anytime soon, despite how much of a rush it was to fire a gun. I wasn't cut out for it, and I didn’t fancy being eaten alive.

Kaleb hummed, briefly looking me up and down before standing and turning to walk out of the room. But as he did, he craned his neck to glance back at me, smirking. “It's probably best that Zach guy isn't your boyfriend,” he chortled, “because that kiss looked awkward as hell.”

I scoffed, clenching my fists as I glared at Kaleb's back.

Dick.

Nine: Freya

It had been almost two weeks. Almost two weeks of radio silence at my father's end despite our attempts to reach out. My mother was becoming increasingly frustrated—especially since I'd informed her of how he’d picked up the phone for a few seconds before ending the call—and she continued to apologise to Jackie about how much of an inconvenience we were.

Obviously, Jackie responded by telling us we were welcome as long as we liked.

I hadn’t seen too much of Kaleb. I was either spending my time with Hannah, studying, or working at my once-a-week job teaching art to kids, and he was at the shooting range—or doing whatever Kaleb Evans enjoyed doing.

We’d spent a few awkward dinners sitting next to each other while our moms blabbered about work, but he’d spent most of his time on his phone, purposely avoiding eye contact with me. I’d even refrained from adding salt to my meals since I needed to ask him to pass it.

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