Page 56 of Double Bucked

I find myself getting green with envy over the strangest things.

There’s a pop of a gunshot. I know what the sound is—James doesn’t. Like a viper, he suddenly grabs Claire and shoves her under the table. She yelps as he crouches over her, his head jerking back toward the noise.

“Oh God!” Jade says, lifting her palms as though she’s being held up.

I can’t help it. I chuckle. “Relax. Ain’t no one in danger. There’s a shooting range out back. Just some jackasses popping off cans.”

James releases Claire from his hold. She touches her hair as she rises back up to her seat.

“A shooting range in a bar,” James says, his voice tight. He snaps the collar on his shirt. “Bloody brilliant idea.”

“It’s a BB gun,” I say. Even I can hear the defensive edge in my voice. “Nothing but blanks. But. Sure. Real killers out there.”

Jade laughs. She fans herself with her hand. “Whew!” she says, her eyes sparkling. “Exciting! James, are you in the military?”

“Accountant,” he says.

“Claire, he’s protective.” Jade wiggles her eyebrows. “I like that in a man. I can see why you married him.”

“Oh—we’re not married. We’re engaged.”

Jade suddenly reaches forward and touches her fingers over the back of James’s hand. I watch him go still, the way a viper does before it strikes. Unbothered, she taps her finger over the silver ring around his ring finger. “This looks like a married man to me.”

“Yes, well.” Claire flicks her wrist. “He wanted an engagement ring, too.”

James lifts his hand and splays out his fingers to show off the ring to us.

I tilt my head. “Guy with an engagement ring. That’s a bit unusual, isn’t it?”

Claire glares at me. “And?”

I can’t stop myself. “So he wears the ring, you wear the pants?”

She touches the back of James’s neck fondly. “It’s romantic.”

Now that we’ve all settled down, the women turn their attention to the laminated menus in front of them. “I’m famished,” Jade says.

But James’s gaze remains on mine.

When Claire isn’t looking, he lowers four of his fingers, leaving the middle one up at me.

Flicking me off. Right at the table.

What?

Did that?—?

Did that just happen?

He’s rubbing it in my face, and there isn’t jack or shit I can do about it. Then he drops his arm, resting it around Claire’s shoulders. Impotent, quiet anger pounds inside of me like a second heartbeat.

“I can’t read this,” Jade complains. She pushes the menu away. “Just get me a cosmo.”

“And a pitcher for the table,” Claire says.

“Yep.” I need to get out of this booth before I strangle him. I go to the bar and square my forearms on the wood.

My hands are shaking.

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