Page 47 of Savior

Jimmy stepped forward with a nod. “You’re flinching. That makes you a threat to everyone around you. Think about it, Dakota. If you raise your gun, you have to be prepared to end someone’s life. You’re overthinking it.” He tapped the side of his head.

“Your targets won’t sit along the fence, waiting for you to get it right either,” Lauren added. “They’ll likely have their own guns pointed at you. You have to be faster than they are. When you shoot, you’re shooting to kill. Not wound… or maim.”

I nodded and handed the gun back to Jimmy. “I just need some water, and we can go again.”

“You’re doing great, Dakota. This isn’t easy, but you’re trying.”

Zane grinned at me from the porch swing as I climbed the steps, rubbing his shoulder as if it were in pain.

I stabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t say a word, Big Guy. Not one word.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Cap. I happen to like my balls where they are. You’re aim’s improving, though.”

Pride filled my chest, and I stood a little straighter. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, babe,” he said with another wide grin. “How’s my son doing?”

I patted my bump. “Well, we don’t know that it’s a boy for sure. They said ninety percent chance… there’s still that ten percent that could come into play.”

He stood up and stretched, exposing a small sliver of his stomach. It was like a magnet, drawing my eyes down to the trail of light blond hair running down the middle of his six-pack. “Ten percent, really? Babe, we’ve had three ultrasounds. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to admit that you’ve got a dick growing inside you.”

My nose wrinkled. “Ew, please don’t ever say that again. I’ll never be able to get that visual out of my head.”

Zane caught the screen door as I opened it and followed me into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and placed it under the faucet.

“Doesn’t seem to gross you out when it’s my dick inside you,” he noted dryly. “In fact, I’ve gotten the impression that you liked it with all of your moaning. ‘More, Zane… more.’ Isn’t that how it goes?”

Water spilled over the edge of the glass and onto my hand. I glanced around the kitchen before hissing, “Lower your voice.”

He moved behind me, wrapping the front of his body around mine and lowering his massive hands until they cupped my belly protectively. “Hate to break it to you, Cap, but I think everybody here knows we’ve had sex at least once.”

My cheeks heated as I squeaked out, “I get that, but they don’t need to know the… the sounds I make, or the things I say.”

Zane tilted my chin up to meet his gaze before turning an invisible key against his lips as if locking them up before tossing it over his shoulder. “Your secrets are safe with me, babe.”

I dropped my cheek to rest just under his chest. “Thanks, Big Guy. I gotta get back out there, or Jimmy will move on to Little Ricky, and I don’t want him to get better than me.”

His chest rumbled against my face as he laughed. “Yeah, wouldn’t want that, would we? Is your mom still planning on coming out here later?”

“She said she was…” I hedged.

“Are you gonna ask her?” He prodded.

I lifted my eyes up to his. “I don’t know. I want to, I do, but you should’ve seen her face yesterday. It was like she was reliving it all over again. I’ve tried piecing together what she told us about her gambling and the men who’d threatened to hurt her and us—”

“Threatened or did? There’s a big difference.”

I thought back to the day she’d appeared in my living room, remembering the way she’d had to stop to catch her breath just telling us about something that had happened decades before.

In the boutique she’d specifically mentioned our pregnancies and how it made us more of a target, giving me the impression that she’d been hurt by my father’s enemies. I understood what it was like to feel powerless, the fear in not knowing what was going to happen.

So, with Little Ricky’s help, I’d learned how to defend myself. And while jiu-jitsu had saved me from being hurt before, Jimmy was insistent that I learn how to handle a gun. Once I had that down, I was going to be unstoppable.

“I,” I paused to collect my thoughts. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to upset her by asking, you know?”

Zane turned me around until we were facing each other. “Who could you ask?”

“What do you mean?”

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