AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How can I not question things? My dad and brother were leading a hired killer around the clubhouse, and he was supposed to help keep my brother safe during this meeting. Instead, he never showed. What if he had? What if he’d been there to watch my brother’s back? Lucas might still be alive.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter? It means everything.”
“Snap out of it, love. Here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to shoot those targets, and then shoot some more, and then, in a day, or two, or five, or however long it takes, we’re going to find this guy. I will not rest until he’s our prisoner, sitting in front of you, ready to answer your questions and face your judgment. Because I love you, and I will do anything and everything for you. But you need to do something for me, too,” I say. Standing behind her, I put my hands on her arms and guide her aim. “You need to stop beating yourself up. I hate seeing the woman I love treat herself like this. So clear your mind and focus on what’s important: aim, breathe, shoot. That’s it.”
She raises the gun, but she doesn’t aim. Instead, she looks up at me over her shoulder and there’s a smile on her face. “You just told me you love me more than a couple times and you didn’t even call me princess once.”
“Meant every word, too. I love you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to give you the peace and the justice that you deserve.” Those words land with all the force I intend them to — as a vow. As much as it means something to me to find out the truth about the murder of Lucas Reyes, it means even more to give to Alexandra something that would take away some of the pain that she’s carried with her for years.
That’s what really matters — her.
Her eyes glisten with a mix of emotions, with grief, anger, and love. She takes a deep breath and focuses on the cans in the distance. With my hands guiding her, she steadies her stance.
“You really mean that?” She says.
“That I love you and would do anything for you?”
“Yeah. That.” She pauses, kisses me. It’s like fire on my skin and sets my heart ablaze. “I love you, too, and the deeper this goes, the more I realize I am lucky to have you here with me.”
I swallow. Look straight ahead.
Fuck, it’s hard enough saying these things out loud. It’s even harder doing it while looking at a woman who ties my tongue in knots with her beauty. I place my hands back on hers and help her take aim.
“Time to shoot, princess.”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh, so we’re back to that nickname again?”
“Never stopped, princess.”
Smiling, she pulls the trigger.
“You fucking asshole.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alexandra
It’s foolish, and I don’t expect the target practice to do anything to get me out of my head — my thoughts keep going to this man who was hired to watch out for my brother, who should have been there to help keep him safe, and who instead abandoned him and let him die.
I can’t stop asking ‘why’?
Why did he not show up? Why did he not do the job that he was supposed to do? Why did he choose to let my brother die?
I have so many questions, so much anger.
Until Dixon pulls me aside; and my frantic mind slows down at his touch.
Until he tells me he loves me and will do anything for me; and my heart races as those words sink in.
Until he lines up those targets and riles me up just enough — fucking calling me ‘princess’ again — that pulling the trigger feels good, right, necessary; and then I lose myself in the idyllic, simple action of: aim, breathe, shoot, repeat.
Over and over.
It works.
Dixon plays me like he knows me to my core.
