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Gary shakes his head. “No.”
Harper’s mouth falls down to her knees. “No?”
“No,” Gary says. He handsomely raps his knuckles on the glass in a handsome fashion. “After she tries a few and I’m satisfied that she knows how to operate that firearm, we’re coming back up here to my computer, where I’ll run your friend’s information through the background check database. It’ll take a short while, and then, assuming she checks out, she can pay for the gun and take it home.”
Somehow, Harper’s mouth falls open further. Her chin scrapes the floor. “That’s just how a regular gun store operates.”
“I know,” Gary says.
“Harper, you blew this guy for nothing?” Sophie says, laughing.
“I didn’t blow him,” Harper says.
“You fucked him?” I say.
“I didn’t fuck him, either.”
“Then what did you do?” Sophie says. “What sick, demented, nasty thing did you do just so your friend could buy a gun like any normal person could?”
Gary clears his throat. “She didn’t bow me, she didn’t fuck me, she just… Look, I have an oral fixation. She helped me satisfy that urge.”
Sophie takes a step toward Gary. “Wait, you went down on her?”
“Yes. The deal was, I’d help your friend get a gun in exchange for her letting me go down on her. That was the deal. I’m sticking to the terms, and, at least based on how she reacted earlier, I’d assumed she was quite satisfied with the arrangement.”
“How satisfied?”
“Very,” Gary says. “I know what I’m doing and I love to do it. It’s my favorite thing in the world, along with the proper selling and handling of firearms.”
“Harper?” Sophie says, voice rising, urgent. Both Sophie and I stare at Harper.
“Four times,” she says. “Four very hard times in ten minutes. I saw colors I’d never imagined and my left foot is still numb. I… have no regrets.”
I feel my cheeks flush, and Sophie and I both stare at Harper in disbelief while Gary stands there, looking unperturbed and devastatingly handsome.
"Well," I finally say, breaking the awkward silence. "I guess we should... get started?"
Gary nods, all business now. "Of course. Follow me to the back, Emily. We'll find the right firearm for you."
As we walk toward the practice range, I hear Sophie whisper furiously to Harper behind us, "Four times? In ten minutes? How is that even possible?"
Harper's reply is barely audible. "I don't know, but I think I saw God. She was smiling, and She gave me a high five."
“Sounds about right,” Sophie says. Just as Gary and I are about to step into the back shooting range, she calls out, “Hey Gary, hold up a minute.”
He stops and handsomely turns toward her. “Yes?”
“When you’re done helping her, I might need some extra help. Do you think you and I can come up with a deal?”
“Yeah, I think we can work something out. Later.” Gary turns his attention back to me. “Are you ready for this, Emily? Legal or not, a gun is no joke.”
I think of Jay, the anger that would always flash in his eyes, the threats he’d yell, and now, the damage he’s done to my car, my work, and how everyone I care about is in danger because of him — Maggie, Sophie, Harper, Charlie, Hunter, they are all at risk. All because one pathetic man can’t take that I’ve moved on and has decided he wants to ruin my life and hurt the people I love.
“I’m ready, Gary.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Hunter
