It was a weekday so Jessie and the Deverauxs were at work. The house was quiet so I knew Claire was being a total bum and sleeping late, but that wouldn’t last because I was gettin’ her ass up. I needed girly advice.
I climbed the stairs and her door was standing wide open. Good. I wanted to scare her and I probably wouldn’t accomplish that if I had to open the door.
I tiptoed silently across the floor until I was standing at her bedside. I gave her comforter a jerk to wake her up and realized too late that she wasn’t asleep and she wasn’t in her bed alone.
Claire reached for the sheet and jerked it up to her neck. “What the hell, Payton?’
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I thought you had the covers pulled over your head to block out the sun. I didn’t know Jessie was under there with you. I thought he was at work, but don’t let me interrupt. I’m leaving.”
This was one of those rare moments when I was embarrassed. “As you were, Kimosabe.” Eww, that sounded weird and I scrambled to get out of there as fast as possible. Both of them were my best friends, but seeing the two of them nekkid in bed together was simply TMI for me.
I got in my car and checked the time. Eleven o’clock meant I had an hour to burn and I was fresh out of ideas so I texted Nick to see if we could get together earlier?
“Sure. Come now?”
“On my way.”
After the drive to Nick’s from Franklin, I was only 40 minutes earlier than we originally planned. I knocked a few times and he came to the door wearing the same attire he told me to wear except he had added a Vols ball cap.
He reached for my hand, pulled me inside his house and shut the door. He put his hands around my waist and pulled me close. “Girl, I’ve missed you and I’m about to mess up your lip gloss.”
He kissed me gently at first and it became increasingly hungrier with each stroke of his tongue against mine. He started walking backwards toward the couch, pulling me with him until we were in the spot where we shared our first kiss.
When he stopped kissing me, he ran his fingertips along my face. I noticed he did that a lot, like he enjoyed touching my face.
I felt the same way as him. We had been apart for too long, but I wasn’t ready to show him my hand so I put on my familiar poker face. “It’s only been ten hours since we were together.”
He squeezed me tightly and put his nose against my neck and inhaled deeply. “Ten hours, ten days, what’s the difference?”
He kissed my neck right below my ear. “Umm, I think that’s roughly nine and half days.”
He laughed softly and then whispered against my ear. “That’s my girl. Always a clever comeback. Are you ready to go?”
No. I rather do this the rest of the day. “Sure. Where are we going?”
“I’m not telling you until we get there.” We walked to the front door and he opened it for me and then we briefly held hands to his car. He opened the car door for me and I turned to him before I got in. “You are killing me with this secretive stuff.”
He leaned over and smiled as he gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll give you another clue. It’s not a girl thing, but the girls that like it, love it, and it’s a rush.”
That could almost be frightening. He walked around the car and I could see that he was still smiling. He got in beside me and I watched him for a minute. “That was probably the worst clue ever, so no more. I’ll find out what it is when I find out so I’m changing the subject. You’re wearing a UT cap. Are you a fan?”
He pulled out of his drive. “Yeah. Isn’t everyone from around these parts?”
“No, not really, but I’m enrolled there this fall. Funny story. My mom has been determined my entire life that I would go to her Alma Mater, so I picked UT to piss her off. Mission accomplished. She’s mad as hell and I love it.
He shook his head, but didn’t look in my direction. “Man, you don’t even see how lucky you are. I get the privilege of going to a community college and that’s with student loans.”
“There are some really great community colleges. Besides, the police academy is where you’ll learn the real stuff, right? I mean the parts about how to be a cop and stay safe?”
“Yeah. When I’m getting shot at, an education from UT isn’t what’s gonna save me.”
I wished I hadn’t brought up the part about his safety. I didn’t like the way it made me feel to think about him being in danger. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Why would I not say things like that? Danger is going to be a part of my life every time I’m on the job.”
I had an uncontrollable urge to touch him. I reached for his free hand and squeezed it tightly in mine before I brought it to my mouth to kiss. I held on to his hand when he moved it to my leg and I watched him as he drove us to wherever we would be spending our afternoon while we got our rush on together.
Could I be with someone like him? I mean could I risk being with someone that enjoyed adrenalin, danger and living life on the edge the way he did? There were so many uncertain things in my head, but I was sure of one thing. I was playing my own dangerous game with him and the cost of losing was high price to pay...my heart.
16 Glocks and Ginnys
Nick
I parked by the cabin and turned off the engine. Payton looked at the old rustic building and then back at me. “What is this place?”
“It’s our hunting cabin.”
Something about that amused her. “Okay, what exactly do you think we’re gonna be hunting?”
“We’re not hunting anything.” I reached under my seat and slid my Glock 17 out. I took it out of the box and held it up for her to see. “We’re target practicing.”
“You’re crazy! Did you know that?” She shook her head. “Nope, I’m not shooting anything. Guns scare me. I’ve never even touched one.”
“You’ll love it. I promise. When you take a shot and hit a target, you get a surge of adrenalin that I don’t even know how to describe.”
“I think I prefer a Nick induced thrill like last night rather than a gun induced one.”
I liked the sound of that. “Agree to shoot with me and maybe you’ll get both kinds of rushes.”
“I won’t have a clue what to do.”
“I know.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m gonna show you what to do.”
We walked behind the cabin where Dad and I had built a homemade set of multilevel beams to house our targets and I set up a line of beer bottles on each shelf. “Watch me first so you can get an idea of what to do.”