side.”
“Well, I took some self-defense classes. Mom made me.”
“Great, so if a guy is pointing a gun at you, you can explain to him how to get out of a choke hold. Now here’s the hard part. On one hand, you need to be safe at all costs. On the other, your dad will probably kill me if he finds out I taught you how to handle a gun.”
“I guess we better not tell him then, huh?”
Chapter 3
With bike riding, gun training, and doing the work she was assigned over the Christmas break, Jenny had little time do much else other than eat and sleep. The same was mostly true for Asher—though he did get some down time when she was busy typing away on her laptop. To Jenny, it felt like it had been forever since she had seen her friends or properly unwound. With so much on her mind, particularly the niggling little worm that told her someone may want her dead, Jenny was ecstatic to hear her friends wanted to come over for drinks.
“Asher, you need to go! They’ll be here any minute.” Jenny was tense, actively trying to force Asher out of the door. Not an easy task in the best of times. The guard had called moments before, after he passed her friends through.
“Why do I need to go? What are they gonna do?”
“Ask awkward questions! Please just go. I’ll text you if I need help, like they’re trying to kill me or something, but for now, please just leave!”
He moved towards the door then stopped in front of it and turned to face her again.
“Are you embarrassed by me?” he asked in a mock-hurt voice.
She rolled her eyes and frowned at him, before freezing in horror as the doorbell rang.
“I’ll be outside.” He turned and opened the door.
“Ladies. Come in. I’m just leaving.” He stepped between them, the door slowly swinging closed on damped hinges, and walked away down the hall, enjoying the open-mouthed amazement on their faces.
***
Once set up with crisp, dry, white wine, the girls turned on her.
“Who was that, and where can I get one?” Chrysta asked, the richest and therefore most self-assured of the trio of friends.
“Yeah! He looked like a model. Is he European? Why have you not mentioned him?” chimed Anastasia, her perfect white teeth flashing at the whiff of gossip.
“He’s just an old friend of the family. He’s moving to the area, so he’s staying here until he finds a place.” Jenny circled the rim of her glass with her finger, desperately pleading with any higher power to the make them believe her.
Chrysta had been watching her carefully. “Uh-huh. You like him, but you just haven’t slept with him yet, right?”
Jenny kept her face carefully neutral, but the flush creeping up her face gave her away.
“I knew it!” cried Chrysta in triumph and delight. “You need to get on it, girl. For serious. That guy is shit hot, and if you don’t, I will be forced to steal him away from you.” Chrysta crossed her arms in front of her, as she smiled at Jenny. The smile didn’t mean that Chrysta wasn’t telling the truth though. She usually got whatever she wanted.
For a while, Asher was the hot topic, with Chrysta and Anna raining question after question upon her. What was he like? Did he ever try anything? Did he have that V on his lower abdomen that drove women wild? And dozens more.
Jenny answered the questions as best she could without giving too much away. She didn’t mention the first night when he held her as she cried, or how she had bought her very own Harley, or how she was taking shooting lessons. No, that was much more than she cared to explain.
It was several bottles of wine later, after Chrysta had been reduced to semi-consciousness, that Anna took a more emotional and drunken approach to the subject.
“Seriously,” she said, her voice slightly slurred, her eyes half-shut and looking somewhere about Jenny’s chin, as she waved her nearly empty