Page 25 of Making Choices

“I’m the handsome one,” Toker announces. He spins the sapphire-blue Sig Sauer he’s holding around his finger and presents it butt first to me. “Clean and ready to go, little cuz.”

“Thank you.” With narrowed eyes, I slant a look his way to see if he’s kept his promise. “Nice to see you clear-eyed for once.”

Toker scowls. “Don’t get used to it. I’m not a fan of a world without soft edges.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Seeing that I’m not about to launch into a lecture about the virtues of living sober, especially when it’d make me a hypocrite of the highest order, the annoyance on my cousin’s face fades. He turns around to grab a second handgun out of the case that runs the length of the wall and I swear his hand shakes a little as he holds it up for Delia to see. My earlier assessment of his sobriety is thrown into doubt until I see that he can’t meet her eyes properly.

Turns out my crazy cousin has a slight crush on Tank’s wife.

“This one isn’t as pretty as Cherub’s, but it’ll be better for you.” Toker is unusually matter of fact as he explains why he chose the Ruger for Delia. “Because it’s compact, it’s better for women, especially learners. The recoil is more manageable while the weapon remains easy to shoot accurately.”

Delia nods her head. “Tank said I should start with something small.”

The mention of her husband has Toker lifting his head in a rush. The quiet reserve he was displaying evaporates and he full-on glares at her. “Maybe you should get him to teach you then?”

“Oh, that would suit you just fine, wouldn’t it!”

“Maybe it would!” Toker declares. “It’s not like I don’t have better things to do with my time.”

“I didn’t ask for you to be here.”

As Delia snaps back at Toker and my cousin flushes with rage, I step between them. “Whoa. Whoa. What the hell? Do you two know each other or something?”

“N-no,” Delia stammers while my cousin growls, “Yes.”

“All righty then.” With a shake of my head, I glance between them. “It’s obvious there’s some backstory here.” I hold up a hand when Delia goes to protest. “I’m not going to pry. God knows I hate having people in my business… so all I want to know is if you two are capable of putting your shit aside long enough for this lesson to go down or if I’m wasting my time trying to make this happen?”

“It’s up to you, Delia,” Toker snarls. He tilts his head to the side and asks in the most scornful tone I’ve ever heard from him, “Are you sure your husband will be okay with me teachin’ you? I wouldn’t wanna step over the fuckin’ line here.”

“You know full well he wasn’t my husband that night.” Delia steps closer to Toker and holds the gun out to him. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, Benedict, but I was a mess back then… and Tank saved me. He helped me put my head back on straight. I love him… I won’t disrespect my marriage by spending time with you.”

My head is spinning at the bomb Delia just dropped. She’s certainly moved past her previous assertion that she didn’t know Toker to throw down a whole backstory that makes absolutely zero sense to me. Seeing that my cousin is on the verge of saying something rude, I step in close to him and curl an arm around his waist.

The way he leans into me is testament to how off-balance he feels around Delia.

Benedict Cherub doesn’t do emotions.

“Rain check?” I ask the other woman. “Maybe I can get Slash or Zeke to teach you if you don’t want to ask Tank?”

Although I do my best to keep any judgement out of my voice, Delia still blanches when she shifts her attention from Toker to me. “I—I think I might just give this a miss altogether. It was a dumb idea.”

With a grunt, Toker shakes my arm off and stalks deeper into the range.

When we’re alone, I try to placate her, “No, it wasn’t… I should’ve asked you before I brought Toker into it.”

A wistful gleam brightens Delia’s eyes as they sweep over my retreating cousin’s form before settling on mine. “This was always inevitable… in truth, it was four years in the making.”

“Well—” A rapid succession of gunshots echo off the walls and I offer Delia an apologetic smile while we wait it out. As soon as Toker pauses to reload, I quickly say, “We’ve recently started holding an unofficial old ladies’ night every couple of months.” My description of the length of time the Moscato and Monet club has been running is a little vague since I don’t want her to feel like I’ve been deliberately excluding her. “It usually starts off at my place with an embroidery session—mine and Nadia’s consist of curse words, middle fingers, and dicks, but the other old ladies take it seriously—then we head out for drinks and dancing. The prospects or one of our men will pick us up when we’ve had enough and drop us off at home. You’re welcome to join us.”

“I’ll think about it.” Delia passes me the Ruger.

“It’s an open-ended offer.” With a grimace, I confess, “I should’ve invited you before now… you didn’t seem big on the whole club thing so I didn’t think of it.”

“No apologies needed—”

Toker starts shooting again and our conversation is effectively over. We exchange nods and Delia almost sprints out of the door. I sigh, place her handgun back in the case, and head for my cousin. The closer I get to him, the heavier the cloud of smoke gets. I breathe deep and hold the smoke in my lungs until my head spins. As my body relaxes and the tension I’ve been carrying since Alex reappeared in my life recedes, I smile.

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