Page 68 of Gifts

“Who fired the gun?” I ask.

“One of them thought pointing a gun at me would stop me from holding down his buddy. The shot went wide when I kicked it out of his hand. No big deal.” Jarvis shrugs and looks over at me. “So, this is all about Emma?”

I exhale, trying to control my rage, and nod.

Someone tried to deliver a warning to my daughter in a storm of bullets. What the fuck could she have done to attract a warning like that?

I don’t know, but whoever did it is going to pay.

*****

Keelie

It’s after one in the morning and I’m wide awake. Just another reason why I shouldn’t day drink. I’m pretty sure I slept for over four hours.

I woke up to find poor Levi babysitting. He and Knox were playing more video games and Saylor had a right-fine mess all around them with crayons, markers, glitter pens, scissors, glue, and so much paper, I’m sure she killed a small forest.

Seriously, if today wasn’t a major parenting fail, I don’t know what would be. A man walks into my life, buys me a wine barrel, I get shot, and then poof—I become an irresponsible parent.

I could tell Levi was happy to be relieved of his babysitting duties. He grabbed his phone and escaped to the guest room as quick as a bunny right after telling me Emma locked herself in Saylor’s room all night.

Since it’s late and I’m merely the woman who’s secretly seeing their father in the pantry, I decided to leave Emma be. Instead, I got my kids to bed, ate cold Chinese food until I was stuffed, and started to wonder where Asa went.

Who runs errands at this time on a Saturday night?

The moment I ask myself this question, I put it out of my head. I do not need to know what a retired assassin does on a Saturday night out.

Still, I wait.

Tones I don’t recognize sing faintly from my laundry room off the kitchen. Startled, I look up from my Kindle I’m doing my best—but failing—to concentrate on. It’s not from my security system, but as I sit here trying to figure out what to do, I hear the garage door slam and Asa appears.

I start to smile, but it dies quickly when I take in his face. My time with Asa isn’t vast, but I’ve never seen him like this. His expression is hard and every muscle in his body is tense.

I stand and soften my voice. “Um, are you okay?”

He stalks through the kitchen and doesn’t stop, making his way toward the front of my house. “I’m gonna shower.”

“Oh.” I’m taken aback, wondering where he plans to shower, and decide to follow. “Do you need anything?”

He jogs up my stairs and calls without looking back, “I’m good.”

I follow him into my bedroom and see him digging through a huge duffle bag I didn’t realize he’d deposited here, pulling out a bottle of shampoo. It must have been during my marathon-nap. I don’t want to rouse the dogs or bother Emma and Levi, so I close my bedroom door. “Where did you go?”

“Just want to take a shower, Keelie.” Without giving me a glance, he reaches over his head and fists his shirt behind his neck and pulls. Tossing it to the floor, I get a good look of his wide, muscled back as he heads into my bathroom and, without shutting the door, I hear the water to my shower flip on.

Well, now.

Are we to the point of showering with the door open?

Since the door is still open, I guess Asa has decided we are.

I sit at the end of my bed and wait, my foot bouncing a mile a minute, thinking of Asa naked, wet, and in my shower. With the door open.

Why would he shut the door? Even if I haven’t seen him naked, I have felt every plane of his body. Every muscle, his heavy leg between mine, his arms … I had it all.

I’m not sure how long I sit here thinking about all that is Asa while wondering what’s up with his disposition. I don’t know him well enough to read his moods.

The water flips off and it’s all I can do not to lean back and peek in my bathroom. That would be embarrassing and weird, even if he did sort of invite it by leaving the door open. But when I hear him, I can’t stop myself from looking.

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