Page 44 of Chaos Demons

“Did you two make up?” I asked even though the answer seemed obvious.

Eva beamed at me.

“All a misunderstanding,” she said lightly. “I couldn’t believe he actually came up to my room with me. I told him he could talk, but I was still going to throw stuff at him. And… he did it. He stood there and told me everything as I pelted him with stuff. Luckily most of the hard, nasty things I’d already thrown at you, so I didn’t hurt him too much. We’re back together again.”

She plastered another heavy kiss onto the man’s — bruised — face, and it was clear Eva was the one in control of this relationship as she pinned him against the wall.

“Great, I’m going out for a while. You two stay here and stay safe, okay? Is Reia back from her jog?”

“Yeah, she’s upstairs with that big dumb mutt. Where’re you headed?” Eva asked.

“To fight zompires,” Ramsey said before I could stop him.

I glared at him. “She didn’t need to know that!”

“Why not? She’s a grown woman.” He shrugged.

“She’s eighteen!”

“Oh… sorry. But last time you scolded me for thinking your other daughter was too young. I can’t tell these things!” he shot back.

“I deserve to know,” Eva said, taking a hands-on-hips stance, and I sensed a fight brewing. “And if you’re going out there, then so am I.”

I hadn’t been expecting that, and it left me speechless.

She pushed on. “I’ve seen all the zombie movies. I know what I’m doing: double-tap to the head, that works, right?”

Did it? I had no clue.

“Yeah, it should,” Ramsey said. “But where are you going to get a gun?”

Eva laughed and pulled out a pink pistol from her purse. “A girl can’t be too prepared, now can she?”

I gaped, dumbfounded. My daughter carried a gun?

“If you’re eighteen, then it’s illegal for you to carry a handgun in the State of New York,” Ramsey piped up.

Sometimes I forgot he was a lawyer.

“Ah… it’s his!” Eva pushed it into Trent’s hands. “And here are the extra clips, honey,” she whispered as she pulled three extra magazines out of her purse and forced him to take them. He clearly had no clue what to do with the weapon.

“I’ll go get my rifle!” Eva said, sounding way too happy about that prospect. Then she practically bounced up the stairs.

“Rifle?” I squeaked.

“If she’s eighteen, then that would be legal, yes.” Ramsey…was not helping.

When Eva came back down, she looked like some commando from a movie: Black shirt and cargo pants, a backpack slung over one shoulder, and… I didn’t know how to describe the gun she was holding…

“Is that a Kel-Tec KSG-25?” Ramsey breathed, clearly surprised. “Yeah, that’s still illegal. Shit, woman! How’d you get that?”

“It’s amazing what a man will sell you when you come in out of the rain, soaked to the bone in a tight white shirt and no bra.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Do you even know how to shoot that thing?” Ramsey asked, still sounding stunned.

“I go to the range three times a week after the gym.”

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