Ridge Creek (35 page)

“What?” Emma asks innocently.

Neither man says a word.  Jake keeps grinning and Luke
continues to stare at something of interest on the roof.  I glare at Jake
again.  “Coffee’s this way,” I announce as I turn towards the hallway door.

“You know me too well,” Emma replies cheerfully as she blows
a kiss to Pierre before she follows me out of the room.

*****

“Stay put, we are on this,” Emma warns solemnly through the
passenger side window of her car.  Luke is in the driver’s seat looking very
sexy having just had a shower after spending nearly two hours in the gym/shed
with Jake. 

Luke nods his agreement with Emma’s statement.  Jake places
a hand on my hip reassuringly.

“Okay, okay.” I grumble my response.  “I’m sorted.  I’ve had
my initial freak out and now I’m calm again.  We’re good.  I’ll lie low here,
finish Luke’s website and get a run at the one for the shop too.  It’s so
peaceful out here I’ll probably get Luke’s site finished in a day or two and be
well on the way to having the basic screens done for the shop as well.”

Emma smiles and nods her agreement with my plan.  “Perfect. 
Take care and make sure you give my dog plenty of cuddles.”

“Shall do,” I announce as Luke starts the car and puts it in
gear.  “I’ll see you both on Sunday.  A full blown roast with potatoes, I can’t
wait!”

And I can’t.  I am almost beside myself with Jake’s new
kitchen and I’m itching to cook up a storm.    While the boys were working out,
Emma and I had assessed all the cooking supplies in the house.  To our joy,
there was plenty of everything we needed and we have now planned a roast for
Sunday lunch that is going to include a spectacular entrée and a dessert. 
Having a real kitchen to cook in is awesome.  Having a full-blown, home cooked
meal is going to be even more awesome.

I move closer to the warmth of Jake’s body and lean slightly
against him as we watch Luke and Emma back out of the garage and head down the
driveway.  My mind already on all the programming I have to do, I start to turn
and head back into the house.  That is until I feel Jake’s fingers clamp down
on my hip as he pulls me back to his side.  In his deep rumble he says, “Not so
fast, we’ve got something to do outside.”

“Oh, okay,” I agree instantly.  Of course if Jake wants me
to do something, I’m there.  This man does so much for me that I’m at the point
of almost robotic acceptance of his requests.  It will be interesting to see
what happens when he finally asks me to do something that I really don’t want
to do.

Taking my hand, Jake turns and sets the alarm system on the
house before taking my hand and leading me back through the garage and outside
into the blazing sunlight.  Turning right, it soon becomes obvious to me that
we are heading back to the shed.  Circling the house to reach the gravel path
leading to the shed, Jake leads me through the sliding door and straight across
the main room to the hallway.  My senses are assaulted with the heady scent of
sweaty men and hot showers from Luke and Jake’s earlier activities.

Yum.

Without pause, Jake leads me along the hall a few steps
before stopping in front of a locked door leading off to the right of the hallway. 
I watch as he grabs his keys out of his jeans pocket and starts rustling around
with keys.  Finding his key of choice, he unlocks the door and pushes it open
before propelling me inside with a soft shove.

Glancing around I spy a single bench in the center of the
room.  The walls of the room are lined with steel cabinets.  There are no
windows and there is no second exit.  Interesting.

Another storage room for his pot?

“Another storage room?” I ask absentmindedly as I move
slowly into the room wondering what we are doing here.  Perhaps we have an
inventory to do?

“Something like that,” Jake mumbles as he strides straight
across the room still rattling with his keys.  Standing in front of one of the
huge steel cabinets, he finds another key and unlocks the cabinet door. 
Swinging it wide open, I hiss in shock when I see what’s inside.

Guns.

Lots of guns.

“Holy shit,” I murmur as I stare blindly at numerous
handguns hanging on pegs on the back wall of the cabinet.    The cabinet also
has internal drawers that slide out.  “Are all these cabinets filled with
guns?”

“Some, but not all,” Jake replies as he reaches across to
grab a shiny silver handgun with a brown timber handle from the wall of the
cabinet.  Holding it up, he clicks out the barrel, spins it and clicks it back
in. He then slides out a drawer to start rummaging noisily.

“What’s in the other cabinets then?” I ask, not sure I want
to know.   Good Lord, with this many guns he could arm a small army.  Jake does
not reply.  He just keeps rummaging through the drawer.  I move closer to see
what he is digging through.

Cardboard boxes and loose bullets.

Finally finding what he is looking for, he picks up a small
box of what I suspect are bullets for the gun in his hand before closing the
drawer.  He then locks the cabinet again and turns to place both items on the
bench.  He then leans across, takes my hand and pulls me to his side.

“Right,” he begins softly.  “This is a Smith and Wesson
Model 36 revolver.  It’s small, it’s light, it carries five, .38 caliber
bullets and it has a double action trigger.  What this means is that this
little guy packs a punch.  If you point this little beauty at someone and pull
the trigger, you are gunna cause some major damage and possibly kill them. 
Because it’s a revolver, it does not have a safety so be sure you plan on
shooting when you pull the trigger.  The beauty of the double action trigger is
that it will cock first, then shoot.  This gives you a small window of
opportunity to change your mind and means that it’s hard to accidentally
discharge this weapon.”

Holy cow, he’s teaching me about guns?

“Um Jake?” I decide to butt in.

Jake stops talking and looks at me with an annoyed look on
his face.  “What?”

“Why are you teaching me all about a Smith and Wesson gun?”

Jake’s eyebrows pop and a look of confusion skitters across
his face.  “Seriously?” He asks.

“Well, um, yes.  Seriously,” I reply in my own confused
voice.

Jake blinks a few times and then grins at me stupidly. 
“You’re a fuckin’ nut.  You’re the one who told me you wanted a big assed dog
and a gun.  If I remember correctly, you had a plan to shove it right up Tony’s
ass and then…”

Understanding dawns on my face.  Holy shit, he remembers
that conversation.  “You remembered that?” I ask with awe in my voice.

“I remember everything Arianna.  Especially when it comes to
you.  Admittedly I didn’t take you seriously when you said it the first time
but after your last melt down, I got the message.  So now you have a big assed
dog in training and in about half an hour, you’ll have a gun that you know how
to load, discharge and hopefully hit something that you aim at.”

Wow.

Is there anything this man won’t do for me?  “Okay then,” I
murmur staring up into his beautiful eyes. 

Jake smirks and returns his attention to the gun in front of
him.

“If I ask for a pony can I have one too?  I’ve always wanted
a pony,” I whisper quietly under my breath as I return my attention to the gun
in front of him.

“I’m pretty sure the dog is gunna double as a fuckin’ pony
but if you’re serious…”

He heard that?

“Let’s stick with the dog and the gun and maybe we’ll talk
pony’s some-time in the future.  If I’m still alive.”

“Sounds like a plan.  And just for the record, you will be
alive.  You need to trust me on that one.  Now, back to the gun.  These are the
bullets…”

Jake spends the next few minutes showing me how to load and
unload the barrel of the gun.  He also explains that I should keep all barrels
full at all times so there is no chance of a misfire.  I have to admit the gun
makes me nervous but I also find myself feeling more powerful as I hold it up
and point it at the wall in front of us. 

Resisting the urge to yell, “Stick ‘em up!” Is hard but by
the seriousness of Jake’s tone as he explains the gun to me, I figure it might
be a bad idea.

When Jake is finally happy that I can unload and reload the
gun in a reasonable amount of time, he grabs the box of bullets and leads me
back out of the room.  Locking the door behind us, he then leads me back out of
the shed and towards the trees near the side of the house.   To my surprise I
see he has already set some old cans up in various places on tree stumps and
rocks in the trees.  “You’re organized,” I murmur. 

“Luke did this part while I was having a shower.  We talked
it through while we were sparring.  He agreed it was a good idea.  He’s taking
Emma back to his place this afternoon and setting her up with a weapon too.”

“You guys don’t muck about do you?”

As is often Jake’s way when he doesn’t want to answer a
question, he does not respond.  He simply leads me to a point central to all
the cans and says, “Point, aim, squeeze and shoot.”

Which I do.  For the next half hour.  Time and again,
reloading my gun and keeping at it until I reach the point where I can hit a
can now and then.  Finally happy that I have a fair chance of hitting a large
target if it came at me, Jake finishes our session and we head back inside.

The rest of the afternoon is spent with Jake out in his gym
talking on his phone and me uploading pictures from my camera to Luke’s new
website.  (I know that Jake is on the phone because I watch him out the window
of the spare bedroom he has set me up in with my laptop.)  I also intersperse
my work on Luke’s website with short strolls into the backyard between the shed
and house to take Pierre to toilet.  This Jake is now allowing as long as I
carry my gun and he can see me through the window.

Although it feels ridiculous carrying a gun while walking my
dog in his own backyard, I do it to please Jake.  I also do it because I saw by
the set on Jake’s face when he explained this new rule to me, the matter was
not negotiable.

Our evening is then spent relaxing in Jake’s theater room
(yet another room running off the hallway that I had no idea existed until he
showed me), watching action movies.  Bedtime is both uneventful and very
eventful in that we head to bed early, but we do not get to sleep until late. 
This I find is an excellent way to finish any day with Jake’s last words before
he finally falls asleep being, “Still not bored?”

I sigh happily and fall asleep seconds later.

*****

I wake up to the annoying sound of Jake’s mobile phone
ringing on his bedside table.  Lifting my head from my position tucked tightly
under Jake’s arm, I whisper into his ear.  “Jake, wake-up, your phone is
ringing.”

Jake mumbles slightly and I feel his movements as he lifts
an arm as if to reach for his phone before he lets it drop back down.  He’s
asleep again.  Gently rocking my body against his, I try once again to wake him
up but find my efforts useless.

Right then.

 I hope you don’t mind me answering your phone then. 
Lifting and reaching across to grab his phone I note that name flashing on the
screen is Emma.

Strange.

Why would Emma be calling Jake in the middle of the night
and not calling me?  Quickly checking the time on his screen (three-thirty), I
swipe to accept the call.  The phone is barely to my ear when I hear Emma
announce quickly, “I found something.”

Instantly alert, I realize that Emma does not know that I
have answered the phone and whatever she is about to share, she had not planned
to share with me.  I decide to remain silent, the phone held firmly to my ear.

“You’re not gunna believe this.  It’s a fuckin’ doozy,” she
continues, “I can’t believe I didn’t follow this up earlier…” And that’s all I
hear as the phone is ripped from my ear and I hear Jake growl angrily, “Hang on
Emma.”

Annoyed at not hearing the news that Emma was about to
reveal, I whine pitifully.  I hear a click and the bedside lamp comes on. 
“Whatever she was about to share, was not for your ears Ari.  Don’t answer my
fuckin’ phone.  Ever.”

Jake is pissed.  His voice is deep, it’s crackly and it is
venomous.

Woops.

Jake shifts and with minimal effort, slides me across the
bed and back to my side.  “Stay,” he growls as he swings his legs to the floor
and walks out of the room.  Butt naked.  I sigh, resigned that I am in trouble
for answering his phone.  I also sigh at the sight of his hard, apple shaped
butt walking from the room.

God damn.

The next few minutes I spend lying as quietly as I can
trying to hear anything Jake and Emma might be talking about.   This is to no
avail as all I end up hearing is the sound of the fluorescent light globe
humming in the lamp next to the bed and the sound of my own heartbeat.

A short while later, Jake wanders back into the room, a
coffee cup in his hand and the phone still held to his ear.  He looks solemn. 
He glances briefly at me and I almost choke at the look on his face.  I’m not
sure how to define it.  He looks pissed, real pissed.  He also looks worried,
which worries me even more.  Anything that worries Jake cannot be good.

Pointing at me with his index finger I receive his message
to stay put, loud and clear.  He then stoops to grab his jeans from the floor,
flings them over his arm, picks up his coffee cup and leaves the room.  This
time he closes the door behind him.

Not good.

My mind starts racing and of course I go into meltdown. 
This is all too much.  The pressure of not knowing whatever it is that Emma and
Jake are talking about is crushing me.  Top this off with a refreshed flight
instinct triggered by a strange understanding that whatever they are talking
about is not good for me and I’m losing it, all over again.