Page 48 of Broken Prince
“Where are we?” she asks, her eyes scanning the area as she takes in our surroundings.
I jump out of the car and head to the bed of the truck, grabbing the bags out of the back and swing one of them onto my shoulder. The sound of a door closes, and she’s standing by the truck as I make it round to her side.
“The range,” I say like it’s obvious. I take off in the direction of the door, twigs and leaves crunching beneath my feet, before looking over my shoulder. “You coming or what?”
I have to fight the smirk as I watch her trudge over to me, and she eyes me skeptically as I open the door wider for her to step inside first.
“Hey, Sam,” a voice booms over the sounds of gun fire.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” she snaps, spinning to face me, with a what-the-fuck? look. “What’s he doing here, Kylo?”
“Hey, Axel,” I say, giving him a fist bump. I hear her snarl next to me and I think he does too by his smirk. “Thanks for this.”
“No problem, man,” he says with a smile, “Mi casa, es su casa.” His eyes are dancing with mischief as he looks over at Shadow, and her arms are crossed tightly against her chest as she glares daggers at the pair of us. “Name’s Axel, pleased to meet you,” he says with a friendly smile, extending his hand out to her.
She looks at it like it’s laced with poison and he’s planning on murdering her. She completely ignores him and turns her attention on me. “What the fuck are we doing here, Kylo?”
“You agreed to come on a date with me,” I say flippantly. Axel smirks at my side as she flicks her gaze between us. I think she’s trying to work out who she’s going to dick punch first; I can understand her unease at seeing him since she was blindsided about everything, but I know she knows deep down they saved her from something worse and she’s just not sure how to process it.
“Look, I know we got off to a bad start, but I’m glad Kylo rang and asked for a spot,” he says like he’s talking to a jittery child. “Bo’s been wanting to drop a present off to you and we weren’t sure how that would go down after the last time you met.”
“You mean your crazy bitch of a girlfriend buying me along with his stupid ass brother,” she says nastily, pointing at me. She looks up at Axel with her eyes narrowed, a challenge clear in her eyes.
“That’s the last time I let you get away with saying anything about my woman,” he snaps. He turns his back to us and disappears into a door at the end of the building. He’s only gone a minute, then he comes back out with a metal box in his hand. “I know you’re pissed, but trust me. You got the better deal out of this.”
“How so?” she sasses.
“Because when Kylo told us what you mean to him, she didn’t think twice about paying what she did to keep you out of harm’s way,” he snarls, shoving the box into her hand. “Because she felt bad about what went down that night, she bought you this so you could always protect yourself.”
“I thought Frost made the deal?” I ask, confused.
“That’s what they made it look like. Her dad wouldn’t have gone ahead if he knew it was Bo, and you know how tied her hands are now with everything,” he says with a shrug.
“She bought me a gun?” Her whispered words have my head dropping to see the glock in her hand. “Why would she buy me a gun?”
“Here,” Axel says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He taps something on the screen and passes it to Shadow.
“Hey, it’s Bo. Look, Sam, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I’m not your enemy. I’ve bought you this as a way to protect yourself because I was watching on a hidden camera that Frost was wearing the night of the dinner, and your dad really gives me the fucking willies. The way he was with you and your mom, I really don’t like it and my gut’s telling me you’ve been through more than people know. I don’t know if the asshat has plucked up the courage to tell you how he feels about you yet, but as far as we’re all concerned, you’re now a part of our delinquent family. When you’re not with Kylo, carry it everywhere with you. One more thing, if you have to use it, do it. We’ll have to have drinks soon if you decide you don’t hate me anymore. I am sorry about what I had to do but as I said, you’re part of us now. Take care!”
“You see, Sam? Bo isn’t as bad as people think she is,” Axel rumbles, passing me a set off keys before taking off toward the door. “Lock up when you leave.”
He disappears through the door, the thud echoing in the space. Shadow hasn’t said a word since the video ended. “You okay?”
“Why would she do this?” she asks, her voice filled with surprise. “I don’t get it, I was a bitch to her.”
“Bo’s been through a hell of a lot throughout her life, but the worst of it was when she got here,” I say as a way of an explanation. “Spend some time with her and you’ll see she’s not as bad as everyone thinks. But her story isn’t mine to tell, before you ask.”
“What does she mean how you feel about me?” she asks, her eyes bright as she stares at me, I smirk as I take the metal box out of her hand and place it on the counter behind me. I pull the gun out, making sure it’s loaded before I pass it back to her. I move her gently by the shoulders until she’s standing, facing a target on the range. “What does she mean, Kylo?”
“You ever shot a gun before?” I ask with a shrug; I’ve told her enough times. I’m not going to spell it out anymore for her. She growls at me, then utters something under her breath. I turn to grab my own gun and a shot rings out, making me jump. She turns to me with her earmuffs on and a massive grin on her face.
“I’ll ask once more, what did she mean?” she says with narrowed eyes.
“You already know how I feel about you, Shadow,” I purr, I step up to my own target and fire off a couple of shots. I pull my ear plugs out and face her when I don’t hear anything from her side. “You just haven’t let yourself realize it yet.”
18
SAM