I was envious of her youth. I thought I’d aged well, but she looked exactly the same if you ignored the hot pink ombre streaked through her dark hair. She rushed towards me, moving impressively fast in boots that had heels thinner than my sandals and a tight blazer dress.

  I stiffened instinctively. I hoped she wasn’t going to try and hug me. We’d never been that close. I made the mistake of trying to be her friend once and got served with the brutal reminder her loyalty would always be to Judas. I didn’t hold that against her, but I wasn’t eager to give it another go either.

  “Brianna,” Owen called after her in an authoritative tone. His voice was deep and rich. He’d aged but in a good way.

  He was sporting a neatly trimmed beard and his athletic frame was more solid.

  She ignored him and kept coming. Sensing my discomfort, Judas moved so that he was standing in front of me and whatever look he gave Brianna sucked all the wind from her sail.

  “I told you to behave like a level-headed human being. She doesn’t want to fucking hug you,” he delivered coldly. His voice carried to her without him needing to yell.

  Come to think of it, I hadn’t ever heard him scream at someone. He didn’t need to. His ability to remain calm and collected while he delivered promises of death or ultimatums was terrifyingly effective. It was sexy as hell too, but I might’ve been biased.

  I peered around him and felt marginally bad when I saw Bri’s face flush with embarrassment. Owen came forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  “I was excited,” she expressed apologetically.

  “We talked about this,” Owen said, ruffling the back of her hair before addressing me. “You don’t have to be a shield, Judas. She’s safe with us.”

  I begged to disagree, but apparently, Judas didn’t because he shifted out of the way and reached back to pull me forward.

  “Hello, again,” Owen greeted good-naturedly.

  Wanting to avoid another round of unnecessary pleasantries I looked up at Judas and nudged him in the side. “What are we doing here?”

  “I told you, target practice.” He looked to Owen. “Care to do the honors?”

  “Would love to.”

  Stepping away from Brianna, he walked over to what looked like a black briefcase and opened it up. Cushioned inside was a handgun with a slim profile that could have passed as a secret service weapon if not for the metallic rainbow finish.

  “Your magazine has six bullets, but capacity is ten,” Brianna stated.

  I looked between the three of them and noticed none had guns drawn. I suppose they wouldn’t need any practice given their lifestyle. All the more reason I didn’t want them watching me shoot. I’m sure the comparison was nil.

  “I want you to pretend this is a real-life scenario. Don’t stop and think just shoot as if it’s you or them and your goal is to survive,” Judas explained.

  Owen removed the gun from the casing and loaded it up before passing it to Bri who then walked over and offered it to me. I accepted it gingerly, still not on board with this whole debacle.

  “And what is the reason I’m doing this?”

  “Think of it as an evaluation,” Owen answered. “We need a general idea of how you’d do during the real thing.”

  I’m sure I didn’t need to tell them I had no intention of participating in some kind of shootout, but hypothetically if Judas and I became an official item shooting someone wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility.

  I aimed the muzzle at the ground and checked the safety before turning towards the target area. “I’m not dressed for this.”

  I let the accusation hang in the air.

  “As hard as this may be to believe when someone wants to kill you, it’s not going to matter what you have on.”

  Brianna and Owen hid their grins as I walked away from the three of them. Stepping into sawdust in heels was the equivalent of walking barefoot across sand. This would be the first and last time I asked Judas what I should wear.

  Ignoring the feel of the floor literally seeping into my shoes, I focused on my task at hand to get it over with. I’d gone shooting plenty of times before but none of those occasions placed me beneath the scrutiny of Judas' hawk-eyed stare. I damn sure wasn’t in a dress and heels like some kind of femme fatale in an action movie.

  I corrected my stance and grip on the gun, preparing to knock this out. He told me to shoot as if I was aiming to kill and don’t stop to think.

  That was easier said than done when he was essentially breathing down my neck.

  If it was my skill level he wanted to assess, I’d give it a go. I steadied my hand and was just about to shoot when Judas’ voice rang through the air.

  “Wait.”

  “What now?” I questioned exasperatedly.

  He turned and said something to Brianna, who gave me a quick smile before pulling her cellphone out.

  and pulled the trigger twice, striking my first target once in the upper chest area and again in the throat. Thinking quickly, I knew I’d have to take out the next person on my immediate left.

  I went for that target and managed to put a hole in the right side of their chest. Each pull of the trigger had gunfire booming in the large room. My palm was sweating by now. I took a mental breath and tightened my grip, mentally adding and subtracting the bullets I had left in the magazine. There were two crates remaining.

  Had I been working with a fully loaded clip I could have gotten a little trigger happy, but I only had three bullets remaining and wasn’t a perfect marksman by any stretch of the imagination.

  I’d gone to the range to better my self-defense, not in anticipation of trading rounds with someone trying to kill me.

  I aimed for what would be the knees and managed to strike the lower calf. If this were a real human that surely would’ve given them a slight pause. That would be all I needed to make a run for it.

  I put another bullet in the last target's stomach and then slowly lowered my arm back to my side. After ensuring the muzzle was pointed at the ground, I turned to face my silver-eyed devil.

  Bri gave me a few claps and smiled brightly as if I’d just accomplished some great task.

  “You’re much better than I anticipated,” Owen remarked, sounding oddly relieved.

  Judas regarded me silently, his expression unreadable. I glanced down at the gun remembering I had one bullet left.

  This wasn’t a revolver with empty chambers to spin and try your luck. If I aimed at him and pulled the trigger, he would take a hit.

  It would be a reckless thing to do with Owen and Brianna were right here. I wouldn’t be able to waltz right out the damn door and then sub consequently leave this semi-prison.

  Loathed as I was to admit it, I wasn’t sure I wanted him dead. The idea of him being in physical pain wasn’t registering well with me. Why couldn’t I simply hate this man? There were so many emotions to sort through that I was beginning to feel suffocated.

  When my eyes returned to Judas’ he was looking at me with a twisted smirk. Suddenly pulling the trigger seemed like a brilliant idea. He was in front of me before I could dare act on the thought.

  His hand wrapped around my wrist with enough force that if he wanted, he could easily snap the bone in two. I made sure my finger wasn’t anywhere near the trigger to make sure there was no chance of the gun going off.

  “This murderous intent of yours really is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever witnessed. I’ll let you have this later on. You can ride me and keep it aimed at my head.”

  He gave the gun a small tug and I surrendered it to him. “I think you need psychological help.”

  “Don’t pretend you hate the idea.”

  “Alright, lovebirds. Let’s see the damage done before you start tearing each other’s clothes off,” Owen interrupted.

  He walked around us and approached the first crate I’d hit. He reached along the side and flipped a metal latch to open it up. As soon as the front swung open the body of a mangled blonde fell out.

  I jumped as it made an impact with the sawdust. “W-what the hell? There are people inside of those?”

  “No,” Judas replied nonchalantly, “That person is clearly dead so we can consider it a corpse.”

  “Because of me!” Fresh blood slowly pooled in the areas I’d managed to hit with a bullet.

  “Not entirely. She’s been in there for three or four days without food or water. If you get closer, you can smell dried piss.”

  “I don’t understand. Why wasn’t she screaming for help or anything?”

  “The crates are soundproof for that exact reason,” Bri replied.

  “So, you can keep people inside of them?” I questioned with awe and mortification.

  “We keep lots of things in them.”

  I studied the woman lying motionless on the ground less than a foot away.

  She was in what looked like club attire, a soiled pink dress, and one matching heel.

  Old bruises on her body backed up Judas’ claims that she’d been in that crate for more than a few hours. Her arms were bound and so were her ankles but even in her sad state, I could tell she was beautiful. Or had been.

  “Where did she come from?”

  “She was the girlfriend of an associate. He missed his payment deadline on the order he was fronted, so she was taken as interest.”

  “And what’s going to happen when he pays up and decides he wants her back?”

  Bri giggled and went to join Owen in opening a second crate.

  “You don’t get a return on interest, principessa.”

  “But why would he pay now that she’s dead?”

  He looked semi-amused by my question. “She was his girlfriend. If he values his wife, he’ll have the money by tomorrow night.”

  “That’s…” I slowly exhaled as what he was saying sunk in. “That’s really messed up.”

  Judas cupped the side of my face. “You don’t have to worry about anything like that ever happening.”

  “Well, no shit. If I end up in a giant wooden box because of you don’t even bother coming to get me because you’re dead.”

  “I was referring to me having a mistress. You being taken away isn’t remotely a possibility.”

  “Oh…” I trailed off not having even thought about that. Now that he’d brought this up, I realized I did trust this man in some capacity. Judas would never betray me with another woman.

  Besides purposely trying to piss me off one time, he never even looked at another girl. When it came to my safety, he’d do whatever was necessary to keep me out of harm’s way. It wasn’t until this very moment that clicked.

  In a twisted sense that’s exactly what he’d done back then. It was at the expense of my heart and mental state, but he had protected me and given me a freedom I never would’ve known without him.

  I simply didn’t understand why he went about it the way he had. That part I found inexcusable. I never asked him to pick me over his family, but I didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves either.

  A low groan stopped me from saying anything.

  Shit.

  I turned around and looked at the man that was propped against an interior wall of the crate Owen had just opened.

  Someone had done a number on his face but even with it swollen like a balloon and sporting dried blood from facial wounds, I knew who he was. I turned back to Judas with a hard stare.

  “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything. He did by being a fucking idiot and disrespecting you.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “He didn’t disrespect me!”

  “There were messages on his cellphone to a friend of his, that will be arriving shortly by the way, about your perfect ass and beautiful smile.”

  “And? You think he’s the first person to notice?”

  “Oh, I know he isn’t. Locking you inside the house is becoming more appealing with each passing minute.”

  I didn’t take that statement at face value. He was possessive enough to do something that unbelievable.

  “Then should I start offing every woman that talks about your giant dick and bedroom eyes?”

  “If it makes you feel better, sure. I’ll supply the ammo and alibi.”

  I ran a hand through my hair frustratedly. “I don’t know why I bother. I can never win.”

  He grasped my chin and tilted my head back so that I was looking up at him. “You won the day you helped me bury a body in the woods.”

  “I used to think so too, but I haven’t felt that way in years,” I replied with a heavy dose of honesty.

  “Time, principessa. Give me time to remind you and you’ll feel like a goddess beside a god.” He dropped his hand and looked in the direction of Joey. “When it comes to other men it’s disrespectful to talk about you and then let me find out about it.”

  I shut my eyes and groaned. “Judas. He didn’t know you’d have someone go through his text messages.”

  “That’s not the point. You are mine. The only person allowed to comment on my perfect ass and my beautiful smile is me. Look. But don’t fucking touch or speak.”

  “The saying doesn’t—never mind. So, what are you going to do? Kill him?”

  He grinned wickedly. “No, you are.”

  “The fuck if I am.”

  A snigger came from somewhere behind me. Without turning around I flipped off whoever it was, eliciting a laugh from Owen.

  “Come on, Rhiannon. He’s in pain and the longer you delay the worse it’s going to be.”

  “I’m not killing him.”

  “Okay.” He flipped the safety back on my gun and handed it to Bri as he walked by her.

  Then, reaching into the back of his waistband, he withdrew a black matte handgun with a skinny profile.

  I hadn’t known he was carrying, but I should have expected him to be. He walked up to the crate Joey was propped up in and not so gently yanked him out, letting him drop to the ground.

  “Please don’t,” Joey brokenly sobbed through cracked lips. He looked up at Judas with the same broken plea in his eyes. One hand was pressed against the hole I’d made in the side of his chest when I shot the target.

  There wasn’t much blood, just a darkening red stain coming through the fabric of his gray, slightly torn Family Guy shirt.

  “I tried to tell her to kill you, but she’d rather draw out your suffering,” Judas stated with a sigh.

  “I never said that.”

  Ignoring me, he used his dress shoe to pin the poor man in place before shooting him directly in the left kneecap. Joey jerked and wailed, feebly attempting to grab what was now a fissure of broken bone and blood.

  “Judas, knock it off!”

  “He’s not going to listen to that. He’ll play connect four with his gun until Joey bleeds out or you go over there and kill him yourself,” Brianna quipped.

  “This is bullshit.” I strode forward, adding more sawdust to the bottom of my shoes.

  Before I could reach them, Judas put another bullet in Joey’s right knee. It was impressively symmetrical with his first shot.

  Joey squeezed his eyes shut and moaned in pain as tears leaked out, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. I grabbed hold of Judas’ wrist to stop him from adding another wound that was only meant to cause pain and pulled the gun out of his hand.

  Joey looked up at me with something close to relief etching into his features. He didn’t have a chance to realize I wasn’t saving him. I aimed the gun at the side of his head and pulled the trigger. The impact of the bullet had his temple bouncing off the ground. His body twitched twice before slumping into a motionless state, eyes wide and unfocused.

  “Here,” I bit out, shoving the gun back into Judas’ hands before I turned around to address Brianna as I headed for the exit. “Does this place have a bathroom I can use?”

  “Yeah. I can show--.”

  “I’ll take her,” Judas quickly interjected.

  I kept walking, not once looking behind me to see what he was doing.

  “Get this settled,” he instructed them. He easily caught up to me and opened the door so that I could exit first. “To the left,” he directed once we were in the hall.

  I followed his guide and silently made my way down another sterile hallway, leaving a trail of sawdust behind us. I’d just shot a man in the head—an arguably innocent one and I felt…nothing. No remorse, shame, or guilt.

  I only valued the lives of the people I cared about. I had more compassion for animals and children. I was starting to think there was something wrong with me.

  “Have you ever killed an ant?”

  I glanced over at him. “Um, I’m sure at some point or another I have.”

  “Did you feel bad?”

  Catching on to his meaning, I shook my head at him.

  “Are you seriously comparing the life of an ant with a human?”

  “Is there a difference?”

  “One is a bug and the other a person. Do you need me to make a contrast and compare chart?”

  “Hm.” He acknowledged my response with a slight pursing of his lips. “So, the bug’s life is less valuable because it’s a bug. But they don’t know that.”

  “We are not having this discussion,” I argued with a laugh. “I just think I should…I don’t know feel something.”

  “You’re trying to overthink. Why is it okay for me to kill, but when you decide to it’s wrong?”

  That was a good question. I was no better or worse than he was. He had more experience with all of this given the way he was raised and for him to accomplish all he had, but our moral capacity for the aspects of his world was the same.

  He reached out to slow me down and pointed to a door a few feet away from us on the left side of the hall.

  “This isn’t like some prison cell bathroom, is it?”

  “I don’t allow less than luxury for those I employ and knowing you’d be spending time here, you too. The target rooms aren’t meant to look nice, but I promise everything you’ll use is.”

  “You make me sound so materialistic.”

  “I just want you to have the best.”

  Suppressing a smile, I shook my head and moved away from him. “Aren’t you the sweetest?”

  I expected him to wait in the hall, but he continued to follow me. I didn’t waste my breath asking him to do otherwise. The bathroom didn’t look as if it belonged inside his industrial warehouse. It would be more fitting for an upscale restaurant if you ignored there were no stalls. I went straight for the sinks, desperate to get the damned sawdust off of my feet.