Page 43 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
I never miss.
My eyes widened. Tanner must have read the realization on my face because he nodded in confirmation.
Oh shit. No. My heart hammered against my chest, threatening to break through with each beat. The stranger held me too tightly. There was no way Tanner could shoot him without hitting me.
Tanner narrowed his eyes. The barrel of his gun appeared to grow larger before my eyes until the blackness within opened up and threatened to swallow me whole.
“Cricket.” Tanner’s voice broke through the darkness and I blinked, surprised to find tears tangled in my lashes. Tanner gun’s remained raised, but his expression had softened. “I promised I would never let anyone or anything hurt you.”
“Toss me the gun, cop!” the man screamed behind me. He tried to pull me backward but my unmoving feet dragged along the ground keeping us from getting very far. “I’m warning you!”
Tanner never took his eyes off of me. “Do you trust me?”
Do you trust me? The words swam around my head along with the memories of a hundred other times he’d asked me the question. While there were many things that could be said about our relationship over the years, one thing always remained true: When I fell, Tanner caught me.
I tried to answer but the words tangled inside my throat. All I could do was nod. And even though a haze crept along my vision, there was no mistaking Tanner’s smile. I carried it with me into the darkness when I closed my eyes.
A second later, a shot rang out and my world went black.
THAT NIGHT, I lay in my bed inside the small apartment I’d built inside the pole barn that was my dog kennel. I stared at the ceiling as the echo of the gunshot blasted through my head. Despite the near scalding shower I took earlier, whenever I closed my eyes I could still feel the warmth and smell the metallic scent of the man’s blood soaked into my clothing. So I chose to keep my eyes open. In fact, I might never sleep again.
Shawnee, however, snored peacefully at my feet.
I touched the bandage covering my neck. Lucky for me, the doctor at the hospital said the cut wasn’t serious. But that’s not to say it wouldn’t have been if Tanner hadn’t . . . I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, willing the memory not to resurface. I’d had enough blood for one day.
I rolled onto my side and curled my knees up to my chest. I wondered how Tanner was doing. He’d ridden with me in the ambulance, holding me in his arms the entire way. But the chief had arrived at the hospital shortly after we did. He’d whisked Tanner away, citing statements needed to be made and reports filled out. Tanner promised to check on me, but I was released from the hospital before he returned. I couldn’t blame him—I could only imagine how much paperwork was involved when you shot someone.
After tossing for another hour, I finally gave up on sleep and reached for my iPad. I could at least read a book while I waited for morning to come. But no sooner had I turned the screen on when something rapped against my window.
I gasped and Shawnee’s eyes snapped open
and he let out a low growl. Outside my window the figure of a man waved. “Cricket, it’s me!”
Shawnee stopped growling and his tail thumped against the mattress. I, on the other hand, was not so forgiving. “What the hell, Tanner?” I climbed out of bed and unlatched the window and pushed it open. “After the day I had, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I have a front door, you know.”
He grinned that damned dimpled grin of his. “Sorry. I just thought this would be like old times.” Grasping the sides of the window, he hopped onto the ledge and slid inside my room. After shutting the window behind him, he paused to look around. “This is where you live? You know it’s a dog kennel, right?”
I swatted his arm. “If you don’t like it, nobody is making you stay.”
“Oh no.” His grin widened and a familiar heat washed over me. “I’m not going anywhere. That was a mistake I’ve regretted every day for four years. I don’t plan to repeat it.” He looked around the room once more. “It’ll be a tight fit, but we’ll make it work.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He flopped backward onto my bed and crossed his ankles. “I’m moving in.”
Shawnee wagged his tail.
I jerked back like I’d been struck. “What? No!”
“Why not?”
I threw my arms in the air. “Because that’s insane! We’re not crazy, love-struck teenagers anymore, Tanner. Normal people take things slow. They date—get a feel for each other before they move in together.”
“Maybe you’re right about what normal people do.” He sat up and swung his legs over the side of my bed. “But you and I are anything but normal.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He stood and strode across the room to me. His sudden nearness made my heart jump inside my throat, threatening to choke me with each pulse. He placed his hands on either side of my face and tilted it toward his. “This,” he said, his words soft. “What we have is not normal. I’ve known that since the day I met you. Sure, other people might meet, fall in love, and get married. But do they physically ache when they’re apart?”
