Tempting Tricks (Tempting Nights #2)

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Trick~

I smile when Belle walks out of the bathroom and twirls in a small circle. She wearing a pair of black yoga pants with a NYU hoodie, her hair pulled up on top of her head in a long, wavy ponytail. She’s not wearing any makeup, and I honestly believe she could pass for a college student. She’s got the white chucks on, a pair of my socks helping to supplement the half size too large the sneakers are.

“You look great.” I pull her into a hug and plant a kiss against her cheek. “I want to show you something before we go, okay?”

She nods. “okay.”

I take her hand and lead her over to the coffee table. She halts, her arm yanking me to a stop. I turn my head to her. “Just come here. I need to show you this. It’s important.”

Her eyes are locked on the three handguns sitting on the table. I took them out while she was in the shower. She allows me to shuffle her to the couch, where she drops down, her eyes still locked on the weapons.

I pick up the gun she found last night and cock it, exposing the chamber to her. “This is empty, see?” I click the release for the magazine, catching it as it drops. I hold it up for her. “This is empty, too.”

I point to the other guns on the table. “Those are all empty, too.” I turn my gaze to her, making sure to make eye contact with her. “I’d never keep a loaded weapon in the apartment.”

She blinks. I push and lock the magazine back into the Glock then set it on the table. I grab her hand and pull her back up. “Come.”

I lead her through my bedroom, opening the door to my closet, and step inside. I point to a large safe I have against the wall. “That’s where I normally keep my guns.” I let go of her hand and key in the combination on the number pad, unlocking the safe, then crank the door wide. I reach in and extract a small lock box and set it on top of the safe. I turn and look at it, motioning for her to come closer. “Come here.”

She takes two tentative steps to stand beside me. “The ammunition for each gun, as well as loaded magazines, are locked in here.” I look down at her. “Completely separate from the gun. Only taken out if I’m going to the range.”

She nods, her teeth gnawing on her lower lip, eyes darting nervously around the closet. I let out a sigh and turn to her. “Belle, it’s important for you to understand that I adhere to every gun safety rule I can think of. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable when you’re here. Tell me what else I can do to prove that to you.”

“Why do you need them at all?” Her voice is low.

I think about her a question for a minute. “I guess I really don’t.” I shrug. “My father was a soldier, and then so was I, heading to military school right after high school. I suppose it’s a part of my identity, almost second nature to me. I don’t even really think about the why, if I’m really honest.”

“But you understand why it makes me uncomfortable.” She looks up at me.

“Of course.” I rest a hand on her shoulder. “Which is why I’m showing this to you, so you know.” I bend down so I can look her straight in the eye. “You’re safe, and I’m safe. I’m never going to use them for anything other than target practice anymore. But if that’s not enough for you, I’ll get rid of them. I’ll go lock them up at my grandmother’s house.”

She steps forward and slides her arms around my back, resting her head against my shoulder, hugging me tightly. “Just lock them up. I don’t want to see them.” She lifts her head to look at me. “But I trust you.”

I press my lips against hers, my hands cupping her face, then pull away. “Thank you.”

She blinks, her lips tilting up in the faintest smile, and nods. “Thank you for understanding.”

We separate then, and I take a few minutes to put the guns back in the safe, along with the lock box, and secure them inside. I meet her back in the living room where she’s packed her dress and shoes into one of my canvas shopping bags .

“You ready to eat?” I ask, walking over to her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head above her ponytail.

“Yep. Do you want to take Kane?” She looks down at the little rug rat, pouncing on our feet again.

“You okay with that?” I bend down and pick him up.

“Of course.” She kisses him on the nose, his tongue sliding out to lap against her nose, causing a laugh to erupt from her.

I grab his leash while she finds her little purse from last night, and we leave, making our way downstairs and out into the street. I put the puppy down on the ground, and we start strolling hand in hand down the sidewalk. It’s gorgeous out. It has to be at least sixty-five degrees, and I comment that spring has finally arrived.

“Can we swing by my place after we eat so I can check on Nyla and grab something of my own to wear?”

“Sure.” I nod, tugging on Kane’s leash, prompting him to walk. He stops and smells every single thing along the way.

We find a restaurant that has some outdoor seating set up, so we stop and ask for a table. We’re seated immediately, and Kane plops down under the table, his head resting between his paws.

A waitress comes over and takes our drink order before handing us each a menu. When she returns, she even has a small bowl of water for Kane, and I realize it’s things like this that make me love living in this city. Kindness happens at the most unexpected of times and places. We order, me a burger and fries, her a grilled cheese and tomato soup.

“So, I had a thought earlier, but I don’t want to get too shrinky on you.” She brings her fingers up, making quotation marks in the air when she says shrinky .

“Okay,” I grunt out, not sure I want to hear this. I feel like we’ve finally gotten to a place of acceptance with each other.

“I have a friend who opened a gym for veterans over in the Warehouse District. He lost part of his leg over in Afghanistan and had a really hard time when he got back. He actually did try to commit suicide.” She pauses, clearing her throat. “Luckily, he survived. And he got to a place where he wanted to find a way to help people coming back from combat or from being deployed, who may be suffering and need an outlet.”

She takes another drink from her glass, continuing when I don’t say anything. “Anyway, the guy is Benjamin Sapphire. You may have heard of him. He and his brother own all the Sapphire resorts.”

I take a slug out of my beer. “I know who the Sapphires are. I’ve been to events with my grandmother that they’ve been at. But I haven’t heard of the gym.”

The waitress brings our food, interrupting our conversation for just a minute to make sure we’re all set, then leaves us to eat. I take a chunk out of my burger and watch as Belle dips a corner of her sandwich into her soup then bites into it delicately. We couldn’t be more opposite in our eating habits, and I wonder if perhaps her Beauty and the Beast reference really isn’t inappropriate.

She swallows and continues. “So, anyway, Ben’s gym, it’s free to anyone who’s served in any branch of the military. They have boxing, every kind of weight training you can imagine, and I think a couple different kinds of martial arts classes.”

“You want me to go to a gym?” I scoff and take another long pull from my beer, motioning for the waitress to bring me another. “I already belong to a gym.”

“He has a mental health staff there as well,” she adds quickly, her eyes darting to mine and then back to her food. “I think you need to talk to someone. And, let’s face it, traditional therapy isn’t working for you.” She picks up her spoon and takes a small sip of the soup then puts it back down. “And that’s free, too.”

“I think we’ve established money isn’t a problem for me.” I take the new beer the waitress hands me and take a long drink. I know I’m being a bit of a dick right now, but I’m kind of pissed. Maybe it’s partly because this reminds me of appointments in her office, and I thought I was going out to have a lunch with her, not have a fucking session.

She frowns. “I know that.” She taps her fingers on the table. “I think being around other soldiers who have been through the same types of things as you would be helpful. You would be among those who understand better than anyone else what you’ve experienced. And, maybe, just maybe, you can step into a ring and let someone beat the shit out of you there, instead of at that club.” Her voice rises slightly at the end in anger.

My brows shoot up as I realize why she really wants me to go to the gym. She’s worried about whether or not she’s going to be enough for me, and if I’m still going to need to go find that somewhere else. I can’t blame her for worrying about that. Shit, the last few times I went to the club, I had been to be beaten, and it was because I felt like I deserved it. Deserved to be punished for living, because they weren’t. But it wasn’t the only reason I went. I didn’t always go to that part of the club. Above and beyond the beatings, I liked my sex rough and hard. I liked being in control, my partner at my mercy. But just being with her over the last two weeks has shown me that she can give me that and so much more.

Now, I have to try to make sure she realizes this. That being with her gives me so much more than I ever could hope to receive at the club, because, fuck, I’m in love with her. If going to this gym helps prove to her that she’s enough, then I’ll do that for her.

“Okay.”

Her eyes jump up to mine, open wide. “Really?”

I nod. “If you think it will help, I’ll go and meet Ben.”

“Why?” She narrows her eyes. “You’ve barely put up a fight.”

I chuckle. She already knows me better than she thinks. “Because it’s important to you, and I want you to know that you’re enough. I don’t need to go to the club, Belle. Not anymore. Not if it makes you think less of me.”

Her hand reaches out and grabs onto mine, her head shaking. “Not less, Patrick. Never.” She laces her fingers into mine. “You’ve suffered a loss in a way I can’t even fathom. But you need to forgive yourself for what happened, and you need to stop feeling like you deserve to be punished for still being here when they aren’t. Can you honestly tell me any of the men you served with would have wanted that?”

I frown, drawing my brows together as I think about that. Our job was always to have each other’s backs. Serve for one another. One for all and all for one. And, now, I’m the only one left. “I honestly don’t know the answer to that, Doc.”

“Well, maybe being around other soldiers will help you figure that out. ”

“Maybe.” I look down at our hands and then back up at her. “If nothing else, it brought me to you. That’s honestly the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Her face softens, and she shakes her head gently. “And there you go saying the most perfect thing to me again.” She smiles and shrugs. “How the hell am I not supposed to fall in love with you when you say stuff like that?”

“Just go ahead and fall.” I give her a lopsided grin. “You can keep me company.”

Her cheeks rise as her smile blooms wide, her blue eyes sparkling, her fingers tightening around mine.

“We done with the shrinky stuff?” I smirk. “Can we get back to the sexy stuff, like going back to your apartment so I can watch you change and see what kind of underwear I’ll get to rip off you later?”

She swipes her hand across the air in front of us. “I’m done. No more shrink stuff today. I promise.”