Nothing Left to Lose (21 page)

Ashton bid his
goodbyes as I was walking out of the room. I breathed a sigh of
relief as I rolled my shoulders, turning to look at him as he bit
into the bagel eagerly. “Thank you. That was… awkward.”

He grinned. “No
problem.”

As we walked, I
slipped my hand into his, partly because I wanted more practice at
the fake boyfriend thing ready for next week, but mostly because I
just wanted a little reassurance that everything was okay. I was
extremely nervous about going shooting. He turned to face me, a
smile twitching at the corners of his lips.

“What?” I
asked, confused.

He lifted our
hands, grinning. “That’s the first time you’ve taken my hand.”

“Um… Yeah, I
guess it is,” I admitted, squeezing his hand gently, willing him
not to push the subject further. When we got to the carport, I
pulled my car keys from my pocket, tossing them to him and nodding
towards the driver’s side of my Aston Martin again, watching as his
eyes widened in delight.

“Hell yeah!” he
cried, grinning from ear to ear.

“What is it
with boys and cars?” I mused. “Hey, that reminds me, we’ll have to
buy a car when we get to Arizona. Unless you want them to arrange
one for us.”

He opened the
door for me. “Never thought about that.” He popped the rest of his
bagel into his mouth before walking confidently around to the other
side of the car and climbing in.

“What sort of
car do you want?” I wasn’t really into cars, as long as I got from
A to B, that did me.

He shrugged. “I
don’t know. Something we can both drive.”

“I can see you
in a Porsche or Ferrari.” I narrowed my eyes, picturing him getting
out of a little, sexy sports car.
I bet that would be a good
look for him!

“Ooh, how about
one of those yellow ones from the transformers movie?” he
joked.

“You do know it
wouldn’t turn into a robot though, right?” I countered, poking him
in the ribs.

“Aww man,
really?” he frowned, faking disappointment. We laughed for a few
minutes while I searched for the shooting range on the GPS. “Do we
really need to choose a car?” he asked after a few minutes, when
we’d finally gotten going. I nodded in confirmation. “Okay, how
about a four by four then. You’ll drive that, right? They’re nice
and safe. If you have an accident, you can pretty much just drive
over the other car.” His face was serious and thoughtful.

“Are you saying
I’m a bad driver?” I gasped, faking hurt.

He laughed and
nodded. “Yeah.”

I rolled my
eyes and shrugged. “Whatever. Like I said, you choose something you
like. You can be my glorified chauffeur considering you’ll come
everywhere with me anyway.” Then I had a thought, was he planning
on coming
everywhere
with me? “Hey, what happens if I have a
ladies appointment?”

“Ladies
appointment? Like what?” he questioned, glancing at me curiously
before concentrating on the road again.

Is he
seriously going to make me spell it out?
“I don’t know, a
waxing or something like that,” I muttered, embarrassed. I forced
myself to go for a bikini and leg wax every few weeks because
sometimes the paparazzi liked to stalk our house and take shots for
magazines. Especially with the election coming up, they would be
all over my family soon; hopefully I would avoid all of that though
being at school.

“A waxing? Why
couldn’t I come with you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow, looking
like a little, confused puppy dog.

“Ashton,
seriously?” I scoffed, shooting him a warning face. There was no
way I was standing for that; I drew the line at that one.

He sighed in
defeat. “Okay fine. I guess I can’t really do things a boyfriend
wouldn’t do, so for things like that, you’d have to take Dean with
you and get him to stand outside the door,” he explained,
shrugging.

That was what
happened now, a guard waited in the car for me outside the
building. “Outside the door? Well, what happens if the lady tries
to kill me with hot wax?” I asked with mock horror.

“Don’t start me
worrying about that or I will come with you to your appointments,”
he replied, smirking.

“Oh shut up!
Why can’t I just go on my own? Nothing will happen at a beauty
salon, for goodness’ sake. I think you’re taking this job way too
seriously. So what if my dad needs to beef up his security because
of the election, no one’s seriously going to attack me,” I scoffed,
frowning. This whole thing was just stupid. He didn’t say anything,
so I looked over at him; he was frowning at something and looked a
little unhappy. “What’s wrong, Pretty Boy, cat got your talented
tongue?” I flirted, and then blushed at what I had said.
Oh man,
did I really just say that?
I turned towards the window and bit
my lip to stop the giggle escaping at the obvious slutty comment
I’d just directed at my bodyguard.

He burst out
laughing. “Damn it, Anna, will you stop making me laugh? I’m
driving!” he scolded, trying to be serious.

“I apologise,”
I said, still giggling. I glanced over at him, and he gave me a
wicked grin and winked, making my face burn even more.

Despite the
GPS, we still got a little lost on the way there so it took well
over an hour before we pulled into the shooting range parking lot.
The anxiety and worry had been building inside me the whole ride,
so by the time he cut the engine, my stomach was churning so much
that my cereal was threatening to come back up.

Dean’s car
pulled in and stopped beside ours, but he didn’t bother to get out.
As far guard, he was just to wait outside the building in the car
and be on call to jump in and save the day if he was needed. Ashton
smiled at me encouragingly as I forced myself to climb out of the
car and look over at the large, and incredibly intimidating, brick
building.

As soon as the
door to the place opened, the noise made me want to run. There were
already a few people inside, so a gunshot sounded every couple of
seconds. Each shot made me squeal and press myself against Ashton’s
side as he spoke to the assistant and signed us in with the guest
passes my father had arranged. Ashton was handed two black trays,
and I could see a small handgun in each one as the assistant led us
over to the last two lanes in the building.

My heart was
crashing in my chest, and my breathing was shallow. I didn’t take
my eyes off Ashton the whole time; it felt like if I kept him in
sight I would be okay. Once the assistant guy had left, Ashton
turned to me and pushed some safety glasses onto my face before
snapping a thick, heavy pair of headphones over my ears. Sound was
instantly muffled, but I could still hear the gunshots ringing out
in the background.

He gripped my
hips, guiding me to turn and face the right way. Stepping close to
my back, his arms circled around my waist as he clamped my back
against his chest. “It’s alright, Anna, I promise,” he said loudly
so that I could hear him through the huge ear defenders.

I pressed
harder into Ashton’s body, wanting to melt into him as another shot
rang out somewhere in the building. I was struggling to stay in
control. Deep down, I wasn’t sure I could do this. My eyes locked
on the black and white target of a body that was in front of me but
about twenty feet away. There was a target on the centre with
circles spreading outwards with little numbers in so you could
obviously keep track of your progress.

He gently
lifted one of my ear defenders off my ear, resting it on my cheek
before his hands closed over my shoulders, squeezing supportively.
“Okay, Baby Girl,” he said. His voice vibrated against my head,
making the hair on the back of my neck prickle.

Wait, did he
just call me baby girl?

Reaching out,
he gripped one of the hand guns, holding it out in front of me. I
groaned and shied away from it, pressing back into him further.
“It’s fine,” he promised. With his other hand, he took mine and
placed the cold metal into my hand before forcing my other hand
around it too so that I was holding it. His hands stayed firmly
wrapped around mine. A pitiful whimper left my lips. “Do you know
where the safety is?” he asked. Forcing myself to look at the
killing machine in my hands, I spotted a small button on the side
of it. I pointed it out with my thumb, taking a wild guess. I
didn’t bother trying to talk, my mouth was too dry; I knew nothing
would come out if I tried to speak. “That’s great, Anna,” he purred
in my ear. His praising, sexy voice almost distracted from the deep
down terror that had practically consumed me – almost, but not
quite.

Ashton then
proceeded to give me a brief overview of how to line up my target
and sight it properly; he went on and on about how I was supposed
to squeeze the trigger, not pull it – which actually made no sense
to me at all. Apparently, the gun would jerk in my hand a little
when I shot it, so I had to expect that.

By the time I
was ready to start, my breathing was coming too fast, and my heart
was racing. He put my headphones back into place and then guided my
hands out straight in front of me, still pressing into me from
behind.

“Okay, click
the safety off when you’re ready, and then go,” he instructed,
holding my hands tightly on the gun. A long groan escaped my lips,
but I moved my thumb regardless and clicked off the safety. When I
squeezed the trigger, the gun did indeed jerk in my hand. I
squealed and jumped at the sound and the fact that I’d just shot a
gun. “That was fantastic. Go again,” he encouraged.

As I squeezed
off another shot, it dawned on me that it wasn’t quite as bad as
what I had been envisioning. After a couple more shots, Ashton took
the gun from my hands, prising it from my stiff fingers as he
clicked the safety back on.

I turned to
look at him over my shoulder, chewing on my lip.

“That was
great!” he cried excitedly. “You wanna have a go on your own?” he
offered, raising one eyebrow.

“Okay,” I
agreed hesitantly. “But don’t leave me.”

He shook his
head, raising his hand and crossing one finger over his heart. “I
won’t, I promise.” He nodded back towards the target and held the
gun out to me again. I gripped the gun, turning towards the target,
trying not to notice that my hands were shaking. Once his arms
encircled my waist, I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths.
“Whenever you’re ready, aim, take the safety off, and then go.”

I concentrated
on the safe feeling I felt with his arms around me like that; I
focussed on the heat and hardness of his body as he held me
tightly. Finally, my nerves subsided, so I took a deep breath and
pointed the gun.

After four
shots the gun was empty so he took it from my hands. I breathed a
sigh of relief and felt my shoulders sag forward as I smiled, more
than a little proud of myself for overcoming my fear like that. It
was all because of Ashton though. I knew there was no way I would
have even set foot in this place if he weren’t with me.

“I am really
proud of you for doing that,” he said, bending forward and planting
a soft kiss on my forehead. I gulped, feeling my smile grow even
bigger because of his praise. “Want to see how you did?” he
offered, pointing to a button labelled target recall on the side of
the booth we were in. I nodded eagerly and pressed it, watching as
the paper target slowly made its way to us, on the little overhead
track. Ashton smiled at it happily as it stopped next to him. I’d
shot twelve shots in total. Nine of them had actually hit the
paper, three of them were even on the shape of the body which I was
surprised about. I hadn’t thought I’d even hit the paper with my
hands shaking like they were. “A few more times and you’ll be a
pro,” Ashton joked.

“Are you going
to have a go? Or are you scared you can’t match my awesome skills?”
I teased. I would actually quite like to see him fire a gun for
some reason, maybe the horrible images would be replaced if I saw
him do it.

He shook his
head quickly. “Not today. Another time I will. I think you’ve been
in here long enough already,” he answered, picking up the gun and
setting it, along with the extra clips we’d been given, into the
black tray. “We should probably get going.”

I nodded in
agreement. That was probably a good idea. I didn’t want to push it
too far today and end up suffering the consequences tonight when my
nightmares took over. Taking off my ear defenders and goggles, I
dropped them into the tray too.

“I’ll have you
shooting like a pro by the end of my eight month assignment,” he
said as we walked to the reception desk to sign out.

I scoffed and
shook my head. “I’d be happy just to get all of my shots on the
paper by the time you leave.”
Actually, I’d be happy just to be
able to hold a gun without my hands trembling dangerously.

As we walked
out of the building and got in the car, I spotted Dean still
sitting in the same spot. The boredom was easy to see on his face.
Ashton nodded at him as he held my door open for me to get in. “It
must be a really tedious job, being a far guard. I mean, he’s
always on his own, sitting around waiting for me,” I mused once
Ashton climbed into the driver’s side and started the car. I
actually felt a little sorry for Dean; he must be bored senseless
watching me all day.

Ashton
shrugged, pulling out of the parking lot. “That’s his job. He gets
paid for it.”

A sudden
thought occurred to me. “Do you get any extra money for looking
after me? I mean, you’re basically on duty for twenty-four hours a
day, right? So are you getting double pay or something?”

A smile
twitched at the corner of his mouth as he drove. “Nope, but I get
the pleasure of your company, which is something I would gladly pay
for. I actually think I’m doing them out of something,” he
answered. I blushed and shook my head, not knowing what to say to
that. Thankfully, conversation flowed easily after that as he
started telling me about his best friend, Nate Peters, who was
apparently a bit of a ladies’ man. Ashton assured me that if I ever
met him that he’d try to get me into bed.