Ridge Creek

by C L Green

  “Hi guys!” I chirp as I climb off Jake’s chest and do my best to ignore Luke’s raised eyebrows. Jake remains where he is, his only movement is to shift his hands to form a pillow for the back of his head. He looks relaxed and comfortable lying on the floor. I glare at him momentarily before turning my back and walking over to give Emma a quick hug.

  It is as we are hugging that her eyes lock on Pierre. “Oh my God. That’s a baby Dogue de Bordeaux!”

  “That’s my new guard dog Pierre,” I announce happily as I unwrap her from my arms and turn to see Pierre fast asleep in his bed. “He sleeps a lot.”

  “He’s snoring!” Emma exclaims as she moves slowly closer to him with one ear cocked to listen to his soft snores.

  “He does that a lot too,” I announce as I move to stand next to her. “We should probably let him be, he’s tired from playing with Jake all morning.”

  “Is that one of your bra’s he’s all trussed up in?” Emma snorts as she realizes what Pierre has wrapped around his front legs. “Holy shit, he’s into bondage! A dog after my own heart. I love him! He’s going to need a studded collar and leash. We could also get him some sort of leather harness. Coooool.”

  We both hear a strangled noise come from behind us and turn just in time to see Luke swallowing, his eyes focused on the roof. Jake’s is still lying on the floor, his face is split in two with another of his shit eating grins.

  “What?” Emma asks innocently.

  Neither man says a word. Jake keeps grinning and Luke continues to stare at something of interest on the roof. I glare at Jake again. “Coffee’s this way,” I announce as I turn towards the hallway door.

  “You know me too well,” Emma replies cheerfully as she blows a kiss to Pierre before she follows me out of the room.

  *****

  “Stay put, we are on this,” Emma warns solemnly through the passenger side window of her car. Luke is in the driver’s seat looking very sexy having just had a shower after spending nearly two hours in the gym/shed with Jake.

  Luke nods his agreement with Emma’s statement. Jake places a hand on my hip reassuringly.

  “Okay, okay.” I grumble my response. “I’m sorted. I’ve had my initial freak out and now I’m calm again. We’re good. I’ll lie low here, finish Luke’s website and get a run at the one for the shop too. It’s so peaceful out here I’ll probably get Luke’s site finished in a day or two and be well on the way to having the basic screens done for the shop as well.”

  Emma smiles and nods her agreement with my plan. “Perfect. Take care and make sure you give my dog plenty of cuddles.”

  “Shall do,” I announce as Luke starts the car and puts it in gear. “I’ll see you both on Sunday. A full blown roast with potatoes, I can’t wait!”

  And I can’t. I am almost beside myself with Jake’s new kitchen and I’m itching to cook up a storm. While the boys were working out, Emma and I had assessed all the cooking supplies in the house. To our joy, there was plenty of everything we needed and we have now planned a roast for Sunday lunch that is going to include a spectacular entrée and a dessert. Having a real kitchen to cook in is awesome. Having a full-blown, home cooked meal is going to be even more awesome.

  I move closer to the warmth of Jake’s body and lean slightly against him as we watch Luke and Emma back out of the garage and head down the driveway. My mind already on all the programming I have to do, I start to turn and head back into the house. That is until I feel Jake’s fingers clamp down on my hip as he pulls me back to his side. In his deep rumble he says, “Not so fast, we’ve got something to do outside.”

  “Oh, okay,” I agree instantly. Of course if Jake wants me to do something, I’m there. This man does so much for me that I’m at the point of almost robotic acceptance of his requests. It will be interesting to see what happens when he finally asks me to do something that I really don’t want to do.

  Taking my hand, Jake turns and sets the alarm system on the house before taking my hand and leading me back through the garage and outside into the blazing sunlight. Turning right, it soon becomes obvious to me that we are heading back to the shed. Circling the house to reach the gravel path leading to the shed, Jake leads me through the sliding door and straight across the main room to the hallway. My senses are assaulted with the heady scent of sweaty men and hot showers from Luke and Jake’s earlier activities.

  Yum.

  Without pause, Jake leads me along the hall a few steps before stopping in front of a locked door leading off to the right of the hallway. I watch as he grabs his keys out of his jeans pocket and starts rustling around with keys. Finding his key of choice, he unlocks the door and pushes it open before propelling me inside with a soft shove.

  Glancing around I spy a single bench in the center of the room. The walls of the room are lined with steel cabinets. There are no windows and there is no second exit. Interesting.

  Another storage room for his pot?

  “Another storage room?” I ask absentmindedly as I move slowly into the room wondering what we are doing here. Perhaps we have an inventory to do?

  “Something like that,” Jake mumbles as he strides straight across the room still rattling with his keys. Standing in front of one of the huge steel cabinets, he finds another key and unlocks the cabinet door. Swinging it wide open, I hiss in shock when I see what’s inside.

  Guns.

  Lots of guns.

  “Holy shit,” I murmur as I stare blindly at numerous handguns hanging on pegs on the back wall of the cabinet. The cabinet also has internal drawers that slide out. “Are all these cabinets filled with guns?”

  “Some, but not all,” Jake replies as he reaches across to grab a shiny silver handgun with a brown timber handle from the wall of the cabinet. Holding it up, he clicks out the barrel, spins it and clicks it back in. He then slides out a drawer to start rummaging noisily.

  “What’s in the other cabinets then?” I ask, not sure I want to know. Good Lord, with this many guns he could arm a small army. Jake does not reply. He just keeps rummaging through the drawer. I move closer to see what he is digging through.

  Cardboard boxes and loose bullets.

  Finally finding what he is looking for, he picks up a small box of what I suspect are bullets for the gun in his hand before closing the drawer. He then locks the cabinet again and turns to place both items on the bench. He then leans across, takes my hand and pulls me to his side.

  “Right,” he begins softly. “This is a Smith and Wesson Model 36 revolver. It’s small, it’s light, it carries five, .38 caliber bullets and it has a double action trigger. What this means is that this little guy packs a punch. If you point this little beauty at someone and pull the trigger, you are gunna cause some major damage and possibly kill them. Because it’s a revolver, it does not have a safety so be sure you plan on shooting when you pull the trigger. The beauty of the double action trigger is that it will cock first, then shoot. This gives you a small window of opportunity to change your mind and means that it’s hard to accidentally discharge this weapon.”

  Holy cow, he’s teaching me about guns?

  “Um Jake?” I decide to butt in.

  Jake stops talking and looks at me with an annoyed look on his face. “What?”

  “Why are you teaching me all about a Smith and Wesson gun?”

  Jake’s eyebrows pop and a look of confusion skitters across his face. “Seriously?” He asks.

  “Well, um, yes. Seriously,” I reply in my own confused voice.

  Jake blinks a few times and then grins at me stupidly. “You’re a fuckin’ nut. You’re the one who told me you wanted a big assed dog and a gun. If I remember correctly, you had a plan to shove it right up Tony’s ass and then…”

  Understanding dawns on my face. Holy shit, he remembers that conversation. “You remembered that?” I ask with awe in my voice.

  “I remember everything Arianna. Especially when it comes to you. Admittedly I didn’t take you seriously when you sa
id it the first time but after your last melt down, I got the message. So now you have a big assed dog in training and in about half an hour, you’ll have a gun that you know how to load, discharge and hopefully hit something that you aim at.”

  Wow.

  Is there anything this man won’t do for me? “Okay then,” I murmur staring up into his beautiful eyes.

  Jake smirks and returns his attention to the gun in front of him.

  “If I ask for a pony can I have one too? I’ve always wanted a pony,” I whisper quietly under my breath as I return my attention to the gun in front of him.

  “I’m pretty sure the dog is gunna double as a fuckin’ pony but if you’re serious…”

  He heard that?

  “Let’s stick with the dog and the gun and maybe we’ll talk pony’s some-time in the future. If I’m still alive.”

  “Sounds like a plan. And just for the record, you will be alive. You need to trust me on that one. Now, back to the gun. These are the bullets…”

  Jake spends the next few minutes showing me how to load and unload the barrel of the gun. He also explains that I should keep all barrels full at all times so there is no chance of a misfire. I have to admit the gun makes me nervous but I also find myself feeling more powerful as I hold it up and point it at the wall in front of us.

  Resisting the urge to yell, “Stick ‘em up!” Is hard but by the seriousness of Jake’s tone as he explains the gun to me, I figure it might be a bad idea.

  When Jake is finally happy that I can unload and reload the gun in a reasonable amount of time, he grabs the box of bullets and leads me back out of the room. Locking the door behind us, he then leads me back out of the shed and towards the trees near the side of the house. To my surprise I see he has already set some old cans up in various places on tree stumps and rocks in the trees. “You’re organized,” I murmur.

  “Luke did this part while I was having a shower. We talked it through while we were sparring. He agreed it was a good idea. He’s taking Emma back to his place this afternoon and setting her up with a weapon too.”

  “You guys don’t muck about do you?”

  As is often Jake’s way when he doesn’t want to answer a question, he does not respond. He simply leads me to a point central to all the cans and says, “Point, aim, squeeze and shoot.”

  Which I do. For the next half hour. Time and again, reloading my gun and keeping at it until I reach the point where I can hit a can now and then. Finally happy that I have a fair chance of hitting a large target if it came at me, Jake finishes our session and we head back inside.

  The rest of the afternoon is spent with Jake out in his gym talking on his phone and me uploading pictures from my camera to Luke’s new website. (I know that Jake is on the phone because I watch him out the window of the spare bedroom he has set me up in with my laptop.) I also intersperse my work on Luke’s website with short strolls into the backyard between the shed and house to take Pierre to toilet. This Jake is now allowing as long as I carry my gun and he can see me through the window.

  Although it feels ridiculous carrying a gun while walking my dog in his own backyard, I do it to please Jake. I also do it because I saw by the set on Jake’s face when he explained this new rule to me, the matter was not negotiable.

  Our evening is then spent relaxing in Jake’s theater room (yet another room running off the hallway that I had no idea existed until he showed me), watching action movies. Bedtime is both uneventful and very eventful in that we head to bed early, but we do not get to sleep until late. This I find is an excellent way to finish any day with Jake’s last words before he finally falls asleep being, “Still not bored?”

  I sigh happily and fall asleep seconds later.

  *****

  I wake up to the annoying sound of Jake’s mobile phone ringing on his bedside table. Lifting my head from my position tucked tightly under Jake’s arm, I whisper into his ear. “Jake, wake-up, your phone is ringing.”

  Jake mumbles slightly and I feel his movements as he lifts an arm as if to reach for his phone before he lets it drop back down. He’s asleep again. Gently rocking my body against his, I try once again to wake him up but find my efforts useless.

  Right then.

  I hope you don’t mind me answering your phone then. Lifting and reaching across to grab his phone I note that name flashing on the screen is Emma.

  Strange.

  Why would Emma be calling Jake in the middle of the night and not calling me? Quickly checking the time on his screen (three-thirty), I swipe to accept the call. The phone is barely to my ear when I hear Emma announce quickly, “I found something.”

  Instantly alert, I realize that Emma does not know that I have answered the phone and whatever she is about to share, she had not planned to share with me. I decide to remain silent, the phone held firmly to my ear.

  “You’re not gunna believe this. It’s a fuckin’ doozy,” she continues, “I can’t believe I didn’t follow this up earlier…” And that’s all I hear as the phone is ripped from my ear and I hear Jake growl angrily, “Hang on Emma.”

  Annoyed at not hearing the news that Emma was about to reveal, I whine pitifully. I hear a click and the bedside lamp comes on. “Whatever she was about to share, was not for your ears Ari. Don’t answer my fuckin’ phone. Ever.”

  Jake is pissed. His voice is deep, it’s crackly and it is venomous.

  Woops.

  Jake shifts and with minimal effort, slides me across the bed and back to my side. “Stay,” he growls as he swings his legs to the floor and walks out of the room. Butt naked. I sigh, resigned that I am in trouble for answering his phone. I also sigh at the sight of his hard, apple shaped butt walking from the room.

  God damn.

  The next few minutes I spend lying as quietly as I can trying to hear anything Jake and Emma might be talking about. This is to no avail as all I end up hearing is the sound of the fluorescent light globe humming in the lamp next to the bed and the sound of my own heartbeat.

  A short while later, Jake wanders back into the room, a coffee cup in his hand and the phone still held to his ear. He looks solemn. He glances briefly at me and I almost choke at the look on his face. I’m not sure how to define it. He looks pissed, real pissed. He also looks worried, which worries me even more. Anything that worries Jake cannot be good.

  Pointing at me with his index finger I receive his message to stay put, loud and clear. He then stoops to grab his jeans from the floor, flings them over his arm, picks up his coffee cup and leaves the room. This time he closes the door behind him.

  Not good.

  My mind starts racing and of course I go into meltdown. This is all too much. The pressure of not knowing whatever it is that Emma and Jake are talking about is crushing me. Top this off with a refreshed flight instinct triggered by a strange understanding that whatever they are talking about is not good for me and I’m losing it, all over again.

  Finding that my breath is now coming in short, sharp, hyperventilation style breaths, I decide to focus on calming the fuck down. This does not go well. Especially when out of the blue I suddenly hear a loud bang somewhere out the back of the house. My sense of direction tells me it came from somewhere between the shed and the laundry door.

  What the fuck?

  What is Jake doing? Shooting something? Is he that pissed that he had to go out back and shoot something? I once again make another mammoth effort to slow my breathing down so that I can focus on listening for more noises both inside and outside of the house.

  Nothing.

  My mind races again. What if something is really wrong? What should I do?

  I decide I have two choices. I can lie here freaking out or I can find out and deal with it.

  Resolved that I need to find Jake and find out what it is that has upset him so much, I climb out of bed. Throwing a loose t-shirt and a pair of soft black leggings on, I move towards the door. And then I stop.

  Something niggles in the back of m
y mind that I should return to bed and get my gun. Something was not right about that noise in the backyard. Hurrying back across the room, I open the bedside drawer and pull out my handgun. Following all the instructions Jake taught me just hours before, I check the barrel is loaded and click it back into place.

  Five bullets. Five shots. Easy.

  Rushing back to the door holding the gun loosely in my left hand, I turn the handle and peer outside and down the hallway. All is quiet. Which seems a little odd but not unexplainable. Maybe Jake went out to his shed. Wandering down the hallway it occurs to me that Pierre is nowhere in sight. This again is not unexplainable. In fact it explains the quiet. Jake must have taken Pierre out for a walk.

  My heart slows down and I start to feel my breathing balance out as I realize there is not too much wrong at all. Except perhaps for the fact that Emma has told Jake something he didn’t like or want to hear.

  This I can deal with.

  I continue to make a quick sweep of the house and confirm that neither Jake nor Pierre are anywhere to be found. This has to mean that they are out walking so I head to the laundry door and without thought, head out to the backyard. The yard is well lit by a floodlight mounted near the back door that points straight towards the shed. It is because of all the light that it only takes me half a microsecond to realize that I have made a mistake. A huge mistake.

  I should have paused to look around before I left the relative safety of the doorway. I realize this instantly as in what almost feels like slow motion, my mind registers that something is wrong.

  The first hint is that not more than two meters in front of me, Jake’s coffee cup lays smashed on the ground. Hot coffee, still steaming, is soaking slowly into the gravel path. I stare at the coffee cup in horror.

  The second hint is the loud click I hear to my left, along with a soft whimper from Pierre who is not happy.

  Not hesitating for even a millisecond I lift my gun and point it towards the click as I swing my head to find the source of the noise. A man, dressed all in black with long pants and a long sleeved shirt is standing holding Pierre against his hip while he points a gun at me with the other.