Watch Me

Despite the strength of our relationship, Jude hadn’t been magically cured of all the doubts and fears that plagued him. In the first few months, he’d still needed his cars to help him fall asleep every night and there were times where he’d get lost in his head to the point that he began to doubt that what we had was real. Whenever that happened, I merely had to show him all the pictures that lined the walls of our little apartment over the bakery. Some were photographs of him and me with my family, others were pictures that Maks and Nattie had drawn for Jude or me or both of us. We were literally surrounded by our family even when it was just the two of us and that was what Jude needed to see.

As the year had progressed, Jude had suffered through fewer and fewer of those episodes and three months ago he’d packed the cars up in their plastic bag and dropped the bag into a toy donation bin at my parents’ church. From that moment on, he hadn’t looked back.

We’d managed to find some bright spots throughout the year as well. One was when we would go to visit Clifton Hayes at his house in the Hamptons. I hadn’t had high hopes for our first visit when Jude had extended Cliff’s invitation, but the man who’d charged me with protecting Jude so long ago wasn’t the same man we’d met when my family had rolled up the driveway of Rose Manor for the first time. Cliff had been a gracious host and he’d spent a good hour showing my parents his prized roses while Jude and I had taken Maks and Nattie for a walk along the beach.

The change in Jude over the past year had been something I couldn’t have even begun to imagine. Gone was the man who drove himself into the ground trying to overcome his limitations and in his place was someone who’d learned how to thrive in spite of those challenges. He’d stopped thinking of himself as the conditions that had defined him for so long and saw that he was enough just as he was.

For my part, he remained what he’d been from the moment I’d met him.

Perfect.

“Okay, the recoil packs a punch, so account for that,” I said to the small group of men and women surrounding the booth that was part of the firing range in the basement of the Smithfield office. I raised the gun in my hand and aimed it at the paper target at the other end of the room. I’d purposely kept the ear plugs out of my ears since I had no intention of firing the weapon just yet. The men and women around me had done the same. They listened intently as I began explaining the nuances of the particular gun I was introducing them to.

As I demonstrated the correct stance and pointed out how the gun was balanced, I heard the crackle of the PA system. I ignored it since it was likely Dannie trying to hunt down Mike so he could sign yet another contract from Clifton Hayes. The old man did nothing in small measures. When he’d made the decision to drop Premier after his security team had let Jude leave his property without protection on the day he’d come to the hospital to find me, Hayes had called Mike up that same day and told him Smithfield was getting all of his business. Mike had been taking on new contracts from Cliff as well as other companies ever since and our team had tripled in size in less than a year and was growing every day.

“So make sure you account for the heavier grip,” I said as I aimed at the target and put my finger on the trigger. “And this trigger is as close to a hair trigger as you’ll ever get.”

“I’m asking Nikolai to marry me tonight.”

The sound of Jude’s voice coming over the PA system registered but it took a split second to process what he’d said. When my brain managed to replay the words, my entire body jerked.

And my finger hit the trigger.

The blast of the gun tore through the room, but the bullet hit nowhere near the target I’d been aiming at. Instead, it hit one of the huge LED lamps in the ceiling, shattering it and sending sparks flying.

Holy hell.

There were about two seconds of stunned silence before the guys around me began laughing their asses off.

“Dude, it happened!” someone yelled from behind me.

I ignored the raucous celebration that broke out because Jude was still talking over the loudspeaker.

“I’m flipping the fuck out, Dannie,” Jude admitted. It was clear he had no clue he was on speaker.

“Um, Jude,” I heard Dannie begin to say.