Synopsis
As the fixer for Blackbridge Security, Quinten Lake is the man that comes in and cleans up after people make stupid decisions.
Which means he didn’t want to be the one teaching lustful women gun safety.
There were guys on the team better suited for the task.
Get in and get out, that’s his motto, something he lives by not only at work but also in his personal life.
And he could be doing just that if it weren’t for the internet.
But if #BlackbridgeSpecial weren’t trending online, he would’ve never met Hayden Prescott.
He wouldn’t be wondering why she won’t make eye contact with him.
He’s supposed to teach her the skills to protect herself, but his ego is encouraging him to be her means of protection.
She isn’t impressed, and he’s left wondering if she’ll ever open her eyes and finally see him.
Chapter 1
Quinten
“How many?” I ask before Wren hands me the list.
“Fourteen,” the Blackbridge IT specialist responds as he digs through a stack of paper on his messy desk.
“There are only seven lanes,” I remind him.
“I know,” he says with a shrug, but I highly doubt the computer guy has even stepped foot inside of a gun range. “They’ll double up. You can learn as much from observing as you can doing a task, and before you make fun of me for not being very proficient in firearms, that goes for nearly everything in life.”
I look down at the list when he hands it to me, but I don’t really spend much time going over details. There’s no way to determine just by a list of names which of these women are in it for the wrong reason.
The goal is to teach women gun safety and how to shoot properly. The problem is, Wren used our company website like a thirst trap for horny women, drawing in over three hundred women for this six-week long class.
“I’ve picked the women that I felt needed the most help. The online bots I set up flagged those with 911 calls, repeated hospital visits, and women getting restraining orders. That sort of thing.”
The simple list in my hand gives none of that information, and I’m actually grateful it doesn’t.
I’m the crisis management consultant for Blackbridge Security—the fixer if you will. As such, I do a lot of work with politicians and people in the spotlight when they mess up or have some sort of scandal brewing that could have dire consequences for their public image, which in turn has the ability to ruin their livelihoods.
As the in-house fixer, the less I know about these women, the better. I’m tasked with gun safety, not digging deeper into their lives and eradicating the issue that caused them to need the class in the first place. When I see a problem that I think has a fairly easy solution, I normally steamroll whoever is in the way to fix it. I’m very proficient at my job.
And that begs the question of how I’ve been the not-so-lucky one to end up teaching this class instead of our weapons expert, Kit Riggs.
“So, like all domestic assaults?” I ask him, because how can I look down at a list of women, knowing they need help and not want to intervene?
“There are a couple in there, but one has a violent brother getting out of prison soon. One woman was in a gang, and they haven’t taken too kindly to her leaving that life. A couple more work night shift and have problems on their walks home after work. Three have had recent break-ins, one was even a home invasion. I picked the ones that flagged as needing us the most for this first class.”
“First class? This isn’t the only class?”
A scoffing sound comes from the corner of the room, but I don’t look in that direction. I’m surprised Wren’s African Grey parrot is just now making his presence known. The bird has a foul mouth and an attitude problem.
“Deacon mentioned having more than one to meet the need.”
I could choke my boss, but being out of a job on a Tuesday morning isn’t on my to-do list.
“And none of the other guys offered to help?”
“You’re on your own with this one,” Wren says as he spins away from me and begins typing quickly on his computer.
Knowing when I’m being dismissed, I turn to leave, bowing up and hitching the front of my body toward Puff Daddy.
The bird stands to his full height, wings spread as his head bounces up and down. “Come at me, bro!”
I shake my head as I open the office door to leave, laughing when I hear a squawked, “Pussy.”
Like the bird is a human, Wren begins to argue with the thing. Luckily, I can close the door and not have to listen to them.
“New job?” Kit asks as I cross the breakroom area and head toward the coffee machine.
I narrow my eyes at him. He should be the one holding this damn list, not me.
“And why exactly couldn’t you do this?” I wave the paper before placing it on the counter.
“I have other jobs coming up that conflict with the class schedule.”
“How convenient,” I mutter as I pop a dark roast pod into the single cup coffee machine.
“You really are irritated with this, aren’t you?”
I grunt in response without turning back to face him.
“You’re going to have the undivided attention of over a dozen women. What man doesn’t want that?”
“Me.”
He chuckles.
“This is a job better suited for Brooks,” I tell him, and this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned it either.
“Brooks would probably end up in an orgy,” my boss says as he walks right into the middle of our conversation.
“There’s an orgy?” the man in question asks as he trails behind.
“See?” Kit says as he points to the most charming man we have on the team. “He’d never get any work done.”
I look at Deacon as I lift the cup of black coffee to my lips, wondering if he’d consider a change for this class.
“Ignacio is a great instructor,” I say, praising our language expert. “What if there’s someone that speaks a different language?”
“All students in this current class speak English,” Deacon says. “And Alex has baseball practice on Thursday evenings.”
I can’t argue with Ignacio spending time with his son. Hell, a couple months ago, he didn’t even know he had a son. He’s spending as much time as he can with the thirteen-year-old kid to make up for all of that lost time.
“I know you don’t want to do this,” Deacon continues. “And that’s why you’re perfect for the job.”
I honestly feel like a sullen child not getting his way, but not only would throwing a tantrum not change anything, I’d never stoop so low.
“Jude is great with weapons as well,” I hedge, but great is probably an overstatement.
My best friend, Jude Morris, is Blackbridge’s in-house medic, science expert, and biological warfare expert. He could easily disarm a bomb, but I doubt he could hit a target from ten yards.
“If he shoots like he throws a baseball, then he’s more of a hindrance than helpful,” Brooks says with a wry grin.
I hold back the laugh at remembering the black eye he sported for a week last year after Jude smacked him in the face while playing ball at the park. He complained more about the bruising than I ever will about taking on this six-week class. The man is vain to the bone. Granted, the jobs he takes use his handsomeness as a weapon, but even when he’s not working, he doesn’t know how to turn it off.