Page 81 of Family Jewels

“Have her call me when she gets out.”

Jed hit the brakes and turned a corner onto a county road.

“Sure,” I said, turning the corner to follow Jed, but the phone slipped off my lap and fell to the passenger-side floor.

“What was that noise?” Joe asked, his voice muffled from under the seat.

“Bad connection,” I said. “Bye.” I could only hope he’d hung up since I couldn’t see the phone.

Jed turned off on another county road that went between two trees. He came to a stop in front of an oversized outbuilding that had two double garage doors on one end.

I parked the truck and leaned over the seat to find the phone on the floor, thankful Joe had actually hung up.

As I got out, Jed opened up the back door of the truck, and Neely Kate bolted out. With her long blonde hair flying everywhere and her hands clenched at her sides, she looked wild and ruthless and beautiful. Her white T-shirt was wet and plastered to her lacy black bra.

“What the Sam Hill do you think you’re doin’, Jed Carlisle?” she demanded. “This is kidnapping!”

“Me?” he shouted back. “You’re the one stirrin’ up shit in bars! What were you thinking?”

“How’d you even find out we were there?” she asked.

He just glared at her.

If I didn’t intervene, they would go at it all day. “Why did you bring us here, Jed?”

He turned his attention to me. “Skeeter thinks you two need to learn how to take care of yourselves. After walkin’ into that bar fight, I have to agree with him.”

“You think I can’t take care of myself?” Neely Kate asked with her hands on her hips.

“I dragged you away from a catfight!”

“I was holding my own!”

Rolling my eyes, I wedged myself between them. “I want to learn what he has to show us.” I paused. “But I don’t have much time. I’ve got to get back to work.”

Neely Kate shot me a glare that suggested she thought I was a traitor. I could only hope she’d see reason once she calmed down.

Jed had taken a step toward the building, but he stopped and seemed to take in Neely Kate’s appearance for the first time. The stupor on his face clued me in on the potential source of their bickering—Jed was attracted to my best friend.

Did she like him too?

That stare only lasted for a moment before Jed turned back to his car and opened the trunk. Moments later, he tossed a T-shirt in Neely Kate’s direction while trying not to look at her. “Put this on.”

She snatched it in midair, then looked down at her chest. A rare blush tinted her cheeks. For a moment, I was sure she’d refuse on principle, but she pulled her own shirt over her head, tossed it into the back of my truck, and changed into Jed’s shirt. All without saying a word.

Jed’s shirt hung down to her mid-thighs, but Neely Kate could wear a gunnysack and make it work.

Refusing to look at us, Jed led us into the building and flipped a switch by the door. Fluorescent lights flipped on overhead, and I was surprised to see a gym on one side and what looked like a shooting range on the opposite end. He led us to the shooting range first.

“Get out your gun,” he said, moving toward a cabinet and opening a door. “And put it on the table.”

He set a box of ammunition on the table. I almost asked him how he knew what to get, but then I remembered he was the one who’d given me my first gun. The exact model of the one I had now.

He gestured for me to sit down. “When I gave you the gun, I never had time to show you how to use it.”

“We’ve had target practice behind the house on Rose’s farm,” Neely Kate said defensively. “I showed her how to shoot.”

“You can never practice too much,” Jed said. “Rose needs to become so familiar with her gun that she can use it blindfolded.”