Safeword: Storm Clouds(41)

Kendra wanted to ask about the security firm, but this man was already curious enough about her. Still, she should probably try to figure out who was recruiting these kinds of people to Chattanooga.

Eric was talking again. "How long are you in town?"

"Only a day or two, I'll spend the day interviewing with them tomorrow, if they want to make me an offer I'll have an appointment with an outside person the following morning, some kind of therapist or something, and then if she gives the okay they'll make me an offer and fly me home that evening."

Kendra stood. "Well, since the two of you aren't going to have much time to spend together I'll leave the two of you alone so you can catch up with each other."

Eric stood and put his arm around her, "Actually, if you could stick around a bit, I'd like for you to get to know Ranger a little, and I'd kind of like for him to have a better impression of you than the one your knee probably left in his back. He's family, and you are important to me. Please stay for a little bit."

"Well, since you asked nice, I guess I kind of have to now."

Ranger apparently had some questions for her. "So Kendra, what do you do for a living?"

"Well, I'm kind of independently wealthy, but I like to keep busy, so I work with a friend who owns several bars and restaurants in town. I help with the overall management, and when a manager somewhere calls in sick or something I can go in and cover for them. I've also been known to fill in as doorman, and in most of the bars the doorman acts as bouncer for the front part of the club, so I guess I've managed to keep some of my reflexes in shape with that. Most recently I've been opening another bar for him, it will be down near the new dorm buildings at the University, we're going to call it The Library. I'd start my own bar, but it's a huge pain to keep up with the management. Abbot's deal with me is that I start it up and then he handles the brunt of the management headache and still cuts me in on a good portion of the net profits for the life of the bar. Works for me."

"How did you become independently wealthy?"

"I used to work as an assassin, and that paid really well."

He raised his eyebrows, not believing her, but waiting for her to say whatever came next. She gave something between a grin and a glare. "Sorry, but that sounded like the kind of answer you were looking for, so I gave it to you. The truth is kind of boring - I got an inheritance and invested it wisely. I continue to make more money than I spend, and if I keep that up I'll never have to have a regular job. I'm not dating Eric for his money."

"Most people who have not killed people are not eager to claim they have."

Whoa, she hadn't thought of that. Oh well, guilty dog barks the loudest, so proclaiming to have never killed wouldn't be wise. Besides, she didn't want to lie to him, probably best to try to turn the tables, "Spoken by someone who has killed?"

He just observed her again, probably noting that she hadn't denied killing, "You say you aren't dating Eric for his money, that hints there is another reason you are dating him. Why are you dating Eric?"

Eric spoke up at that, "Ranger, you're getting out of..."

"No Eric, that's okay, I can answer his questions. I like that you have someone who loves you enough to give me the third degree."

Kendra had not looked away from Ranger as she was talking to Eric, and she kept her eyes on him as she answered his question. "Because he's so alive, so full of.. energy, life. He doesn't let fear hold him back, if he wants to do something, he does it. I enjoy spending time with him. We're still figuring things out, but I guess we're both hoping we can find a way to make things work."

"Why might things not work?"

Kendra looked at Eric, then back at Ranger. "That's kind of personal, but since you asked, I'm infertile and Eric wants kids."

Ranger looked shocked, he looked at Eric. "You've let a relationship get to the point where you are talking about kids and I don't know about it? You told me you were seeing someone, but... "

Eric shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't want to jinx things."

Ranger apparently didn’t want to stay on that subject any longer. "Well, it's close to midnight now and I've got to be at Drake Security at 10:00 in the morning. It looks like it's about a twenty or thirty minute drive from here, so I can stay up a couple of hours but I should probably head to bed around two in the morning or so."

Eric looked at Ranger’s bottle, "I see you've already helped yourself to some beer, I'll get one for me. Kendra, wine?"



"Yes, please."



Kendra felt like she should say something, "So Ranger, where did you fly in from?"