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PEPPER TOOK EXTRA TIME to get ready for her shooting lesson with Jaxson. She refused to admit it had anything to do with the fact that Owen Bryce would be present. There was something about him that made her feel like they could sit down and have long conversations about everything or nothing, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly why. Still, she added extra smoky eyeliner around her serious brown eyes and used hair product to define the short choppy layers of her dark hair.
Taking a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, Pepper admonished herself not to become star-struck. She wasn’t even a country music fan, for god’s sake! Shaking off the weird feeling, she skipped down the stairs. The unrelenting heat and humidity of summer in the South hit her the minute she stepped outside, prompting her to crank the air conditioning to high as she slid into her dark blue Camaro. Once the steering wheel was cool enough to hold, she started off down the street.
When Pepper arrived at Jaxson’s shooting range, she parked the Camaro in front of the private garage door, knowing her arrival was captured on at least two security cameras. She slipped through the open exterior door and found the interior door to the living quarters was unlocked. Since Jaxson was expecting her, she walked in without knocking or announcing herself. She realized her mistake when she stepped into the mudroom to find a shirtless Owen pulling clothes out of the dryer.
“Oh!” Pepper exclaimed, her mouth rounding in shock. Although she knew it was rude and sexist, she couldn’t look away from Owen’s muscular chest and arms. Right away she noticed the tattoos on his upper arms. One of them looked like it might have a military connection.
Owen noticed her staring. “It’s a good thing you didn’t get here two minutes earlier,” he teased, “or you woulda caught me in my skivvies.”
Pepper’s face flamed. While she attempted to stutter an apology, Owen pulled on a freshly laundered t-shirt and smiled at her to show he wasn’t offended. Once again Pepper was captivated by his eyes.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” Owen asked. His southern drawl was still present, but it was much less noticeable than it had been earlier at Francine’s.
Pepper tilted her head to the side, her expression puzzled. She narrowed her eyes and studied Owen’s face, trying to look past the handsome features for something familiar. Finally, she shook her head and shrugged. “Sorry,” she said. “Should I know you?”
“Strolinski,” Owen replied with a wink and a grin.
Once again Pepper’s jaw dropped. “Owen Strolinski from Lake Michigan State? We had Social Sciences and a few other classes together!”
Owen chuckled and nodded. “Yep, that was me.”
“Wow, you look... different.” So much hotter, she couldn’t help but think. The shy, floppy-haired guy who was too skinny for his height had certainly grown into himself.
“You look exactly the same. I seem to remember you were dating somebody... Wasn’t his name Dan?”
Pepper fidgeted. “Daniel, yes. We were married for a few years. He’s, um, gone now.” Pepper purposely did not make the distinction between dead or divorced. She still wasn’t sure herself how that all worked.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. You two seemed really happy together.”
“We were. But, things happen. How about you? Married?”
“Divorced, about a year or so ago. We were only married for a couple of years before that. Damn, Pepper, can I just say how refreshing it is to be with someone who doesn’t know more about me than I know about myself?”
Pepper gave an embarrassed laugh. “Would you be upset to know I had to google ‘Owen Bryce’ to know who you were? Country music just isn’t my thing.”
Owen threw a hand over his heart with an exaggerated gesture and sighed. “I’m crushed. I guess I know who to talk to if my ego ever gets too big.” Then he laughed and said, “Like I said, it’s refreshing.”
“So where does the ‘Bryce’ come from?”
“It’s my middle name. Kinda felt like a fresh start when I started using it as my everyday name. But enough about that. Come on in. Jaxson was putting some leftovers in the fridge. I think he’s going to get some guns ready while I take care of the dishes.”
Pepper decided Carter must not consider Owen to be dangerous. Otherwise she knew he would never have asked Jaxson to have him stay at the range. Even though Jaxson kept his weapons secured when not in use, the potential was always there for an unscrupulous person to gain access to what amounted to a small arsenal. Pepper mentally moved Owen’s name to the bottom of her list of suspects.
Owen followed Pepper as they walked toward the kitchen. “Any news on Courtney?” she asked.
“No. The state crime lab marked off the area and began working today, taking pictures and measuring, but they won’t be able to fully investigate until the bus is cool and they can collect all the evidence.” He sighed and continued, “I really hope she wasn’t on that thing when it exploded.”
“But, wouldn’t she have been with the rest of you if she were safe?”
Owen looked around as if he were afraid someone would overhear them talking, then he said, “Sometimes she would disappear when we went places, like she wanted to explore on her own and get away from us for a while. Honestly, I think Courtney might have taken advantage of the bus explosion to run away.” He held a finger over his lips. “The only other person who knows that is Deputy LeBlanc, so please don’t say anything.”
“Run away from what?”
“Her ex-husband. Courtney’s been touring with me since I found her one night at a little restaurant we went to after a show. She was beat to crap. Didn’t want to tell me her ex had done it, but I finally convinced her she was safe with me and I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She’s been on the road with me as my stylist for the past few months, but I could tell lately she was getting antsy. I think she might have gotten word that her ex was after her, and maybe she decided to run again.” Owen shook his head, clearly worried about Courtney.
“So you two were a couple? And you think she just up and left without saying anything to you?”
“No, we weren’t together. It was more like a big brother, little sister kinda thing.”
Pepper had her doubts about that. Was it remotely possible that Courtney didn’t have a hero worship complex over the incredibly gorgeous man who had rescued her from an obviously dangerous and intolerable situation? She pursed her lips, thinking. There had to be at least one person on the tour who wasn’t happy about the new addition. But would they be upset enough to commit murder?
Jaxson emerged from the kitchen, yelling, “Owen, come on, man! The dishes are waiting!” His face turned red when he saw Pepper, and he tried to explain, “Owen insisted that I treat him like a roommate, not a guest. So, there you have it.” He spread his hands and shrugged.
Pepper couldn’t help but laugh. As long as nobody expected her to do dishes, it was all good. The guys could treat each other however they wanted.
While Owen did the dishes, Pepper followed Jaxson to the shooting area. By now she knew which handgun she preferred, and she immediately chose a Chiappa Rhino .357, causing Jaxson to raise an eyebrow and comment, “I see the Yankee lady knows what she likes.”
“Most women do know what they like. They just don’t always know how to go about getting it. Or they’re stupid and play games about it.”
“I see. Well, I certainly hope you’ll never play games with me.”
Pepper opened her mouth to reply, ready to bring up the subject of Jaxson’s recent lies, but Owen joined them before she could say anything. For the next hour, they took turns shooting at paper targets of animal and human outlines. Pepper found herself hitting the kill zone once in a while, which was a great improvement over the last time she had tried this.
Jaxson, Owen, and Pepper could hear each other through the communication system in their ear protection, and the men gave her tips to help her stance and aim, showing her what she should do by their own examples. Finally, it was time for her to take her last shots of the evening. Pepper breathed slowly, corrected her stance, sighted down the barrel, concentrated on the target, and squeezed off a perfect shot that struck the exact center of the bulls-eye.
Owen let loose with a rebel yell, and Jaxson picked Pepper up and swung her around in a circle to celebrate. Pepper couldn’t keep the smile off her face. With that one shot, she felt like she had won the lottery.
As the reverberations from Pepper’s amazing shot faded, the insistent ringing of a cell phone began to penetrate their protected ears. All three whipped off their ear protection and listened in an attempt to distinguish their individual ringtone. Jaxson realized it was his phone and went to answer it, leaving Pepper and Owen to empty and store their weapons and protective equipment. As they did so, they caught up on their personal lives during the years they hadn’t seen each other, studiously avoiding the reason Owen was here in the first place.
After an uncomfortable ten minutes of small talk, Jaxson returned. His face was tight, and his mood was dark. Before Pepper could ask what was going on, Owen’s phone rang. Jaxson and Pepper listened shamelessly as he spoke. Hey, if he didn’t want them to listen, he should have left the room, right?
Pepper whispered to Jaxson, “How did Owen get his phone? I saw Carter take them.”
Jaxson shrugged. “He probably got whatever he needed and returned the phones. Besides, if one of them is behind this, now they’re more likely to mess up by making a phone call or sending a text that Carter can check later since this is an ongoing investigation.”
Pepper nodded. That made sense. Then her ears caught the words “lawsuit” and “record label” before Owen hung up and sighed.
“Anything we need to know about?” Jaxson asked.
Owen turned around and faced them, running his strong hand over his close-cropped hair—Pepper noticed there was no bald spot—and heaving another heavy sigh. His deep brown eyes were troubled as he replied, “I just got word that the record label is sending a lawyer down here from Nashville. He’ll be here first thing in the morning. They said if we’re not allowed to leave so that we can be in Houston by tomorrow night for the concert, they’re going to sue the town of Sinful and bring a personal lawsuit against Carter LeBlanc for harassment and unlawful restraint.”