Page 82 of Lucian

“I’m not going to go shopping with him again if this is what he does.”

“I hate to tell you, sweetheart, but he won’t be the only one. You better get used to it.”

Jordyn didn’t think she ever would.

• • •

“This waking up alone thing is starting to give me a serious complex.”

Lucian’s shoulders tensed at Jordyn’s voice, but he didn’t turn away from whatever he was doing. This time, she hadn’t found him on the deck, or pretending to be busy in his office like the last couple of nights. Tonight, he was in his gun room with all of the lights on and the door wide open.

It wasn’t so much the lack of his presence in bed that woke her, but the noise.

“You know I love you,” Lucian said. “Don’t go worrying on that end.”

“I’m not. What are you doing? It’s two in the damned morning, Lucian.”

“Fixing my guns.”

He was standing in nothing but boxer-briefs, working over the table sitting in the middle of the room. Stress had tightened his muscles, his back flexing as he grabbed what looked like a drill with a long bit attached and some kind of metal piece with grooves at the end. The whirling screech that woke her up started again, making Jordyn cringe.

“They’re broken, or you’re breaking them? Because I don’t think this is how you fix a gun!”

“Fixing them,” he repeated when the noise stopped. “It’s a waste to get rid of them if they’re used.”

“With a drill?”

Jordyn was so confused it wasn’t even funny. This was getting ridiculous.

Lucian waved her over and Jordyn moved to his side. On the table sat two Eagles and a dismantled assault rifle. A bottle of cleaning solution, a jar of oil, and giant Q-tips were all set out on paper towels. Jordyn watched as Lucian repeated the process of the drill down the barrel of the gun, then the cleaning solution on a Q-tip into the barrel, and finally followed by the oil. Over and over he repeated the process in silence.

“Every bullet leaving the chamber has a certain set of striation marks left from the barrel. Every gun leaves different marks, kind of like a fingerprint. Ballistic testing can trace a bullet back to a gun by using those alone. I hate tossing out my guns. This,” Lucian said, holding up the drill bit, “… is a quick way to change the grooves inside of a barrel without messing up the weapon. It creates entirely new patterns, meaning the next bullet to come out won’t have the same striations. The cleaning solution gets rid of any metal fragments left inside so there’s no worry of the gun jamming, and the oil is just good for the piece after a harsh treatment like this.”

Oddly, Jordyn found herself interested in his explanations. Actually, she’d long decided since being around him that she didn’t mind guns. In fact, the dangerous nature of the weapons mixed well with Lucian’s attitude most days, and it was kind of hot.

“So, you decided to do this in the early morning hours, why?”

Lucian shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep and it needed to be done.”

Jordyn bumped his hip with hers playfully. “I’m right there in bed, you know. You can wake me up to talk, or whatever. I wouldn’t mind.”

Sure, following Antony around Marcello Industries over the last couple of days was tiring in a multitude of ways, mostly because Jordyn had a lot to learn, but she would always make time for Lucian.

“What’s wrong?” Jordyn asked softly.

“Nothing, sweetheart.”

Jordyn didn’t believe that for a minute. Lucian was a quiet man as it was, but he’d been especially silent since the Legs and Leather incident. He’d also stuck closer to her since it happened, like he was scared to let her out of his sight. The only time he was comfortable to leave her was if one of his brothers were around, or if she was working with Antony.

There was a price on her head. Lucian didn’t hide it. It was frightening, sure, but Jordyn was determined to get through it. There was no point in letting fear run her life anymore. It was hers, after all.

“Is this about your dreams?” Jordyn asked as Lucian finished cleaning the dismantled barrel of the assault rifle.

The piece was placed to the table with the utmost care. “Excuse me?”

“Your dreams. Are they keeping you awake lately?”

Lucian’s jaw clenched as he turned to look at her with blazing hazel eyes. It was the first real show of anger she’d seen in him towards her since their argument. “Why would you ask me that?”