Second Chance

Sorry about how long it took. Thanks to all who have sent me emails about how much you have liked the story so far. Hope it was worth the wait! -- CinderLaw

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The next day as Jared sat at the table, he could feel someone watching him as he cleaned his gun. He figured that it was Olivia since her could hear the cheerful music of Chloe's video. When he looked up it was to see Olivia watching him with a weary look on her face.

"Why are you doing that?" She asked.

"It helps relax me. Same, familiar motions that I have know for a long time, it sooths me and allows me to think." He responded.

"It makes me nervous." She said as she turned to wipe of the counter for the hundredth time.

"Have you ever held a gun before?" Jared asked.

"Are you kidding? Hell no, guns kill people!" she screeched back at him.

"No, Olivia, people kill people by using guns. It's not like the gun gets an idea to go out and hurt someone. A person develops that idea and then grabs a gun. You know guns can also be use to protect you from someone who wants to hurt you or even to hunt for food to feed your family." He said with a sigh.

"Whatever, thousands of children die because they find a gun and decide to play with it then they shoot themselves or a friend. Guns are not safe to have around children." She spouted to him.

"And parents like that should not be allowed to have children or guns. Look, I lock my gun up unless it is in my possession. No child could get to it since they can not get in the locked gun safe that I have for it." Jared replied. Then added for good measures, "You seem a little on the cranky side. Didn't you sleep very well?" Glancing up at her to see just a glimmer of wanting still in her eyes.

"I slept fine, thank you. I slept very sound and it was a satisfying slumber." She said as she turned a light shade pink.

Jared put his gun back into his shoulder holster before walking over to her. He leaned right up against her and asked in a husky whisper, "Did you let your fingers finish what I started?"

"I'm not going to tell you if I masturbated or not." She said in a hissing whisper.

Jared began to lightly kiss from her ear down her neck to the sensitive spot where her shoulders began. He wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. He was not sure if it was to bring her closer or prevent her from stopping him.

Olivia felt herself getting turned on by his actions. The fact that she didn't masturbate last night added to her heighten arousal. She had tried, she really had! But the feeling was just not the same and felt very cheapened especially since she was pretty sure he would not have given himself a release that way. So she had instead went to sleep or actually tried to go to sleep.

Suddenly Jared stopped, "Come on."

In her disordered state of mind Olivia didn't even consider refusing or asking questions. She just followed along like a child.

Jared led them out the front door, telling the guy sitting guard on the front porch to go watch Chloe. He grabbed Olivia's hand and took her over to the 4 wheeler that was parked out front. They got on and Jared took off down a trail that had been made for the 4 wheeler. They were on the other side of the lake when he stopped and that was about the time that Olivia began to develop a thought again.

"What are we doing here?" She asked as he got off.

"I am going to teach you how to shoot a gun." He replied simply.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!? I'm not going to shoot a gun!" She screeched at him as she got off the 4 wheeler. "I am going back to the cabin..."

"We are three miles from the cabin, so it will be one hell of a long walk for you."

"I don't care!" she said as she stomped off.

"Watch out for the snakes." Jared said simple.

"Snakes? What snakes?" She asked as she ran back to him.

He had never seen anyone move that quickly before. He thought that she might jump on his shoulders to stay as far away from the ground as possible.

"There are snakes around here. But since you're going to stay, why don't you come over here so I can teach you how to shoot a gun." He told her.

"I don't want to learn Jared."

"What if Tom shows up at your place, huh? What then?" He asked her.

"You said that you would take care of him." She said as she smiled sweetly at him.

"What if I'm not around?"

"Well then I guess that I will just die, because I won't have a gun to shoot at him. Doesn't matter that I know how to shoot that damn thing, if I don't own one then I still can't shoot it." She said with a huff.

Jared went cold the minute that she announced that she would die. Before she realized what he was doing he spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders and grit out hard between his clenched teeth, "Don't ever say that you will just die! You will fight to the end, never give up!"

Olivia's eyes were wide in shock, "Okay I won't." He let go of her appeased that she had agreed to do as he said. "What do I do instead Jared? If I have no gun..."

"I will make sure that you have a gun and a gun safe."

"Okay and if I can't get to it?" she asked softly.

Jared just looked into her eyes. After a few minutes he said, "come on let's get your targets set up.

It didn't take them long to get a bulls eye paper attached to a bale of hay for her to shoot at. He went through each step on how to load the gun, first showing her how to load the clip then finally how to put the clip in the gun. Finally they were up to the aiming and actually firing the gun.

Jared stood behind her, helping her aim then making sure that her arms were locked. "Now you are going to squeeze the trigger, don't pull it. There is going to a loud noise and the gun will kick back. Now since you are so new at this, take your time to aim. We are in no hurry. Keep you eyes on the target and squeeze the trigger when you're ready."

The heaviness of the gun weighted in her hand as Olivia tried to remain calm but between the anxiety of having the gun in her hands and Jared pressed against her backside it was a little hard. Then she took a deep breath and as she exhaled she squeezed...BOOM! It felt like time had stood still as she watched the smoke waft away from the barrel of the gun.

"Nice job." Jared whispered in her ear before kissing her on the neck. "Now do it again."

After 20 minutes of shooting Olivia was feeling more at easy with the gun. They had decided that they would head back to the house. Jared reloaded the gun before he holstered it.

Olivia decided to ask a question that was heavy on her mind. "Jared, why is it so important to you that I not give up. You got really intense and... well you kinda scared me."

Jared let out a long sigh, "Look, I don't want you to give up even if there is a slim chance you will succeed. I don't want to be the reason that you end up getting killed."

"You wouldn't be, Tom would. Remember he is the one that is after me."

"Yeah well if I don't make sure that you can take care of yourself then it's still my fault. Liv, I know you won't understand this completely but I can't be the reason that another woman dies. It almost killed me last time, I am pretty sure that I won't survive it again."

"You blame yourself for your wife's death?"

"Every waking moment in my life and most of the sleeping ones also." Jared replied without looking at her.

"But you said she died saving Laysea and the babies. How is that your fault?"

"I should have made sure she was safe. I told you that you won't understand this." He said as he turned away.

Olivia walked up behind him, touching him lightly on the back, "Then explain it to me. If nothing else I think that it would help you get over this burden that you have been carrying around."

Jared turned and looked at Olivia and saw something in her eyes that told him he could trust her. "We are supposed to marry for love. Trista and I were never in true love we were very comfortable and familiar to each other. The night we met her boyfriend had just dumped her. I was young and stupid and just looking for a good time. In the end, we drank too much and went too far. I had to marry her, it's our code and her father is in this business also.

I knew that I had to marry her the next day when I woke up beside her and we were both naked. That is the last time that I had more then 2 drinks in a night. We went to her father and I asked for her hand in marriage. He was happy to give it to me and never questioned that he had never seen us on a date before. He just saw that he was now connected to us.

We were married 7 days later and began our life together. Her boyfriend came back and begged her to run away with him but she knew that if they did I would kill him and drag her back.

Instead she spent the night before our wedding with him saying goodbye to the great love of her life that she would never get a chance to be with again. She found out 6 weeks later that she was pregnant so the baby could have been either of ours. She told me about their night together on our wedding night. I slept on the couch and she cried in the bedroom. I was so mad but I refused to touch her. The next day I went to find him but he skipped town and has never come back. Regardless of who was the father of the baby, I chose to be the father. Then she lost the baby and, well, it took a good year before she quit blaming me for ruining her life. In the end we had reached a place where we enjoyed each others company. We took what had been dealt to us by our own actions and we made the best of it. I loved her but not like she should have been. If I had let her go all those years ago, maybe she would still be alive." Jared said.

Olivia could see the naked pain etched into his eyes. She leaned into him and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"How can you go against every rule and behavior that has been ingrained into your very soul your whole life Jared? You did what you had been taught to do and was expected to do. Would it have made you feel better if you slept with her then left her alone and possibly pregnant? What if she had married the boyfriend then announced she was pregnant? Would you have spent your life wondering? You know, I have been on the flip side of this coin. I can tell you the heartache of knowing that there is no one there to take care of your child is very scary. I can't watch those Hallmark specials where the single mom dies and the child has no one left in the world and is thrown into the system. Sure, those end happy but in real life how many of those happen?

You're one of the decent guys Jared, even if your work is questionable. It takes more of a man to be able to stand up and take responsibility than to pull a trigger."

He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips, "Thanks, but I'm not a saint." He whispered to her a breaths space separating their lips.

"No, you're not. But at least you know that you're not." She whispered before pressing her lips against his again.

Jared wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up against him. He began to deepen the kiss, nipping at the corner of her mouth until she opened up for him. He then slipped his tongue in to start an erotic dance with hers. He knew that he was going too far, especially when he began to make excuses for laying her in the tall grass and slipping her out of her clothes and onto him. He groaned as he pulled back from her, seeing her passion glazed eyes look at him questioningly.

"I want you so bad Liv, but not here, not like this. I want to have plenty of time to explore every dip and curve of your luscious body. I want you to be cushioned by a soft mattress beneath you, not poked by a weed in your ass. I want you to scream my name not scream in fear if you see a snake." He ended with a chuckle.

"Okay, good point." She whispered back to him.

He reluctantly put space between them, trying to give his overheated body time to relax before she smashed back up against him for the ride back to the cabin.

"Jared? Are you going to be okay?" She asked him with a look of concern on her face.

"Yeah I am just trying to get my body under control." He stated, "Just give me a sec..."

BOOM! The area was shattered by the sound of a gun shooting.

Olivia went from standing and smiling at Jared, to being thrown to the ground with him on top of her. Within the space of a couple of seconds Jared went from flying through the air, landing on top of her, to returning fire. Olivia saw the man fall out of the tree that he had been hiding in. Jared grabbed Olivia and put her on the 4 wheeler in front then jumped on behind her. Starting the machine and took off, driving extremely faster then they had when they first came out. They made it back to the cabin in record time, Jared yelling for the guys. Trenton was the first to reach them.

"Trent grab Chloe and Olivia get them the hell out of here." He grabbed Trenton's arm, "Don't stop until you reach Jason. Tell him to hide them out at the penthouse."

"Okay." Trenton replied as he took off to grab Chloe.

Jared turned and grabbed Olivia looking her over, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, yes, I-I t-think so." She stuttered.

"Get in the truck, Trent will take you and Chloe some place safer."

"Jared what about you?" she questioned.

"I'm fine." He replied as he began to walk away shouting orders to the guys.

"No what are you going to do?" she grabbed his arm.

"I will follow you after a few hours okay. I just have to know that you're safe." He said as he kissed her on the lips.

Suddenly Trenton was standing beside her holding Chloe and pushing her toward the truck. Olivia got Chloe in and buckled then got in herself, fastening her seatbelt as Trenton took off like the hounds of hell was on his heels.

It took them about two hours to get to the lake house from the city and yet only an hour and 15 minutes to get back to the city. Chloe had fallen asleep but was very upset about being taken so fast. Olivia was still shaken up from being so close to a gun fight. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Jared shoot the assassin and him fall from the tree again. Strange, she was not upset by it. She knew it would be him or Jared and herself that would have been killed. Then she would begin to fret and worry about Jared still being out there with people trying to kill him.

They pulled up in front of a very tall apartment building; Olivia noticed that Jason and Ty were out front waiting on them. Jason opened the door before the trucked stopped and yanked her out and got her in the building before she had time to breath. She turned back to look at the truck and Chloe was handed to her.

"Come on we need to get you some place without a front door access." Jason said as he hurried them behind a partial wall to the elevators.

"Is Jared ok?"

"Yeah, but he has to finish up some business. Until then we need you to stay hidden." Jason replied in a monotone.

"What business? Were there more men there?"

Just then the elevator doors slid open and she was escorted inside. "This is Jared's place, make yourself at home. If you need anything then call me or Ty. Our numbers are by the phone."

"Jason, wait!"

Jason turned and looked at her.

"What other business?"

"Police." Without saying another word he got on the elevator and was gone.

Olivia sank down onto the couch, still holding Chloe. She had forgotten. Jared had killed a man. There would be questions and now she was the only witness to a murder.

"Crap! What the hell am I going to do now?"