The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 169

Malcom’s dark eyes locked on the woman in front of him. For a moment, she just stared back at him, awe and admiration shining in her gaze. The spark in her eyes was back, and it looked like her confidence had returned too. He slowly squeezed his gloved hand into a fist.

That perfect bullseye had clearly fired her up. Petty was suddenly bubbling with determination.

“Okay, here we go!” She shook out her hands, swinging her arms in a few wide circles. “If I don’t hit the bullseye today… well, maybe the eighth ring… or the fifth… ugh, never mind…”

She paused, looked at the target, and grew serious. “Alright, if I don’t hit inside the second ring, I’m not leaving.”

Malcom just stood by quietly, listening to her mutter to herself. He didn’t interrupt as she finally raised the gun again. But after missing the mark two more times, he stepped over and gently pressed down on her hand, taking the gun away.

Petty blinked at him, puzzled. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

Malcom tapped a quick message on his phone and showed it to her. Your eardrum hasn’t fully healed. Shooting too long could hurt it.

Right. She’d been so caught up, she completely forgot she wasn’t supposed to overdo it.

Wait. How did Malcom know about her ear?

She narrowed her eyes at him, suspicion clear on her face. “How do you even know that?”

He typed again. Aaron told me.

Oh, that made sense. Otherwise, how would Malcom know about her injury?

Just then, her phone started ringing from inside her gym bag. Petty walked over, unzipped the bag, and saw Aaron’s name lighting up the screen for the fifth time that afternoon.

She answered. On the other end, Aaron sounded like he was about to lose it. “Petty, where are you and J? Come back already, please!”

Remembering that, Petty tried to calm him down. “It’s alright, Aaron. We’re almost back at the gym.”

Later that night, Malcom drove her home, with Aaron and the other bodyguards following behind in a second car.

They were just about to pull into her apartment complex when a sports car came out of nowhere, suddenly blocking the entrance.

The security guard poked his head out of the booth window, muttering a few complaints under his breath, but then the sports car honked loudly and scared him back inside.

The window of the sports car rolled down, revealing a face Petty recognized instantly.

Her phone rang at that exact moment. She answered without looking, and Owen’s voice came through, calm but hard to read.

“Petty, get out of the car. I need to talk to you.”