Shot him.

She screamed and dropped the Taser while Troy felt the jolt go through him. He stiffened, trembled and down he went. His hearing was fine, even if he couldn’t move his body. In fact, his hearing was a little too good—Grace wouldn’t stop screaming.

“Troy! Troy! Troy! Oh, my God, Troy!”

All he could do was twitch on the floor.

Suddenly she stopped.

He heard her talking into her phone. “It’s Grace at the flower shop! Send the doctor and hurry! I shot Troy! I electrocuted him! He might be dead!”

As the stinging shock passed, he lay still and pain free, except for the back of his head, which had hit the floor pretty hard. And his right thigh, where the Taser prongs hit. A few more inches and he’d have been a eunuch.

Seth crouched beside Troy, grinning. “Well. That works pretty good.”

“Shut up.”

“Great idea, Troy. Get a figure skater a stun gun.”

“I said, shut up.”

“Good thing it wasn’t a Magnum.” He chuckled. “I don’t think she watched the DVD. What do you think?”

Troy groaned and struggled into a sitting position. There was a small amount of blood, very small, where one of the prongs stuck into his jeans, his flesh. He reached for it and Seth grabbed his wrist.

“Leave it, since Grace called for a doctor. Or I could take it out for you.”

Then she was there, kneeling on his other side. “Oh, my God, Troy! It just fired itself!”

“Because you had your finger on the trigger! Don’t you know you can’t put your finger on the trigger?”

“I didn’t! I mean, I didn’t think I did. Oh, Troy, I’m so sorry! Scott’s coming.”

“Do you see where this is? I’m lucky he isn’t going to pull it out of my dick! Didn’t I tell you not to open the box? You could have neutered me!”

Seth smothered a chuckle as he stood. “I guess you turned it on, right, Grace?”

“The instructions said it wouldn’t fire just because it was armed. You have to turn it on because it runs on batteries, but... Oh, never mind. I didn’t mean to, I promise.” Grace added some tears to her apology, hovering and begging for his forgiveness.

“All right, all right,” he said. “I think you’re perfectly safe from any potential attackers. Might want to work on your aim so you don’t kill the poor bastard.”

“Troy, really, I thought it would take a little pressure to make it fire! I can’t believe I shot you! Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I would never hurt you!”

The shop door crashed open and Scott Grant, breathless, ran in carrying his medical bag.

“Take it easy,” Seth said in a calm voice. “It was just a Taser. He’s fine.”

“Just a Taser?” Troy said. “It came a little close to the next generation of schoolteachers! Grace obviously has a shaky trigger finger.”

Right behind Scott was Peyton and their office manager, Devon. Behind them was Carrie, who shouldn’t be able to move that fast with her bad knees. Then crowding into the little shop was Waylan from the bar across the street and at least two of his customers and, in addition, every person who happened to be outside or even driving by when Scott Grant was seen running down the street with his medical bag.

Scott, panting, stopped in the workroom doorway to catch his breath. “Jesus, you took ten years off my life. I thought you shot him!”

“I did, but I shot him with this,” Grace said, reaching for the Taser that lay on the floor where she had dropped it.

“No!” at least four people shouted at once.

Troy grabbed her and pulled her toward him. “Gracie, it’s still got voltage. If you accidentally pulled the trigger again, you’d give me another blast.”

“Oh, God! Troy, this isn’t going to work. I can’t be trusted with one of those things. I’m going to kill someone. I’d be better off with a road flare.”

“Ever hear of the great Chicago fire?” Seth muttered to Scott.

“Shh, I forgive you already,” Troy said. “Just don’t touch it again until we figure it out.”

Scott Grant crouched next to Troy, his open bag beside him. “Why didn’t you take these prongs out?”

“Seth told me not to.”

“We usually have to call medical for that,” Seth said. “Not that I think it’s necessary, but I figured...”

“Not complicated,” Scott said, moving one slightly so it slid right out. They were shaped like small apostrophes and pulling it straight out could make it bleed a little, but wasn’t likely to even require stitches. He then removed the second prong. “There. Feel better?”

“I’m fine,” Troy said.

“I’m not,” Grace said. “I’m not fine. I almost killed my boyfriend.”

“Nah, not even close,” Scott said, standing. “Want a Band-Aid for that, Troy?”

“Funny,” Troy said, standing. “Let’s joke around after you’ve taken your hit.”

“I don’t know how much physical damage was caused, but your mood is definitely affected,” Scott said, smiling.

That’s when Troy heard all the voices from the shop. She shot him with the Taser. Worried about that note, so he bought her a Taser. It’s just a Taser. Yeah? You ever been hit by a Taser? Damn near killed my cat with one of those! At least something interesting finally happened. Let’s have a beer on that, should we? And there was laughter all around as the shop emptied of everyone but Seth.

“Damn,” Troy said, giving his leg a shake as if to bring the feeling back into it. “That sucker packs a punch!”

“I’m going to leave now if you think you can manage the situation without further injuries,” Seth said.

“You’re going to tell Iris, aren’t you?” Grace asked.

Seth nodded. “I’m thinking of quitting early. I can’t wait to get home.”

“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” she said. “I guess everyone knows about my note.”

“They don’t all know what it said or how it was written out. Just that it upset you and we’re looking for a prankster. If gossip works like usual around here, I think you’re probably safe.” Then he smiled. “Have a nice evening.”