Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 115964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
He motioned for me to stand next to him. His next words were soft, and not what I’d been expecting. “You need a comfortable stance. There’ll be kickback after you shoot.”
“Huh?”
“Stance.”
“Stance?”
He didn’t shoot with a stance. He just shot. Sometimes running, sometimes not even looking.
“You need a stance.” He patted the inside of my leg, and I jumped, feeling that touch shoot all the way to my chest. “You’re new to this. Stop fucking around this morning.”
I scowled. “I’m not fucking around.”
It’d been a long time since I’d fucked around.
I’d had a boyfriend when I was a junior in high school, the year my sister was taken. He’d been my escape until I decided to actually escape and start down the path that had brought me here.
“I used to have sex regularly.”
Raize went still. “What are you talking about?”
Oh boy. He didn’t like hearing that from me. That was his motherfucker voice. I hadn’t heard that tone since the motel room when he killed Bronski’s man.
Bronski. I couldn’t suppress my shudder.
I moved, putting my feet in some form of stance so I’d be comfortable for the kickback, but Raize was right. I was fucking around. “I have a list, you know,” I heard myself say.
He’d been reaching for my gun, but stilled once more. “A list?”
I took the gun from him and raised my arms.
“Wait.”
“Huh?”
He slid the gun’s magazine to me. “Load it. Press down, then slide it underneath.”
I did as he said. He pulled out some noise-canceling equipment and eye protective gear and shot me a frown. “You have a sex list?”
“What?”
He handed me the gear. “You said you used to have sex regularly, and then you said you had a list.”
“Oh!” Oh, gosh. That was kinda funny. I bit my lip, not understanding why I was in this mood this morning. “No. Sorry. I meant I have a list. Everyone who’s hurt me or someone I cared about, or done someone wrong—their name goes on it.”
Raize showed me the right way to hold the gun after I put the clip in it. He moved my finger to rest against the frame, moving my right thumb to lock over my left hand. “What’s the point of the list?” he asked.
“They’re people I’m going to destroy if I get the chance.”
His body froze as his eyes shifted to mine. “Where do you have this list?”
“It’s in my head.”
He stepped back, putting my shoulders in the right position. Then he stood behind me, and I could feel his breath against my face. “Am I on the list?”
“No. If you were, I wouldn’t be telling you about it.”
“Who’s on the list?”
My attention went back to the gun. “Am I good to shoot?”
“Keep your left hand on the gun. Don’t break your hold. Keep your stance. Be ready for the kickback. Shoot when you’re ready.”
I shot.
I didn’t need to go through the steps he’d just given me. I was always bracing for the worst in this life, and because of that, I didn’t move. Not an inch. I felt the kickback. It reverberated up my arm, my shoulders, my chest. I felt the wave of pressure slam against my face, but I was ready for it. I’d been around enough guns being shot.
But I had not been ready for the emotions that surged through me.
I’d gone over my line. I’d just shot a gun. I was a step closer to making that list a reality. Maybe that’s why I’d told Raize about it.
“Bronksi’s on the list,” I said softly.
His dark and penetrating eyes found mine. “We can make that happen.”
Yes. Right. I told him I wanted to kill a man, and he said “we can make that happen.” I was so far over the line now that I wondered why I’d ever drawn a line. It didn’t make sense. I couldn’t start on my list with that line being there.
“That last building, Oscar’s, it’s on the list, too,” I confessed, my voice quiet. “I want to blow it up.”
His eyes narrowed. I knew he was remembering my freak-out. “We can make that happen, too.”
A wave of emotion swept through me, and I braced myself. I didn’t know what I was feeling, but it was so much right now that I couldn’t move a muscle. Not. One. Muscle.
Raize’s hand went to my hip, and his fingers flexed there. “What’s going on in your head?”
I went back to remembering that boyfriend. “I was thinking about the sex I used to have. That was a long time ago.”
His fingers dug into my hip as he aligned behind me. I could feel him from my shoulder to my ass. He fit against me, almost perfectly.
He used to have sex regularly, too. I’d seen the women who left his room in the mornings. And his stint was a lot more recent than mine. Mine was years ago, probably three years ago. That would make me… “I should be in college.”