Page 64 of A Taste Of Darkness

CELEBRITY GUEST

Milo Marucci

We entered the shooting range with all ten of the security guys I had. Technically I had more just in case, but I figured ten were enough for today.

I must’ve been completely out of it after my kiss with Sterlie, because had I been in the right mind, I would’ve realized that ten were most definitely not enough for a day at a shooting range.

Now, why wouldn’t that be enough? Because the only good shooting range in Palermo was the one I grew up in.

I didn’t live here, but I learned how to shoot inside of this building since I was tired of my family teaching me at home.

The owner knew me, and though I didn’t look like the frenzied little kid with anger issues anymore, I was sure he’d recognize me the moment I stepped foot on his ground. I still visited regularly, even though my gun-handling skills were already as perfect as they could’ve been at a certain age.

When we stepped out of the car, I wanted to allow myself a second to look around and feel the nostalgia hit me, but instead, I was greeted with black suits. While I was tall enough to look over some of the guys, their presence ruined the overall calm picture, so even if I looked, it wouldn’t have felt the same.

Sterlie took my hand in hers as soon as the guys surrounded us, and we began to walk toward the building.

She was a little scared, I could tell. The last time she held a gun, a guy lost both of his legs. He was now dead, of course, so he didn’t need them anyway.

I didn’t tell Sterlie that the guy was dead, and I wasn’t going to tell her because she would’ve felt bad.

My heart skipped a beat or two when she looked up at me before moving to hug my arm instead of just holding my hand. If she made my heart skip any more beats, it was going to explode.

Once we were through the doors, the same fumes of gun smoke hit me instantly like a wave. I was used to the smell, but between these walls, it was like stepping inside a deathtrap when this must’ve been one of the safest places where guns were used.

It was controlled shooting.

Supervised.

No harmful intent.

It wasn’t very pretty in here: blank walls, a stench of guns in the air, and unwelcoming workers. It was loud, though luckily the lobby was a bit quieter. The guns’ firing was still audible anyway.

My first mistake was choosing this shooting range. My second one was not checking who was working before we arrived.

Sterlie flinched as we heard a gunshot, but she shook it off, knowing it was normal at a place like this. But her grip on my arm tightened either way. I didn’t mind it at all.

“Do we have a celebrity guest, or what?” someone with a heavy Italian accent asked. Someone whose voice was only too familiar to me.

Celebrity? No. I was far from that status. But I held a different one.

Inhaling deeply, I turned toward Sterlie and pressed my lips to the top of her head before I removed my arm from her clutch and told my security to move.

“Sir?” Michael sounded unsure. My safety was his number one priority, I was aware of that. I should’ve listened to his warning tone, but I didn’t.

“It’s fine,” I said, to which he stepped away to let me through, then reclaimed his spot to shield Sterlie.

While my security was here to protect me, their order was to protect Sterlie over anyone else.

If something happened to me, that was fine. Something bad was bound to happen to me eventually anyway. I made peace with that a long time ago. Sterlie, however, didn’t deserve to fall victim to my mistakes.

She shouldn’t have had to be the one to carry the burden of my unthoughtful behavior. She wasn’t supposed to take the blame.

My death was inevitable, hers was a consequence of my actions. It wasn’t right.

After seven years, I looked back into the eyes of a man who I once saw as an uncle of mine. He wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t even involved with my family, but he was more family to me than mine had ever been.

The shock on his face didn’t come as a surprise, the fist in my stomach did though.

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