Page 73 of Vengeful Secret

Ciara hums in the backseat while Sutton and I remain quiet. Ciara doesn’t seem to mind, and it’s a comfortable silence.

I walk Ciara to the door, and she turns to wave at me before heading into her classroom.

Back in the car, Sutton grins at me.

“You’re really taking to being a dad.”

“You think so?” My chest swells.

She nods. “If you managed to get her into anything resembling an outfit without a fight, she likes you a lot.”

I can’t help but smile as I drive toward the gun range.

Sutton bites her lip, looking around at the range.

I’ve brought in a briefcase with two handguns in it, and I pull one out, quickly putting it together. She watches me with curious eyes.

“You don’t need to know how to clean it, yet.” I chuckle, and she smiles.

“Just to shoot it, huh?”

I nod and hold it in my hand by the butt, letting it point toward the floor.

“Three rules. One: There’s no such thing as an unloaded gun. Even if you think it is.” I take her hand and place her finger on the safety. “Two: always have the safety on when you’re not actively using it.”

“And three?”

“Never point it at anything you don’t intend to kill.”

Sutton swallows visibly and slowly takes the gun from me, by the handle just as I handed it to her. She keeps it pointed at the ground, trembling only slightly, as I put together my own gun.

We’re already standing in front of the targets, and I place my gun down in the case and put her noise-canceling headphones on.

“Point at the target,” I tell her, and she nods, turning to do so. “Put your finger on the trigger.”

I chuckle at the awkward way she’s holding the gun and stand behind her. I use my thigh to spread her legs apart, taking her hand and placing it correctly on the gun.

“Don’t close one eye. I know it's tempting, but you’ll see better with both eyes.”

Sutton takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly through her nostrils.

“Good,” I murmur, keeping my hands on her hips. “Now, aim at the middle. If you have to shoot someone, try to do it in the torso. The head is too hard to hit for a beginner.”

She aims the gun slowly, and then takes in another deep breath.

“Good,a ghrá. Good. Slowly squeeze the trigger…”

She does as I say, startling slightly at the kick, but even given that, she hits it right in the torso.

“Be careful of the kickback,” I warn. “Now, squeeze the trigger again, try to hit the same spot.”

She shoots again, righting herself after the kick, and a second hole appears, right next to the first one.

“Perfect.” I kiss her temple. “Keep doing that, it’s a semi-automatic, so you’ve got more shots. Just keep trying to hit that first spot.

She does so until she runs out of bullets and starts dry-firing, and I grab her hand, putting the gun down and chuckling.

Sutton grins up at me. “I did good, didn’t I?”

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