Page 68 of Tops
“Ready to get some lead down range?” Nik asked, rubbing his hands together to warm them.
“You have no idea,” I said with a genuine smile.
Nik led the way, wearing a white shirt underneath his black suspenders. He had several guns holstered to give us plenty of options to shoot down range. We didn’t run into any other officers before Nik pushed open the door to our destination. He turned on a light that illuminated a few rows separated by thick concrete dividers, all open to the same vast long space with hanging targets.
I preferred outdoor ranges, but considering I lived in the middle of a big city, I couldn’t hope for anything better. Nik walked to the far end of the room, picking the last little cubby for us to practice in. Inside our concrete shelter was a long wooden table secured on either end by the concrete wall. The table separated us from the open space holding the targets. Nik unholstered two guns, setting them on the table for me to inspect.
“I’m very familiar with shooting. It’s just been a few years,” I muttered, grabbing earmuffs from the ledge under the table before handing a pair to Nik.
He put them on and stepped back. I slipped mine over my ears, muffling the already silent room. Now I could hear it every time I swallowed. I positioned myself in the middle of the space, grabbing one of the guns off the table and pulling the slide back. I centered the sights in the middle of the humanoid black figure on the paper down range. My finger bent over the trigger, and I breathed out at the same time I squeezed.
Nothing.
I forgot to check the fucking safety.
Hot prickles of embarrassment danced along my neck, but I refused to turn around and let Nik see the full blast of my shame. My finger moved quickly to where the safety should be, disengaging the lock before lining up my sights again.
This time I rushed, pulling the trigger as soon as I was mostly lined up. I couldn’t tell if my shot hit or not, so I adjusted quickly after absorbing the recall and moving my sights back into place. My finger pulled the trigger again, and I didn’t hesitate before squeezing off a few more rounds in quick succession. Bullets flew down range until the slight clicking noise suggested that it was time for me to put the gun down. I would need a new magazine or some ammo to put in this one.
I put the gun down on the wooden table before taking off my earmuffs and turning back to Nik with a sheepish grin. My father would have stood behind me with his mouth in a thin line of disapproval over my poor form. Honestly, I had just gotten swept away in the rush of firing a gun again.
“I think he’s dead,” Nik laughed. He stepped into the space with me to push a button on the wall. A motor hummed to life as the small dark outline of a human figure slowly got larger, and the target traveled toward us. It stopped directly above the wooden table, and Nik leaned into my space to grab the sheet from the clips.
The smell of gun oil and freshly burned gunpowder surrounded me, and I breathed in deeply. Then I realized how that must have looked, and I took a step back from Nik and hit the thick cement barrier.
Nik held the target in his hands, and I could see the light shining through several holes I had made in the paper. The problem was the holes were not tightly grouped together as they should have been. Instead of a cluster of holes, it looked like I was attempting to recreate the Pleiades constellation.
“Definitely dead,” Nik said with a smile, turning the target around to show most of my hits were at least on the body.
“Thanks, but I do know what a terrible grouping that is,” I sighed.
“Vanessa,” Nik said as he put the target on the table and moved to crowd me against the wall. “Dead is dead. I don’t give a fuck if you pull the trigger and miss every shot but one. If you are still standing and they aren’t, you did a good fucking job.”
I closed my eyes against the intense emotions his words brought out inside of me. It was in direct opposition to everything my dad taught me about how to shoot. Taking my time to line up the shots, squeeze the trigger, and then adjust accordingly. Nik just wanted me to pull the trigger as many times as it took to save my life.
“Let’s get another target up, and you can empty the other magazine and then pick which one you like better. Whichever one you want, you can have,” Nik said, putting his hand on the wall beside my head. Caging me in, trapping me like his ancestors must have done well enough to earn that as their last name.
His eyes flicked to my lips, and I wanted him to lean down to give me a taste of his lips more than I wanted to fire lead down range. In all the times we have snuck off for random sexual encounters, he had yet to kiss me or allow me to kiss him.
I leaned forward, intent on taking what I wanted now that I had an opportunity. He moved back at my advance, but his teasing smile helped to take the sting out.
“You do that on purpose, then. Not kissing me,” I said, not as a question but as an attempt to at least understand the rules of the different games they liked to play with me.
“You want meaningless sex. I can manage that, Vanessa. But the moment you decide to kiss me is the moment you will throw out any ideas of ever leaving.” Nik said, his gaze piercing, and part of me wanted to grab ahold of his short blond hair and pull him to me. A challenge to prove to him that I would take what I wanted and still be able to walk away, but something inside me held me back.
Nik allowed me a minute to sort through my options before he made the decision for us. He set up the area before stepping back from the cement shelter and putting his ear protection back on. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the slight hum that now ran through my veins. I felt this grouping wouldn’t look any better than the first.
This time I checked the safety before taking my stance and bringing the barrel to point at the new humanoid dark spot. I imagined it as the faceless stranger who attacked me at the mansion. My bruises and cuts had long healed, but a bruise lingered on my soul at my failure.
Having a gun that night could have changed everything.
My body tensed for a moment before realizing it was Nik coming to fit behind me. “If you’re looking to improve your accuracy, you need to adjust your stance,” he said loud enough for me to hear over the earmuffs. At the same time, he used his hands on my hips to adjust my position.
I kept the barrel of the gun pointed down the range, but my finger was firmly off the trigger until I could get my heart to settle.
“Now, take a deep breath,” Nik encouraged, keeping his body firmly against my back.
Air filled my lungs with a shaky inhale, and I moved my finger to the trigger. I focused on the feeling of Nik’s hands, protectively pulling me into him. My mind and body calmed, and I squeezed off the first round. Even from a distance, I could see white light shining through the center of the paper’s chest.
