Page 28 of Fighting Conviction
She was right. She hadn’t wanted to live, long before the doctors told her she’d have to fight for her life. He had many regrets, but his biggest was that he hadn’t fought hard enough to make her try.
Chapter Ten
Ellie kept up pace as she followed Dev past the BlackStone’s shooting range viewing gallery and into the indoor firing range. It’d been only two weeks since he began training her, but already she was getting more confident with her fighting and self-defense skills.
They’d even moved on to weapons training, hence the reason they were entering the nearly empty, cavernous room. Along one side was a window for people to view shooters without having to put on ear protection or watch out for flying casings. On the other side were six spaces, with walls separating each shooter. Each stall ensured every shooter had enough room to focus on their own training, without having to worry about a casing flying at them from someone else’s gun.
They’d only been there one other time, but Ellie was pretty good at hitting a target thanks to shooting with her brother. Too bad when it came to Dev, her aim was crap.
Who knew two hour training sessions with Dev three times a week would bring out the flirt in her? Unfortunately for her, apparently Dev still didn’t know.
She’d tried everything Sasha had taught her: jokes, innuendos, flirtatious giggling that made her feel like a complete bimbo. She’d attempted to touch him more, let her hands linger, and even taken to wearing only a sports bra and small loose shorts, hoping showing more skin would do the trick. No reaction.
Nope. Nada. Nothing.
Keeping her mind out of the gutter was nearly impossible and it hadn’t helped he was often shirtless whenever they were training. Was he deliberately ignoring her, or was she that awful at coming on to a guy? Then again, pursuing her brother’s friend was a bad idea in the first place. Maybe Dev just had the good sense not to encourage her.
Despite the fact she constantly embarrassed herself in the face of his unyielding disinterest, she still looked forward to their lessons. Maybe it was the exercise, or maybe it was knowing she wasdoingsomething about her helplessness, but training with Dev gave her a sense of confidence and freedom nothing else could.
Learning how to hold a gun or a knife was freaking empowering. She was taking her life into her own hands and just the idea she could be safer on her own merit made her feel like anything was possible.
Plus, she could forget her exhaustion, school, survivors, and even about her past. It felt good to just beEllieagain. Be in the moment and not worry about anyone else.
Dev’s deep voice brought her out of her musings. “Get a nine mil from the wall and grab your holster.” He pointed to the wall of weapons before indicating the stall directly in front of them.
Ellie followed his direction and grabbed her favorite Glock. Dev had bought it for her, saying she needed one she was comfortable with. Once she was old enough to get her concealed weapons permit, he was going to let her keep it as her own. She turned to her favorite stall and took a deep breath before entering, wishing, for what felt like the hundredth time, the walls around her didn’t automatically feel like they were closing in.
He turned to the other wall where a stack of posters and other supplies were kept. When he reached across the table, Ellie watched taut muscles roll his tattooed wings as they curved to accommodate the stretch.
She’d been striking, blocking, and kicking him for two weeks. Not normally very sexy. But she couldn’t get her mind off of what it would feel like to be able to caress the smooth marble of his back. How powerful would she feel if she left her mark on such a strong surface? Her skin flushed at the thought, and she almost didn’t catch him speaking.
“Which target do you want to do today?”
“Hmm. The devil.”
A small, sinful smile twitched at the corner of his lips and she crossed her arms in case her nipples were pebbling in the cold.
Yeah… the cold.
“Again, Ellie? I’m gonna get a complex if you keep trying to kill my namesake.”
“Well, maybe I’ve got some pent-up aggression toward you.”Or something else.When he shook his head with a dry laugh, Ellie didn’t hold back the giggles bubbling from her chest. Teasing Dev was one of her favorite hobbies.
“Alright, let’s get serious.” He slipped a sheet from the pile and brought the poster of a black-horned figure with him to the stall.
Ellie sobered as her heart started to beat in her ears. She tried not to think of how much smaller the closet-sized space felt after he joined her inside. But then her only other thing to focus on was how Dev’s skin radiated heat, warming her down to her lower belly where it twisted with desire. So yeah, that wasn’t helping either.
She busied herself with her magnetic leather holster, snapping the magnets together on to either side of the elastic waistband in her leggings. Most normal holsters weren’t made for Ellie’s favorite apparel, so it’d made her all warm and fuzzy inside when Dev got it custom made for her.
“Hey, whatisyour real name?” It was a feeble attempt to keep thinking about anything else besides the fact the metal wall kept touching her skin because there wasn’t much room. She had to get past the initial onset of panic first, then she’d be fine. “I feel like I should already know by now, but—”
“You do know it. It’s Ray.” Dev grunted and drew the clothesline pulley, bringing the clip at the end of the track forward.
He hung the poster and cranked the pulley, flying the poster to an abrupt stop nine feet away, or the ‘length of the average self-defense encounter,’ according to Dev.
“Ray? That’s actually your name?” His reply took her mind off the narrowing walls completely, and she couldn’t help the incredulous tone in her voice. “I thought that was part of your nickname, ‘Devil Ray’ Vos. You don’t look like a ‘Ray.’”
He shrugged and chuckled. “Nope, it’s my name. That’s why I like the shortened nickname.”
