Page 111 of Titan

“If that’s what you want.”

I nodded. I was still feeling pretty fragile, and I wanted a distraction.

Gil’s hands went to my clothes, telling me he was onboard with that plan. He might not think he was perfect, but to me, he would always be. No one had ever made me feel more validated in my feelings and emotions than this man. And I couldn’t help but be grateful he was fighting my corner with every inch of his being. Because I would do that for him too. Always.

Thirty Six

Theia

The next day, Gil took me to his headquarters with him. It was my day off, and he didn’t want to leave me in the penthouse after yesterday. I was grateful for that. However, I wasn’t expecting him to take me towards the back of the factory into a room that had thick metal walls. When I saw what was in the room, I turned to Gil and wondered why on earth he’d brought me in here.

“What is this?”

He frowned, letting go of my hand and walking over to a shelving unit where he placed a gun I did not know he was carrying down.

“It’s somewhere the men use to practise shooting.”

There were a lot of bullet holes in the walls and a few targets sitting around. Gil walked over to the other end of the room and started setting them up.

“I can see that, but why are we here?”

He looked back at me.

“I’m going to teach you how to use a gun. My life is dangerous, and I want you to be able to defend yourself if it comes down to it.”

I opened my mouth, closed it and opened it again, unable to form a sentence. He wanted to teach me to do what? I’d never held a gun in my life, let alone wanted to shoot one. It wasn’t something I ever thought about, considering handguns were illegal here, and I had no interest in shooting for sport.

“Are you mad? I don’t want to fire a gun, Gil.”

He walked back over to me, having finished setting the targets. I watched him place both his hands on my shoulders.

“I’m not expecting you to shoot anyone. It’s a precaution, and it would make me feel better since I have a few around the penthouse. I don’t want you finding one and not knowing how to handle it safely.”

I swear I hadn’t heard him right. He couldn’t have told me he had guns in his penthouse.

“You what?”

“Well, I have knives, and a bat too. I’ll show you where they are later.”

I put my hands on his chest and stared up at him.

“Hold on one fucking moment. How many guns do you have in the penthouse?”

He let go of one of my shoulders to rub his chin.

“Five.”

“Five! Why do you have five? Surely one would do.”

He gave me a smile.

“That’s not counting the one in the car.”

I shook my head and pushed away from him.

“Jesus Christ. That’s a little excessive, don’t you think? Do I even want to know how many knives you own?”

He shrugged and walked back over to the shelves, picking up the gun he’d left there.

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