The old man continues, “Anything I can help you with? Where is Brianna? Is she not with you?”
“Nah, she’s working. Being a cop comes with some crazy hours, you know? I brought a friend with me.” She turns to me and motions me to come closer. “This is Traxx, he’s extremely out of practice, so make sure you give him an extra-large target and move it a little closer.” She winks at him and then looks at me.
The old man laughs heartily. “What a sharp young man you seem to be!” Sam gives me a strong handshake and then turns to Ciara. “Child, his target can be 10 yards away and yours 300 meters and you will beat him every time – with the right gun, of course.” Ciara’s face turns a gentle crimson and I make a note to self to remember Ciara is not used to compliments.
“Did you bring your own stuff?”
“Yeah, we’ve got ammo too.”
“Okay, come follow me then.”
I’m nervous because I don’t like the sound of gunfire since the night with Marcy. I steel myself to what I’m about to go into, and start breathing slowly. Ciara comes next to me and wraps her arm around my waist.
The old man starts walking towards the back of the building. We walk under an awning and there is an annex building. The entry building was well kept and clean, but obviously looks like a mom ‘n pop shop. This annex is state of the art. Sleek and modern, with at least twelve shooting bays, the distance seems to be somewhere between 25-30 yards. It seems to have an automated retrieval system, too, as I can hear the motorized sounds in between shooting sessions. There is a half glass wall separating this receiving entry area and the shooting ranges.
Sam moves to the wall by the door and grabs some supplies. “Here, you’re going to need these before you go in there.” We each get a pair of foamy earplugs and earmuffs.
“The sound is not that bad because our walls are sound absorbent, but you can never be too careful.”
Ciara is attentively observing me and my actions. After we sign some release forms, we proceed to move to the shooting bay. Looking for our number, we locate them towards the end of the range. There is a built in shelf alongside the wall opposite the shooting range and Ciara places the duffel bag there.
“So, what type of gun did you bring for me?”
“Well, I’ve got different ones. I figured we could trade guns after a while, so I brought two different ones. To get you started, I’m letting you practice with the Beretta 92FS, and I’m going to start with the Sig Sauer P229.”
I nod in understanding and start to feel somewhat inadequate because to me a gun is a gun and there is not much difference other than size and ammo, but the way Ciara speaks about each gun, it has this tone I never heard before… almost like reverence.
We do the mandatory safety checks and load the magazines with the ammo we brought in. When I finish, Ciara sets her gun on the counter and she comes over to look at mine. She points at the safety and reminds me to disengage before I start shooting.
“Are you ready?”
I take a deep breath before answering. “Yes. I’m ready for Step 2 - Live your life without fear.”
She smiles. “Okay, perhaps the step by step program sounds very corny… BUT nevertheless, we are going to continue because if we don’t, your next step is going to be group counseling.”
“Ugh! Keep those nasty words to yourself! Stop stalling, I’m rusty on this shooting shit but I’m ready to kick some blonde girl’s ass.”
“We’ll see about that.” She moves back to the wall and presses an intercom button that until then, I hadn’t noticed. “Sam! I’m ready.”
“Gotcha, girlie! How far do you want it?”
“Let’s go halfway. I want to give Traxx a fair chance.” She winks at me. Ha! She has no idea who is she messing with. I nod so she knows I agree to that distance.
The clips for the retrieval system hanging from the ceiling move towards us. Ciara picks two human shaped targets from a box under the shelf and hands me one. I watch her set hers on the line, and repeat the same steps with mine. When we are finished, she does a “thumbs up” sign and I realize there’s a camera behind us. The targets start to move back and stop at the midway point.
We readjust the foamy ear plugs and cover our ears with the earmuffs. I spread my legs and place my hands in the correct position for shooting and then, out of nervous habit I twist my neck until it pops. Then I line up the target in my sight and hold my breath as I slowly press the trigger. I was not quite prepared for the power of the shot, and the gun surprised me with a strong kickback but I was able to maintain it in position. The loud noise and the smell of gun powder residue hit my skin and that’s the emotional trigger I was hoping to avoid.
Her image covered my vision all at once with vacant eyes and blood spatter. The one thing that surprised me was that she was not really dead. She was pacing around looking at me with disappointment. I feel hot and my head starts to spin. Slowly, I take a deep breath and right before I close my eyes to clear my mind, I move my hand and flip her the bird.
“Traxx! Hey! Look at me!” I feel Ciara grabbing me by the elbow. “Are you okay?” She removes my earmuffs and let them fall against my neck and shoulders. “The first shot is going to be the hardest for you.”
“Working on it.” I give her a faint smile because when I open my eyes, Marcy’s gone. I’m sweating like a pig, my heart is racing like it’s the lead car in the Indy 500, but I smile bigger, because I got rid of Marcy all on my own. I’m not saying that she’s gone forever, but now I know that I can make her go away when she pops in my mind uninvited, and that by itself just makes me fucking happy.
Ciara’s looking at me like I’m crazy. It’s pretty obvious that she will recognize the symptoms of my stress-induced vision, but it’s her caring demeanor that makes all the difference to me.
“I was waiting for you to get started and to make sure you didn’t run into any problems, when I only heard one shot and then nothing… so I figured I needed to check on you.”
I nod. “Go on, sweetheart. I’m fine now. Let’s see how we do. I believe that I have another 16 rounds on this magazine and my trigger finger is itching to release them.
Nodding she agrees, “You got it!”
A few minutes later we are finished and we engage the safety, remove the magazine and check the chamber. I press a button on the wall and my target starts to move towards me. I grab it eagerly, like a kid getting ready to unwrap a birthday present, and my inspection and count reveals thirteen rounds hit the target and they are all in the chest area.
“It seems you’ve got this down pat, Traxx.”
“Hell, yeah! On the chest – thirteen shots out of the full magazine that carries seventeen. So I only missed four. Let me see yours.” She hesitates for a moment, turning around and stepping back to her shooting bay at the last minute.
“Okay, here is mine.” She hands it to me. I look at her paper eagerly, only to realize all her shots hit her diagram on the chest as well, but instead of random shots, she used all the ammo holes to create the shape of a heart. I look back at her, handing her the target she ‘decorated.’
“Show off.” I tell her as she heads back, all the while shrugging her shoulders.
“Don’t be a sore loser, Braveheart. Dignity is hard to come by and you are wasting all yours on some petty shit.” She starts to load her magazine while looking at me with one raised brow.
“I was just warming up.” I tell her trying to sound convinced. “You’ve got to remember that it’s been quite a long time since I have competed against someone else in a shootout. You have the advantage in all these activities you are dragging me to because you have recently been practicing. First, with the indoor skydiving, now with this. Not an even playing field I’d say and most definitely not cool.”
“Dude,” she smiles moving her neck from side to side to show some fake attitude. “I suggest ya’ quit your bitchin’ and get on with it! ‘Cause I’m ‘bout to show you how it’s really done ‘round here.�
�� I laugh and then she kisses her fingertips and blows me a kiss. “Are you ready? Let’s go for the head – the one above the shoulders, mmkay?”
I finish loading my magazine and slide it in place. “Oh! It’s on! The real question is - are YOU ready? ‘Cause I’m bringing it!” I hit the button on the wall after replacing the paper target retrieval system with a new one. Turning around, I assume my shooting stance, take aim at the target and let it rip.
The magazine was empty. I set my gun down and call the target back to me. I was very anxious to see the results. I grab the paper and start counting the holes. All seventeen rounds were decorating its head. “Ha! Look here! All shots are in the head!”
“That’s awesome! You did really well!”
“How did you do, Ciara?” I can’t help it. Yes, I know I’m being pretty arrogant, but come on! This is good!
Ciara brings her target to the window, and lifts it up so we both can see the results, and there’s only one hole. What happened?
“Wait, you only hit it one time?” I don’t give her a chance to talk when I start to laugh at her. “Is that all you’ve got?” I need to come with you next time and bet some money, honey, because I’m gonna be rich!” I look at her and she’s pouting and frowning.
Right then, Sam comes inside the range and yells, “I’ve got it all on video – this is the best I’ve seen in a long time!” He’s coming our way and seems very excited. My chest swells up with pride. I must be a natural at this. Then with my peripheral vision, I see Ciara making a ‘cut it out’ hand gesture towards Sam, and all my spidey senses are at full attention. Sam stops and gives her a questioning look.
“Hey, Sam!” Ciara says. “That’s awesome! I’m so glad you’ve got it on video because this man right here did sooo good! He deserves the recognition.”
Sam looks confused now, and I need to know what the hell is going on. I cross my arms in front of my chest and stare at her hard. She gives me one of those ‘I didn’t mean it’ looks. I turn and ask Sam, “Hey man, do you care to elaborate what exactly you have on video?” Ciara lowers the paper, drops her shoulders and turns around to avoid looking at me.
Sam looks at me then looks at her. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Tell me what” I ask finally getting frustrated. Ciara looks at Sam and moves her head from side to side.
“Son,” Sam says in a more serious note, grabbing the target from Ciara’s hand and shoving it on my chest, “the reason that there’s only one hole is because all her shots went through the same hole. See? That’s why the hole is a bit bigger and wider than one of yours, because all those rounds went through the same spot!” Then he boasts out laughing. Ciara looks at me with her eyebrows raised and duck lips.
“Damn! I should have known.” I start laughing, my frustration giving way to amusement and grab her in a bear hug. “That was fucking awesome! Sam, can we see that video?”
Ciara
We spent another hour or so shooting more rounds, after Sam finished bragging about me and telling my stories to everyone who would listen. Truth is, I’m really good at a lot of things. I do try to be the best I can at everything I decide to pursue. There’s no miracle formula, just a lot of hard work and dedication and absolutely no whining. And well, sometimes, I do get lucky.
When I was a member of the US Army Military Police, I earned the Expert Level of the Army Marksmanship Qualification for rifles and pistols. Let’s just say that I know my way around firearms. It’s just that I’m not a bragger and I’d rather keep these things to myself. So when Sam decided to talk about it, I was ready to go and hide. Since I wanted to practice a little more, I excused myself and went back to the range to gather my things.
Traxx walked back in with me. “You could stay with the guys, you know.” I tell him while I busy myself loading everything in the duffle bag.
“Nah, what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you carry everything?”
“Traxx, I carried the duffle bag inside the building.”
“Well, that was BEFORE.”
“Before what?”
“Before I realized you are full of awesomeness and surprises all jammed into a cute, tiny package.” He gives me his best panty-dropping smile.
“Ha-ha! Real funny.”
He turns and steps over to me, invading my personal space and taking me by surprise. My heart races and my temperature rises. I’m not sure how much more I can tolerate keeping away from him, because to tell you the truth, the Traxx that’s emerging from this terrible situation, has an appeal that is proving hard to resist.
I look him in the eyes – they are not sad this time, but they spark with something else that is hard for me to pinpoint – and I stay silent not wanting to betray the spell of this moment. He reaches his hand and cups my cheek. I’m afraid to move. My breath hitches a little and in that moment, all I can breathe is him. All I can smell is him. All I can sense is him. All I can feel is him. He’s consuming me from the outside in and my body’s giving up a battle that hasn’t even started. His callous thumb moves across my cheek, and each raspy touch brings me back from my sinful thoughts into this moment.
“Nibblet,” He says my name quietly, soothingly.
All I can do is whimper. “Uh huh…”
“Don’t you know that some of the best things in life come in small packages?” He lowers his head and his lips are coming straight for mine. At the last moment, Traxx stops, like he thinks better of it, and veers his lips to my other cheek. Feeling his five o’clock shadow on my smooth skin makes me really happy. I think our friendship may be moving in a different direction and I have to think about this because I’m not sure we are ready.
Creepers
Parked across the street from the shooting range, the creepers are watching. Waiting patiently for a sighting of their target.
“How much can they shoot in two hours? I thought all the time slots were for one hour at a time.” Asked a creeper.
“You know, some say patience it’s a virtue. I get it. I’m tired of sittin’ my ass in this car and waiting until something worthy of our attention happens.” Creeper two speaks, quietly, with frustrated words.
“Can we go get a coffee?”
“I don’t think we should step out of the vehicle under any circumstances. All it takes is one glance and we will be busted. If that happens who’s going to call the boss?”
The creeper rolls his eyes and leans back on the seat. “Fine, then I’m taking a nap. Wake me up in thirty minutes.”
“You are never going to get better at this if you go to sleep every time you get a chance.”
“Whatever…”
One asleep, one awake, they continue their watch.
Chapter 8
Ciara
“And that’s what happened.” It’s been a couple of days and I have crisscrossed paths with my friends one too many times, never having a chance to catch up. Today after work, I wasn’t going to let it go again. I setup a video chat so I can update Keagan and Brianna, on the situation with Traxx. “What do think?”
Keagan is first. “Well, it sounds promising. The hand on the cheek it’s definitely a sign that he’s feeling something. And I know my cousin, ‘feelings’ have never been part of him.”
“You know I’m not his biggest fan, I mean I love the guy, I just don’t love him with you. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, obviously.” Said Brianna. “It sounds like he’s unsure of what to do. Anyway, we seem to have forgotten that he has always been attracted to you. Always. It’s been hard for him to keep from crossing the line. I know it for a fact because I have heard him talk to Colton about it. Colton and Notso have talked him out of pursuing something with you many times in the past few years. I may have promised to rip his balls out of his body if he tried anything with you, too.”
“Why?”
“Because if it didn’t work out, it would have messed with our group dynamic. They were scared that if he tried a conventional relationship and it didn’t wo
rk it would have affected all of us. I also agreed.”
“So, whatever my opinion was on the subject, didn’t matter?” I asked Brianna. “You’ve known for a long time that I have feelings for him.”
“It did, but we thought you were not thinking clearly and I just wanted to protect you. Who loves a manwhore?” Brianna answered and I nod because I truly understand the whys. Traxx was a different person back then.
“Who loves a manwhore?” I repeat. “Someone who knows the real person behind the mask. He has always been different when it was just him and I. But it’s all irrelevant right now. Guys, going back to the current events, am I reading too much into it?” I asked.
“Ciara, he just doesn’t flirt anymore. We have not seen him give anyone his attention since before that night…” That was Keagan.
“Maybe he’s just missing being able to flirt with girls in general and you are readily available.” Brianna adds.
“My question to you, Ciara, is do you think he’s ready to move on from what happened and start something completely foreign and different from what he’s done in the past.”
“Keagan, that’s something that only he can answer. I refuse to think that my senses are so far off. Besides, you girls are no help.” I tell them and all they can do is shrug.
“Ciara, some things are for you to figure out on your own. And regardless what you decide and how it goes, we will be here for you and love you always.” Brianna says and Keagan agrees.
“Okay, let’s just leave it at that for now. Chat with you guys later?”
Frustrated, I close down the laptop and swiftly move to the fridge to get a beer and a koozie from the drawer. I go to the balcony and sit down on the shaded side. The sun is setting and the unforgivable heat is cooling off a little. I’m thinking about the last few months and everything that we all have gone through. Yes, Traxx was the original victim, but the rest of us were also victims and felt every ripple of this situation. Being close with someone means to experience their problems as if they were your own - and we are all close. We don’t ignore. We don’t brush off. When Traxx suffers, we do too. At the same time, when he experiences small victories, we do that as well. It’s a blessing and a curse, but it makes life more meaningful. I can’t imagine any of us going through life – day in, day out – without meaning, the only purpose being to blandly exist. Hell, no.
Dismantled (Girls on Top #2) Page 11