Page 83 of Perfect Liar

Then, as I left the room, Ethan goaded his brother.

“Christ, now I see why you’ve gone mad.”

“Fuck you, Ethan. Leave her alone or?—”

I rolled my eyes and ran up the stairs.

Will placed his hand on the electronic pad outside the weapons room. True to his word, as always, he planned on teaching me to shoot.

The door slid open with a burst of air and automatically closed behind us, and we stepped into a deep, cavernous room.

“Don’t let the space overwhelm you, Elle,” he said.

I looked around.

“Well, it’s definitely unexpected.”

Three areas defined the “space.”

Just inside the door, we stood in the weapons vault. Countless different rifles and handguns hung on the wall and boxes of ammo were stacked on shelves—all of it illegal.

But nothing he showed me in that room scared me or made me think less of him.

My feelings for Will were absolute, and even his sins couldn’t change that. Nothing about his actions registered in my mind as a deal-breaker. My desire for him had changed me, made me not care who or what he was…

It made me see where I stood when the good versus bad lines were drawn.

“Ready,” he said.

“You’re not really asking, but yes, I’m ready.”

He nodded and led me through the second area with heavy workbenches and metal stools to the third area, the shooting pit.

The pit had one large worktable and targets positioned at different distances and angles.

Will was quiet as he filled several empty magazines, the slight clicks echoing around the pit. He inserted a magazine into the smaller gun from the table, placed it on its side on my palm, and wrapped his hand around mine.

“Feel it. It’s a compact 9mm Glock. A smaller version of mine but just as dangerous. And as I’ve said, you’ll handle it only when I give it to you.”

A combination of polymer and cold steel, the weight of it much less than I’d expected.

He let go of my hand and took it away.

“Look at me, Elle.”

I met his eyes.

“There isn’t a manual safety on this pistol.”

I bit my lip and fidgeted.

“Oh. Well, how safe is that? What if I drop it?”

“It’s quite safe. Just keep your finger off the trigger unless you mean to pull it. It fires only when you pull, not if you drop it. And you’ll see when you shoot, the trigger needs a good amount of pressure to engage.”

He went over the other parts of the gun and their functions.

“I need to hear you say that you understand everything I’ve said.”