Page 33 of Edge
“I don’t disagree. It felt like I had a family one day, and they were gone the next. During that rough time, my MC family helped me through it. I’m not sure how I would’ve handled things if I didn’t have them, but I’m glad I never have to know.”
“I know what you mean. I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t met Irene when I did. Even though she wasn’t aware of the specifics, she knew I was going through something and stepped in to help. For someone with no one, her willingness to help was life changing, and likely lifesaving.”
Edge slipped his hand out from underneath mine and patted it twice. “I think that’s enough of the heavy emotional stuff for today. Since we have your car situation taken care of, do you want to learn how to shoot?”
“Um, sure.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“If I’m being honest, it’s not something I want to do, but I need to do it. Maybe I’ll sleep better with a gun in the house.”
Edge’s face quickly filled with concern. “You’re having trouble sleeping?”
“It’s nothing new. I haven’t slept well since Randall started coming home at all hours of the night. I hoped it would get better once I got settled somewhere new, but it hasn’t. It seems like every little noise wakes me up. I tried wearing earbuds one night, but that only made things worse. I kept thinking I heard something and would take them out to listen, over and over, until I finally left them out. Another night, I tried barricading the doors, but then I convinced myself I would die in a fire and had to remove the barricades before I could go to sleep.”
He reached out and gently cupped my cheek. “You don’t feel safe. I’m going to help you fix that.”
“Thank you,” I said softly. I wanted to close my eyes and lean into his hands. I felt safe when I was with him.
Before I was ready, he removed his hand and stepped back. “We can go to the clubhouse and shoot outside, or we can go to one of the indoor ranges. It’s up to you.”
“Which place will have less of an audience?”
“Definitely the indoor range. We’ll have at least three brothers come out and join us if we go to the clubhouse.”
“Indoor range it is.” Since I’d never shot a gun before, I preferred to have as few onlookers as possible in case I made a fool of myself.
“You want to stop for lunch first?”
I smiled. “Yes, please.”
10
EDGE
After lunch, Evie was unusually quiet while I drove to the gun range.
I waited until I pulled into the parking lot to ask, “Are you okay?”
“I guess I’m a little nervous,” she admitted.
“I’ll be with you the whole time. We’ll go over everything before we start shooting,” I assured her.
And that’s exactly what we did. I showed her how to load and unload the gun and how to chamber a round. Then I had her do it a few times. After that, we talked about gun safety and went over the current gun laws for our state.
“I don’t need a permit for this?” she asked in surprise.
“As of right now, no, but gun laws tend to change frequently, so keep that in mind. Are you ready to give it a try?”
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
After we put on our ear and eye protection, she followed me into our assigned lane. Once we were all set up, I stepped to the side and gestured to the target hanging in the distance. “You can go first.”
She glanced at the gun, the target, and then back at me. “I’m not sure about this.”
“It’s okay. I’ll help you. Come stand right here.” When she was in front of me, I moved in behind her. “Pick up the gun and point it at the target, but don’t pull the trigger.” Wrapping my arms around her, I put my hands over hers and helped her correct her aim. “When you’re ready, squeeze the trigger to fire.”
It took her a few seconds before she fired her first shot. “Holy crap! I didn’t expect it to feel like that.”