Page 52 of Jake
“You must practice a lot.” She nodded toward Aaron’s target.
“A bit. Not so much now as I once did.”
“Not enough time to shoot as much as you once did?” Matt asked.
Aaron shook his head. “Nah. Not required to spend as much time at the range. When I was in the Army one of the things I did for a while was range duty. Where I had to watch everyone, make sure they weren’t being stupid, and no one got hurt.”
Matt winced. “Bet that was fun. I’ve heard a lot of recruits these days have never even touched a gun, much less fired one.”
“That’s not the term I would have used, but I will say it’s not an experience I want to repeat.” He tilted his head toward the targets. “We want to put these up on the twenty-five yards targets or stay here on the fifteen?”
“I’m good either way,” Heather said, “so I’ll leave it up to you two.” She folded her target into quarters while she waited for them to decide.
“Actually, how about we move in a bit and go for the seven-yard ones. It will be good practice just in case you end up needing to aim for something closer,” Aaron said.
She turned and looked at him, narrowing her eyes as she waited to see if he would actually say what she knew was his motivation. He wanted to see how she handled something closer, because she might have to if someone came after her for the reward.
Could she shoot another human being? She’d thought that very question many times since Daddy taught her to shoot, and since she’d started carrying the pistol in the truck all the time. Mostly it was for emergencies, like an animal that needed to be put down in a hurry, but when she knew men were looking for her, she’d thought about it again.
If it was them or her, knowing what would likely happen to her if she were ‘property’ of the club Mitch had given her to, she could definitely shoot someone to keep that from happening.
To be sure she could manage to hit whoever came her way, she wanted as much practice as she could get.
They mounted the targets on the seven yard spinners, then went back to the tables where their weapons waited for them. Matt started reloading his magazine, and Heather started to do the same, but Aaron picked up his pistol, and turned to her.
“I noticed how your pistol kicks. I want you try this one,” Aaron said holding the pistol flat in one hand, the magazine in the other.
“Are you trying to sell me on another gun?”
He shrugged. “I just want to see how you handle it. You might find you like it better than yours. Or not. Either way it’s an experience. And you’ll have fun trying something new.”
She watched him for the space of two breaths, wondering if he was up to something or she was just suspicious today. Deciding she had nothing to lose she took the pistol, shifted her grip slightly, noticing how well it fit her hand. Better than she’d thought it would given that it was bigger than hers. When she was ready, she took the magazine from Aaron and shoved it into place, then racked the slide to chamber a round. After glancing at both Matt and Aaron to make sure neither had stepped out in front of the firing line, she took aim, flicked the safety off with her thumb and fired at the target.
She didn’t say anything as she retrained her sights on the target and fired again. And again. She repeated over and over until the pistol clicked when she squeezed the trigger. She hadn’t bothered to count her shots, because she didn’t know how many rounds were in it to begin with.
After thumbing the magazine release, she caught it as it fell, and laid both Aaron’s pistol and the magazine on the table. Then looked up to find him watching her, a ghost of a smile curling his lips.
“What?” she asked.
His gaze played down her face a moment before returning to hers. “You.”
“What about me?” She frowned.
“The way you smile, the way that crease forms between your brows as you concentrate, that look of determination you get when you set your mind to something. All of it.”
She blinked, not seeing what he was getting at, then shook her head dismissing it as she turned to look at the target a little over twenty feet away.
“I didn’t do too bad. Especially for an unfamiliar weapon.”
“Not bad?” Matt said from her other side. “I think you did damn good.”
She turned enough to see him, and found his pistol unloaded and laying on the table in front of him. He motioned down range, and together they walked out to the targets. She tilted her head as she tried to decide how she felt about this round. Aaron was right, it wasn’t bad for an unfamiliar weapon, but could she do better with her own? She wasn’t sure. And she did like that if she had to use it for self-defense, she would have more rounds.
She shook her head, pushing that thought out of her mind as she pulled down the target and replaced it with another. Lost in her own thoughts, she turned and went back to the shooting line, not paying attention to what the guys were doing or even if they were talking to each other. She folded the used target and set it on top of the first one on the bench to dispose of later. She didn’t want to leave trash out here for someone else to have to clean up later.
Still lost in her own thoughts, Heather went back to reloading her pistol, even if she wasn’t going to shoot it more, it needed to be reloaded.
“All right. You ready for the next round?” Aaron’s voice made her look up to find both men had returned, and she hadn’t even noticed. If they had been coming to take her back to Alabama, she’d have been in trouble. She needed to get her head out of her ass and pay attention to what was going on around her.