“So, we’re boyfriends now?” I ask when Liam finally departs.
“Apparently. You good with that?”
Am I? I’ve dated people in the past, but not anything particularly serious, and not in a long time. And now…well, serious is off the table for me.
“For now,” I say noncommittally.
His leg hooks over mine, and he leans into me even more. I didn’t know that was possible, but apparently, he has a certain skill set.
“What are we going to do the rest of the day?” I ask when his nearness steals my breath.
Caleb’s face transforms, and he wiggles in his seat. “Well, thought we’d go shooting.”
My eyebrows fly up. “Shooting?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a moral qualm against guns.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he says, pushing himself up. “Finish that sandwich. You eat like you’re the Queen of England.”
“Better that than a two-year-old,” I reply, and Caleb leans down and bites the back of my neck. His teeth sink into the skin, and I gasp, something wild slithering through me.
“Let’s go, Plato. Enough of your weird moral dilemmas. The real world awaits.”
I huff, straightening my spine. “I can’t be rushed.”
Caleb rolls his eyes and then places his ass on the tabletop, watching me eat. His close inspection of my chewing hurries me up, and a few minutes later, I’m following Caleb outside. In the distance, there’s a makeshift shooting range dotted with homemade targets and a rusty old car.
My eyes settle on the charred stretch of land before me. I didn’t think anything could burn in the desert. “Why does it look like there was a fire here?”
Caleb waggles his eyebrows at me. “We blew shit up last time I was here.”
“Seriously?”
“It was epic. I’m sure we can recreate it if you want to watch.”
Good god, no. The mudding was enough. I’m not sure my brain could handle explosives.
“No. I’m…no, thank you.”
Suddenly, a staccato rattle of gunfire pierces my ears, and I whip my gaze over to Sem and Luke wielding semi-automatic rifles in their strong arms. Their gazes are laser-focused, their mouths curled up in excited grins.
I’m going to die this weekend.
I’m sure of it.
Their manic laughter whips around me as shells fall onto the ground around their feet.This is like some kind of horror film, I think when it suddenly stops.
My ears buzz as Luke steps toward me. I stare at the gun he’s holding out to me.
“You should try it. It’s fun.”
“It looks…frightening.”
“Nah,” Luke says, and then places it in my hands.
It’s warm and heavy. I shift it in my grip, not sure what to do with it. Caleb sidles up behind me, his arms sliding around my waist as he helps me position it.
