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Truth be told, Jio hated shooting when he was emotional. His grandpa always told him to keep his feelings to his damned self.
Most people assumed the exact opposite. They probably figured a man like him found comfort standing in front of a target with a loaded weapon in his hand. People expected violence and frustration to live in the same neighborhood, but that wasn’t always the case. If something was bothering Jio Gotti, all he had to do was squeeze a trigger a few times and he’d be back to normal. Shit, if only it was that simple.
The fact was that shooting required focus, patience, and discipline. The top three things that he’d been struggling with lately.
The indoor range echoed with gunfire as he stood alone in his lane wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants. Protective glasses covered his eyes and spent shell casings bounced acrossthe concrete floor near his feet. The target sat nearly thirty feet away, riddled with holes from the magazines he’d already emptied.
It’d been a week or so since his baby dumped him in the lobby of the building that he’d called home too. Yet, Nina still hadn’t left his mind.
Jio squeezed the trigger.
Pop.
The bullet landed right where he intended it for it to go.
He fired again and hit his target. His aim was damn near perfect.
Over and over, his goal was met. Jio wasn’t impressed. He’d been shooting at niggas since he was a teenager. This wasn’t cool to him. He was just thankful that he knew how to protect his body if need be.
For the first time in a very long time, Jio felt defeated.
Not by another man or the FEDS… shit, not even the streets but a WOMAN. A beautiful, intelligent, classy lady by the name of Nina Marcelle. And boy did this shit hurt. It pained him way more than he cared to admit.
His baby was really gone.
The realization hit differently every time it crossed his mind. Some days, the shit made him angry. On rare occasions, especially after he’d been drinking, it made him want to call her. Sometimes it made him want to drive to her building and stand outside until she came downstairs. He was on some Loverboy R & B shit. He wanted his girl back. For some reason, today he felt more down in the dumps than he had since the night everything happened, and he didn’t know why.
Jio lowered the weapon and stared at the target.
This wasn’t the first time she’d pulled this shit. Hell, they'd gone days without speaking. They’d even broken up before but this felt totally different. It wasn’t a petty argument orpunishment for him not answering the phone on some stupid shit. Nina wasn’t even being dramatic and trying to prove a point by making him chase her. Her decision was intentional.
For the first time since he'd met her, Nina wasn't trying to fix their relationship.
She was trying to get her own life together, and for some reason, that scared the hell out of him.
The target slid back toward him and he stared at the paper silhouette, shaking his head slowly.
“You a bitch,” he muttered to himself.
Because he missed her.
God, he missed her so much.
He missed hearing her complain about reality television while simultaneously watching every episode.
He missed the smell of her expensive candles and how she used to always
Steal food off his plate after saying she wasn't hungry.
He missed seeing her glasses sitting crooked on her face as she worked and hearing her voice and her raspy laugh. He even missed her nasty attitude and how much she used to get on his nerves.
The door to the range opened behind him and he didn’t even have the energy or concern to turn around to see who was entering.
If someone was about to try and off him… on some sad shit, they would be doing him a favor. Jio couldn’t eat or sleep. He’d even tried getting some pussy but his dick wouldn’t harden.
“Knew we’d find your ass here,” Kadeer, his best friend, announced.
