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During Kai’s breakdown, so many tears had formed in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn’t let them fall. Kai was so raw and emotional right now. He had been there for me, so I wanted to be there for him. This was my time to console him, not his to console me.
After an hour of lying with him, his body finally relaxed underneath mine, his fingers digging into my backside. “We should go practice shooting your gun. You need to learn,” he hummed. “Come on. Let’s get up.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, watching him move around the room and turn on the light.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quietly, hurt still lingering in his voice.
I didn’t want to push it, so I let it go for now. I stood up behind him and followed him throughout the small house until we reached the underground shooting range and his weapons room. He gave me a gun that fit in my hand perfectly, the grip solid and comfortable against my palm.
I nervously walked over to one of the lanes and stood in front of the target where I had stood another night with Poison. Except this time, it was only Kai here with me. He stood back at first, watching me carefully and readjusting me whenever I needed it.
Once I faced the target, I lifted my arms and aimed.
My heart was racing against my chest. I never liked doing this. Even last time, I had been so nervous. But I knew that Kai wouldn’t let me get out of it. I knew that he was forcing me to do this for some reason. And I was sure that I didn’t want to know what that reason really was.
But I already did.
After taking a deep breath, I aimed and pulled the trigger one time. The bullet whizzed through the air and pierced the corner of the target. I swallowed hard, my hand starting to tremble slightly, and looked over at Kai.
“Keep your hips steady,” he said, taking a step toward me.
It was like he was stalking his prey, moving toward me so quietly and so slowly, and it made my heart race even more. I didn’t think I would ever be able to keep my hand or hips stable, to think clearly when he was around.
I looked forward and stared at the target again, feeling his body heat from behind me. Like last time, Kai’s hands came around my hips, his thumbs slightly digging into my ass and his fingers strumming against the tops of my thighs. I cursed at myself for how my body reacted to him. It always reacted to him the same way, like he was about to tie me up again and have his way with me.
“Steady,” he whispered into my ear, his voice gruff. “Deep breaths. And then”—he drifted one hand up my body to the gun and straightened my trembling hands—“shoot.”
Almost as if on command, I shot the gun. Another bullet whizzed through the air, this time hitting closer to the center of the target.
“You’re getting better,” he said, giving me a breathtaking smile. “You might not think it, but last time, you barely hit the target on your first few shots.”
So, throughout the night, I continued to fire bullet after bullet after bullet at a target, never hitting the center, but getting damn close. Kai was teaching me how to shoot without reacting, without my hands trembling or my heart racing.
He wanted me to be able to do this without thinking. If my life was in danger, I needed to be able to defend myself.
“Why?” I finally asked him, setting the gun down on a stand behind me. “You know the reason why you’re making me do this, don’t you?”
Instead of telling me, Kai handed me the gun back and nodded to the target. “Continue practicing. You’re getting better.”
“It’s Akio’s family, isn’t it?” I whispered, knowing that it had to be them. Nobody else that I knew of wanted my family dead. “They beat up my mom and dad a while ago, and my parents act like it was nothing. But I know my mom is terrified of them. Are they planning something?”
Kai ran his tongue over his teeth and didn’t answer.
And that was the only thing I needed, the only thing I fucking needed to understand that this was because of Akio’s family. Kai wanted me to learn how to protect myself because he was afraid that he would lose me, too, like he had lost his father.
