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I blink. Maybe? I can’t think. “This is fuckinguseless.”
Logan doesn’t flinch as he methodically works through whatever the fuck he has on his screen, but Dante gives me a patient look that makes me want to scream.
Then Maddoc’s gritty voice sounds from behind me. “Take her down to CMA.”
I whirl around, and he’s leaning against the doorjamb, giving Dante one of those looks that speaks volumes I’m not privy to.
Dante tucks his phone away and gets to his feet. “Good idea, Madd.”
“CMA?” I jump in. “What’s that? Did you get another lead on Chloe?”
Maddoc’s lips tilt up at the corners, but the pale eyes he’s got me pinned with stay serious. “Not yet. CMA is a shooting range. You need to learn to handle a weapon.”
I shake my head, turning my back to him and stalking over to the front window. I push the curtains aside and stare out into the empty street. “I don’t like guns.”
Behind me, Dante snorts and the rapid-fire sound of Logan’s fingers on his keyboard go still.
“It doesn’t matter if you like them as long as you can shoot them,” Maddoc says calmly.
I whirl back around to face him, lashing out with all the frustration and fear that has nowhere else to go. “Icanshoot. You know that. I just don’t want to.”
Maddoc just stares me down. “It’s not about want. Sometimes we need to do shit we don’t like. And there’s a difference between pulling the trigger and knowing how to handle a weapon.” He reaches up and touches his shoulder, the one that carries the scar from the bullet I put into him. “If you could actually shoot, you wouldn’t have missed.”
I grimace at the reminder of the night I shot him. And I see his point. We were standing so close together in the kitchen that it should’ve been easy for me to put a bullet in his heart.
But honestly, I’m not so sure that the reason I missed is because of my lack of weapons training. The truth is that even then, despite how angry and hurt I was, some part of me didn’t want to kill Maddoc.
His eyes soften as if he can read my thoughts, and he adds quietly, “Go to the range with Dante, butterfly. It’s a dangerous fucking world, and you’re right in the middle of it now.”
It’s a dangerous world that all three of these men have protected me from in their own ways. Put themselves between me and the line of fire, again and again. But he’s right, they might not always be there to do that… and the fact that he’s concerned about it, aboutme, means something.
“Okay,” I say, all the fight going out of me. Besides, I’m not doing any good here right now, and releasing some of this pressure on a shooting range instead of by biting off the heads of the only three people besides my sister who seem to give a damn about me is probably a win.
Dante slings an arm around me, a grin stretching across his gorgeous face. “You, me, and some hot metal? Trust me, we’re gonna have fun, princess.”
“I’ll go too,” Logan says, methodically closing up the laptop he was working on and getting to his feet.
“You will?” I ask, a part of me startled that he wants to voluntarily spend time with me, even after the way things have shifted between us. But it also warms something inside my chest.
Dante, on the other hand, looks a little put out, his arm reflexively tightening around me. “You don’t have to do that.”
Logan returns Dante’s gaze without any expression. “I want to.”
I almost grin despite all the worry and frustration coursing through me. I’ve never once seen any one of these three have a problem with the way I’m growing close to each of them, but I’d put money on the fact that Dante was hoping for a little one-on-one time with me just now… and I don’t hate the idea.
But I also don’t hate the idea of being looked out for bybothof them.
Dante holds Logan’s eyes for another second before relaxing with one of his easy grins. “Yeah, all right. Then let’s get out of here.”
Maddoc’s phone buzzes. “Take the Escalade,” he says before he turns away to take it, leaving the room.
“Guess that means I’m driving,” Dante says. “Go put on some different shoes, princess. Nothing with open toes. And no exposed skin here.” He runs fingers over my exposed collarbones, then down my cleavage, exposed in the tank top I threw on this morning. “That’s not gonna feel good if hot brass hits it. Put on something with long sleeves.”
“You want your hair pulled back too,” Logan adds, assessing me with his cool gaze. “Do you have a hat?”
I almost point out that I didn’t have any of that shit when I shot Maddoc. I was naked, sweaty, and covered with his cum. My hair being down didn’t get in the way of pulling the triggerthattime. But instead, I just head upstairs to do as I’ve been told, leaving Logan quietly grumbling something about his Audi that makes Dante laugh.
When I come back down dressed in more protective clothing, we head out.
