Chapter 22

“Ok, fine. Maybe it wouldn’t kill me to learn how to use a gun, but does it have to be him? Why can’t you teach me, I mean he’s such an ass.” I said to Lucas, as I stood from my seat on the forest floor. 

With a small laugh Lucas replied, “Believe it or not but Daniel is a better shot than I am.”

Picking up the clean pan off the grass, we both walked back around, to the front of the cabin.  

“You ready?” at the question, Lucas and I both turned around in the direction of the voice, and saw Daniel, leaning on one of the hundreds of trees that surrounded the cabin. 

“Ready for what?” I asked Daniel, as I tried to contain the annoyance in me, he seemed to invoke whenever he opened his mouth.  

“For your first lesson.” Daniel casually answered, lifting his hand and showing me my grandfather’s gun.

Looking over at Lucas, the amused expression on his face quickly died as he caught the glare I threw at him. Using my gun Daniel pointed to a tree more than a couple feet away, with a bull’s-eye carved about 5 feet up, into the thick dark bark.

“It’s ok. Lucas said he’d teach me.” I said with a feigned confidence.

“I said, what now?” Lucas asked in surprise.

“Lucas has other obligations that need his attention.” Daniel said to me, his gaze locking onto Lucas’ “I said I’d teach you, let’s go.”

Shifting between them both, I watched as they traded intense glances until finally Lucas walked off into the cabin, without a word.

“What the hell just happened?” I asked, confused about his sudden behavior.

“Nothing.” Daniel replied before walking over to me.

Holding out my gramps- my gun in front of me, I took the revolver from him and watched from my peripheral vision as Daniel walked around to stand at my back.

“Do you know how to clean a revolver? How to take the safety off and put in the bullets?” Daniel asked, as he reached for my arm from behind.

Pulling away from his touch I answered, “Yeah, gramps showed me a few times, not really rocket science.”

“Good, then we don’t need to start from scratch.” He added, before grabbing my arm once more.

Lifting my right arm up from behind me, Daniel held it out towards the tree’s carved target. Leaning in close I felt his left hand lightly rest on my waist, “Don’t be so stiff, relax.” Daniel softly whispered in my ear.

Taking a deep breath I let my body soften and adjusted my hold on the gun’s hilt.

“Now widen your stance, take aim and be prepared to feel some recoil.” Daniel added, before leaning away from my shooting arm.

Focusing on the middle of the target, I held firm and pulled the trigger. The loud crack as the bullet fired, along with the slight recoil made me step back into Daniel.

“Not bad for a first try.” Daniel said as his arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me balanced. 

Looking over at the trees target, I saw that not only did I miss the center of the target but the entire target itself and hit the tree a few inches to the right.

“My god I suck.” I laughingly said, as I turned to Daniel and saw he had the same amused smile on his face.

Looking up at him and those beautiful dimples, his arms still wrapped around me from behind and his face so close to mine, I was thankful for the sound of someone clearing their throat. 

My head snapped across to the right to Lucas, as he turned away from me and Daniel towards the missed target. Stepping out of Daniel’s arms and putting some space between us I said “I think you were right.”

“As I usually am about most things,” Lucas smugly replied over his shoulder, “but to what in particular, would you be referring to?”

“About me learning to shoot, if you hadn’t persuaded me to, we would have never known how truly bad I am at it.” I laughingly said to him.

“Ahhh yes, well your welcome then.” Lucas said with a small smile, facing me.

“Ok, breaks over. Gear up for round 2. Don’t stop after you fire the first shot this time, keep going till there’s no more rounds.” Daniel sternly said, as he took a step back from me.