Dismantled (Girls on Top #2) (12 page)

“Where is it we need to go, now” I ask Ciara as she’s telling me which way to go.

“You will see. I just need to pick up a few supplies.” She smiles coyly.

“You know what, Ciara? I’ve started to realize that even though I’ve known you for years, there’s a lot more to you than I ever thought.”

“Oh, Traxx, we are barely scratching the top layer… You really have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into after agreeing to let me help you get over… well, you know.”

“Yeah… I haven’t forgotten. I’m not sure that I ever will.”

She reaches over and holds my hand, at first she holds it in a tight grip, and then her fingers are weaved against mine. The sweet gesture makes me feel safe and comforted. I found myself staring at our entwined hands and when I raise my eyes to look at her, I realize she’s looking at me. Our eyes flicker for a moment with something simultaneously powerful and peaceful making my heartbeat sprint with forgotten enthusiasm. Crazy traffic and the fact that I’m driving forces me to break our connection, but it’s an unmistakable moment that I’m not going to forget anytime soon.

“Turn left at the light,” she instructs me and after a few blocks we reach a climate controlled set of storage buildings. “Go on, approach the gate and enter this code on the security pad.” She gives me a long ass number and the gates start to open.

“Which way?” I ask her.

“All the way towards the back. Storage number 68.”

“Wow. You missed the best one by one number.” I chuckle.

“Seriously?” She smiles. “Get your mind out of the gutter, just pull next to it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Oh, I’m coming in with you.”

“Ummm, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I’m pretty sure there are spiders here.”

Crap. I
hate
spiders. They freak me out. I need to play this out. “So?” She looks at me annoyed.

“So we don’t have time for me to play ‘annihilate the spider’?’”

I get out and follow her. “I’ll be okay. Promise.” Ciara rolls her eyes. She unlocks the storage and rolls the door all the way up. Reaching to the side she flips the light switch and it reveals several metal lockers against the walls.

“I need to warn you ahead of time because I really don’t want you to freak the fuck out like Colton did when he came here with Brianna the first time.” Ciara starts to unlock the lockers.

“Colton’s been here? I wonder why he never said anything.”

“You’ll see. Brianna and I have a very uncommon collection – for girls, at least.”

She opens the first locker to reveal an arsenal of guns. The second locker has rifles, the third one has knives and blades of all kinds, and the surprises keep coming. I’m sure my eyes are not playing tricks on me but I fail to understand what’s going on. My vision immediately betrays me, because all I can think about is Marcy and what she did with her gun.

“Uh, Ciara, why are you gathering weapons and ammo in a duffle bag?” I managed to ask with my voice barely above a whisper.

She stops what she is doing and gently walks toward me. “Traxx, I wanted to surprise you, but you are terrible at following directions.” She’s trying to lighten the somber mood I’m currently sporting. “Bring Traxx Back plan:
Step 2 - Live your life without fear
.”

“Ciara, I don’t know if I’m cool with this.”

“I understand you may not be cool with it, but you are going to do it.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“Fear is an evil bitch when you let it take over your life. The only way you have a chance to get over it, is by facing it and for now you need to become very familiar and used to weapons, the sound of a firing gun, and the power behind it. You have to be the one in control, not the other way around.”

“Ugh! Not cool, Ciara, not cool at all.”

“No excuses. We need to get going to the firing range.”

“What all are you are packing in the duffel bag?” I managed to move my hand enough to point at the bag on the floor.

“It’s just a couple of pistols, a couple of rifles and ammo. Is there something else you want to do for fun? Like archery? I have a sweet compound bow with these new Helix broadhead arrows…”

“Nah, that’s okay. We can try those another day. It’s been a long time since I went hunting and I’m probably going to be a little rusty.”

“Awww, don’t worry! Brianna and I always clean all the guns after we use them, and they are all calibrated. You’re not going to have any trouble.”

I don’t think that she is going to let me off the hook. All I can do is deal with it, because she’s right, if it’s left up to me, I’m never going to be ready. Although… I wonder if I can fake her into believing that I’ve seen a huge spider… she might let me freak the fuck out on that one.

“Traxx, stop thinking so hard. You’re making
my
brain hurt!” She winks while locking up everything, then grabbing the duffle bag she starts to walk towards the truck. When she passes me, she pulls me by the shirt. “Come on, Braveheart. We have an appointment time to meet. Do I need to drive the truck while you defrost your fear?”

“Ha, ha! Real funny. You know nobody drives my truck but me.” We walk out and she locks up the storage unit. I take a moment to be grateful she’s on my side, because if she was my enemy, I would be terrified. Who knew the little Nibblet had so many secrets? I’m actually feeling somewhat excited to uncover her layer by layer. Oh, and Colton is not going to get away with this shit. He knew? What’s up with being best friends? Well, I guess girlfriend trumps best friend. After all, it’s not like I put out for him or anything. And now I’m rambling inside my head.

Ciara walks around the truck and opens the back door, where she sets the bag. Hearing the door slam makes me snap back to reality.

“Hold on, I’ll get that door for you.”

“Okay, thanks.”

I lead her into the passenger side. When she is like this, seated on my high truck and I’m standing next to her, we are eye to eye. I like it. I look at her and smile, placing my hand on her knee and squeezing it. She looks at me, and I feel her leg flinch under my touch which immediately put my little head into motion and I feel it come alive inside my jeans. Bad timing.

“Thank you.” I tell her softly.

“My pleasure.” She smiles and I remove my hand before I embarrass myself in front of her. After I close the door, I walk around the back of the truck and take advantage that she cannot see me so I can re-adjust my now semi-hard cock inside my pants. I sigh in exasperation. Well done, cock. Well done.

We get to the shooting range and I’m expecting some guy to come and try to talk to her, like it happened at the gym and then again at the indoor skydiving place. However, I was pleasantly surprised that behind the counter was a much older guy. I’m sure he’s not going to flirt with her, so I relax.

“Hey, Sam! How is it going? Is our range ready?”

The old man sees Ciara and immediately smiles and comes around the counter to give her a bear hug.

“Hey, beautiful! So good to see you! You are still as pretty as ever.” He gives her a once over, but it’s more like a grandpa admiring his grandbabies than anything else. That helps me keep my shit under control.

“I’m okay, Sam… I’ve been so busy between work and grad school and every day drama… I’ve missed you!”

Okay, the everyday drama must be about me…

The old man continues, “Anything I can help you with? Where is Brianna? Is she not with you?”

“Nah, she’s working. Being a cop comes with some crazy hours, you know? I brought a friend with me.” She turns to me and motions me to come closer. “This is Traxx, he’s extremely out of practice, so make sure you give him an extra-large target and move it a little closer.” She winks at him and then looks at me.

The old man laughs heartily. “What a sharp young man you seem to be!” Sam gives me a strong handshake and then turns to Ciara. “Child, his target can be 10 yards away and yours 300 meters and you will beat him every time – with the right gun, of course.” Ciara’s face turns a gentle crimson and I make a note to self to remember Ciara is not used to compliments.

“Did you bring your own stuff?”

“Yeah, we’ve got ammo too.”

“Okay, come follow me then.”

I’m nervous because I don’t like the sound of gunfire since the night with Marcy. I steel myself to what I’m about to go into, and start breathing slowly. Ciara comes next to me and wraps her arm around my waist.

The old man starts walking towards the back of the building. We walk under an awning and there is an annex building. The entry building was well kept and clean, but obviously looks like a mom ‘n pop shop. This annex is state of the art. Sleek and modern, with at least twelve shooting bays, the distance seems to be somewhere between 25-30 yards. It seems to have an automated retrieval system, too, as I can hear the motorized sounds in between shooting sessions. There is a half glass wall separating this receiving entry area and the shooting ranges.

Sam moves to the wall by the door and grabs some supplies. “Here, you’re going to need these before you go in there.” We each get a pair of foamy earplugs and earmuffs.

“The sound is not that bad because our walls are sound absorbent, but you can never be too careful.” 

Ciara is attentively observing me and my actions. After we sign some release forms, we proceed to move to the shooting bay. Looking for our number, we locate them towards the end of the range. There is a built in shelf alongside the wall opposite the shooting range and Ciara places the duffel bag there.

“So, what type of gun did you bring for me?”

“Well, I’ve got different ones. I figured we could trade guns after a while, so I brought two different ones. To get you started, I’m letting you practice with the Beretta 92FS, and I’m going to start with the Sig Sauer P229.”

I nod in understanding and start to feel somewhat inadequate because to me a gun is a gun and there is not much difference other than size and ammo, but the way Ciara speaks about each gun, it has this tone I never heard before… almost like reverence.

We do the mandatory safety checks and load the magazines with the ammo we brought in. When I finish, Ciara sets her gun on the counter and she comes over to look at mine. She points at the safety and reminds me to disengage before I start shooting.

“Are you ready?”

I take a deep breath before answering. “Yes. I’m ready for
Step 2 - Live your life without fear.
”

She smiles. “Okay, perhaps the step by step program sounds very corny… BUT nevertheless, we are going to continue because if we don’t, your next step is going to be group counseling.”

“Ugh! Keep those nasty words to yourself! Stop stalling, I’m rusty on this shooting shit but I’m ready to kick some blonde girl’s ass.”

“We’ll see about that.” She moves back to the wall and presses an intercom button that until then, I hadn’t noticed. “Sam! I’m ready.”

“Gotcha, girlie! How far do you want it?”

“Let’s go halfway. I want to give Traxx a fair chance.” She winks at me. Ha! She has no idea who is she messing with. I nod so she knows I agree to that distance.

The clips for the retrieval system hanging from the ceiling move towards us. Ciara picks two human shaped targets from a box under the shelf and hands me one. I watch her set hers on the line, and repeat the same steps with mine. When we are finished, she does a “thumbs up” sign and I realize there’s a camera behind us. The targets start to move back and stop at the midway point.

We readjust the foamy ear plugs and cover our ears with the earmuffs. I spread my legs and place my hands in the correct position for shooting and then, out of nervous habit I twist my neck until it pops. Then I line up the target in my sight and hold my breath as I slowly press the trigger. I was not quite prepared for the power of the shot, and the gun surprised me with a strong kickback but I was able to maintain it in position. The loud noise and the smell of gun powder residue hit my skin and that’s the emotional trigger I was hoping to avoid.

Her image covered my vision all at once with vacant eyes and blood spatter. The one thing that surprised me was that she was not really dead. She was pacing around looking at me with disappointment. I feel hot and my head starts to spin. Slowly, I take a deep breath and right before I close my eyes to clear my mind, I move my hand and flip her the bird.

“Traxx! Hey! Look at me!” I feel Ciara grabbing me by the elbow. “Are you okay?” She removes my earmuffs and let them fall against my neck and shoulders. “The first shot is going to be the hardest for you.”

“Working on it.” I give her a faint smile because when I open my eyes, Marcy’s gone. I’m sweating like a pig, my heart is racing like it’s the lead car in the Indy 500, but I smile bigger, because I got rid of Marcy all on my own. I’m not saying that she’s gone forever, but now I know that I can make her go away when she pops in my mind uninvited, and that by itself just makes me fucking happy.

Ciara’s looking at me like I’m crazy. It’s pretty obvious that she will recognize the symptoms of my stress-induced vision, but it’s her caring demeanor that makes all the difference to me.

“I was waiting for you to get started and to make sure you didn’t run into any problems, when I only heard one shot and then nothing… so I figured I needed to check on you.”

I nod. “Go on, sweetheart. I’m fine now. Let’s see how we do. I believe that I have another 16 rounds on this magazine and my trigger finger is itching to release them.

Nodding she agrees, “You got it!”

A few minutes later we are finished and we engage the safety, remove the magazine and check the chamber. I press a button on the wall and my target starts to move towards me. I grab it eagerly, like a kid getting ready to unwrap a birthday present, and my inspection and count reveals thirteen rounds hit the target and they are all in the chest area.

“It seems you’ve got this down pat, Traxx.”

“Hell, yeah! On the chest – thirteen shots out of the full magazine that carries seventeen. So I only missed four. Let me see yours.” She hesitates for a moment, turning around and stepping back to her shooting bay at the last minute.

“Okay, here is mine.” She hands it to me. I look at her paper eagerly, only to realize all her shots hit her diagram on the chest as well, but instead of random shots, she used all the ammo holes to create the shape of a heart. I look back at her, handing her the target she ‘decorated.’

“Show off.” I tell her as she heads back, all the while shrugging her shoulders.

“Don’t be a sore loser, Braveheart. Dignity is hard to come by and you are wasting all yours on some petty shit.” She starts to load her magazine while looking at me with one raised brow.

“I was just warming up.” I tell her trying to sound convinced. “You’ve got to remember that it’s been quite a long time since I have competed against someone else in a shootout. You have the advantage in all these activities you are dragging me to because you have recently been practicing. First, with the indoor skydiving, now with this. Not an even playing field I’d say and most definitely not cool.”

“Dude,” she smiles moving her neck from side to side to show some fake attitude. “I suggest ya’ quit your bitchin’ and get on with it! ‘Cause I’m ‘bout to show you how it’s really done ‘round here.” I laugh and then she kisses her fingertips and blows me a kiss. “Are you ready? Let’s go for the head – the one above the shoulders, mmkay?”

I finish loading my magazine and slide it in place. “Oh! It’s on! The real question is - are YOU ready? ‘Cause I’m bringing it!” I hit the button on the wall after replacing the paper target retrieval system with a new one. Turning around, I assume my shooting stance, take aim at the target and let it rip.

The magazine was empty. I set my gun down and call the target back to me. I was very anxious to see the results. I grab the paper and start counting the holes. All seventeen rounds were decorating its head. “Ha! Look here! All shots are in the head!”

“That’s awesome! You did really well!”

“How did you do, Ciara?” I can’t help it. Yes, I know I’m being pretty arrogant, but come on! This is good!

Ciara brings her target to the window, and lifts it up so we both can see the results, and there’s only
one
hole. What happened?

“Wait, you only hit it one time?” I don’t give her a chance to talk when I start to laugh at her. “Is that all you’ve got?” I need to come with you next time and bet some money, honey, because I’m gonna be rich!” I look at her and she’s pouting and frowning.

Right then, Sam comes inside the range and yells, “I’ve got it all on video – this is the best I’ve seen in a long time!” He’s coming our way and seems very excited. My chest swells up with pride. I must be a natural at this. Then with my peripheral vision, I see Ciara making a ‘cut it out’ hand gesture towards Sam, and all my spidey senses are at full attention. Sam stops and gives her a questioning look.

“Hey, Sam!” Ciara says. “That’s awesome! I’m so glad you’ve got it on video because this man right here did sooo good! He deserves the recognition.”

Sam looks confused now, and I need to know what the hell is going on. I cross my arms in front of my chest and stare at her
hard.
She gives me one of those ‘I didn’t mean it’ looks. I turn and ask Sam, “Hey man, do you care to elaborate what
exactly
you have on video?” Ciara lowers the paper, drops her shoulders and turns around to avoid looking at me.

Sam looks at me then looks at her. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Tell me what” I ask finally getting frustrated. Ciara looks at Sam and moves her head from side to side.

“Son,” Sam says in a more serious note, grabbing the target from Ciara’s hand and shoving it on my chest, “the reason that there’s only one hole is because all her shots went through the same hole. See? That’s why the hole is a bit bigger and wider than one of yours, because all those rounds went through the same spot!” Then he boasts out laughing. Ciara looks at me with her eyebrows raised and duck lips.

“Damn! I should have known.” I start laughing, my frustration giving way to amusement and grab her in a bear hug. “That was fucking awesome! Sam, can we see that video?”