Zahra bursts out laughing. “Let’s hope we don’t replicate like them. At least not for a few more years.”
“And you leave a string of broken-hearted men wherever you go,” I say to Lucy. “I swear you could have men agreeing to sell their souls to Satan himself for a second date and a second fuck with you. But no. You tap them, and then you ghost them.”
Lucy smirks. “It’s not my fault if they’re not interesting enough for a second date.”
“So, let’s not get all judgy about our sex drives. The four ofus have always been horny bitches.” Maya, my sister, is no exception to our friend group in this regard.
“Well, now that you’resatiated, shall we go shooting?” Lucy asks.
“It couldn’t hurt to get out of here for a bit,” Zahra agrees. “But we don’t have to go shooting guns.” She shudders again.
“Nonsense. Ella needs to learn how to shoot. No time like the present.”
I weigh it over in my mind. “That actually sounds good. I’m intimidated by the fact that I’ve never even touched a gun, and I’ll probably have some master marksman teaching me if I go with the security team. I’m already embarrassed, and I haven’t even started training.”
“Good. There’s an indoor range not too far from here.”
Zahra groans.
“Bend your elbows a bit,”Lucy yells, and I can barely hear her through the massive noise-blocking headphones I’m wearing. She stands behind me and is trying to help me with my hold. It’s not going well, and I’m literally sweating from nerves. I can’t help but picture this same type of gun held in Kyle’s hand, aimed at me. The fear I felt in that moment reemerges, curdling in my gut.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
“This is important.”
“I . . . the last time I saw a gun was when Kyle attacked me. He threatened me with it, and then the thing went off in his hands when I tased him. I wasn’t hit, but I’ll never forget that sound or that fear.”
Lucy gently pries the handgun away from my sweaty palms.
“Take a breath. There’s no rush. We’ll go at your pace, okay?”
I nod, swallowing hard. I’ve put Kyle and his bullshit behind me, but sometimes I still flash back to the moment he pulled the gun on me. I still struggle to understand how someone I loved could do such a thing, no matter how desperate they were.
But I also never want to feel helpless again like I had in that moment.
I do as Lucy says and let out a long breath. “Okay. Show me what to do.”
Lucy comes to stand behind me again and helps me with my grip. She adjusts the gun in my hands and lightly tugs on my arms to unlock my stiffened elbows.
“If your elbows are locked, you won’t be able to absorb the kick back effectively.”
“What’s a kick back?”
“It’s the reaction the gun will have when it fires. You can’t expect a gun to stay still when it’s launching a bullet out of its barrel.”
“It moves?” I say with a gasp. “But it doesn’t move in the movies.”
Lucy snorts. “That’s the movies, babe, this is real life. Just brace your arms a bit. You’re shooting a small handgun, not a shotgun, you’ll be fine.”
I swallow hard, questioning my sanity for coming here, wondering if I should stop while I’m ahead and go sit with Zahra, who refused to participate and chose to watch us through the windows above the range.
“Just watch again,” Lucy says, and I slowly let go of the gun as she takes it in her hand. She lifts it and holds it like a pro.
Bang, bang, bang.
Three holes appear through the target. Three holes straight through the head of the outlined body.
“Holy shit. How did you do that?”
