I laugh. “Are you saying you want a bat to hit a home run?”
He smirks. “Hey, if it helps.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not throwing these at you!”
He claps his hands. “Alright then, focus!”
“Yes, Coach,” I call back, making him and a few of the others laugh.
“Oh, don’t tempt me. I’ll make you run laps if I need to!”
“I’ll just carry you.”
“We tried that, remember? Rowen still lost.”
“Hey! I did not!” Rowen calls.
“Yousodid,” Evan says.
“It was a tie!”
“No, it wasn’t,” Evan and I say together.
“Jericho won! Now shut up and let him focus.”
That day feels like months ago now. It was the first time I felt truly safe around the shifters, and the first time I’d nearly kissed Evan. So much has changed since then.
I flick my gaze up, zeroing in on the bullseye on the side of the trash can. Winding my arm up, I throw it as hard as I can. Smoke trails behind as it whizzes through the air, pinging off the metal before scattering into smaller, sizzling pieces.
“Yeah!” Evan shouts, punching the air. “That’s it!”
A few others join him, clapping. “Great job, Jer! Keep going!”
I aim for the next target, throwing the other ball. This one leaves a black mark just outside the inner ring.
Conjuring two more balls, each a tiny bit bigger than the last, I throw them one at a time. They both land at least somewhere on its mark. When I get to the first small tin can, however, I miss. The bush behind it ignites.
“Oh, shit.”
“It’s all good,” Jasmine says, running over with a hose. “We already thought of this. Just keep aiming away from the house, and we’ll be good.” She says this like I’m not about to start a damn forest fire.
You started a house fire once, why not a forest fire?
I shove the thought aside. I refuse to let my guilt keep me from learning how to do this.
“Try making a bigger one,” Grant says.
“Actually, I have an idea,” Ivy says, jumping down from the porch. “Let’s see how many targets you can hit in under a minute.”
I quirk a brow.
“Maybe it’ll help you produce them under pressure. Make you faster?”
I grin. “I like it.”
She stands behind me a little, a baseball cap covering her eyes. “Whenever you’re ready.”
I scan the row of targets, set up in an arch across the field. It’ll be easier to go left to right, since most of the larger ones are on the left.
