“You’re not getting a fucking day off.”
“Well, not with that attitude.” I smile, hoping he’ll laugh at my joke, but he just stares at me. “I’m exhausted, big guy.Someonehas seriously disrupted my sleep schedule lately. You woke me up to fuck metwicelast night.”
His lips twitch up into a smirk. “You weren’t complaining when I was nine inches inside you and you were squirting all over my cock, Rebel.”
Jesus, the mouth on this guy.
“It’s not a complaint—it’s just a fact.” I bring my foot up behind me and press my heel to my ass, stretching out my quads. “Don’t you ever want to sleep in? Be lazy?”
“No.”
“Well, not all of us are superhuman like you.” No reaction. He doesn’t even crack a smile. “You know I justlovethe drill sergeant routine. So broody. So grumpy.”
Nothing.
“Okay, hard-ass, what next?”
He circles me, looking me up and down like I’m a horse he wants to buy. It’s unsettling and heats me up from the inside out.
“Come on. You’re not concentrating in here, so you’ll just get hurt.”
“Where are we going?”
“Shooting range.”
Honestly, shooting is my least favorite thing. I don’t hate the obstacle course anymore, but we’ve been avoiding it because of the snow. The gym is okay. I’d rather run outside, but it’s slick, and I don’t have the proper shoes for it.
The shooting range makes me nervous. I know I’m safe, but I hate the noise, and I often have to breathe and count in my head to keep myself in the present and not get thrown back to that horrible night.My nightmares are usually worse after we’ve worked in the range, especially if it’s been a long lesson.
I haven’t told him that, though. I refuse to complain, and he’s not wrong when he says that it’s stuff I need to learn. It could save my life someday.
It’s snowing like crazy as we hustle from the gym over to the indoor range.
“Come here,” Gideon says, crooking his finger at me. He’s standing in front of the door to the armory. I never go in there. I’ve never been invited, and he keeps it locked down so tight, I assume it’s off limits to me. “You can choose your weapon today.”
“You’re letting me in there?”
“If I’m with you, it’s okay. You’ll never come in here without me, though. Not until you’ve been trained on everything in here.”
I stop just inside the doorway, my jaw on the floor, as I take it all in.
“Uh, Gideon?”
“Hmm?” He’s already holding a weapon, checking it.
The room is so much bigger than it looks from the outside. The walls are lined with all kinds of different guns and rifles, and above each one is an illuminated LED light, so you can see exactly what you’re reaching for.
It looks like something out ofMission: Impossible. Seriously, Tom Cruise could come walking in here any minute, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
“Pick your poison,” Gideon says, turning to me. He looks like hebelongshere, in this room with these weapons. Like he’s completely at home here.
Because he is.
I swallow thickly. I can’t take my eyes off him.
“Are we in a hurry?” My question comes out as a breathy whisper, making his eyebrow come up in surprise.
“Not particularly.”
