Anna snorted. ‘There is the difference that my plastic one doesn’t kill people, Tay!’
Taylor loaded the gun with ease. Jaz loved the way he acted around the guns, calm and clever. He knew them in minute detail and could pull one apart. When your dad’s a cop with a gun collection, he tends to spend a lot of time cleaning and pulling them apart. If you went to their house on a weekend, you would sometimes find them with guns dismantled on the table, as if it was as common as a father and son doing a jigsaw puzzle.
Anyway, Taylor looked so sexy when he was shooting. He’d stand tall and it was like he aged five years, looking like a man. Today was no different.
Anna took the gun and walked to a booth. She put the gun on the table while she put on her earmuffs. Taylor, Derik and Jaz put theirs on too.
Jaz tensed with Anna’s first shot. Hey, it had been nearly six months since they’d been here. But by the eighth and last shot Jaz was comfortable with the sound.
Derik pressed a button and a sheet with a body outline came towards them.
‘Not bad Anna, only missed three shots,’ said Derik as they all adjusted their earmuffs so one ear was free to listen.
‘Um, Derik, did you not see where the other ones hit? Look, I have one shot that actually hit his shoulder, the rest would have sailed past.’
‘Someone’s rusty. See…if you came more often you’d be as good as me,’ Taylor said with a smirk.
He took the gun from Anna, reloaded a new clip and fired out eight shots in a new booth in rapid succession.
‘Damn!’ Jaz couldn’t stop the words from leaving her lips. He brought the target closer and she cursed again. Taylor had all his shots in the target’s head. Anna looked at Jaz with disbelief, her mouth open in awe.
‘Just how much time do you spend here?’ Jaz asked.
Taylor shrugged but he was definitely on a high from showing off. He had the cheekiest grin on his face. ‘At least once a week, sometimes three.’
‘Crap, you’ve gotten so good.’
Jaz actually saw him blush at her praise. He was so cute with his cheeks glowing pink.
‘Your turn.’ Taylor handed her the gun and she reloaded it. The feel of the cold metal was nice against her calloused hands.
Already the adrenaline was pacing through her veins as she took aim. She was competitive, so of course Jaz was trying to remember everything Taylor and Derik had ever told her about how to aim and fire. She also wanted to impress. With her stance ready, she pulled the trigger and felt the power of the gun explode with each bullet she fired. All too soon, the clip was empty. Her heart thumped as she remembered to breathe.
‘Look at you; I can see that determination in your eyes. It’s the same look you give me before you whip my arse at fencing,’ said Taylor after he watched her put the gun down and take off her earmuffs.
Derik whistled as the target came near. ‘Not bad, Jaz. Not bad at all.’
She had four shots make the target’s head, three that were borderline and one that missed. Yes, she would have preferred that all of them hit the centre of the target’s head, but beggars can’t be choosers.
‘Another round, I think, and then I want to show you guys the scope. More clips please, Derik.’
As Derik retrieved more ammo, Jaz studied Taylor. Well, it was one of her favourite pastimes. The three of them didn’t know what they were going to do past school, but Taylor definitely needed to do something with guns or follow in his dad’s footsteps. He seemed so happy and at home here. ‘Maybe you should work in here like Derik after school, Tay. Then you can practice all you want. You’re already here most of the time.’
‘What about you Jaz? You gonna run The Ring full-time after school, seeing as you nearly live there?’ he teased.
‘I don’t know. Maybe? Better than going to college or uni. Don’t think I’m cut out for that. Have you thought about it any more, Anna?’
Anna shook her strawberry blonde waves. ‘Nup. I guess I will always have a job at Dad’s business but it just seems so boring to do that. I want to do something better than just computers.’
‘I hear ya,’ said Taylor. ‘Dad wants me to follow in his footsteps but that’s just it…they’re his footsteps not mine. I might try the SAS instead or something like it.’
‘I agree. There is so much out there, and I can’t think of one thing I want to do except make a difference. I don’t want to be like Minka and worry about what I will be wearing at each new function. I want to do something with meaning, like work at foreign camps helping the starving in other countries or even join the forces…I don’t really know. That’s the whole problem.’