Page 45 of A Brother At My Back

“Truthfully, no. I’ve never liked guns. They scare me.”

“Humph, ain’t nothing to be scared of. C’mere, let’s start with the basics.”

She swallowed hard and drifted over closer to the fire and stood a good two feet away from Trig. Reaver walked up to me and knocked his shoulder into mine, grinning.

“Banging the stripper, huh?”

“It’s not like that,” I said and didn’t take my eyes off her. His teasing smile melted right off his face, from what I could see out of the corner of my eye.

“No, I can see that now, sorry.”

“It’s all good, Bro.”

“Trig will get her straight,” he said with assurance, and I nodded. “That’s not what you’re worried about, though, is it?”

“Nah, I’m more worried about her learning what you can teach her. This ex of hers ? from everything she’s told me, he likes to get up close and personal-like.”

Reaver nodded. “If she’s scared of guns, they aren’t going to be much use to her.”

“Too right.”

“How far have you and Mali gotten?”

“Not far yet.”

“When’s her next lesson on hand-to-hand?”

“Tomorrow.”

He grunted and gave a nod. “I’ll be there.”

I felt some relief. “Thanks, Bro.”

“Any piece of shit that can do that to a woman’s face… I’d like him to meet my blade.”

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.

“Come on this way, you two,” Trigger called out and we trudged over to them through the snow.

“You ready to shoot that thing off?” Reaver asked, grinning.

Tiffany shook her head no but said: “As I’ll ever be.”

Reaver nodded, laughing, and said, “All right, I like your style.”

We went around to the back of the building and Tiffany kept me in her sight. I went to her and pulled her aside. She looked up at me quizzically through the long fall of her hair and I turned her away from my brothers and smoothed it out of her eyes.

“You can trust them,” I told her. “Just like you trust me, eh.”

“Not like I trust you,” she whispered. She chewed her bottom lip lightly in indecision and finally sighed, her breath pluming the frozen air. “I’m trying,” she said finally, after a moment of silence and I smiled.

“I know. I know this is hard for you but listen to what Trigger has to say and I promise, she’ll be right, okay?”

“Okay.” She fixed her hair and went back over to Trigger, who smiled at her patiently.

“You’re gonna be holding a gun, Sweetheart. You’re gonna be shooting at something.” He let out a breath and said, “You’re gonna have to get your hair outta your face.”

She licked her lips, the way she held herself stiff but finally, she said, “Don’t judge, and try not to stare?”

---