Page 78 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

I accept the heavy metal and gauge its weight.

“This is the same gun Jessie learned with, so I figure, twins, right?” He narrows his eyes. He still doesn’t believe that I’m not cheating on Kane. “Two hands. It’s ambi, so you can use it with either hand. Butyou, my pretty little flower, will usebothhands. It has a little kick, but it won’t smack your face so long as you’re paying attention.”

“Okay.” I rotate it in my hands and react strangely when Ang moves closer to glance over my shoulder. When his broad chest touches my back, his hands rest on my hips, and his breath tickles my neck, I don’t freak out.

With a gun in my hand, and this giant dude in my face, Ang’s touch does strange things to my blood.

It’s almost like a sizzling of electricity.

A compulsion to step back so we’re flush from top to toe.

“I’ll run you through the first set.” Spence turns on his feet and walks away. He doesn’t ask us to follow, he doesn’t have to say a damn thing; his presence commands obedience. “I’m gonna put you in a booth today. Set you up with a target and an unlimited supply of rounds.”

“Rounds?”

“Bullets.” He pushes through a heavy door and glances back. “Most people come in here, get their fifteen rounds, and they leave again. Jessie shot more than three hundred on her first day here.”

“Three hundred?”

“Kane demands nothing but perfection, little girl. She got through more than three hundred before he called it a day.”

“Is she good at it?”

Giving a serious nod, he collects glasses and ear protection as we move through, and the whole time, Ang’s hand remains on me; on my hip, on the small of my back, twined with my fingers.

My body is hypersensitive.

That alone isn’t a strange sensation for me; I’ve been hypersensitive for two years. Every germ that skittered across my flesh, every hair follicle, every speck of dust could be felt and needed to be washed away.

No, the sensitivity isn’t new, but the strange giddiness that moves through my blood is.

I like Ang touching me.

Where the fuck did that come from?

“Are you listening, girl?”

“Hm?” I jump back when Spence’s slightly crooked nose stops a mere three inches from mine. “Sorry. I was listening.”

“You were not.” Narrowing his eyes, he shakes his head and steps back. “Lane one for the girl that claims her name isn’t Jessie. You get unlimited rounds. Unlimited time. You don’t have to rush out.”

“Do you have other people coming in today?”

“Not till this afternoon, so the place is yours till then. I’m going back to bed.”

“Bed?” I turn when he steps away. “You live here?”

“Yeah, and you assholes woke me up. I didn’t go to sleep till four. Riggs woke me three seconds after I closed my eyes. I’m crashing until I have to get up again.”

“You’re not staying to teach me?”

“Nope. Your tutor is capable and standing right behind you. I don’t teach the pretty girls that are already taken. That shit would get weird fast, and I’m not interested in fighting a dude just to get some ass. Especially when I already have ass back in my bed waiting for me.”

A growl rips its way up Angelo’s throat and simply makes Spence grin.

“Just keepin’ it real, brother. Have fun. You know where everything is. This place is soundproofed, so if you got noisy or whatever…” He flashes a grin. “Or whatever.” Whistling under his breath, Spence walks across the spartan concrete bunker space and swings a heavy steel door open. Stepping through, he turns back and tips a non-existent hat. “Stay safe, friends. Call me when you’re done.”

“He’s…” As soon as the door crashes closed, I turn to Angelo and shake my head. “He’s strange.”

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