Chapter Fifty-Nine

Dane agreed that Lena needed to learn to shoot. And she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want Justin to teach her. Though their reasons were a bit different…

Justin was a big flirt. And while Dane understood that whatever was going on between him and Lena wasn’t a long-term, official thing, he felt a possessiveness he couldn’t ignore.

After cleaning up from lunch, the team split up to take care of things. Thorne was on the phone. Angel had taken over the large table and four laptops. Colton and Garrett were making an ammunitions list.

“Here,” Dane said, reaching out to hand the Beretta to Lena. She pulled back with wide eyes. “Take it,” he urged.

“Can’t you carry it to wherever we’re going?”

“No. Put it in the back of your jeans.”

“Shouldn’t I have a holster or something? It might fall out of my pants.”

“Tuck it down in your waistband, and it will stay there. Besides, it’s sexier to pull it out of your jeans. Haven’t you ever seen an action movie?” He winked at her to let her know he was joking. It might look sexier than a holster, but that position was definitely not as secure. Especially if you had to sit down.

“How do you guys walk around like this? It’s cold and bulky.” She shifted and bent over.

He reached over to push it a little deeper into her jeans.

Samantha laughed. “This way, when the shit hits the fan, it’s easy to get to.”

“Even if the shit hitting the fan is an innocent guy just doing what he was told,” Dane said with a smile at Sam. He should have let that one pass, but she was just too easy to tease.

As expected, a guilty look crossed Sam’s face. “I’m so sorry, Dane.”

“Knock that shit off,” Garrett called from the living room. “She told you not to move. You moved. It was your own fault you got shot.”

“And Thorne told me to take her gun,” Dane said good-naturedly. “It was a lose-lose situation, all around.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again so Garrett couldn’t hear.

Dane patted her on the back. “It’s okay, sweetie. If I’d really been a bad guy, it would have been the right thing to do.” He turned to Lena. “You ready?”

She frowned and adjusted the gun again. “I guess so.” She walked out of the lodge with more of a limp than he had.

The campground had an actual shooting range, though it was probably used for BB gun practice rather than a 9mm. Still, it would do nicely.

He set up three targets on the rail and came back to stand in front of her. She was still frowning like a wet cat.

He kissed the crease on her forehead and smiled down at her. “You’re going to have to take it out of your waistband now.”

“I was just starting to get used to it being there,” she grumbled.

“You’ll have plenty of time to get used to it.”

“Do you want me to pull it out slowly while you watch?” Her naughty smile made him twitch.

Maybe they could practice that part later.

Except, they didn’t have later. They would be leaving in the morning to head off on their mission. And she needed to be ready. Well, as ready as possible in one day.

“Okay,” he said. “When you pulled the gun on Colton, you were holding it all wrong.”

She winced, and her cheeks colored. She was still embarrassed about that incident. He decided to address it in the hope she would be able to touch the gun without wincing.

“It’s okay. No one is mad at you,” he told her.

Her lips thinned. “I’m mad at me. I’m mad at me for this whole damn situation. If I had just made sure my ex couldn’t get to Kenzie. And if I had done something more when they brought in you and Tobey…”

No one won the blame game. He should know. He’d played it many times over the past five years.

If he hadn’t gone to work for Tim Reynolds. If he hadn’t been so ambitious and naïve. If he had only forced Caroline to come with him so they could stay together.

“We don’t know what happens after that first if,” he said.

“Meaning?”

“We think if only we’d done one thing differently, then everything else would work out. But we’re just looking at that next step—the one we think made everything go to hell. But what if we were destined to fail, anyway? What if you had made sure your ex couldn’t take Kenzie from the daycare? Maybe instead, he’d have broken into your home and taken her. Maybe you would have fought him and lost.”

She made a face. “I don’t think I would have lost. Not when a scrawny-ass drug addict was taking my baby.”

He’d give her that. “My point is, we don’t know what would have happened next. If I hadn’t taken the job with the embezzlers from hell, I might have ended up working for Viktor Kulakov. Who knows? We can’t spend all our time looking back and wishing we’d done something different. It’s useless.”

“You’re probably right.” She let out a sigh and nodded to the Beretta. “I still wish I hadn’t pulled the gun on Colton. If for no other reason than I made an ass of myself.”

Dane chuckled, then showed her how to support the gun, and how to aim. When he thought she had a good stance, he told her to pull the trigger.

It didn’t even come close to the target. It was way high. The next one hit the dirt about five feet in front of the target. The next one hit the target, but it was the target two rows down rather than the one she was using.

The problem was clear to see.

“It’s impossible to hit the target when you have your eyes squeezed shut,” he told her.

“I don’t,” she protested.

“You do when you pull the trigger. You need to keep your eyes on the target.”

She grimaced. “I thought I was.”

“You’re not.” He swallowed down the beginnings of panic. If she couldn’t shoot, she would be detrimental to the mission. She would just be in the way. She didn’t need to be a sharpshooter, but she should not be a danger to herself or Kenzie.

Which meant…he would have to convince her to stay behind.