to be loud, you might close your eyes, though you should drop that before it becomes a habit, and your wrists might ache a little afterward. Hold it tight, keep it straight, and try not to flinch. That’s all. Take your time.”
Strangely, she appreciated his advice.
And gone from his face was that almost snide smile. He only looked at her, waiting.
“Loud, huh?” Violet asked.
“It doesn't help that we’re inside, but yes, it’s loud. It’ll lessen. The first one is a shock.”
Violet pursed her lips, curious. “How old were you the first time you shot a gun?”
“Ten … ish,” he added, chuckling.
“That seems young.”
“It was. Enough about me.”
Taking a deep breath, Violet faced the targets and lifted the gun to aim, holding it tight with a two-handed grip the way Ruslan had showed her. Still, she hesitated before wrapping a finger around the trigger.
“All the time in the w—”
Violet pulled the trigger, and Ruslan had been right.
Entirely right.
She hadn’t been expecting the volume of the gunshot to be as loud as it was, and it made her both flinch and close her eyes. She hadn’t realized, despite being repeatedly warned to keep a stronghold on the gun no matter what, that the kickback on a small caliber, yet still powerful, weapon would be as strong as it was. Strong enough to bend her wrists back slightly and cause a bit of an ache.
Violet damn near dropped the gun on the table, but somehow, managed to easily set it down with shaking hands.
“I’m not doing that again,” she said.
Ruslan sighed. “Yes, you are.”
“No—”
“Non-negotiable. Pick it up. Do it again.”
Violet glared at the gun, both angry and a little scared that it had surprised and frightened her. “I don’t see why I even need to have one.”
“Because Kaz wants you to learn.”
“But—”
“You’ve been coddled a great deal, no?” Ruslan asked.
Violet blinked, stunned. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your father—his people. Even my brother, to an extent. They coddle you.”
Her hackles raised instantly. “I don’t think that’s the right word.”
“I think it fits just fine. And here’s the thing—I won’t coddle you. Pick the gun up, and let’s do it again. The more you do it, the easier it will be. This is important, despite how you may feel differently, and you need to learn. You can make that easy, or I can make it really hard.”
Violet almost had the nerve to ask exactly how Ruslan could make this whole experience harder than he already had, but she decided not to poke his monster when he was clearly playing nice for the moment.
“Fine,” she mumbled unhappily, picking the gun up again.
“Try one more time,” he ordered.
Strangely, Ruslan was right again.
It was easier the second time.
It wasn’t as harsh.
It wasn’t as shocking or frightening.
She knew what to expect.
Each round fired off a bit easier than the last until she knew the clip had only one bullet left to shoot.
“You’re a decent shot,” Ruslan praised, peering down at the target Violet had been aiming at.
Even she had to admit she’d done pretty well. Most of the rounds either hit the target paper or directly near it. Seemed her aim leaned a bit to the left.
“But not one kill shot,” Ruslan added quieter. “Trust me when I say you want the kill shot. When someone is coming at you and you only have the one chance to end it, you need to make that shot every time. Understand?”
“Practice?”
“Maybe …”
“Ma—”
Violet’s words cut off as a distinctive snap echoed, and she glanced away from the targets, looking at Ruslan who was aiming the gun he’d been fiddling with on and off directly at the side of her head.
Her world froze in that split second.
She wasn’t entirely sure why.
It was like every inch of her body, all the parts of her, suddenly zoned in on the barrel of the gun she was looking down. Her heart stuttered in its beats before leaping into her throat and lodging there. Her fists clenched tighter around her own gun pointed down at the table, and her back straightened.
“How easy this would be,” Ruslan murmured softly. “And it would be easy, Violet. All it would take was pulling the trigger and so many things just … go away. Maybe then my father would make his way back to where he should be, and my selfish bastard of a brother would pull his head out of his ass, hmm?”
Violet swallowed hard, unsure and wary in her heart.
She did not know this man at all.
Not that she knew