Chapter 16 - Rain

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It's been two days since fight training and Ghost still hasn't talked or even looked at me. Any room that I've went into he doesn't look up, even when I pass him in the hallways he just keeps staring straight and doesn't glance my way.

Now it's the day before Oscars party and we haven't planned anything at all about how things will go once we're inside.

I walk towards the indoor shooting range, hearing the pouring rain hit the roof of the building. Lightning strikes and thunder is heard after, the rain somehow falling harder. I push the door open and find Soap inside, cleaning one of his guns on the workshop table.

"Hey Mari. How's it going?" He asks, glancing up and me quickly before putting his eyes back on his gun. He pulls another part of his gun off and I watch as he brings the part closer to the small desk lamp, his brows furrowing as he inspects the piece closer.

I take a deep inhale before answering, smelling all the gun powder and smoke in the air. "Could be better." I say. I see another strike of lightning through the small window near the ceiling, followed by a loud boom of thunder.

"I don't blame you. I used to get nervous too before missions when I first started, but don't worry. You got the best people I've ever fought with by your side." He says, looking up at me.

I offer him a small smile, not bothering to correct him on the real reason as to whats bothering me. I walk over to him, watching as he assembles the gun back together. He puts each piece back with precision, almost like he has the whole gun memorized like the back of his hand.

"Want to try it out?" He asks, putting the last piece in place.

"Your gun?" I ask. He looks up at me, a bit of his Mohawk hanging over his forehead. He clicks the last piece into place and turns the gun, looking at it from all different angles.

"Yeah, I've had it since I started with Price. One of my favorites honestly, I'd love for you to give it a go." He hands me his gun and I take it, making sure to be very careful.

I look at it and notice all the different scratches and dents. While it's not perfect it's been clearly taken well care of, no dirt or build up anywhere on it. I unload the mag, checking the bullets and clicking it back in its place.

I walk over to the shooting area, standing right behind the barricade. I lift up the gun, placing the stock on my shoulder and aiming it down. I lean my head and eye the target, letting out a couple bullets. Everything shoots out smoothly with little recoil.

I press the button on the side of the barricade to bring the target closer and take a look, noticing almost all bullets made it right in the bullseye. I walk back towards Soap who is now leaning against the workshop table.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" He asks, nodding his head towards my target. He takes the gun back and takes out the mag, reloading the gun.

"Well, I didn't grow up in the safest part of town. I'd have to stay home alone sometimes cause both my parents worked, when I got old enough my dad taught me how to use a pistol. Obviously by the time I started working for Sin Nombre I had other guns at my disposal, no need pistols anymore." I say, letting out a breathy laugh.

He nods his head while looking down at his gun, popping the mag back in. He walks over to the target next to mine and aims down his gun. "You know, seeing how you fight I feel like you could go in by yourself tomorrow and you'd be all good. No need for Ghost to protect you." He lets off a couple shots and I walk a bit closer to him.

"Have you...seen him...by any chance?" I yell over the shots, standing a couple feet behind him. I take my bottom lip between my teeth and wait for him to answer.

"Yeah, saw him yesterday. Why?" He asks, glancing back at me.

"Oh, no reason. We haven't talked about what we're gonna do tomorrow that's all." I say. He steps away from his target and walks back to the table, placing the gun on top of it.

"You know, I saw him pacing outside your room the other morning." He says. He walks around the table and stands in front of it, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't happen to know anything about that do you?"

"Nope, no idea." I say, pressing my lips together as if to hold back any other words from coming out.

He raises an eyebrow and opens his mouth to speak again but is interrupted by a text notification. He reaches into his pocket and unlocks his phone, skimming his eyes over the text message.

"Speak of the devil. He said he's coming down here in a few minutes." Soap says. He glances up at me for a second, almost as if to see how I'd react, before glancing back down to his phone. His thumbs swipe over his keyboard, texting Ghost back. "Why don't you go grab a gun and join us? That way you two can talk about tomorrow like you wanted to." He says, pointing at the door in the corner of the room.

"S-sure." I say. I walk away quickly and head over to the door he pointed at, tossing it open and quickly stepping in. I close it behind me and lean back on it, throwing my head back and closing my eyes.

The last couple times I've seen Ghost no one else has been around, so we didn't have to fake act nice to each other. With Soap being here now I have to act like everything's fine, even though it seems like he clearly knows something is wrong. How would Soap even know if there's something going on between me and Ghost?

Unless Ghost told him something?

No, that can't be it. Why would Ghost even tell Soap anything? He'd get in trouble if he did...right?

I take a deep breath, finally looking around the armory. I look around at all the different guns in the room. They have everything from shotguns to assault rifles to snipers. There's even guns in here that I've never even seen, which is a big shocker as someone who sold guns illegally.

I walk along the wall, tracing my fingers over all the different guns debating on which one to try out. I grab ahold of one I've never tried before and take it off the wall. I take it my hands, raising it in the air and feeling the weight of it.

I hear the door to the gun range open and close. My breath catches in my throat and I have to remind myself to keep breathing. I hear a bit of muffled conversation in the range, hearing Soap laugh at something Ghost said.

I step towards the door and hold onto the handle, taking a deep breath before walking into the room. I walk over to the both of them, Ghosts back turned towards me.

"Oh, Marina's joining us by the way." Soap says, nodding his head towards me. Ghost looks over his shoulder at me, finally looking at me in the eyes for the first time since we were in my room two nights ago.

"Great." He says, walking over to his target.

He aims his gun down to the target and starts shooting, hitting every bullet perfectly in the center. I watch over his shoulder as he unloads the mag, exchanging it for a new one. He aims the gun again and starts shooting.

"Hey, so Marina here was wondering how things are going to go tomorrow." Soap yells over the shots. Ghost stops shooting for a second, his body frozen, but continues right after.

Soap turns towards me and shrugs his shoulders, making an 'you give it a try' face. I wait until he stops shooting and is reloading before I walk up to him.

"Is there anything I should be aware of? Any specific plan in place that you've thought of?" I ask, placing my hand on his shoulder to try and get his attention. I can feel his heat on the palm of my hand, and he quickly turns towards me.

He lays his gun down and walks away, leaving me standing there. Ghost pushes the door open, a crash of the thunder camouflaging the amount of force he used to open the door.

"Okay, what's going on?" Soap asks, looking back at me. As much as I don't want to be rude I completely ignore him and chase Ghost down.

I am done playing this childish game. If he wants to go ahead and be a dick he can, but I need to speak my mind before I go fucking crazy.

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A/N

Short chapter but double update since I haven't posted in a while lol so exited to post the next chapterrrrrr bye for now :)

Sin Miedo - Simon "ghost" RileyWhere stories live. Discover now