The numerous embers of the fire scattered themselves in a heap over the untouched wood stacked in the chimneys opening, casting a charcoal mist in the expanse of the fireplace. With the thick curtains drawn tightly over the fenestrations, little of the morning light was able to seep through, leaving my eyes to wander throughout the caliginous room. The blankets that Luke had scattered around were now clung to my side, the glacial air that had persistently nipped at my skin forcing them to embrace closer to my body.
My hands rubbed lazily over my face, a sigh choking the air around me as yesterday's events occupied my mind, embarrassment surging throughout my veins. I still wasn't certain as to what had come over me; it was as if all the anger that had pent up inside of me over the past few months had been fuelled into that one moment. The string had finally been snapped, ripped to shreds in the process, leaving me mentally exhausted.
A succession of footsteps traipsing along the wood flooring in the hallway adjacent to the room I was settled in caught my attention. The all too familiar sound of Luke's heavy steps indicated his arrival. The door swung open, his hand resting on the handle as he leaned against the door frame, his legs crossing at the knees as he offered me a bright smile. He was clad in his usual work attire, black smothering him from head to toe with a smart shirt and tight jeans clinging to his body. His hair had been styled, his sinuous hair in a blonde quiff, dropping slightly on one side of his forehead.
"Are you still up for training this morning?" He asked merrily. "I thought that we could have a go at some shooting?"
"That's perfect," I stated while pulling myself to my feet. "Let me just go get changed and stuff."
"Okay, I'll meet you out back," he said, motioning his head toward the back of the house then leaving the room.
Five minutes later, after swiftly getting ready, I made my way toward Luke, who was stood at the far end of the garden waiting expectantly. The air was still colder than it had been, forcing my body to hug itself against the fleece that I had carelessly flung on. Luke raised his head as the sound of my feet trailing along the lawn met his ears. In one of his palms, he gripped two small handguns, the other swinging behind his back to retrieve a black, cylinder-shaped object.
"What's that?" I questioned once I reached him.
"Suppressor," he responded simply though he was soon forced to continue due to the confused glance I threw his way. "It's a silencer," he explained, attaching two items onto the tip of the pistols in his hand. "I didn't think the shooting that we're about to do would go down very well with the neighbours." A frolicsome laugh fled from his throat causing my face to stretch into a grin. "So, my dearest Adelaide, tell me what you know," he mocked, something that I found myself grateful for, with his sense of humour being somewhat refreshing.
"I'm going to go with nothing because I can't remember what you told me during the raid," I admitted, offering him a cheeky grin.
"We'll start from the beginning then," he said, moving to stand on the other side of me. "We're going to be aiming at that row of trees over there," he pointed with his forefinger toward a line of hardwoods, just less than one hundred metres to the right from where we stood. "But before that you need to understand what you're doing." Luke tossed me one of the guns, my face filling with horror as I clumsily caught it. "It's not loaded," he laughed. "That's a semi-automatic pistol, so you won't have to worry about twisting a revolver or anything."
"Now let's start with stance, just follow what I do, okay?" He began by pushing his feet until they were shoulder width apart, then placing one foot a step or two in front of the other. "Put your non-dominant foot ahead and bend your knees slightly," he commanded as I followed his actions. "Now you're going to raise your gun in front of your chest, keeping your dominant arm's elbow straight and in line with the gun, with the other elbow bent slightly." He turned my way, reaching his hand out to adjust my elbow slightly before continuing. "Obviously if you're on the move you won't be able to stand like this, but it'll help with learning."
"Okay, so what do I do if I'm running?"
"After a couple of sessions of this, we'll move onto that but it's all about aim when on the move, he explained. "When you're stood ready to shoot, pull the slide over the chamber," Luke motioned his finger toward the rear of the gun, using his palm to click the slide into place. I mimicked his action, watching his movements carefully as he removed the safety clasp on his pistol. "Use your left hand to support the base of the gun, focus intently on your target and then when you're ready, shoot."
Turning his head back toward the line of trees, his finger twitched over the trigger. His muscles finally contracted as the bullet shredded the air, slamming directly into the centre of a trunk belonging to the tree furthest on the right. A squawking of birds fled the area as he shot again, hitting the hardwood in the exact same place as before, continuing this action until a succession of around six or seven trees were wounded. His precise aim and skill came as no shock to me, having already seen him in action during the raid where his talent had been evident.
"You ready for a go?" he questioned, emptying the magazine and then stuffing the handgun around his back. He outreached his palms, flipping them over to reveal a pool of bullets, which he loaded into my gun before returning it.
"Okay," I said rather shakily, my voice faltering as it mocked my uneasiness. I gripped the pistol in my palms, following Luke's steps as I steadied my stance, raising the gun ahead of me, keeping my elbow solid and softening my hold with my other palm as it gripped the base.
"Go when you're ready Adelaide, just be careful for the backlash after firing, so keep a strong footing," he reminded as I felt his presence behind me. I closed my eyes, only opening them after a deep breath had filled my lungs. My finger circled the trigger, eventually striking down to release the cartridge. My eyes followed the bullet closely, its pursuit miles from its target, causing a frown to set on my face as my body fell slightly, Luke's hand swinging to catch my back softly.
"That was crap," I admitted miserably.
"Hey it was good," Luke chimed, resting his hands on my shoulders from his position behind me. "You just need to relax. Com' on, let's go again." He smoothed his hands over me one final time before taking half a step backwards. I elevated my arm, taking the same position as before, sparing a few moments to collect myself. Seconds before my finger was going to pull the trigger, I felt Luke's palm against my cheek, his head resting on my opposite shoulder as he pushed his chest gently against my back. He continued to gradually move his hand until it rested faintly over my eye socket, blocking the vision in my left eye. "That'll help with your aim," he whispered. "Oh and Adelaide, please breathe."
Luke remained holding me as I steadied my breathing, preparing to take another shot. I set my eye line onto the tree that Luke had first hit, aiming for his mark. With the flick of my forefinger, the projectile propelled toward the timber, carving a hole just slightly above the one Luke had made.
"Oh my god," I cursed under my breath, tilting my head to the side to stare wide-eyed at Luke as his chin remained perched on my shoulder. His face had split into a grin, his palm leaving my face to pinch my side.
"That was one hell of a shot for a second time round," he buoyantly admitted. "Most of your fathers men wouldn't be able to do that."
"I really do hope that it wasn't a fluke," I groaned, turning to face the trees once more. "Am I okay to go again?"
"Be my guest," he politely responded while pulling his body from my own. "Just let me move out of the way first."
The next twenty minutes had been filled with a mixture of shots, some of which were steady and precise, while the others were left to be extremely off target, causing Luke to pester me to relax once again. Toward the end, my aim had gotten much more consistent, with the ratio of striking my target being much greater than not, only missing the odd one at fault to Luke's distracting comments.
He lay with his back sinking into the grass, his elbows holding his shoulders up as he kept a watchful eye on me. I had tried to focus on listening to his rambling, but my mind subsided his voice as it drowned itself within his other aspects. I found my eyes watching him intently, only then realising how much he had captivated me. His whole persona was addictive, from his smile that undoubtedly left me grinning from ear to ear at even the smallest sight of it, to the way his eyes would focus on you attentively, drinking in every inch possible. As I gazed at him lazing in the grass, a sun-kissed glow to his skin and eyes bright with passion, it was undeniable that his presence repeatedly left me craving more.
Despite the evident fact that I actually knew little about him, the way I felt around him made it seem as if I'd known him years. I'd picked up on characteristics that I wasn't sure he was even mindful of like the way he would fidget with his fingers persistently when uncomfortable or out of depth with the situation at hand, or the way...
He understood me in ways that no one else did, with nobody being concerned enough to hunt for the aspects of myself that I wasn't even aware of. To sum it up mildly, his entirety added an indescribable warmth to an aspect of me that I couldn't pinpoint. With it being more than clear that at this stage we were far from the relationship of him just being my guard and us both being than aware of that, I finally admitted to myself that I was utterly captivated by him.
"Adelaide?" His voice caught my attention, his eyes searching mine as his head fell back, nestling into the grass.
I brought myself back to reality. "Sorry, what were you saying?" I timidly responded as he motioned me over to him with the flick of his head. I crouched down beside him, stretching my legs out and then leaning my spine onto the lawn so that I was lying in a parallel position next to him.
"I was talking about knowing where to aim," he recalled, my head falling to the side as I listened to him. "Sometimes the best option isn't to shoot them dead straight away."
"What do you mean?"
"Like during the raid, when we needed time, I made sure to hit an area of the guy's body that wouldn't cause sudden death so it would distract the other men, you know?"
"I have no idea how you came up with that, I couldn't even think straight," I admitted.
"You have to twist your fear of losing someone you care about and use it to drive your determination to get them out alive," he mumbled simply.
My response to his comment was cut off by the sound of Michael's voice calling for Luke as he jogged up the garden. "Boss needs you mate." At the sound of his words, Luke groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. He then paused for a minute or two and turned to me, pulling his himself my way as he swung a leg over to the other side of my body. I sent him a questionable glance though he merely continued shifting until his face was dangling lazily above mine, his hands holding him up in a press up position.
"Does Michael do anything other than carry around messages for my father?" I whispered, causing a chuckle from the two of us.
"I can hear you," Michael said as his feet came to a stop, stilling a few metres away from us. Luke flipped his head in Michael's direction, sending him a childish grin before turning his attention back toward me.
"I have to go," he said, pouting unhappily.
"I know," I responded simply, tenderly reaching my hand toward his hair, my finger coiling at a lock of hair. "When d'you get off?"
"I'm not too sure how long this'll take, but I don't have a shift tonight so I thought about another training session?"
"Shooting again or?"
"No, we can do that tomorrow. I have something else in mind for later," he explained as I dropped my hand back onto the floor.
"Okay," I smiled.
"I really need to go now, but I'll see you at dinner," he concluded, leaning to press a delicate kiss on my cheek before bouncing to his feet to join Michael. I watched as they made their way toward the house, Michael throwing Luke a mocking smirk and saying something inaudible from where I was sat, to which Luke responded by playfully throwing a fist Michael's way.