Born to Fight

Chapter 14

Celeste

A few days after I had taken Jamie’s truck to take my trip up to my family's cabin, I was sitting out in the entertainment area. Seated on one of the bar stools, I was just enjoying the silence. It was a beautiful day but I was feeling lost. I had spent the morning trying to decide how to ask Jamie for the favor that I wanted from him. I knew it was selfish. I had stolen his truck and now I wanted to ask a favor of him. The quiet was suddenly disturbed by a loud splash. Looking up I saw Loki in the swimming pool. Shaking my head in amusement, I marveled at my dog's ability to find mischief wherever he was. I envied him the fact that he would never know boredom.

I kept watching Loki in amusement as he was taking a swim in the pool. Not to long after Loki had jumped into the pool, Jamie walked out the back door, followed by Freeze. Upon seeing his new buddy in the swimming pool, Freeze ran over and jumped into the pool too, and began splashing around with Loki. I couldn’t help but smile at the two crazy pups who were so obviously enjoying themselves. I looked over at Jamie and saw he was smiling as he watched them too.

“Do you play?” Jamie suddenly asked, indicating to the pool table.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Do you want to play?” he asked.

“Sure, rack em up,” I told him, as I climbed off the bar stool and made my way over to the table. 

Jamie started racking the balls up while I walked over and grabbed two cues for us to use. When I got back to the table, I handed a cue to Jamie and motioned for him to break. He did, and we got into the rhythm of the game.

During the game, I decided to just bite the bullet and ask Jamie to help me. “So, Jamie, I was wondering if you could help me out with something?” I said.

“Oh yeah, and what might that be?” he asked, leaning down to take his next shot.

“Is there a g*n range around here that we could go to some time?” I asked.

The moment the words left my mouth, Jamie stood back up and looked at me, his next shot forgotten. “Why do you suddenly want to go to a g*n range?” he asked, looking at me, clearly trying to gauge my reaction to his question.

“It’s something that my mom and I used to do together. We used to go a couple of times a month. I guess I just miss it, the familiarity of it, you know, and I guess I just thought, that if there was somewhere we could go around here then maybe you and I could go,” I told him.

“Is that the only reason?” he asked looking at me intently.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Okay then, let’s finish our game,” he replied, as he leaned down once more to take his shot.

After we had finished our game of pool, Jamie raised his hand and motioned for me to follow him. Following him inside, I quietly trailed him through the house, and I had to admit that I was surprised when he stopped at the g*n safe and pulled out two rifles along with two handguns and some boxes of ammo. Motioning with his head for me to follow him once more he began making his way through the house again. Following him once again, we made our way out the front door.

As we stepped outside the front door, Jamie turned back and motioned for Loki and Freeze to stay inside before closing the door behind him. Jamie loaded the guns into the back seat of his truck before we both got in. I still felt guilty for the fact that I had taken his truck without asking to go to my family's cabin only a couple of days earlier. Jamie seemed okay about it all now, but the guilt still remained. Driving out of the drive way, we made our way to a rifle range that Jamie knew of.

When we arrived at the rifle range, Jamie took the rifles out of the truck and at his instruction I grabbed the handguns. Carrying the guns and boxes of ammunition we made our way over to where we were going to set up and shoot from. Over the next few hours, we shot at different targets using both rifles and handguns. I hadn't realized how much I had missed this. This was the outlet for my anger that I had been needing. The time flew by far to quickly, and it wasn't long before we had to pack up and head home. Loading everything back into the truck, we drove back to the house.

Jamie

I walked out the door and onto the entertainment area and I saw Celeste sitting on one of the bar stools. She was watching that crazy pup of hers, Loki, swimming in the pool. She had been right when she said that he was always getting into mischief. The moment we had walked out and seen what was happening, Freeze not wanting to miss out on some fun, jumped into the pool and started splashing about too. I couldn’t help but smile at the two dogs as they played in the pool.

Walking over to where Celeste was sitting, I decided I needed to help her to get out of her own head, so I asked her to play a game of pool with me. We began our game and I was surprised at how well she played. Someone had taught her well. We were in the middle of our game of pool, and I was just about to take my shot when she suddenly asked me if I knew of a rifle range nearby that we could go to. The question caught me off guard, I had to admit. Standing up once more, I looked at her closely trying to figure her out. I told her that I knew of one that was run by a friend of mine. It was a range that was close by. Josh and I went there quite frequently when we wanted to get some range time in. After we finished our game of pool, I led Celeste inside. Making our way through the house, I grabbed a couple of rifles and handguns from our g*n safe before leading her out the front door and over to my truck. I loaded the firearms onto the backseat of the truck, and it wasn't long before we were making our way to the rifle range.

I had been planning on telling Celeste that Billy had gone to her school and spoken to her school principal the day before, and after explaining the situation to him, Billy had successfully organised for her to take her classes online until it was safe for her to return to school. I was happy about this latest development. I had begun to suspect that Celeste was still unsettled by what had happened to her mother. I honestly believed that knowing she wouldn't have to go back to school, and be around prying eyes and gossiping teenagers would be welcome news to Celeste.

When we arrived at the g*n range it wasn't long before we started shooting at various targets. I was surprised at how good a shot she was. Whoever had taught Celeste to shoot had turned her into a damn good marksman. She had a natural ability for target shooting. If I was being honest, I honestly think she could out shoot Josh easily.

We were having a good time shooting targets. We had been at the range for a few hours now. But as much fun as we were having, I couldn’t help thinking there was another reason why Celeste had wanted me to bring her out here. Knowing that she would never tell me her reasons for wanting to be here, I decided I was going to have to keep an even closer eye on her. I didn't want her to put herself in harms way.