24. twenty-four

While Rafael assured me more times than I can count last night that no one would be getting into his apartment, I barely slept. The slightest sounds stirred me from my sleep, expecting to find them—all of them—having come to drag me back to their hell.

Being that I was up, he had us both packed and climbing into his car before sunrise.

"We both knew this day would come." He reaches over the center console, places his hand on my thigh, and lightly rubs his thumb over my skin. "Sooner or later, we knew they would come for you."

"So, we're going to leave the place you keep telling me is safe? And you're going to drag me out to a desolate cabin in the middle of the woods?"

"Yes," the only response I get from him.

"Do you want them to come and take me?"

"Of course not, little lamb." He slides his hand higher up my thigh and squeezes. "I want them to come for you… so I can fucking kill them."

"You're taking me to the woods to use me as bait?" I question, unable to hide the shock in my tone.

"Think of it more like being prey," a devilish smirk spreads across his face, "and being hunted."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"It will." He looks at me with a dark glint in his eyes as he pulls down a dirt road. A moment later, we reach a clearing in the trees with a small cabin nestled in the center.

Marvelous.

It almost looks like it has running water.

"We probably have a day before anyone comes." He opens my door and heads to the trunk to grab what little we brought with us. "I'm putting this stuff inside, and then you're going to get off a few magazines worth of rounds to get you more comfortable with having a gun in your hand."

Rolling my neck, I try to loosen the stiffness in my shoulders. Rafael had me shoot so much this morning and again in the early afternoon that my shoulders are absolutely killing me from the constant recoil.

And my supposed bad form.

"Come on." Rafael pulls me from the couch, and based on the gun in his hand, I know where we're heading.

"It's going to be dark out soon." I gesture to the window.

"Yes, that's exactly why we're going." He swats my ass and nudges me toward the door. "Now, get that sweet ass outside."

I sigh, knowing that arguing with him is futile. We walk through the woods to a small clearing. Nailed to the trees surrounding it are various metal targets that have been riddled with bullets—mostly not mine.

"It's a full magazine." He ejects it, shows me, and slams it back into the butt of the gun with a smirk. "You get eight shots. Hit four targets, and we can go back to the cabin. Miss, and we stay out here as long as I deem necessary."

I can do this.

Spreading my feet, I widen my stance while raising the gun. As I take aim with the target closest to me, l Rafael steps behind me. He inches closer until I can feel his warm breath blowing on the back of my neck. His lips dust over the nape of my neck, and his distraction causes me to completely miss my shot.

"C'mon," I exhale while lowering the gun to my side. "That's cheating."

"There will be distractions when it counts, and you won't have this long this between shots. Faster," he demands. "No more than five seconds between shots."

Quickly raising my hands again, I aim. Squeezing the trigger he asks, "Have you ever been fucked in the woods, little lamb?"

Miss.

Sighting the next target, I aim, and he gravelly whispers, "Chased in the dark…"

Miss.

"Prey for the hunter…"

Miss.

"Your heart pounding…"

Miss because my heart is fucking pounding.

"…and adrenaline coursing through your veins."

Miss.

"Knowing exactly what happens…"

Miss.

"When you're caught…"

Miss.

"That's eight." He lightly grips my shoulders before sliding his hands down my arms and taking the gun from my hands.

"You get thirty seconds," he whispers before placing a soft kiss behind my ear. Stepping back, he deepens his voice, and it booms through the woods when he says, "Run!"